Book Review: Still Missing

"On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.

Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape--her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the indentity of her captor." ~ From Goodreads

Chevy Stevens' debut novel, Still Missing is the story of Annie, a successful realtor whose life gets turned upside down after she's abducted at an open house. Annie's conversations with her psychiatrist give us glimpses into what life was like in captivity and they also reveal that just because Annie's now free doesn't mean she has escaped the grips of her kidnapper (dubbed, appropriately, the Freak.) I found Still Missing to be more creepy than scary, in the kind of way that slowly makes it's way into your bones as you find yourself thinking, Well, I guess that could happen to anyone...I'm not a realtor, but I would expect that reading this might have the same effect on them as Jaws did on swimmers.

Characters - Post-trauma Annie is tough and caustic and quite obviously not the easiest person to get along with. Understandably. Even if it was difficult to relate to Annie on every level I liked her and found myself rooting for her. The Freak was pretty gross and completely twisted, but there's been villains I've read about that have scared me much more. As for the supporting characters--like Annie's pretty much perfect boyfriend--I found them to be kind of one note, perhaps because by the time Annie's retelling the story she has become very focused on herself. I did find myself seeing the appeal of the sexy detective though. 

Plot -  This book has a big twist at the end, which I'm not sure really worked for me. Not that it was completely unexpected, as the author did leave a trail of breadcrumbs, but it seemed to me that by the end of the book a lot of things got to be a little surreal. I suspended disbelief in the case of Annie's escape--mostly because I wanted her to be okay, I think--but the final twist just seemed to be salt in the wound. A little too much, in my opinion. If you've read this I'd love to know your thoughts on the twist and what you thought of the novel in general!

First Line - "You know, Doc, you're not the first shrink I've seen since I got back."


Overall I thought Still Missing was an engrossing read, perhaps a little more serious than books I usually gravitate towards. I enjoyed Annie's spirit and left this book hoping that she would, one day, be fully healed.

P.S. I was having a bit of trouble publishing this blog post today and, in the process, accidentally deleted the Wedding Wednesday post and all your wonderful comments. I guess these are the things clumsy newbie bloggers get to stumble over. Or maybe it's just me!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!