Title: Still Missing
Author: Chevy Stevens
ISBN: 978-0-3125-9567-8
Story Length: 352
Genre: Adult/Thriller

Back Cover of Still Missing

Eh hem…well…I’m rather embarrassed.

Normally this is where I’d type out what’s written on the back cover of the book, but I can’t because this book is currently on loan to a few people and heaven only knows when I’ll see it again—if ever. (You’ll understand why I say that when you read my thoughts.)

Three Quick Points About Still Missing

• Point 1: Morbidly captivating. This book deals with some strong subject matter, but it’s so captivating you can’t pull your eyes away from it.
• Point 2: An easy writing style. Annie’s words flowed in such a conversational manner that reading from one page to the next was perfectly natural.
• Point 3: Some minor contrivances. There were a few inconsistencies in the story, but in the grand scheme of the novel they were minor.

Short Synopsis of Still Missing

Thirty-two year old realtor, Annie O’Sullivan is kidnapped from an open house and held hostage by a deranged psychopath for a year. Still Missing is where she recounts, through sessions with her therapist, what she went through (rape, beatings, psychological abuse) and the course of the investigation afterward.

My Thoughts on Still Missing

First, this book is graphic. It lays bare everything Annie went through during her captivity. It’s not gratuitous, but it will make you shudder. So fair warning.

With that bit out of the way, let me say that this book was absolutely captivating. I simply could not put it down. I thought I would read a few pages before bed and before I knew it, it was 3AM and I was flipping the last page. And then I just stared at it. My mind was reeling from it.

As a character Annie’s flawed and broken, but not so flawed and broken as to be unlikeable. At one point I remember thinking, This is a person I’d probably be friends with in real life. And the way the story unfolds it’s as if you’re right there with her in the therapist’s office or in the mountain cabin with her captor.

It’s a rare thing when a novel comes along that engages my head (the psychological), my heart (the emotional), and my body (the physical), but Still Missing did. The characters were drawn enough that I kept wondering about their motives and choices and why they made them.

At one point I literally punched the air and screamed, “YES!! Do it again!” (This makes no sense out of context, I realize, but those who’ve read this book should understand where and why such a statement would have been appropriate. Of course, those same readers will probably think I’m a sociopath for actually wanting her to do it again.)

The novel isn’t perfect, though it comes close. I’ll admit there are a few consistency issues and the psychology behind The Freak felt a bit contrived and I won’t even get started on the police procedural section (there’s one scene in particular that I’m on the fence about), and though it seems like a lot, all of those things are forgivable.

As a whole, this book was amazing…so amazing that I’ve loaned it out to several people (all but one finished it in a single day—the other finished it in two—and all of them called me squealing because “OMG!! That book was AWESOME!”) and it’s still making the rounds. It seems the book is receiving quite a bit of hype, but in this case, I believe it’s warranted.

The book can now be purchased from Amazon.com, but if you want to test the waters first, you can actually read the first two chapters for free. Grab the first chapter, in PDF format, from the MacMillan website and read the second chapter at the NYT website.

Rating: Worth Every Penny (?)