Chevy Stevens Thrills Us Again

Chevy Stevens' latest thriller, Always Watching, lives up to the expectations set by her previous two novels.  I first encountered Stevens through her 2010 thriller, Still Missing, which tells the story of a young woman, Annie, speaking with her psychiatrist about a harrowing abduction that lasted a year.  The book was very well done as Annie's story was laid out well and made the reader very uncomfortable at times (think Emma Donoghue's Room).  Never Knowing came out the next year and fully established Stevens as a master of the genre.  The story centers on Sara, an adopted child now a young woman, who has always wondered about her birth parents.  What she finds out about her father not only shocks her, but may come back to bite her.

And that leads us to Always Watching.  As a psychiatrist, Nadine Lavoie is used to dealing with other people's problems.  But her own demons come back to haunt her after treating a young woman who has been living in a well-known commune.  Nadine soon finds that the commune is run by the same man, Aaron Quinn, who was running a smaller commune in which Nadine and her family lived for a few months when she was young.  She continues digging and finds parallels between her past life and those of the people living in the commune's current state.  Obsessively, Nadine tries to find the answers behind mysterious gaps in her memory from during the months she lived under Quinn's watchful eye.

This title sets the same tone as Still Missing and Never Knowing.  Even though the revelations throughout can be downright disturbing, I could not put this one down until the final revelation was revealed.  Quinn's character, and his demented brother who helps run the commune, is so well done and creepy that you will genuinely fear for Nadine's safety.  Stevens has established herself as a terrific writer who knows how to create an ominous atmosphere.

If that is not enough to whet your appetite, check out the book trailer below.



Chris May- Manager of Adult Services