'Deceived' by Sarah Smith (with Kate Snell)

RRP: £7.99 Pages: 319 Paperback Non-fiction

Incredible. Amazing. How one man can weave such an intricate web of deceit that he can trap one person in that web for over 10 years without her ever breaking free. That person is Sarah Smith, and this book is her story. There was one similar book I read previously (review on MySpace) regarding a conman who managed to manipulate women for monetary gain, but Robert Freegard seemed to do it for the power and control also. And he did it well.

In the spring of 1993 Sarah Smith found herself at the centre of a living nightmare. Told she was on a terrorist hit list, she was forced on the run.

Always in fear of a sniper's bullet, Sarah was constantly moved around the country, working in low-paid jobs, never knowing who she could trust. Only one man was there to protect her: a British 'secret agent' codenamed Robert Freegard. To survive Sarah had to follow his rules with complete compliance: sever ties with family and friends, speak to no one and wait for his orders.

During her spine-chilling journey, Sarah spent ten lonely years on the edge of existence, sometimes starving, often penniless and alone, doing nothing without Freegard's permission. But what she could never have guessed was that she was the victime of a ruthless conman who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. this is the heart-wrenching and gripping tale of a criminal mastermind and a victim who bravely confronted her captor and pieced a stolen life back together.

Rating - 10 out of 10 - not just for the writing (which was suberb) but also for the story (which is captivating)

'Eyewitness Auschwitz; Three Years in the Gas Chambers' by Filip Muller

RRP: $12.99 Pages: 171 Paperback Non-fiction

This book really did make me cry. A lot. My husband told me to stop reading it and I told him that I couldn't - its our duty to remember these atrocities so that we can help to prevent them reoccuring in the future. Now I have my daughter, I can really empathise with those mothers who had to undress their children knowing that they were undressing them to go into the gas chambers and face death.

This is an emotional story told by one of the Sonderkommando (one of the workforce made up of prisoners) of the Auschwitz crematoria...

Filip Muller came to Auschwitz with one of the earliest transports from Slovakia in April 1942 and began working in the gassing installations and crematoria in May. He was still alive when the gassings ceased in November 1944. He saw multitudes come and disappear; by sheer luck he survived. Muller is neither a historian nor a psychologist; he is a source - one of the few prisoners who saw the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it. 'Eyewitness Auschwitz' is thus one of the key documents of the Holocaust.

Rating - 10 out of 10 - I can't recommend this enough. Filip Muller writes with compassion and sticks to the facts - what he saw and no embellishments.