AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Still Missing

TITLE: Still Missing
AUTHOR: Chevy Stevens
NARRATOR: Angela Dawe
PUBLISHER: Brilliance Audio
DATE OF PUBLICATION: June 24, 2010
FORMAT: Unabridged WMA Audiobook (9 hours, 6 minutes)
GENRE: Suspense, Mystery, Thriller
ISBN: 978-1441843234

SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

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 identity of her captor. 

Still Missing is that rare debut find--a shocking, visceral, brutal and beautifully crafted debut novel. 

MY REVIEW:

This is the debut novel by this author.

Wow, what a page-turner!! It has been nominated for the International Thriller of the Year Award in the Best First Novel Category, and the winner will be announced in July. In Canada, it has been nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award in the Best First Novel Category and the winner will be announced on June 2^nd.

Stevens was a realtor on Vancouver Island and, during open houses, imagined the worst things that could happen to her and this was the inspiration for her book.

The book is about a 32-year old realtor, Annie O’Sullivan, who gets abducted by a psychopath and is held captive. The story is told in Annie’s sessions with the psychiatrist as she recounts her ordeal.

I was expecting that the story would not be as effective retold as a narrative, but it was gripping from the first chapter, filled with non-stop suspense. I was also thinking to myself, “Oh, great. Now I know that she managed to get away, so how exciting is this book going to be?” I was wrong again. Stevens threw in a couple of twists that I did not see coming.

I hope Stevens is not a one-hit wonder, and I am eagerly awaiting her second novel entitled Never Knowing to be released on July 5, 2011.

The narrator for the audiobook, Angela Dawe, was fantastic!

MY RATING: 5 stars!!

This book qualifies as:
#32 for my 2011 100+ Reading Challenge
#21 for my 2011 Audio Book Challenge
#21 for my 2011 "Whisper Stories in My Ear" Challenge