Dark Roads, a review by Amy

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Dark Roads
Chevy Stevens
384 pages
St. Martin’s Press
August 3, 2021

Amazon

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Foreboding, ominous, and heart wrenching. A perfectly executed mystery/thriller that I couldn’t put down.

I found my chest tight and my breathing shallow. This intense mystery captivated me and took me on the daring with these brave women. With every trauma Hailey and Beth experienced, I physically felt their fear, anxiety, and boldness.

I love a strong female protagonist. And with this story, you get not one but two kickass females. Hailey and Beth are nothing alike, yet they share a common bond. It was easy to relate to both and to empathize greatly with their situations. Even in moments that I questioned their choices, I was deeply invested in their stories.

While this is a wild ride, it isn’t exactly fast paced. I would consider this a slow burn with lots of backstory and plenty of insight into the characters’ thoughts and motives, and it worked incredibly well for me. The characters were painted with a depth that kept me invested in their outcomes.

Sometimes I forget the extent of evil that exists. Books like this help me remember. Vaughn is the perfect villain… Repugnant. Vile. He evoked immense loathing. And while he is not real, he is based on actual monsters. But don’t be deceived. He’s not the only one.

But what really deserves a spotlight…the execution of the prologue and epilogue! They are works of art! It’s not just that they perfectly drew me in and left me fulfilled (They did!). It’s the way they are intertwined. The thread at the beginning of the book is masterfully connected to the one tying up the ending of the book, and it was extraordinarily satisfying.

The author’s note at the end shouldn’t be missed. This novel is a work of fiction. But it is based on real events along the Highway of Tears in Northern British Columbia where women have been murdered or gone missing since the 1970s. Just as Stevens paints this highway as a “desolate road haunted by the lost souls of women who search for the answers to their deaths,” so does the actual Highway of Tears.

This thought provoking, well executed mystery/thriller is not one to be missed

Happy reading!

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