Exactly how steamy is this story?
PG
Against all odds (since this book is about the abduction of a teenage girl by an older man), the only thing we get in this book that even resembles a sex scene is when Anna and Ben are making out at the party in the park the night Josh tries to follow Gemma home. And even then, Gemma keeps the details to a minimum. "I heard the rip of her zipper going down," Gemma says. "I heard the elastic snap of her panties" (46.39). And really, Shmoopers, that's as hardcore as it gets.
But there's still one pressing question we need to deal with, and that's why Ty never puts the moves on Gemma. It's clear that he's attracted to her—after the snakebite incident when he tells her to take off her shirt so he can use it as a tourniquet, he offers to get her another shirt. "Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable," he says. "And I've got to concentrate, you know" (81.11). So, if that's the case, why doesn't he act like the stereotypical kidnapper and assault her?
We can't really be sure of the answer. Maybe Ty's goals really are purely platonic, and his primary motivation for kidnapping Gemma is to bring her to the purity of the wilderness so she can escape the fate of her parents' yuppie lifestyle. Somehow, though, we doubt that. In all likelihood, Ty hopes Gemma will grow to like him enough to come to him on her own terms.
Ugh. This is creepy. Let's move on to something else.