Helpful Score: 1
I was referred to Chevy Stevens because of my love of Gillian Flynn. Her first book, Never Knowing, was also my first sampling of her writing.
The storyline hooked me from the jacket cover: Sara, an adopted single mother and furniture restoration artist, gets a wild hair to look for her birth mother. Her search is successful, but she doesn't get the happy reunion she imagined. Instead, she is greeted with revulsion and fear. A little extra digging yields the shocking truth: Sara's mother is the lone survivor of the Campsite Killer, a serial rapist and killer who has preyed on women every summer for more than 30 years.
The plot follows Sara's search for her father -- with the help of police. As he becomes more and more interested in Sara's life -- and more demanding of her time and attention -- their dangerous game of cat and mouse spirals predictably, but is engrossing nonetheless.
More interesting to me was Sara's search for evidence of her father's legacy in herself -- and in her impulsive and hot-headed six-year-old daughter. From their mutual history of crippling migraines to their shared affinity for coffee cookies, the similarities between serial killer father and daughter are chilling. It's a interesting take on the whole "nature vs. nurture" argument, for sure.
I liked Stevens' pacing and really enjoyed the overall storyline. I was not as enthusiastic about the "journals to the therapist" framework of the story, which is doled out in "sessions" rather than chapters. As a narrator, Sara is interesting. She's not fully reliable (after all, she might be more like her father than she feared) but her anxiety and suspicion add a nice tension to the story.
I wouldn't say I enjoyed Stevens' work as much as Gillian Flynn's, or even Jennifer McMahon's dark crime novels, but I liked it enough to seek out Still Missing.
The storyline hooked me from the jacket cover: Sara, an adopted single mother and furniture restoration artist, gets a wild hair to look for her birth mother. Her search is successful, but she doesn't get the happy reunion she imagined. Instead, she is greeted with revulsion and fear. A little extra digging yields the shocking truth: Sara's mother is the lone survivor of the Campsite Killer, a serial rapist and killer who has preyed on women every summer for more than 30 years.
The plot follows Sara's search for her father -- with the help of police. As he becomes more and more interested in Sara's life -- and more demanding of her time and attention -- their dangerous game of cat and mouse spirals predictably, but is engrossing nonetheless.
More interesting to me was Sara's search for evidence of her father's legacy in herself -- and in her impulsive and hot-headed six-year-old daughter. From their mutual history of crippling migraines to their shared affinity for coffee cookies, the similarities between serial killer father and daughter are chilling. It's a interesting take on the whole "nature vs. nurture" argument, for sure.
I liked Stevens' pacing and really enjoyed the overall storyline. I was not as enthusiastic about the "journals to the therapist" framework of the story, which is doled out in "sessions" rather than chapters. As a narrator, Sara is interesting. She's not fully reliable (after all, she might be more like her father than she feared) but her anxiety and suspicion add a nice tension to the story.
I wouldn't say I enjoyed Stevens' work as much as Gillian Flynn's, or even Jennifer McMahon's dark crime novels, but I liked it enough to seek out Still Missing.
Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
