Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 8/3/2021

Pages: 374

Genre: Murder/Mystery/Thriller

Review: ARC received from NetGalley

Amazon

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…

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.” 

This is one of those books that I started reading, and I was like, oh, I already know who the bad guy is, then bam, I was half wrong. Like I so did not see that coming at all. Cold Creek is a small town that many would love to live in, yet not female. We are introduced to our main character, which is just awesome all around. Hailey has her world turned upside down when her father is no longer in her life, and she has to move in with her aunt and her husband, Vaughn. Her life is not like it was as he is a cop and has it out for her. She can not do anything without him knowing about it, and he is creepy. To the point that Hailey starts getting suspicious and decides to start investigating, and when she does, Hailey ends up taking matters into her own hands. With girls along the highway disappearing and no one knowing who is behind it, Hailey disappears, but not everything is what it seems. Then in comes Beth, who is there because her sister's murder has not been solved, and she is determined to solve it, but she will find herself in the crosshairs, and with her being nosey, I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. If you like suspense and being wrong with who is behind the crime, pick this up. It is good, and it is hard to put down once you start it. You will want to devour it to find out what happens. I will say I truly enjoyed Hailey as a character because she was tough, caring, and seemed not scared. It was refreshing to have a character like her. 

CHEVY STEVENS lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s hiking with her two dogs on her favorite mountain trails and spending time with her family. Chevy's current obsessions are vintage airstreams, Hollywood memoirs, and all things mid-century modern.

Chevy's debut novel, STILL MISSING, was a New York Times bestseller and won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Her books, including THOSE GIRLS which Stephen King called "incredibly scary" have been published in more than thirty countries. Her seventh novel, DARK ROADS, will be released summer 2021.

Please visit her at www.ChevyStevens.com.