Review: Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

Being addicted to ID Discovery shows about murder and mayhem, I was instantly intrigued by Chevy Stevens's newest novel, Dark Roads. I vaguely remember watching a special about a Canadian highway that was the last known location of a lot of missing women and is believed to be the hunting route of a serial killer. So when I read the synopsis of Dark Roads, about a similar stretch of highway through the dark Canadian wilderness where women from all walks of life, especially indigenous women, disappear never to be seen or heard from again, I knew I needed to add it to my TBR pile.

The story is narrated by two young women who experience first-hand the evil that can lurk in the dark. Hailey was recently orphaned when her father died in a tragic accident and now has to live with her aunt and uncle. Her Uncle Vaughn is referred to as "The Iceman" by the kids in town because of his strict demeanor. He is always nagging Hailey about not walking or biking at night along the Cold Creek Highway. An apparent control freak, Vaughn and Hailey do not get along well under the best of circumstances, so it's no surprise that things come to a head when Hailey discovers that Vaughn is keeping a dark and dangerous secret. Fearing for her safety, Hailey runs away to live off the grid in an attempt to free herself from Vaughn's control. It doesn't take long for the town to assume that Hailey too has become a victim of the Cold Creek Highway.

One year passes and the story picks up with Beth, a young woman who drops out of law school after her sister is found murdered in a ditch along the infamous highway. Beth is struggling to come to terms with her sister's death and the fact that the police don't seem to have answers about the monster who destroyed her family's lives. She decides to visit Cold Creek herself and steps into the life her sister lived, waitressing at the same restaurant and living out of a motel before deciding to set herself up at the local campground. When Beth accidentally crosses paths with Hailey, the two girls must work together to stay out of the clutches of a ruthless killer who is watching their every move.

This turned out to be a completely different story from what I had been expecting, but I still enjoyed it. Dark Roads started off really strong. I flew through the first part of the book where Hailey was the only narrator. Stevens did a wonderful job of developing characters and building the 'creep' factor. Her ability to create a realistic setting is quite impressive. Unfortunately, the novel really slowed when the narrator switched to Beth and took quite awhile to pick back up again. Having read the whole book now, I would say this is just a minor flaw considering the intensity takes back over for the last 20% of the book. There were times I considered not finishing it because I was bored of Beth's day to day life in Cold Creek, but I'm so glad I stuck with it because what followed was action-packed and exciting! There will be a few spots you'll have to trudge through in order to get to the thrilling ending, but it really is worth it! If that sounds like something you can handle, go check it out!

My Rating: ★★★★☆

At the time of this post, this title is set to be released on August 3rd, 2021.

*Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Review: The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

One thing I love is a good scary movie from the 1980s, before horror movies became all about the gore and shock value. When I read the synopsis of Grady Hendrix's novel, The Final Girl Support Group, I knew it was something I would have to read. It follows the lives of several "final girls" decades after they each became the sole survivor in their own real-life horror movie. Many of these women's tales inspired hokey film franchises and tell-all books written by horror-obsessed fans. Lynette is one of these final girls and finds life after tragedy to be difficult, to put it mildly. Scared that she'll one day be the target of a psychotic killer again, she practically lives as a shut-in, literally behind a cage she's installed in her apartment. She has no one in her life, besides a plant she talks to and her fellow final girls, who meet monthly for a group therapy session in secret. All of Lynette's precautions prove inadequate though when the final girls become the target of someone who wants them all dead. She must face her fears of the outside world and put decades' worth of preparation into action if she wants to survive and save the only people who understand her.

This book was a fun read! It got a bit over-the-top with the gore and violence for me in a few bits, but I'm not going to hold that against the story because it is in the appropriate horror genre. It honestly felt like I was watching a modern-day horror movie. There were a lot of connections to famous horror films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Scream, just to name a few. I found myself spooked quite a few times while reading this late at night when I was the only one in the house awake. My biggest complaint is that the ending to the big scene at the end seemed a little rushed. I went back a few pages just to make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped over a big chunk because I couldn't really believe that was it. The build up to the scene was great and then it just deflated. There were also several instances throughout the novel where the characters were just too unbelievable or stared to annoy me. Lynette could be very repetitive and whiny. Also, there's no way the cops would have acted towards Lynette the way they did in the novel. I mean, they refuse her right to a lawyer, lock her up for days while taunting her with graphic material related to her traumatic past. Maybe a handful of cops would've been jerks, but an entire station psychologically abusing someone like that without repercussions just seems so far-fetched. 

Overall, The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is worth your time, especially if you're a fan of classic horror movies. Despite some minor issues with the story, it is mostly fast-paced and suspenseful with some surprising twists and a lot of bad-ass female characters. 

My Rating: ★★★★☆

At the time of this post, this title is set to be released on July 13th, 2021.

*Thanks to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Review: The Therapist by B.A. Paris

I always forget how much I love B.A. Paris's writing until I start another one of her novels and then her talent is hard to ignore! I've loved some of her previous works, including Behind Closed Doors, The Break Down, and The Dilemma. She writes in the domestic suspense genre, which is important to know. I would not describe her novels as thrillers, but they keep me up reading late into the night regardless. If you're unfamiliar with her work, you should really check out some of her books. Her latest release, The Therapist, would be a great place to start!

Much like her previous work, The Therapist is a slow burn with a lot of character development and tension that builds with each page until an intense climax. The reader follows Alice, a woman who moves into a gated community in London with her boyfriend, Leo. Hoping that this will be the start of their happily-ever-after, Alice blissfully moves into one of the twelve homes in The Circle and immediately tries to make friends with the neighbors. It doesn't take long before Alice learns that the former owners of their new beautiful home met a tragic end in an apparent murder-suicide. The murdered woman shares the name of Alice's sister who, along with their parents, died a long time ago in a car accident. Because of this coincidence, Alice becomes obsessed with the details of the murder and is not ready to accept the murder-suicide label as fact. Enter a mysterious stranger who crashes a party within The Circle's gated community, which sets Alice off on what may or may not be a delusional trip down the rabbit hole.

If you've enjoyed B.A. Paris's previous work, you're sure to enjoy this latest novel as well. If you haven't read this author before, then you're in for a real treat!

My Rating: ★★★★★

At the time of this post, this title is set to be released on July 13th, 2021.

*Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Review: Fallen by Linda Castillo

Reading the next installment in the Kate Burkholder series has become a summer tradition for me. After the school year ends, I read the next short story in the series and then dive into the next novel as soon as it becomes available. I love this series and cannot wait to read about Kate's next adventure as a cop in Amish country and also check in on how her relationship with Tomasetti is progressing. 

I have no idea how she does it, but Linda Castillo has written another amazing thriller starring the ex-Amish Chief of Police. Fallen starts out with a bang as the opening scene details the murder of another formerly Amish woman who returned to Painters Mill only to be greeted by a murderer. The beginning is definitely graphic, which will bother some readers, but I didn't find it overly grotesque. It definitely gave the story an edge that has not always been present in previous Kate Burkholder novels. Kate feels connected to the victim because of her own experiences leaving the Amish fold and sets out to apprehend the killer before more victims show up. This novel is full of suspense and has twist after twist to keep you on your toes. All of the readers' favorite characters are there to support Kate as well.

I consistently give 4-star reviews to many of these books. I love the characters and the mysteries are always entertaining, but, as you probably already know, I'm stingy when it comes to giving out 5-star ratings. In fact, the last Burkholder novel I gave 5 stars to was #8, Among the Wicked. It has to be un-put-down-able (yes, I'm making a new word here) to earn such a high rating from me and I'm so happy to say that Fallen checked all the boxes. I devoured it in two sittings. It was so action-packed and suspenseful that the pages seemed to turn themselves. Kudos to Linda Castillo for being able to still write such fresh and exciting material thirteen novels in to a series. The only bummer here is that now I have to wait a whole year to read the next one!

My Rating: ★★★★★

At the time of this post, this title is set to be released on July 6, 2021.

*Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!