Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Cold Creek Highway stretches close to five hundred miles through British Columbia’s rugged wilderness to the west coast. Isolated and vast, it has become a prime hunting ground for predators. For decades, young women traveling the road have gone missing. Motorists and hitchhikers, those passing through or living in one of the small towns scattered along the region, have fallen prey time and again. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice.
Hailey McBride calls Cold Creek home. Her father taught her to respect nature, how to live and survive off the land, and to never travel the highway alone. Now he’s gone, leaving her a teenage orphan in the care of her aunt whose police officer husband uses his badge as a means to bully and control Hailey. Overwhelmed by grief and forbidden to work, socialize, or date, Hailey vanishes into the mountainous terrain, hoping everyone will believe she’s left town. Rumors spread that she was taken by the highway killer—who’s claimed another victim over the summer.
One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek, where her sister Amber lived—and where she was murdered. Estranged from her parents and seeking closure, Beth takes a waitressing job at the local diner, just as Amber did, desperate to understand what happened to her and why. But Beth’s search for answers puts a target on her back—and threatens to reveal the truth behind Hailey’s disappearance…
MY REVIEW
Holy cow! I am so glad I picked up this dark thriller. It will fill you full of terror and anger as you follow two young women–strangers tied to a murder victim–who track down the predator who is terrorizing a lone highway in Canada.
Heather McBride is a free spirit who has lost her beloved father. Now forced to live with her aunt and her creepy, bully cop uncle, her life is filled with dread as she avoids a controlling sleazebag who is bent on destroying her and her best friend.
Beth Chevalier is in the town her sister was murdered trying to find out the truth. What she finds is a string of lies, coverups, and danger that puts a target on her back.
I love the fact that there are two women heroines in this book. Heather is tough and very self-sufficient as she plans her disappearance to flush out the person she thinks is behind the killings at Cold Creek. After finding another victim (who is a love interest) dead along the highway, she ups her game to get justice. Beth is a law student who is out of her league in Cold Creek as she arrives broke and homeless. Determined to find out why they haven’t found her sister’s killer in over a year, she starts investigating the murder herself only to put herself in danger and find she has a suspect, but she can’t prove it. The connection between Heather and Beth is hostile at first, but they look out for each other. Beth keeps Heather’s secret and Heather protects Beth more than once from her recklessness. I like Heather’s grit and savviness as she lives off the land with her beloved pet dog, Wolf. However, as Beth points out to her, Heather is holding her best friend, Jonny, back by his loyalty to keeping her secret and keeping her safe. Beth is a drunk and an addict and stupidly getting drunk alone at night with a predator hanging around is just plain idiotic. She has baggage with high expectations from her religious parents and is lost without her only sibling who died a gruesome death. Both Heather and Beth grow from their experiences and come together in an extremely thrilling climax full of twists and turns where justice is finally served.
Pick up this book! It’s a compelling and captivating read about allegiance, determination, and vengeance for victims who cannot tell their own stories.
Thank you to Ms. Stevens for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chevy Stevens grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still calls the island home. For most of her adult life she worked in sales, first as a rep for a giftware company and then as a Realtor. While holding an open house one afternoon, she had a terrifying idea that became the inspiration for Still Missing. Chevy eventually sold her house and left real estate so she could finish the book. Still Missing went on to become a New York Times bestseller and win the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Chevy’s books have been optioned for movies and are published in more than thirty countries.
Follow Chevy on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.