“Call Me Evie” is a thriller novel about a 17-year-old girl, Evie, from Australia. Prior to her kidnapping, Kate lived a normal life. She was on the swim team, enjoyed going out with her friends and spending time with her boyfriend.

One day, that was all ripped away. Kate was taken away by her uncle, Jim, for a reason almost unknown. Jim explained it was for their safety, but from what? Jim and Kate — who was to now go by “Evie” — lived a discreet life in the hills of New Zealand.

Jim watched Evie’s every action and gave her little freedom. As Kate gained more freedom in her relationship with Jim, she began to notice aspects of their life that seemed off. She found books, listened in on phone calls and even looked at Jim’s computer to find out what was really going on.

She often tried to escape, but always failed. Jim changed Evie psychologically; he began to shift her thoughts in the direction he wanted them to shift. As the two continued to live together, Evie started to notice odd things happening.

The entire community seemed to be in on something. The same car continued coming by the house — Jim kept scaring it off. Jim made phone calls that seemed to increase in number and secrecy. Evie started to understand that she is in danger. She stole Jim’s gun, she stole the neighbor’s credit card, she had an escape bag packed and she even tried to hitchhike to Auckland.

She somehow found herself back at Jim’s after every escape attempt. Jim started to notice and fed Evie psychiatric medication. Evie took the medication for a while, but eventually stopped taking it. Once she stopped taking it, things really started to spiral for Evie.

She found even more clues revealing who Jim really is — not just who he said he is. She continued to try to escape, but to no avail. Jim eventually decided to let Evie go back to the real world — back to being Kate — but she would have to face the real reason she was taken away.

A thriller that will keep the reader at the edge of their seat, turning the pages as fast as they can read them, “Call Me Evie” by J.P. Pomare echoes the work of Gillian Flynn, in a stunning novel with twists and turns on almost every page.

Pomare has a habit of making the reader feel comfortable in the situation present in the novel. Once the reader feels as though they finally understand what is going on, their understanding is ripped away with a new plot twist. The twists can make the reader feel lost in a wonderful daze of stunning literature.

Some may find it hard to keep up, but in the grand scheme of the novel — the twists and turns  are brilliant.

There are strong themes of domination and submission present. These themes present themselves in the relationship between Jim and Evie. The roles often switch, however, which keeps the reader turning pages.

The novel shares much likeness to Gillian Flynn’s “Sharp Objects,” another stunning thriller about a dominan/submissive duo in a similar situation to Evie and Jim. This novel would be perfect for a reader who despises predictability, as this novel and its ending is almost impossible to predict.

Clausing can be reached at [email protected].