Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevensβ Audio
Book Blurb:
Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband was sent to jail and she started over with a new life. Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When her ex-husband is finally released, Lindsey believes sheβs cut all ties. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced itβs her ex-husband, even though he claims heβs a different person. But can he really change? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought?
My Review: 3.5 stars
Never Let You Go is a domestic abuse story that falls into the thriller/mystery genre. Books that involve any type of abuse are difficult to read. I often wonder why so many become such big hits. Iβll never forget when Oprah announced Anna Quindlenβs book, Black and Blue, during her famous run with book cubs. It was thankfully my first experience with understanding the cycle of abuse and why women stay. In my opinion, that book opened the gate in making domestic thrillers such a popular genre.
Chevy Stevens can write an addicting story. She paces the novel at a good speed and introduces characters just when A few characters were red herrings and they all had reasons for the reader to believe that he or she was the βbad guyβ. They all had messy pasts that we knew little about, whichΒ made them just enough off kilter.
Told from the first person POV, we got inside the characterβs heads, which in this case was both a pro and a con. Being inside the daughterβs mind altered the plot entirely as her outlook on the situation was so different from her momβs. It made the reader decide if either of them could beΒ reliable narrators. I felt Lindsey, the mom, was so naΓ―ve. It border lined being unrealistic. With that said, Iβm not sure that her first person POV worked for me.