Spiked!

The rape of people by the spiking of their drinks is a serious and nasty business. Here, Debra, the recipient of a spiked drink, is not actually molested, but the ease with which this can happen is graphically shown.

Debra and her friends are celebrating their GCSE results in a pub with lax standards about serving alcohol to underage drinkers, when Debra is abducted by someone with a grudge against her mother. She is kept in a drugged state for a few days before her release, and nearly dies from whatever (unspecified) drugs are administered to her. She is fortunate in that she is released, but the traumatic effect of her captivity has a profound effect on her.

The narrative is pacey, and teenage idiom well-captured. Suspense builds up as the reader is offered insights into the thoughts and feelings of the captor whose identity is not revealed until the end of the book. The culpability of supposedly responsible adults, teachers and a mother in this instance, who connive in the provision of alcoholic drink to young teenagers, is underlined, but overall the tone is not unduly moralistic in a tale which provides a salutary message on the need to be careful, even in situations where everyone appears to be a friend. VC