Appetite for Innocence

Appetite for Innocence (2017) is a psychological thriller by Lucinda Berry. Drawing on her professional experience as a clinical psychologist specializing in childhood trauma, Berry creates a narrative that explores the complex effects of long-term captivity. The novel follows two teenage girls, Ella and Sarah, after they escape a serial kidnapper, forcing them to navigate their trauma and the disturbing bond one of them has formed with their abuser. The book examines themes of The Ambiguous Morality of Survival, The Challenges to Self-Restoration in the Wake of Trauma, and The Long-Term Harm of Paternal Absence.

This guide refers to the 2017 First Edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of child abuse, emotional and physical abuse, bullying, graphic violence, pregnancy termination, rape and sexual violence, mental illness, child death, substance use, addiction, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

The novel employs a braided narrative structure, alternating between the period of Ella’s captivity (“Then”) and the aftermath of her and Sarah’s rescue (“Now”). For clarity, this summary will present the novel’s events in chronological order.

The narrative opens on the perspective of Sarah, a long-term captive who helps manage other abducted girls for a man she calls “John.” She is detached and routinized, annoyed by the crying of the newest girl. The perspective then shifts to 16-year-old Ella Stevenson, who awakens bound and gagged in a dark, soundproofed basement. She meets Sarah, who acts as an enforcer of John’s rules, and another captive named Paige, who is a kind girl.

Ella learns the rules of the basement. Paige explains that Sarah has been a captive for years and claims to be John’s daughter. A buzzer sounds, and a male voice over an intercom summons Sarah, and later Paige, “upstairs.” When Sarah takes Ella upstairs for the first time, she is surprised to see that the house is immaculate and modern. Ella meets their captor, John, a handsome and well-dressed man. He forces her into a bathroom, where he has prepared a bath. He threatens her with a gun before bathing her himself. This becomes a nightly ritual, followed by a formal dinner where he reveals he has been stalking her and knows intimate details about her life. Paige later reveals John’s motive: He exclusively kidnaps virgins to be their “first.”

John repeatedly attempts to rape Ella, but her uncontrollable crying and panic attacks enrage him. He becomes obsessed with getting her pregnant to create a “family.” After he succeeds, Ella performs a self-termination of pregnancy using a wire hanger. She begins to hemorrhage, and Sarah, finding her, triggers the house alarm to bring John home.

While John is away on a business trip, Sarah lets Ella out of her locked room to watch TV. Seeing an opportunity, Ella runs for the glass doors. Sarah tries to stop her, but Ella breaks free, triggers the alarm, and escapes. In the yard, John’s two pit bulls attack her. She fights one off and climbs a tree to get over the high security gate, breaking her wrist in the fall. She crawls to a neighboring property and gets help. Back at the house, with the alarm blaring and John still absent, Sarah follows his protocol. She activates a program on his laptop that detonates explosives wired in the basement, which Paige is still locked inside. As the house erupts in flames, Sarah waits in the yard for John as planned, but the police arrive first and take her to the hospital.

Ella wakes in the hospital soon after her escape. She has severe dog bites. FBI agents question her about the basement. Ella is distraught, asking about Paige and Sarah. The agents inform her that officers arrived at the house to find it on fire. In another hospital room, Sarah is frantic, believing John is still at large and will come for her. She tells the officer guarding her, Malone, that she is John’s daughter.

Ella’s mother, Jocelyn, arrives at the hospital for an emotional reunion. A victim’s advocate, Randy, is assigned to their case. When Ella tells the FBI that Paige was also in the house, they launch an urgent search for her.

The FBI confronts Sarah with the truth: Her real name is Petra Manuel. Her abusive father, Enrique, sold her to her captor four years prior for $2,000. The revelation causes Sarah to have a violent psychological crisis, and Randy explains Stockholm Syndrome to her, contextualizing her bond with her captor as a survival mechanism.

Forensic analysis confirms the human remains found in the fire are Paige’s. After being discharged from the hospital, Jocelyn brings both Ella and Sarah home to live with them in Aurora, Colorado. She acts against Randy’s advice and Ella’s desperate pleas, feeling a duty to care for Sarah, who has no one to take care of her. Ella struggles to readjust, haunted by trauma, and experiences alcohol addiction to cope. In contrast, Sarah thrives on the attention from Jocelyn, viewing her as a mother figure. The FBI learns that John’s real name is Derek Hunt and captures him in Florida. At a police lineup, Ella positively identifies Derek. However, Sarah, whose loyalty to him is a symptom of Stockholm Syndrome, denies ever seeing him, jeopardizing the case.

Ella’s addiction continues, and she attempts to die by suicide by consuming sleeping pills and mouthwash. In the hospital, she has a mental health crisis and finally tells her mother she cannot heal while Sarah is living in their home. Jocelyn confronts the reality of the situation and tells Sarah she must leave and enter a foster home. Feeling betrayed, Sarah drugs Ella’s dinner and Jocelyn’s water. She ties a semi-conscious Ella to her bed and attempts to smother her with a pillow, planning to stage it as a suicide to eliminate her rival for Jocelyn’s affection. Jocelyn wakes up just in time, fights Sarah off, and restrains her until Ella can call 911.

Derek Hunt accepts a plea bargain for life in prison without parole in exchange for leading investigators to the bodies of six other victims. Sarah is charged with attempted murder but also accepts a plea deal. Due to her age and history of abuse, she is sentenced to live in a psychiatric hospital until she is 21. One month later, Ella is slowly healing. She attends school part-time and sees a therapist to work through post-traumatic stress disorder. Her relationship with her mother is improving as Jocelyn learns to respect her boundaries. Sarah adapts well to the structured environment of the psychiatric facility. She writes to Jocelyn daily, convinced they have a bond and that Jocelyn will eventually welcome her back. She still misses Derek but is focused on her eventual release, planning to find Jocelyn as soon as she is free.