Trap Door

By Dreda Say Mitchell

The story centres around Rachel, a young woman in debt. She takes on a job which seems too good to be true.

The job is based in a Victorian building that once housed a sweatshop where young workers were killed in a fire. Rachel is haunted by the death of a friend, a death in a fire.

Her job soon becomes a ‘living nightmare’ when she is sent to work in the basement, accessed by a trap door. Her work colleagues all ignore her. She wants out but feels trapped by escalating debts. Soon her past and present begin to come together and she finds herself in danger. What is really going on in her workplace? Rachel needs to find answers, and quickly.

I didn’t find this book particularly captivating, Rachel suffered from claustrophobia yet agreed to work in a windowless room in a basement! She also suffered a fear of fire due to her past, yet she agreed to work in a basement with no health and safety in place, where others had died in a fire. I did not feel that the story was particularly believable.