This is an intense story about survival and mind over matter. A sixteen year old boy is kidnapped and trapped in a dark room. He is told that everything about his life was a lie. Sixteen year old, Saye isn't very likable before he is kidnapped so when he is, you aren't sure what to expect. The story is as much about what happens after as it is the kidnapping. Can he get over what happened to him or is he traumatized too much by the kidnapping? Loved it!

4.5 stars- This book! Wowza! The beginning started a little slow for me but once I got about 30% of the way in, I could not put it down! It was so good! I loved the variety of topics that were included and thought the author did a great job of making them work together. I also loved the character development. The way Robin writes, you really feel as if you’re part of the story and can truly feel the emotions of each character. I will say this book was a bit long for a YA book, but it’s still definitely worth the read!

When I started reading this book, I thought it would be another story about a spoiled teenager. I quickly changed my mind though! The story became intense and I could not stop flipping the pages. This one kept me interred until the last page. It does deal with trauma and may be a trigger to some readers.

This book absolutely gutted and shattered me. 100%. I spent probably the last 50-75% of this book crying off and on - no joke.

I will say that I highly suggest looking up trigger warnings before reading this book as there is upsetting material; I know that not everyone will be in a good head (and heart) space to read this book.

I will admit, I had a really hard time getting into this book, which is why it took me so egregiously long to finish. Sayers in the first third is a horrible person. His "friends" are horrible. His family is horrible. Just... basically no redeemable characters except for those his friends are bullying.

And Sayers, while not overtly part of the process, watches in silence as it happens, never speaking up, even though his words would have weight and power. In that way, Sayers is almost a "powerless" figure in his own life, as if he is watching from a distance - never actually being close with anyone, never having more than surface-level relationships with those around him. He is anchorless, drifting through life on privledge and ease.

All of that changes in an instant after a chance encounter.

I don't necessarily want to spoil everything, but since it is in the summary that what happens is he is kidnapped. And while it sounds horrible to write, this lightning-rod moment is where I became hooked on the book.

In that way this book reminded me of Gone Girl, although I will say that really the only comparison is the hating the book at the start, almost giving up, and literally everything changing with one turn of a page.

In the author's note at the end of this book, Roe says "The novel began as a thriller - a story about someone who has everything, and then loses it all - and in many ways it still is. But the more I wrote, the more I wanted to explore what comes next, the aftermath of a traumatic event."

And Roe does this so masterfully. This book really shines in the character relationships and introspection as we see a descent into becoming a wholly new person, shaped by trauma.

DON'T CONTINUE TO READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS/SPECIFIC DISCUSSION OF THE BOOK!

For example, Sayers has a pretty terrible relationship with his real father. His father is pretty uninterested in him, and they are, at most, casual acquaintances. After he is kidnapped by Caleb, who is convinced that Sayers is actually his missing son, Daniel. While Sayers is terrified at first, and certainly starts out only pretending to go along with being this long-lost son, he finds himself eventually convinced he is Daniel. That Caleb is his father.

And it isn't only a coping mechanism - in many cases, Caleb is kind to Sayers. He says he is doing this out of love. He is interested in what Sayers has to say, is proud of his art, and wants to spend time with him.

In a cruel, sick way - Caleb is a better father to Sayers than Sayers' father actually ever was.

Obviously his real dad didn't kidnap him/keep him against his will/chain him up/wasn't a serial killer/etc etc etc, but in these small moments, there is a comfort and kindness that Sayers hasn't known.

This leads to so much of the inner turmoil Sayers feels in the aftermath - as he says to a priest, can you both love and hate someone?

And through all of this, the writing and characters are always so believable and REAL. I was 100% invested. I found myself having a small sense of sympathy for Caleb. Reading the raw emotions Sayers felt broke me again and again.

Even Evan was a wholly believable character to me. I kept thinking to myself, I could never forgive someone who had been complacent in my torture the way Evan is. Never. But the more I read through the last third of the book, the more I softened to Evan's way of thinking. Of course he was hurt by the way he was treated. Of course it wasn't right. But the Sayers who existed before the kidnapping didn't exist anymore. The Sayers/Daniel who existed during his confinement didn't exist anymore either. He had to re-learn who he was, with a new lens on relationships and the world around him. And Evan could see that.

The ending of this book was also perfect for me - it ended in such a good way. As I got to 90% finished and beyond I started to get a bit worried about the ending, since I wasn't really sure where we would say goodbye, but I think the ending really left everyone (readers included) in a good place.

I cannot recommend this book enough, with the caveat of please make sure you are in the right headspace before tackling this one. But for all the beautiful writing, touching characters, and for hitting me so hard in my feels... this is one of my favorite books of the year.

Sayers Wayte is a 16-year-old with an easy life, and he knows it. Everything he knows is upended when he's kidnapped by a man who tells Sayers that he isn't who he believes he is. As Sayers endures imprisonment and his captor, he begins questioning his reality. A tense thriller that examines PTSD, Dark Room Etiquette becomes an intense character study as readers accompany Sayers on his journey through trauma. The story goes very dark, but is ultimately a hopeful story that readers will white-knuckle through.

In this dark thriller, we follow Sayre, a rich teen who is suddenly kidnapped by a man convinced he is his real father. Most of the plot follows how being in captivity affects him mentally and the way the trauma of confinement blurs how he perceives reality. I’m so conflicted about this book, because there are things I really liked about it and things that I really didn’t. I feel like everything pre-kidnapping is really rushed and all the secondary characters are just one-note. The good friend, the bad friend, the girlfriend, etc. And Sayres has to be unlikable, but he’s SO unlikeable. The captivity stuff is interesting, and I think the way it unfolds and his mental break are well executed and well paced. The ending third I think is a little long, but since the main point of the book was looking at how trauma affects people after they experience it, it makes sense. And I like exploring the complicated feelings that come from prolonged trauma and brainwashing when you have to suddenly re-enter society. But I have a hard time believing they wouldn’t give the survivor of a serial killer the semester off? I get it’s necessary for the plot, but it’s wild that that kid just gets plopped back into high school after the chaos he endured. Overall though I thought it was a really interesting read, and although I didn’t love the beginning the final two thirds I think make up for it.

Oh wow. this book is something. The story is about a boy, Sayers, who is rich and privileged. It starts with us seeing him in every day life. He hangs out with his friends. with his girlfriend. He makes bad choices, but there are no consequences. He and his buddies start to bully a kid, and it seemed like he does not care. It was very unemotional beginning. The kid understands it is not right, but he just doesn't care, doesn't make anything stop, and kind of just floats through this story.

Let me tell you - in this first part, the bullying made me cringe, and I just wanted to shake the protagonist to react. He didn't seem like a bad kid, but his aloofness was pissing me off to no end. I could not understand that kind of emotionless reaction to everything,

Now the second part is about him being kidnapped. And him surviving in captivity. It was darn scary. A bit repetitive and prolonged, but darn scary. Again - emotionless. No anger, no fear, no nothing.

And the end is about him getting out, and surviving after captivity. This is the part I can understand being emotionless. It is all about regaining one self, understanding who you are, who you were, what you had to do to survive etc.

It is emotionally wrecking book. Especially after reading the author's note and understanding where this story comes from. I just wish it had a bit more layers for Sayers, He just seemed like a 2D character, that floated through the story to show us the horrors of what happens to him and around him, but not what is happening to him. Even in captivity, when he completely shuts down is kind of a surprise as it just changes from one paragraph to another.

A scary story, not for the younger side of YA. Would love more emotion for these kinds of books.

I’m drawn to a story the explores the psychological impact of an event on someone and that’s exactly what Dark Room Etiquette does. This is a book of three parts. First it eases us into things gently, letting the reader get to know the characters (who, for the most part, are pretty disgusting people) and then suddenly it’s explodes into an edge of your seat thriller that is tense, fascinating and horrific in places. Then as suddenly as that hits, it’s gone! And you are left with the aftermath. What I love is that you share this emotional journey with our main character - the indifference, the horrors, the confusion. It touches on many issues, mental health, bullying, Stockholm syndrome, sexual assault, religion, class and more and although that sounds like a lot, I at no point felt bombarded. This was a great read and despite being a huge book, I tore through it because I was so invested in the outcome. The afterword is a worthwhile read aswell.

Thank you so much Robin Roe for an opportunity to read Dark Room Etiquette in advance. Also it’s the reason I feel so sleepy today because I just couldn’t stop reading.

It is a deep psychological thriller about Stockholm syndrome, victims, trauma and kindness.

The book was a little bit slow in comparison to some thrillers where new twists and red herrings are every couple of chapters but it was so worth it. The development, emotions were very precise and moving.
Did I guess most of twists - yup, was it important- not at all.

Reading author notes at the end it all made absolute sense - @robinroewriter has a Master’s degree from Harvard, spent years working with children experienced trauma and raised three nephews. It is no wonder that her book is full of empathy and kindness 💛

Absolutely recommend it to all psychological thriller lovers.

Dark Room

Book Tour & Review! I’m always a little nervous about young adult books, but this was a pleasant surprise for me. I read most of this in one day because I didn’t want to put it down!

Although this starts as a thriller, it turned into more of a dark read for me. Have you ever felt weird while reading something? That was me through this one. But not in a bad way. I think I got so caught up in the story…and this story is unsettling and sad. Again, not in a bad way.

My only complaint is the length of the book. I felt like it went on a bit too long, so each portion of the plot felt a bit dragged out for me. Otherwise, would definitely recommend!

I received this one for free as part of an Instagram book tour. My review has been posted on Goodreads and my Bookstagram account.

Rating 5/5
Plot 5/5
Writing 5/5
Character Development 5/5

“Dark Room Etiquette” by Robin Roe tells the story of 16-year-old Sayers Wayte who has everything he has ever wanted however when he’s abducted by a man, he’s told his privileged life has been based on a lie. In order to survive, Wayte must forget the rich lifestyle he once knew, and play a role that the abductor has created for him. As time passes by, the line between fiction and reality blurs, and Wayte questions if he will be able to escape before he loses himself.

I loved this mystery thriller! When I first heard about this book at a HarperCollins event, I was hooked and wanted to read it and this book was INTENSE! I love books that make me FEEL something and this book not only made me think, but it made me feel everything. There were so many moments that felt so real and raw. Overall, a great read and a perfect read for spooky szn!

This one was a page turner but it was rather long! It kept me tense and stressed out for a portion of the book which is what you are expecting when reading a suspense thriller. It's very YA appropriate but has some intense content so definitely check out some trigger warnings for this one. I'm not sure Sayers was very likeable but I did grow to be sympathetic to his character a bit as the book progressed. It also kind of illustrates Stockholm syndrome in a very YA appropriate manner as well. There were some pacing issues for me and while it read pretty fast it felt long at times, especially in the beginning.

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Sayer Wayte appears to have everything; looks, wealth and popularity. He is also entitled, ungrateful and cruel to those around him who have less. When he is kidnapped and trapped in a windowless room, Sayer is forced to confront his new reality, forgetting the world he once knew in order to one day return to it.

Thoughts: While this is a more mild thriller in overall content, it is a very emotionally intense read. Told entirely in first person from Sayer’s point of view, the reader has a front row seat to all of the trauma’s he incurs throughout the book.

This is one of the most thought provoking YA books I have ever read. One topic explored in the book which I found incredibly fascinating, was the concept of “implanting” memories (I.e. a person is told about an event that occurred and their brain creates a memory to match the description). Another interesting topic examined in the story, was Stockholm syndrome, the way in which it develops and how it impacts those involved.

My main criticism is that the book felt very long, particularly for a Young Adult novel. Coming in at over 500 pages, the second half of the book began to drag a bit, and I do not know if the intended demographic would read it to completion. I think the book could have been about 100 pages shorter and still conveyed what Roe had intended.

One final note - this book contained quite a bit of religious overtones, for a book not considered Christian YA, and I feel readers should know that going in, in case they do not share the same ideologies.

Thank you to Robin Roe, Harper Teen and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Thank you HarperTeen and Let’s Talk Books Promo for a digital ARC.

This gave me a lot of Room by Emma Donoghue vibes, but for a YA audience. It was a tough read on many levels, from the way Sayers treated his classmates before he was kidnapped, to the psychological torture he was put through during his captivity. But at the same time it was written well to be able to capture the emotions he was going through during the process.

I always seem to struggle with young adult thrillers, but not this one, wow! I think it’s because I’m a character-driven reader, and thrillers tend to be about the plot, the twists, and the action. But here, Robin Roe, truly puts the psychological in a psychological thriller.

When we first meet sixteen-year-old Sayers Wayte, he’s a privileged, popular, rich kid. A nanny basically raises him since dad isn’t really around and mom is out being miss socialite. Sayers and his buddies are not kind to other kids; it’s easy not to like him.

But things change when Sayers is kidnapped by a man claiming that the life Sayers has been living is a lie. He keeps Sayers in a windowless, dark room. Survival becomes his new reality. He must become what his captor expects him to be. This causes Sayers and his kidnapper to form a strange relationship. In the dark, under this stress, Sayers' mind begins to lose a grip on who he really is.

So as you can tell, it’s all about the characters, especially Sayers, and how trauma shapes him, but also how he perseveres. It’s unsettling and dark but incredibly complex and thought-provoking.

I highly recommend this one if you are not triggered by trauma and abuse!

Thank you @letstalkbookpromo and @epicreads for a gifted ebook by @robinroewriter

I received an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley and HarperCollins publishers in exchange for my honest review. Let me start off by saying that once I started reading I did not want to stop! This book is haunting and will surely stay with me for a while. Someone who seems to have it all and is not very appreciative of that fact, loses it all in the blink of an eye. This story is about how we choose to treat people and the consequences of our actions. Trigger warnings: bullying,sexual abuse,drug use, issues with mental health. Although this is a heavy read, there is light after darkness! I highly recommend this book.

I read an ARC of Dark Room Etiquette from NetGalley and Harpercollins Children’s Books in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a depressing ride. If you read it, mind the triggers, and be ready more for contemplation of who you are and what makes people worth associating with, and who we are as people. There’s also some exploration of what it’s like surviving after a traumatic event in a world that doesn’t understand and doesn’t necessarily care because you’re no longer the person you were when you were the person they cared for.

The book follows Sayers, an apathetic teen whose family name seems to get him out of any trouble he’s in, and whose new friends are bullies whom he does nothing to stop and even encourages from time to time as that seems to be the only time he feels anything. After dinner with his friends where he gets in a fight for being rude to their waitress because she’s wearing an overpowering perfume and keeps returning to their table because she has a crush on him, he recklessly drives off, only to run into a man who steals him away, locks him in a basement, and eventually out of self-preservation Sayer has to start trying to convince himself he is the man’s son in order to survive his captivity.

While the suspense of the story is certainly important, I’d say that more important is the emotions and turmoil that the various characters face while in the book. The first and second parts of the book are amazing. First setting up just how unaffected by everything he is. The world is at his feet, and while everyone blames the money, and I’d say that’s part of the problem, there seems something more to it, just this inability to care about anything he is learning or to care about his future and I’d say that’s something that more than just the rich feel, especially since Sayers at least seems to have a future to look forward to, which is more than some teens feel like they have.

In the second half as he first tries to escape and is constantly trying to deal with the man and the fact, he keeps saying that he’s really his son. As time goes on, Sayers has to adapt to how he’s thinking and dealing with his situation, and he starts hating himself for it, and then another person is added to the mix and that adds religion to the mix, which adds another interesting layer to how he’s trying to deal with his situation.

I’d actually say that the weakest, and the reason that this is a 4-star instead of a 5-star is the ending. I understand why the author went about writing the ending as she did, but honestly, it just left me sort of depressed, and not in a reflective way, just in a “I don’t care about anything anymore” sort of way. But I could see how some people would connect with the reality of it, though the fact that Sayers never gets any sort of real therapy when he has such a hard time associating reality from fiction was weird, but perhaps realistic.

Overall, an interesting book, I think it just wobbled on the landing in the end.

✨BOOK REVIEW✨
Dark Room Etiquette
By Robin Roe

This book…….
This book left me …..BREATHLESS…

I’m sitting here, trying to find the words worthy enough to describe this book.

What a ride. This one blew me away. This was a first read for me of Roe’s, but I have heard all good things about their book A List Of Cages, and after reading this one, I will absolutely picking that one up.

When I heard about it at the HCC Frenzy Fall preview, the synopsis appealed to me. People were comparing this to “Room”, and “You”, and that pulled me in. I tried to not look too much further in to it, as I wanted to go in blind.

It started off a little slow for me, but Roe was just laying down the foundation for all the terror to come. I felt like it was similar to that incline on the roller coaster, and you plummet around the 50% mark. And it just free-falls the rest of the way.

If I could summarize this book into one word it would be exceptional.
The writing, the characters, and the story itself…..exceptional.

Please note there are various topics and triggers in this book, that may bother some readers, so please be aware.

I felt thrown head first into this story, and I loved every minute of it. This may quite possibly be my favourite book this year.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This one came out Oct 11th, so be sure to grab a copy. Thanks so much to @hccfrenzy for the arc of this book.

QOTD: Are you watching anything spooky lately? 😱

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If you are looking for a book you want to binge, look no further! I didn’t want to put this book down. I love this authors writing style. She made me feel all kinds of feelings while reading this. It was intense, dark, and heartbreaking. The author was able to really capture such a raw and traumatic storyline from the perspective of the main character.

The nitty-gritty: A psychological thriller that explores trauma and recovery, Dark Room Etiquette is an edge-of-your-seat read that delivers both thrills and emotion.

I’m not the biggest fan of YA fiction, but once in a while I come across one that’s exceptional. Dark Room Etiquette has plenty of rave reviews, and after reading it I can see why. Robin Roe takes readers on an emotional journey, following a teen’s experience with trauma and his attempts to heal from it afterwards. This is a story with some upsetting subject matter, but it’s told in such a way as to be accessible to teens without being graphically violent or explicit. For a 500+ page book, I was able to fly through it in only a few days, it was that riveting.

Sayers Wayte is a spoiled rich kid, a junior in high school who can basically get away with anything. Failed a test? No problem. Stopped for speeding in his Aston Martin? Hey, he’s a Wayte, so the cops always look the other way. Sayers’ best friends are a group of bullies who torment kids like Evan Zamara, and although Sayers might not do the bullying himself, he doesn’t do anything to stop it either.

But everything changes when Sayers decides to crash a school field trip and finds himself the victim of a kidnapping. After a series of events involving a broken GPS and an empty gas tank, Sayers wakes up in a small, windowless room, chained to a bed. A man who calls himself Caleb tells Sayers that he’s his long lost son Daniel, and that everything Sayers knows to be true is a lie. So begins Sayers’ nightmarish time spent in Caleb’s house, as he cycles through various emotional states, including anger, confusion, despair and ultimately, acceptance.

The story is roughly divided into three sections: before the kidnapping, during the kidnapping and after the kidnapping, and I loved the way Roe takes her time to really dig into each phase of Sayers’ experience. Many stories like this end with the protagonist being rescued or escaping the clutches of their kidnapper, but Roe takes her story one step further by showing what happens to Sayers once he’s back home. She covers a lot of ground, and I thought it was all very well done. In the beginning, I loathed Sayers and his friends, entitled jerks who think they can get away with anything. And I think that’s the point: to paint Sayers as an asshole who deserves what’s coming to him. But once he’s kidnapped, it’s hard not to feel sorry for him. Sayers has lost his power, and it’s heartbreaking to see how he reacts to it.

The time Sayers spends in captivity is tense and scary. This is the psychological thriller portion of the story, and I thought the author did a great job of keeping the reader in the dark (so to speak). Caleb is a terrifying man, and yet by the end of Sayers’ time with him, he’s become brainwashed into thinking Caleb cares for him in some twisted way. Watching Sayers change from a confident, happy kid into one who doesn’t even know what day it is was heartbreaking. And I loved the way time seems to stretch during this section. Sayers doesn’t have his phone, there aren’t any clocks, and Caleb convinces Sayers that it’s Christmas—over and over again. I lost track of time right along with Sayers, and it wasn’t until he’s rescued that you finally understand how much time has passed.

Surprisingly, my favorite part of the story was watching Sayers go through the recovery process after he’s rescued. And Roe doesn’t make it easy for him. He has very little support from his mother, who is also traumatized because her son was kidnapped (think about that one, parents!) and she just doesn’t know how to help him. His friends at school expect him to bounce back and be the “old” Sayers they used to know (and are surprised when they see that he isn’t that person anymore). He ends up making a new friend who helps the most with his recovery, and I really enjoyed that unexpected friendship.

As for negatives, there were some religious elements that didn’t really work for me. I’m not opposed to religion in fiction as long as it’s not “preachy,” but in this case that’s how it came across. There’s a character named Penny who plays a pivotal role in the story (I won’t go into detail due to spoilers), and she comes from a religious family who prays before every meal, etc. I didn’t mind that at all, because it felt authentic to Penny’s character. But when that religion started to spread to other characters, it just felt forced. Luckily, these parts are not the focus of the story, so don’t let that stop you from picking up this book. 

I will admit I guessed the ending, and in fact I even knew what the last line would be (it’s telegraphed pretty heavily). But still, it was an absolutely perfect way to end the story. Fans of YA will love this tense, emotional thriller, and I’m betting that adult readers will also find a lot to love about Sayers’ traumatic experience and his journey of recovery.

Big thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy.