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In her recent novel, Always Watching, Chevy Stevens tackles
an interesting topic, cult life. I have always been intrigued by cults and the
reasons why people join them and this book provides a great insight, albeit
fictional, into the world of cults.
Goodreads provides this description of Always Watching:
She helps people put their demons to rest.
But she has a few of her own…
In the lockdown ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Nadine
Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the
desire—healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want
to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life
that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent
claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the
streets for seven years.
When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the
Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes
her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life.
Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the
damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a
remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their
family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring
complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today?
And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realizes that
danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face
what terrifies her the most…and fight back.
Sometimes you can leave the past, but you can never escape.
I have only read two novels by Chevy Stevens and this one is
pretty interesting. Stevens takes on and interprets the “cult” life pretty well
in Always Watching. The story kept my interest but it did not captivate me as
much as the other novel of hers I read called That Night. Perhaps because the
plotline was drawn out a bit, as the main character Nadine tries to wrestle her
own demons about her experience in the cult life. Or perhaps the ending was too
predictable? I gave this book a solid 3-stars on Goodreads. I would recommend
this book to anyone who is a Chevy Stevens fan or a fan of mystery.
Guest Reviewer: Kara Kelly
A copy of the book was provided and there was no monetary compensation.
CHEVY STEVENS grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still lives on the island with her husband and daughter. When she's not working on her next book, she's camping and canoeing with her family in the local mountains. Her debut novel, STILL MISSING, won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Please visit her at www.chevystevens.com.
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