Never Knowing - Chevy Stevens - Review AND Giveaway

Chevy Stevens hit the ground running with her debut novel - Still Missing. It was a break out thriller that ended up on the New York Times bestseller list. (my review.) Her second suspense book, Never Knowing, releases today.

Sara Gallagher was adopted when she was very young. Now as a young mother herself and about to be married, she decides to seek out her biological mother. She finds her alright....but she also finds out much more than she bargained for. Her mother is the only surviving victim of The Campsite Killer - a serial murderer who was never caught. Sara - she's the result of a rape by said killer.

When word of Sara's existence and circumstances go viral, the Campsite Killer reappears. He'd like to get to know his daughter and grand daughter. The RCMP would like to catch him and ask Sara to communicate with him.

Never Knowing is told in an interesting format. Each chapter is a session with Sara's psychiatrist, told from Sara's point of  view. (side note: This same format featuring Nadine the psychiatrist was employed in Still Missing.Chevy indicates that her third book, Always Watching, will be from the perspective of Nadine)

Stevens has again come up with a terrifying concept for a book. Sara is torn between wanting to know her biological father and wanting to put him away. Sara is an interesting character - she is high strung, prone to anger, self centered and very high maintenance. Maybe she is more like her real father than she realized? I must admit that I found Sara annoying, despite her situation. Many times I just wanted to shout at her. The supporting characters, cops and dysfunctional birth family, are all very defined, perhaps a bit too much in some cases -I found many of the characters to be  somewhat cliched - especially the adoptive father.

I enjoyed the Canadian setting and references. Never Knowing is an addictive read with some good twists and turns along the way. For me it didn't quite live up to Still Missing, but was a great page turner, perfect summer escapist reading.

Get a head start - read an excerpt of Never Knowing. And if you missed it, here's the link to my Q& A with Chevy last month.

You can find Chevy on Facebook and on Twitter.

And thanks to St. Martin's Press, I have three copies to giveaway! Open to US and Canada, no po boxes please. Simply comment to be entered. Ends Sunday July 31 at 6 pm EST.