One of my favorite ways to rest is by curling up with a good book. Like movies and music, all genres appeal to me, and I give all my books a shot. There are a few ways I find new books to read: Goodreads, my two book clubs, friends’ recommendations, and browsing the internet. My favorite author is Greg Iles, and the books I am most interested in reading are nonfiction books about the Holocaust.
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Always Watching
Last week I read Always Watching by Chevy Stephens. This was the current month’s read selection for my Mystery Me Book Club at the local library. I really like mystery books, and when the inside cover summary mentioned psychiatric hospital, I took the bait.
About the book
From the Amazon website:
“In the lockdown ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Nadine Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the desire―healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for seven years.
When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her―and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today?
And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realizes that danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most…and fight back, in Always Watching by Chevy Stevens.”
About the author
Taken from the Amazon website:
“CHEVY STEVENS grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still lives on the island with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s camping and canoeing with her family in the local mountains. Her debut novel, STILL MISSING, won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Please visit her at www.chevystevens.com.”
My review
This was an okay book. I liked the main character and the premise of the plot, but it was not a real page turner for me. There were a few surprises near the end, but nothing that left a lasting impression. If you’re a mystery book reader, you will most likely guess what is happening before it is revealed. This is not to say I wouldn’t read other novels by this author. She is an entertaining writer, and gives the character an appealing personality.
Conclusion
On Goodreads, I gave this book 3 out of five stars, and will most likely read other novels by this author.
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