Room is creepy and thrillerish

William Leith10 April 2012
Room
by Emma Donoghue
(Picador, £7.99)

Jack is a little boy who lives in a garden shed. You see everything through his eyes. There's a bed, a skylight, a table. There's his mother, Ma. They never leave the shed. Ma's teeth are rotting but she can't go to the dentist because she can't leave the shed.

A man called Old Nick supplies Jack and Ma with food. At night, Old Nick gets into the bed with Ma, and Jack counts the creaks. They are Fritzl-style captives. It's creepy, and sometimes thrillerish. You know that, at some point, Jack and Ma will have to escape. And then what? The mind boggles.

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