{"id":2168,"date":"2017-02-26T16:47:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T00:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=2168"},"modified":"2017-02-26T16:47:05","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T00:47:05","slug":"chevy-stevens-never-let-you-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/chevy-stevens-never-let-you-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Chevy Stevens: Never Let You Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Robin asked me to write a review of Chevy Stevens\u2019s new book in advance of Chevy\u2019s appearance at the store, she wondered if I\u2019d have to reread the book in order to refresh my memory. But, despite the fact that I\u2019d devoured Never Let You Go <\/em>\u00a0back in early September, and have read many mysteries since, the answer was an emphatic no<\/em>. Believe me, consuming one of Chevy\u2019s books is such a powerful and enthralling experience that you\u2019re not going to forget it anytime soon.<\/p>\n

In a thriller the initial setup is crucial, and as usual in her work, Never Let You Go <\/em>has a compelling hook that lands the reader into her hold. There are two lines of narrative, one told in the voice of Lindsey in 2005, a young and somewhat naive wife trapped in an abusive relationship. At a vacation resort her Machiavellian husband Andrew pulls a power trip that endangers their daughter Sophie, making Lindsey realize once and for all that she and Sophie must escape from him.<\/p>\n

Flash forward to 2016 where Lindsey and Sophie have rebuilt their lives on an isolated Canadian island. Unfortunately Andrew has gotten out of prison, mysterious and vaguely menacing things have started to happen, and the drastic measures Lindsey used to get Andrew incarcerated in the first place haunt her in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

As we learn how she escaped from her previous hell we also see the fresh one developing around her. Then there\u2019s the narrative from teen Sophie, who doesn\u2019t really remember her father, has been surreptitiously corresponding with him in prison, and is rebelliously sympathetic to his attempts to forge a relationship now that he\u2019s out.<\/p>\n

The result is very hard to put down. Stevens knows how to twist a plot without tying it into implausible knots and the unexpected ending makes you wonder how you didn\u2019t see it coming rather than filling you with a desire to throw the book across the room. In a thriller landscape infested with zombie Gone Girl on the Train<\/em> clones, she stands out because of the deep humanity of all her characters, as well as the sincere empathy she brings to even the most horrifying scenarios. The result is a book that is sensational without being sensationalistic, one that, like many classic \u201cwomen in peril\u201d mysteries, is, in fact, a commentary on the relative powerlessness of women in society. You\u2019ll race through Never Let You Go<\/em>, but it will reverberate for a long time. (Jamie)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Robin asked me to write a review of Chevy Stevens\u2019s new book in advance of Chevy\u2019s appearance at the store, she wondered if I\u2019d have to reread the book in order to refresh my memory. But, despite the fact that I\u2019d devoured Never Let You Go \u00a0back in early September, and have read many … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-2168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-psychological"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2170,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions\/2170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}