On The Girl Next Door

I chose to read The Girl Next Door this week because I've been curious about it. I had heard here and there by people who had read it that this is a horror story that sticks with you and never leaves. I completely agree with them now that I have read this, and I will never read it again. I didn't have any idea that most of what this book, as well as the movie, is based on events that happened to a young girl.
The most horrifying aspect to this book that makes it so distinctively disturbing is the fact that it makes you relate to the monsters that did this. The main character is assumed to be above the horrors that are placed upon the girl, and as the reader you relate him to yourself, as the story is told in the first person. This is, however, proven wrong toward the middle of the book, as it is explained that the boy's motivations are extremely self-serving, and not those of kindness. As the torturing of the girl continues, the boy realizes that he wants no part of it and attempts to help the girl escape, which in the end leads to her end. I believe it was inevitable that the torturing would escalate, but I never would have imagined that it would the way that it did. It's for that reason that I will never pick this book up again. The author very subtly makes the reader relate to both the torturers and the tortured, in an effort to horrify you through the sheer truth of human nature, and this completely works. It reminded me of reading Lord of the Flies, where one begins to question their perceptions of what evils one of really capable of. That said, it was a very thought provoking story, but the fact that most of it isn't just 'story' is what makes this book truly scary.