Thursday 9 August 2018

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens Book Review

After such a combination of feelings recently from reading 5 Years From Now which was an absolute heartbreaker to the shock I felt from The Sisters in such a short space of time I knew that reading Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens next would have a lot to live up to. So far this year I've enjoyed every single book I've read and there has been such a mix, but after loving the thriller that The Sisters was, I decided to stick with that genre and give this a go. George read it before me and actually flew through it, but I was actually left with very mixed feelings.
Chevy Stevens, Never Let You Go
She thought she'd escaped him forever. But will he ever let her go? Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash fled into the night with her young daughter, leaving an abusive relationship behind. Her ex-husband ended up in jail and Lindsey started a new life. Now, Lindsey is older, wiser and believes she has cut all ties with the past. But when Andrew is released from prison, strange things start happening. Lindsey's new boyfriend is threatened, her home invaded and her daughter followed. Her ex-husband denies all knowledge, but Lindsey is convinced he's responsible. Because, after all, who else could it be...?

My review

Out of all of the books I've read this year, so far this is the one that's kind of left me feeling a little flat. I loved the idea of this book, similar to The Sisters in that it's a thriller and focuses around weird happenings going on and not knowing whose behind them but after finishing it I found there was more I was disappointed with than the things I enjoyed. This is told by both Lindsey and her daughter Sophie, and we also have flashbacks so there is a lot of toing and froing throughout. I've mentioned before that I'm not usually a big fan of a two person narrative as I find it can get a little confusing and this book kind of backed that up. I found myself having to go back several times to re-read parts and figure out how far on we had jumped as it did sometimes go from 2005, to 2016 and then to 2007 and so on, so it was definitely a little all over the place at times!

Despite this I do think Chevy Stevens has done a great job of writing about a sensitive subject like domestic abuse. It was very uncomfortable at times and really showed the impact that it had on Lindsey, her daughter and both of their futures, showing that no matter how long it's been, it's not something you ever really get over. Though I didn't love the story been told by both Lindsey and Sophie, I do understand why it was written like that and at times it did give detail that we'd not had previously and showed how both were dealing with their past.

Whilst I also understand why there was so much build up in the first half of the book, taking us back in time to show what Andrew and Lindsey's relationship was like, I do think it dragged on for a little too long. I found I was starting to lose attention about half way through and whilst I was sure it was going to pick and go somewhere, it took a while for it to gain some momentum. As Andrew had been released from prison when weird things started happening to Lindsey - emails being opened, indentations on her bed, keys being moved etc, you do think initially, well it must be him? He wants revenge for going to prison? If you've not read this I don't want to spoil it for you but as you can imagine it's not at all as straightforward as that and I actually think I suspected almost every single person Lindsey interacted with at one point as I felt it was just too obvious for it to be Andrew after just having got his life back.

We meet several characters in the book, Lindsey's new boyfriend Greg, friend Marcus, her employees, Sophies boyfriend Jared and at times I felt like it could have been any of them for some reason wanting to hurt Lindsey. When the twist was revealed and we finally figure out who is to blame I have to say, I don't think it was a massive shock. I mainly flitted between two of the characters, one seemed too good to be true and the other just a little creepy, but then when it was revealed, it was wrapped up very quickly and I just don't think there had been enough build up or tension to that moment. I didn't feel any sort of WOW moment happened in the book and whilst towards the end I did get stuck in and want to finish it to see how everything ended, I didn't feel anything like I did when I finished The Sisters which also had a big twist and really had me gripped throughout, and blown away by the end. Whilst this is in no way a bad book, for me personally there was something missing. It's actually got great reviews online mostly so I'm sure I'm just part of a small minority with feeling like this, but maybe it's just because I've read some really outstanding books over the last few months, that this just had a lot to live up to. It's currently only £2 on Amazon though so I would say it's worth a read whilst it's such a bargain. You might love it, it just wasn't one of the best books I've read recently.

Have you read Never Let You Go? What did you think?


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