Debut Novel
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Release Date: July 6, 2010
Purchase Link: Amazon
5 Broken Hearts
Still Missing is that rare debut find - a shocking, visceral, brutal and beautifully crafted debut novel.
Review:
Still Missing is my third book by Chevy Stevens having read an arc of Dark Roads and Never Let You Go both of which I loved. I needed to know if this author is the real deal. Can she deliver over and over? As a reader, I'm ecstatic to say Stevens is the real deal! Now three books into her catalog of work, and I have no qualms about saying she's now an aut0-buy author for me. I can't wait to work my way through all her titles.
Still Missing is the story of Annie Sullivan, a thirty-two year old real estate agent who's kidnapped by a man who pretended interest in a house she was showing. She's swept away to a remote mountain cabin where she's held for a year before getting an opportunity to escape. During that time, she's repeatedly raped and held to a rigid schedule by the man she calls the "freak". Needless to say, when she finally escapes she's suffering a devastating case of PTSD. And that's about all I can say about the plot without major spoilers.
This story is as complex and convoluted as any I've read in recent memory. It unfolds through two narratives - one of Annie's therapy sessions with her psychiatrist where readers have a front row seat to the horrors Annie endured during her year of captivity, and secondly the present events taking place in Annie's life as she desperately tries to reclaim her old life and some sense of normalcy after returning home. Problem is . . . Annie isn't the woman she was before her kidnapping, and she can't seem to acclimate herself back into her old life. If that's not enough, she has a sense of lingering danger. Is it paranoia? Or something more?
I have to say that this story is intense - I felt it from the moment of the kidnapping until the final page of the book. Stevens has mastered the art of setting and maintaining tone and pace in a way that keeps readers off-kilter and burning through pages even as the sense of dread and impending doom grows. I just knew something more was coming and kept reading and waiting for the other shoe to drop. What could be worse than being kidnapped and held in isolation for a year with a psycho? All I can say is "read it"!
Still Missing is a taut, tense, eye-opening heart breaker of a psychological thriller. My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner. It's intense, fast-paced and absolutely shocking. Well done, Chevy Stevens. I can't wait to read more of your work. Highly recommended to fans of psychological thrillers!
Synopsis:
No comments:
Post a Comment