Being a huge fan of the TV series “Revenge”, I must say the only person who really made me worry about the repetitive performance was Emily VanCamp, the leading star of the show. Despite playing an emotionally charged character with a troubled past, it seems nobody could have a found the key to unlock the hidden talent of VanCamp to showcase it. But that unfortunate part of her film career seems to have vanished after performing the role of Alice Harvey in Marya Cohn’s THE GIRL IN THE BOOK where VanCamp portrays a young book editor who is forced to confront a troubling chapter from her past when a bestselling author re-enters her life.

The Girl In the Book follows Alice Harvey (Emily VanCamp) in the world of New York publishing where she is still damaged, lost and self-destructive. Living in the past as an aspiring writer, now her 29 year old self finds it impossible to write, and finds it difficult to find peace with her new love interest. All that appears to be nothing when she is assigned to work on the book of the bestselling writer, Milan Daneker (Michael Nyqvist), who refreshes her painful memory caused by him. As the journey starts about her past, Alice must face the consequences of her painful childhood that may impact those who she cares about now. And only after that she may be able to find her creative voice and let herself be happy again….

The film uses flashbacks that help the viewer understand the volume of pain the young Alice starts experiencing when Milan Daneker offers her his help to improve her writing. In one of his visits, they slowly become closer and closer, where she starts without even realizing, allowing him to take advantage of her still young and incapable of rationally thinking mind. As the grown up Alice recalls her past, she travels deep into her past without even noticing the pain she brings to those who are there to help her.

The Girl in the Book surprisingly delivers an interesting concept where the obvious child abuse is being described as the mutual interest of young Alice at the time she did not know what is right and what is wrong. Despite being able to get away with this, Milan Daneker claims nothing ever happened between him and young Alice which is what perhaps, puzzled Alice. As the story unfolds, the interest in the film itself increases significantly, which manages to grab the viewer’s attention.

However, it’s Emily VanCamp’s performance which mainly draws the interest to see how far she can go to portray another troubled character. But that, I must say, is what astonished me more, when I could notice a bit more that I could have expected of Alice in VanCamp’s performance. And that, I must say, can be considered as a huge improvement in her performance. In conclusion, The Girl in the Book is highly recommended film to watch. It’s an excellent drama about how one person can change the present by recalling her past. It’s about pain that cannot be killed or cured by any medicine, but only with a great attempt of Alice Harvey, who is the only one that knows how to take the control over it.