I was captivated by Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens, an author I was not familiar with. Set in British Columbia’s rugged wilderness, this well-written, atmospheric thriller is exciting, chilling, heart-pounding, and fascinating! The plot revolves around a ruthless killer of young women along the Cold Creek Highway, and the survival of 17-year-old Hailey, who is living with her aunt, creepy, controlling policeman uncle Vaughn, and their young son. The well-crafted characters are compelling and kept me riveted. I look forward to reading more by Stevens.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a digital ARC of Dark Roads in exchange for an honest review.

Seventeen-year-old Hailey must move in with her Aunt Lana and her police officer husband, Vaughn when her father dies in a car accident. Vaughn is well known and widely disliked in the town of Cold Creek as he uses his position as a police officer to bully and control. Hailey had the barrier of her father before his death, but that protection goes away now that he’s gone. The problems between Hailey and Vaughn are immediate, and just like her I’d have been counting the days until I turned eighteen!

Vaughn infuriated me! I can’t stand it when men go into policing because they crave power over others, but Vaugh was worse. Every time Hailey thinks of a way around his rules, to grab some independence he’s there to screw things up. It soon becomes apparent that he’s not just a control freak, male chauvinist, but he’s a dangerous man. Anyone stepping in to help Hailey risks his rath as well, so she decides to disappear until she’s of legal age.

While this is playing out, the mystery of missing and murdered women on the Cold Creek Highway becomes the central focus when another local woman, Amber, is found murdered. It’s speculated that Hailey’s own disappearance might be at the hands of the Cold Creek murderer, as well.

The murder of her sister, Amber, hits Beth hard, derailing her life plans. She travels to Cold Creek to find some closure and ends up staying to find out what happened to Amber, putting Beth in danger. She’s overcome by grief and sort of directionless, and at this point isn’t super concerned about safety. I was more than a little worried for her. Thankfully, she’s got a couple of people looking out for her. I was happy there was a bit of romance for Beth even though this story is mainly a mystery/thriller.

I started Dark Roads on the way back from vacation, and I couldn’t stop the story when I got home! I was on the edge of my seat guessing about what would happen next and wondering how it’d all turn out. It was a nail biter at times! I wanted justice for all these poor women, and I wanted Hailey to prevail! I was pleased to be surprised at the identity of the killer, but also happy that it didn’t completely come out of left field.

I was excited to get an audio copy because I’m already a fan of the performers. I love both Angela Dawe and Brittany Pressley’s narration, and each performed a main role: Beth and Hailey respectively. Isabella Star LeBlanc is a new to me narrator, but she had a lovely voice. I think she performed the prologue and epilogue, each leaving a lasting impression. The audio version is a total recommend!

This was a tough one to put down! I did figure out some of the story pretty early on, which is kind of rare for me, but it was really good! Chevy Stevens does a great job writing characters the reader cares about and roots for. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Being set in a wilderness in BC this one promises to be a thriller. Women have been going missing for a long time. Also some people passing through or living in the region have been prey. No one has been brought to justice for this either. Hailey lives in Cold Creek and stages her vanishing. Reading this will give you the why. Later Beth who actually had a sister who was murdered comes to find answers. In doing so though she is now in danger with the truth on Haily could be uncovered. Turning the pages on this thriller I was glad I picked it up.

Dark Roads opens with a first sentence that literally sent chills down my spine. I had to read it over a few times just to absorb where I was headed. What a powerful and intense prologue! This is a tale told by multiple narrators who's strategically placed stories fall in just the right places over the landscaping of the book.

Hailey McBride is orphaned and living with caretakers one of which she does not have a good relationship with. He tries to show her that he has her best interest at heart. But does he really? You tell me. Yikes! She has a close friend Jonny and memories of things she was taught by her father that help her daily to cope with such challenges.

Beth Chevalier wants answers. Will she get them or will she lose her life trying to obtain them? She is a troubled girl. Troubled by the murder of her sister and the not so closeness of her family dynamics.

Be warned. This takes a dark and twisted course with some sketchy characters along the way. It is very well paced and very well done. It gets you invested in the characters even though some of their false moves will make you gag. There are some twists that will make you hold your breath as you read them. This is a book that you will feel guilty when telling others that it is good. Please stay off of dark roads.

While a fan of the prologue, I was not a fan of the epilogue although I can see why the author found it necessary. Overall a 5 star read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book.

4 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This was a good, fast-paced mystery/thriller set in a small town in British Columbia. The Cold Creek Highway stretches 500 miles through small towns and isolated wilderness in B.C. For decades young women traveling the road alone have gone missing. Some bodies turn up, some don't. The killer, or killers, have never been arrested.

The first part of the book told the story of Hailey. Her father had just passed away and she's sent to live with her aunt and the aunt's controlling police officer husband. Hailey and her father were close, sharing their love of nature and the outdoors. He taught her how to respect the wilderness and survive in it. When life with her aunt and her husband becomes intolerable, she vanishes into the mountains hoping that people will believe she's left town. But it's worse than that, people think she's fallen victim of the highway killer.

The next part of the book deals with Hailey's life on the mountain, and the last part of the book is set a year later and centers mostly on a new character, Beth. Beth arrives in Cold Creek looking for answers and closure after the death of her sister Amber, the Cold Creek killer's apparent last victim. She takes a job in the diner where Amber last worked. As Beth searches for answers to Amber's death, she puts herself, and Hailey's life in danger.

The book started out slowly, but the pace picked up and stayed there until the end. I enjoyed the book and thought it had interesting characters and lots of twists and turns. I really liked Hailey and Beth. They were smart and brave, but a bit reckless. Both characters were fairly well developed, although I thought Hailey's best friend was a bit flat. The aunt's police officer husband totally creeped me out. The author did a good job of making the aunt's husband menacing, although his actions toward Hailey didn't make sense at times - unless he was a complete jerk and then it made total sense. For awhile I couldn't tell if he was just a total jerk, or if he had something to hide, or both. If you're looking for a creepy mystery/thriller, this is a good book to read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.

The story starts out with death talking - beautiful young girls taking chances - dying on dark roads - a five hundred mile highway - littered with death. A story conceived in truth that is uglier than any lie. Beautiful young girls that everyone should have cared about but few did.

If you accept the premise that Hailey, the central character, is an extraordinary teenager you should have no trouble believing her story. If you tend to be a bit of a skeptic, you might question her super abilities thinking Ms. Stevens has put an awful lot on this character’s shoulders. Believing her “future was a long bridge hanging over a dark hole” Hailey is willing to take extreme chances to even the odds hoping to survive. Weaving the story with dark, evil, and abusive antagonists it is difficult to separate the overpowering sense of loss and helplessness front the psychological terror. It is almost impossible to find a way out of the darkness and rip through the web of threats, lies and deceit. The protectors are equally fierce and you realize there is going to be an horrific showdown.

The story embraces love and caring relationships most of which fail far short of fruition. The loss of a partner, father, lover, child, friend is front and center though out the story. The choices and reasons which turn a person to or from good or evil were not always easy to discern. Clues were hard to come by and long in coming. The author is a master of distraction showing only flashes of what is to come.

Shorter and less would have been more. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy.

I think this is the first book by Chevy Stevens that I have listened to (I've read all but one of her books). I'm not sure if it was because I listened to it but I didn't feel like as intense of a read as her other books. I've often said of her previous books that the plots could have been ripped from newspaper headlines. Ironically, Dark Roads is loosely based on real events. While Cold Creek Highway is fictional, there is a highway in Canada that a number of women have been murdered.

It was still a book I didn't want to put down. And there is quite the curveball. I didn't see it coming at all (did I not listen carefully enough?) and my jaw literally dropped when it landed.

I liked characters. The story is told from the points of view of Hailey McBride and Beth Chevalier. I think I liked Beth a bit more than Hailey, but they are both strong characters. Johnny is a great secondary character. He's a wonderful friend to both girls and tries so hard to do the right thing.

The audiobook has multiple narrators. Even so, I did occasionally have trouble telling the difference between the girls when the story switched POVs. I actually didn't realize there were different narrators until Hailey and Beth are speaking to one another. It was a Beth chapter and Hailey sounded different than she did in her own chapters. It is a small thing and didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the story.

If you are looking for a good domestic thriller, then you can't go wrong with this book.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Thursday, August 5 - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2021/08/2-audiobooks-to-kick-off-august.html

I love watching true crime shows and when I saw that this was loosely based on the Highway of Tears in Canada, I could not wait to read it. And boy it did not disappoint!

There's a serial killer on the loose in the small town of Cold Creek. Women have been going missing along this long stretch of highway for decades. The sheer thought of a killer in this small town has been scaring locals and baffling cops for years.

The story follows Hailey McBride who has become orphaned and sent to live with her aunt and very strict uncle. Her uncle is a cop that hates her best friend, dislikes what she wears, and does not trust her. Hailey grew up with a dad that loved the wilderness and enjoyed teaching his survival skills to his daughter. Once she moves in with her uncle, she starts to feel threathen and pushed in a corner so she decides to put her survival skills to the test and runs away to hide in the woods. We follow her point of view through part one of the book until the next murdered victim hits too close to home.

Part two follows Beth Chevalier who leaves law school to uncover what happened to her murdered sister. Desperate to find out what really happened, she leaves empty handed and lives in her car in Cold Creek. She follows her footsteps by getting the same job and seeking out her sister's inner circle of friends. Could you imagine what that would be like??

Chevy Stevens' writing puts you right in the wilderness along with Hailey. The story is gripping from start to end and it kept me guessing through out the book. Stevens writes a compelling story with great characters. I will be looking forward to reading more books by Stevens.

A possible serial killer is loose along some Dark Roads in this new character-driven thriller.

Seventeen-year-old Hailey’s parents are dead, so she moves in with her Aunt Lana and five-year-old nephew, Cash. Unfortunately, Lana’s husband, Vaughn, lives there too.

Vaughn is a police sergeant in the small rural town. He feels that gives him the right to restrict Hailey’s life in a way unacceptable to her. He doesn’t like her best friend, Jonny, or her crush, Amber.

After finding some disturbing photos, Hailey runs away and hides in the woods. But the townspeople believe she is a victim of the local serial killer.

Dark Roads in a dark tense look into three women’s lives and the bad choices that dog them. While it’s tense, it is overlong and slow to get to a thriller’s pace. So, I think this book would be better for literary fiction or slice-of-life fans instead of readers looking for a traditional thriller. For me, 3 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Chevy Stevens never disappoints! A great mystery that turns out is based of a true crime that has never been solved. Chevy gives the victims a voice as she weaves a fictional outcome that I really didn't see coming. Perfect quick read that will keep you reading until you've finished.

Darks Roads by Chevy Stevens is a thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat. There is a stretch of highway in British Columbia where women have gone missing for years. What happens to them and why has no one been caught? At the start of the story, we meet Hailey, a recently orphaned girl, who is now in a bad situation. She is living with her aunt and her husband and things seems to be getting worse. Her saving grace are her best friend Johnny and Amber. When she fears for her life, she runs away to the same area where others have gone missing.

Now Hailey’s friend, Amber has gone missing and her sister, Beth, is determined to find out what happened to her. She is not afraid of the stir she is causing as long as she finds out the truth. This story was hard to read at times, but I could not stop turning the pages.

Happy reading!

Many young girls have gone missing along the stretch known as Cold Creek Highway - a place where predators have taken lives for many decades. With dense, mountainous forests stretching along both sides of the highway, and old logging roads winding through the area, it's the ideal place for murderers to go undetected.

The story starts with a prologue that will hook you right in. A victim of the highway begins to tell her tale, then leads you into the stories of three young women: Hailey, Amber, and Beth. Each young woman tells her story and, as the novel unfolds, you will begin to see how they are all interconnected. Hailey is a newly orphaned 17 year old who misses her father and wants to escape the household of her controlling uncle. Amber is young and free-spirited, trying to make her way in the world alone after leaving the home of her very religious parents. Beth is questioning her path in life, after her sister becomes a victim to the highway killer, and leaves home to find answers and the peace she so desperately needs. Chevy Stevens does a magnificent job of pulling you into the lives of the women so that you root for them every step of the way.

The characters in this novel are so well crafted that you will suspect many of them are the killer along the way. I read this novel in one sitting as I didn't want to put it down until I could see how it would end. The story was fascinating, horrifying, suspenseful, and scary. This was my first novel by Chevy Stevens and it won't be my last. Also, I want a dog like Wolf. :)

Thank you too #Goodreads and #St.Martin'sPress for an ARC of #DarkRoads by #Chevy Stevens in exchange for an honest review.

Don't you love it when one of your most highly anticipated books meets all your expectations? I do! I just knew Dark Roads was going to be special. What I didn't anticipate was it sucking me in on page one and keeping its claws in me until The End . . . in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, I pulled an all-nighter reading this one. It's that good!

Dark Roads is a well-crafted, high octane thriller with serious creepy vibes. For years, young women (especially First Nation heritage) have disappeared along the rugged, isolated five hundred miles of highway running through British Columbia including the small town of Cold Creek. Some are never found, but the brutally tortured bodies of others are discovered. The killer has never been caught. Women are warned to never hitchhike or stray far from home alone. But after a period of time, they tend to get complacent. Mistake #1.

When seventeen year old Hailey's father is killed in a car crash, she's forced to move in with her aunt and her husband Vaughn who is a Cold Creek Police Sergeant known as the Iceman by locals for his cold, intimidating, over-bearing presence. It quickly becomes clear to Hailey that something's off about Vaughn other than his hero complex as he starts domineering and micromanaging her life. While Hailey gets dangerous vibes from him, she tries to get along for the benefit of her aunt and young son knowing she can live on her own in a year when she turns eighteen . . . until she discovers some of his hidden secrets, and he knows it. Hailey's danger radar is screaming for her to run so she plans her escape with her best friend Jonny.

Beth comes to Cold Creek looking for some peace . . . and the man who murdered her sister. Having left school and home, she's on her own. Lucky for her, her sister's old job at Mason's diner is open so she starts working while rattling old skeletons. It soon becomes clear she fits the killer's profile of a preferred victim, and she's now on his radar. Living in a secluded campground outside of town, Beth is in imminent danger of becoming a victim. Can she find the killer . . . before he finds her?

Dark Roads is one of the best thrillers I've read this year. The story unfolds in three parts and mostly from two points of view - Hailey's and Beth's. This story really takes off after their paths cross and become intertwined. I'm being intentionally vague because the impact of this book is most fully felt by going in blind as I did. Tension radiates off the pages in dark, creepy waves driving an ever increasing pace to a stunning ending that I didn't see coming more than a few pages before the characters did. And then, there's the epilogue that brought tears to my eyes while connecting everything together. If that's not enough, reading the author's letter to readers at the end and learning this fictitious story is based on the Trail of Tears and the murders of several indigenous women over years by a killer yet to be caught - well, that sealed the deal for me. Dark Roads is a complex, graphic, highly atmospheric must read for fans of suspense and thrillers. Highly recommended!

Intense! Totally intense! I couldn't read this fast enough.... and then at one point I had to stop reading to catch my breathe, and recover from what was happening. Whew!

This was my first book by Chevy Stevens and I now understand why she is such a popular author. Her books will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you look around every corner. I am so glad that I finally read one and got a taste of her work. I can't wait to dive onto more of her stories! She will definitely be a must-read author for me now.

I highly recommend Dark Roads for an exciting summer thriller read. Make sure you have plenty of time before you start because you will not be able to put this one down.

Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens in an incredible psychological thriller that kept me engaged until the end.

Several young woman have gone missing on The Cold Creek Highway. Hailey McBride an orphaned teen, ends up in the care of her aunt and her police officer husband, Vaughn. When Hailey disappears, everyone assumes she is just another victim of the Highway. A year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek to attend a memorial for the Highway victims of the highway, including her sister, Amber, who had been murdered the previous summer. When she gets a job at a local diner where Amber once worked, she connects with people who knew her sister. Beth wants to find who killed her sister and put her own life back together, but as she gets closer to the truth, she learns that there is more than one person lying in Cold Creek.

The story is told from Hailey and Beth’s viewpoints. The characters are well written and interesting. The suspense keeps you engaged to find out what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This needed to be labeled as YA...
YA is great! There's a huge market for it. But it's not one of my go-to genres. Had I known it was YA, I would not have requested it.

This was such an atmospheric and chilling psychological thriller! It was such a page turner and I found it to be incredibly suspenseful and engrossing!

The premise of this one was just so unique and not quite like anything I’ve read before. Being a Canadian, I was completely intrigued by how Steven’s used her background and based this story loosely on “The Highway of Tears” murders. This definitely added a whole new layer to the book for me!

While this one might not be for everyone as it was slightly disturbing and truly dark at times, I flew through it and was absolutely captivated from start to finish! This is certainly one of those thrillers that will stick with you and leave you thinking far beyond the last page.

Canadian author Chevy Stevens takes inspiration from reality in her latest novel, Dark Roads.
An estimated forty women have been killed or gone missing on the The Highway of Tears in British Columbia, Canada. Stevens' book takes place in a fictionalized town and on a fictionalized highway.

Hailey is a young woman in Cold Creek. Her father has died and she now lives with her aunt, whose new husband is a cop in town. If you want frightening and downright evil look no further than Sergeant Vaughan. Stevens has created such a creepy character in him. My skin crawled as I read his scenes.

I liked Hailey right away, her love of nature, her friend Jonny and her feisty nature. But why oh why, did she not tell her aunt, the RCMP or someone about Vaughan! So, yeah you guessed it - something bad happens - and she goes on the run. (Gentle readers, this is a good time to mention that there are numerous trigger situations in this book.)

The second half of the book is recounted in Beth's voice. She's the sister of another young woman that went missing. I didn't like her as much as Hailey, who is younger, but more mature. It was while reading Beth's pov that I wondered if Dark Roads had been written as a YA novel. I found Beth's actions, reactions and emotions to be quite juvenile. And the rapidity of her relationship with Hailey's best friend Jonny seemed a bit unbelievable to me. There is a fourth character that I adored - Wolf the dog. Loved him and his huffing.

The third half of the book alternates between Hailey and Beth as the tension and the danger ramps up. The pragmatic reader in me questioned some of Vaughan's actions and the fact that he keeps getting away with stuff. But it most certainly adds to the suspense. Stevens throws in a nice twist at the end alongside some truly nail biting scenes.

The prologue and epilogue were thoughtful and respectful to those who have gone missing and/or been found.

Dark Roads did keep turning pages, eager to see what would happen next. And just hoping that justice prevails in the end.

OOOH! This book was dark and so intriguing! It was twisty and held me captivated. I was invested in Hailey's journey. I felt bad for her when she lost her dad and things quickly started spiraling downhill after that. She was just trying to make it through each day. But that darn Cold Creek Highway held its own secrets. I liked Hailey's friendship with her best friend, Jonny, and how he was there for her when she needed him. And poor Beth. She had been through a lot and was trying her best to cope. There was something sinister about the area and I was critical of everyone in this book. I didn't want to put it down! Can't recommend this book enough!