Today, Hartford Books Examiner reviews Still Missing (St. Martin’s Press, $ 24.99) by debut novelist Chevy Stevens.
One of the most talked about suspense thrillers of the summer, Still Missing tells the story of Annie O’ Sullivan—a thirty-two-year-old Realtor who heads out to show a house one summer afternoon and doesn’t come home that night. Or the next. When she resurfaces a year later, it is as a shell of the person she used to be.
Near the close of the open house, Annie is abducted by a stranger in a van who transports her to a remote mountain cabin on Vancouver Island, where he repeatedly beats, rapes, and terrorizes her. As the days and nights of her captivity begin to blur together, Annie is forced to conform to the whims of a psychopath (“The Freak”)—and to sacrifice parts of herself in an effort to survive.
Annie’s story unravels in a series of sessions with her psychiatrist, each of which finds her recounting her struggles both to endure her abductor’s brutality and to regain a semblance of normalcy. These alternating series of events unfold in chronological order, which is an effective mechanism to show both the depth of Annie’s despair and the notability of her progress. Lesser authors might fall into the trap of too much, too soon, but Stevens masterfully achieves a balance of subtlety and believability that sustains her story.
Not only does Annie have to readjust to a free existence—which means regaining abilities such as going to the bathroom at will and sleeping in her own bed at night (as opposed to the confines of a closet)—but she also has to come to terms with those people that were left behind, including her self-absorbed mother and her then-boyfriend, Luke. And as much as they may want to proceed as if nothing has changed, they must first understand that the Annie that was taken from them is not the same Annie that has come home.
Amidst the everyday frustrations and frights that Annie must confront, she is also forced to endure the onslaught of media attention that her story has attracted. Though she may simply want to forget, she realizes that it’s remembering that will ultimately liberate her, and so she embraces therapy with a compulsion that drives her to explore the depths of her being. But the closer she comes to achieving absolute clarity, the more likely she is to discover a truth so shocking that her world will be forever changed. Again.
With Still Missing, Chevy Stevens has crafted an unforgettable page-turner—one that fully embraces darkness while also retaining the hope of reaching the other side. Born from a simple what if? moment, her chilling scenario is elevated by intricate plotting and organic character development. And the ending is one that you will never see coming—but will not soon forget. Read at your own risk: You may just find yourself suffering a few sleepless nights…
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Coming tomorrow: Hartford Books Examiner’s exclusive interview with author Chevy Stevens.
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