The Boy from the Basement

Charlie has been confined to the basement since his family moved to town from the lake. One night the back door slams shut and Charlie is locked outside. Charlie is fearful of the outside; he longs for the damp walls of his only home, the basement.
He is taken into care at the local hospital and then into a foster home. As he struggles to adjust to his new life of being 'outside', he learns about Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving and Christmas. His ultimate goal is to one day play soccer outside. But, how can he achieve this; what if father is watching him, what if father finds him? Surely, he will be punished for leaving the basement.
Shaw draws us in to the psychological journey of an abused child as he overcomes nightmares and hallucinations.
While the writing is average and the plot structure somewhat repetitive, there is a thriller aspect to the novel as we wait to see if and when Charlie's father will come back for him.