Book Review - Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Synopsis:  On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two year old Realtor, had three goals — sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor of the day pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.

Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent captive of a sadistic psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered spirit back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

The truth doesn’t always set you free.

First Line:  "You know, doc, you're not the first shrink I've seen since I got back."

Random Quote:  "As soon as The Freak knew I was pregnant, he no longer seemed to care about doing it every single night, but the baths never stopped.  Sometimes he'd just rest his head on my chest and talk to me until he fell asleep."

Review:  I remember when I got about 25 or 30 pages into this and realized that the author was going to give me all the details of the narrator's kidnapping and imprisonment and I thought, "Oh boy.  I don't know if I want to read this."  As it happened I was stuck on BART with nothing else to read and I persevered.  Lots of this was pretty brutal in a completely bone-chilling matter-of-fact sort of way and if you can get past the queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach and focus on the story it's a decent read.  I went back and forth on whether or not I thought some of the detail provided was exploitative, but because it's handled in the way it is I decided it adds to the story rather than just making it violence porn, but just barely.

Scenery on Vancouver Island - Image via Wikipedia

Ms. Stevens tells a good story, but is still working some kinks out of her writing style.  The choice of this story being told as a monologue to the narrator's therapist is a good one, but to really make that work the narrator's voice should have been a lot more clear.  As it is she reads a bit like an article in a small town newspaper and I don't think that ultimately serves the character or the story very well.

All of that aside, the book is a gripping read and Ms. Stevens shows definite promise.  I'll be interested to read her next book to see how she develops.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the ARC of this book.

Reading Challenges:  ARC Reading Challenge, Thriller and Suspense Challenge 2010, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge