The story of an obsessive loner who kidnaps and keeps captive a young girl hoping that one day she will love him as he loves her has kept me awake for two nights in a row. The Collector is one of the most chilling books I’ve ever read.

While not a typical horror story, it is one haunting, disturbing and impossible to forget when you pretty much feel like the actual Collector. It’s sick but beneath the interesting psychological aspects like the motivations and justifications of a sociopath and the range of emotions of the victim, I can see their both guilt and innocence.

Of course, you’re not supposed to like the collector but I wonder: how many of us would do what he did if they had the money and time?

“All this time I never thought it was serious. I know that must sound very strange, but it was so. I used to say, of course, I’ll never do it, this is only pretending. And I wouldn’t have pretended even like that if I hadn’t had all the time and money I wanted. In my opinion a lot of people who may seem happy now would do what I did or similar things if they had the money and the time. I mean, to give way to what they pretend now they shouldn’t. Power corrupts, a teacher I had always said. And Money is Power. “

It’s not about courage or planning a perfect kidnapping, it’s not about opportunities or education and in the end it’s not even about money and time.

It’s about being ourselves. It’s about love, the way we understand love.

And this can be frightening at times.

* Evanescence – Where will you go?