4.5 STARS

Dark Roads is indeed a dark read.

This sinister, slow burn and atmospheric story pulls readers into a tragic tale inspired by the all too real and disturbing issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women in British Columbia.

Canadian author Chevy Stevens excels at keeping her readers on their toes with a deep sense of unease as she weaves a tale about missing girls set in a small fictional town in northern BC. The story is told from the POVs of two strong women - Hailey, an orphaned teenager living with her aunt and her strict police officer uncle; and Beth, the sister of one of the murdered women who vows to find her sister's killer. I found Hailey's POV a bit more compelling, mainly due to her relationship with her malicious and domineering uncle who makes everyone's life a living hell, but Beth holds her own as she balances finding a killer and handling her own demons.

There is a solid group of secondary characters, some you will abhor and others like Wolf, who you will adore. Stevens provides several possible culprits and while I guessed their identity mid-way through, I still found it to be quite a compelling and edge-of-my-seat story. There is a strong survivalist element which was interesting but also took me out of the building tension and required me to suspend disbelief just a bit. That said, this was a wonderfully tense and intriguing, slow building mystery focusing on survival, friendship and the long-lasting effects and varied ways people handle grief.

This book will captivate and terrorize readers in equal measure, so I recommend that you go into this book blind to get the full effect. I also strongly encourage readers not to miss the author's note at the end of the book where she discusses her inspiration for this story. Lastly, I appreciate and applaud Chevy Stevens for using this latest book to put a spotlight on the grievous lack of attention and respect given to the Indigenous women and girls, those who have gone missing and been murdered on northern BC's Highway of Tears, as well as those who continue to live with the constant threat and a government who will not listen to them.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press for my advanced digital arc and the print arc I won in a giveaway on Instagram. These copies were given in exchange for my honest review.

I've read some Chevy Stevens in the past and have always loved her work, knowing to go into it ready for anything. Chevy writes dark, twisted storylines seemingly effortlessly and Dark Roads is no different. I really enjoyed this book. It is written in three parts - first from Hailey's point of view, then from Beth's and then both of them.

Hailey moves in with her aunt and uncle after her father unexpectedly dies in a car accident leaving her parentless. Her uncle is a prominent police officer in the small town of Cold Creek - everyone knows him and no one likes him, Hailey included - he scares her and gives her the creeps. But he claims to just want to keep her and the other females in town safe from the infamous Cold Creek Highway killer who has claimed the lives of many young females.

Hailey leans on her best friend Johnny (much to her uncle's dismay) and needs his help to escape... during her escape she finds her best protector in a dog named Wolf. I WAS SO NERVOUS FOR WOLF THE ENTIRE STORY! If something bad had happened to him I would never have forgiven Chevy.

This story had twists and turns. Every time I thought I had it figured out something new came into play. I especially loved the Epilogue to the story and am so glad it was added in. Over all this was a great read! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars
Dark Roads is my first Chevy Steven’s book. The author received her inspiration to write this thriller based on the real life murders of many Indiginous women in Canada known as “Highway of Tears”. The Prologue is well-written and hooked this reader.

The first half of the book is narrated by seventeen-year-old Hailey. Hailey lost her mother to cancer when she was younger, and we find out her father, an expert survivalist, was killed in a truck accident recently. Hailey moves in with her aunt, little cousin, and her aunt’s second husband, Vaughn, who is the town’s police sergeant. Vaughn is the character who this reader hates (good writing). Hailey find out that he is not a good person and she suspects that he might have something to do with the murders. With the help of her best friend Jonny, Hailey decides she needs to get away from Vaughn, and successfully gets to her father’s hunting cabin. She picks up a dog, Wolf, who becomes her companion. She is surviving under difficult circumstances and accidentally she comes across a car and then a body.

The second part of the book switches to Beth, who arrives with her parents to attend a memorial for her sister, Amber who was a waitress in town and was found dead on the highway a year ago.

I liked the basic premise of the story and I thought there was good character development. I do feel there should have been more editing. There was a lot of repetition (dirt bikes,...) that took away from the suspense of the story. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

This was my first book by Chevy Stevens and as a fan of fiction that is based in truth - I loved her subject matter because it educated me on a topic which is important and one that I wasn't aware of. The book lingered after I read it because of the characters and their stories.

I did find some of the moments in the book to be a stretch and some of the characters choices hard to believe. Also felt there were moments where the book could use some editing to make the flow better.

The land was part of the story and I felt it was described beautifully and hauntingly at the same time!

WOW! This one left me spinning. It takes place in British Columbia and it sounds pretty rural where there have been several unsolved missing young women cases on a remote section of highway. That in itself is a reminder to never hitchhike but still...What this story revolves around is Hailey, a girl who has lost her dad and is living with her aunt and family and subjected to Vaughn, the local police officer and her aunt's husband who is controlling and slimy at best and dirty in all ways. He has taken away all her freedoms and when Hailey discovers naked pictures on his computer of her and others she knows she has to go and now. She walks into the woods and disappears and when her bike and cellphone are discovered it is thought she is one of the victims. So many twists and turns and I didn't even have a clue who the real killer was until the end. This one was so good and I did read a print version and also the audio and loved both versions! The narrators of the audiobook were superb!

I really enjoyed this story. The plot was tight, the characters were interesting and the story moved along at a good pace. Chevy Stevens is a great author.

itle: Dark Roads
Author: Chevy Stevens
Classification: Fiction
Rating: 2 stars

Set in British Columbia’s wilderness, Cold Creek Highway is a long and desolate road known for the disappearance or death of many young women. Haily McBride’s father was recently killed in an automobile accident and she has been sent to live with her aunt and her policeman husband, Vaughn. Haily’s dad had trained her to be self-sufficient and the woods was her second home. Vaughn is mentally abusive to Hailey and when she finds some disturbing information on his computer, she decides to disappear. While gone, she finds the body of her friend, Amber, and thus begins the struggle to find and expose the murderer. Add Beth, Amber’s sister, to the equation, who comes from Vancouver on the anniversary of her death and finds herself mixed into the search for the killer. There are plenty of action scenes, but I felt most of them were stretched out. And the ending had a surprise or two. I was approved for both the e-book and audiobook versions of this ARC and chose the latter. I don’t feel like I lost anything by listening to the book, especially since the narration was quite good. That being said, having read several other books by Stevens, this was not her best. At the beginning, I just wondered where this story was going, and the ending was somewhat predictable. The author’s note at the end does say that the story is based on a remote highway in northern Canada known as the Highway of Tears where many women have really disappeared. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley/MacMillan Audio for the ARC of this book.

PS: After I wrote this review, I looked at other reviews and find that I am definitely in the minority - all 4 and 5 star reviews. So let’s just write this one off as not my cup of tea - if you like Chevy Stevens’ books, maybe you should give it a try.

This was an awesome slow burn thriller! There were so many twists and turns, I couldn’t put it down! I loved Hailey’s relationship with Wolf so much too. It was fascinating how well the lives of the characters intertwined. Another fantastic book by Chevy!

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Wow, what a great read.

The story follows two young women living in Canada near Cold Creek Highway, an area that is famous for it's serial killers and murders along it. I loved how the author brought attention to the crisis of First Nation women being murdered without any justice.

I loved Hailey - she is a spitfire - but the star of this book was Wolf. My main problem with this book was how much I could not stand Beth. She annoyed me so badly and was also doing the worst things imaginable.

I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a good action packed thriller.

Five stars- I LOVED it. Superb. Dark & thrilling, full of action and badass women. I love Chevy Stevens” writing.

Hailey has lost everything. Her dad is dead, she is being forced to live with her Aunt, her step Uncle, and her nephew in her home town which is plagued by girls who go missing or die. Her step uncle is the main cop in town, yet is he truly fulfilling his duty to defend and protect, or does he have darker motives. When faced with shocking discoveries Hailey is forced to flee, relying only on her best friend John. When the young lady Hailey has a crush on, Amber, is found dead, Hailey starts to believe that her Uncle might play a larger role in the disappearing girls. Now if only she could get anyone to believe her.

A year later Beth comes to town to find out what truly happened to her sister Amber. Will she be able to unravel the mystery. Is anyone in town really telling her the truth, or do they all have secrets to hide?

Such a gripping book one that keeps you engaged from the moment you start till you finish. Perfect for that last summer beach read, or even a great book to kick off fall. Thank you so much St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy.

3 twisted stars

The powerful prologue grabbed and mesmerized me. I was excited about reading further. From the publisher, “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.”

My favorite character was Wolf, the magic dog. Easily trained, he both warned and saved Hailey and Beth. The action becomes more far-fetched toward the end. Beth, with no outdoor survival skills, hikes up the mountain while injured…. And more.

The tone is creepy and threatening from police officer Vaughn whom 17-year-old Hailey is forced to live with after her dad dies in an accident. Stevens’ descriptions set you in the forest or in the small-town diner. The action keeps building. Romance enters the mystery. It is a tiny bit of a stretch, because characters are so attractive. “Now he was pulling on his jeans tugging them up his long muscled legs.” The killer reveal caught me completely by surprise.

I would have rated this mystery a solid 4 stars if it had not been for the graphic torture of a naked woman. The kidnapping could have been handled with a bit of sensitivity. It kept me awake at night. Publishers need to include a warning like podcasts, TV shows and movies. I expect ‘some blood and violence’ in mysteries. I just don’t expect twisted cruelty against both women and men. I would not have chosen this book if I had known.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There are twists and turns in this mystery of a killer on the Cold Creek Highway in British Columbia, a very isolated area.

Hailey, who has been orphaned and now living with her aunt and step-uncle, is having a difficult time. Vaughn is a controlling bully and she becomes restricted from friends and anything outside the house. When she and her friend Johnny, develop a plan for her to disappear till her 18th birthday, you just know there are going to be many hardships. Thank goodness she found a puppy that she named Wolf and who was her constant companion through the months of hiding in the mountains.

When Beth came to town after her sister Amber was murdered, her unsafe decisions seemed so out of character for anyone that knows there’s a killer on the loose. It seemed so unbelievable with her decisions to hike or camp alone when she wasn’t prepared or experienced. Eventually some of her choices worked out but it was more luck than knowledge.

It was interesting how you think you may figure out certain aspects of a mystery and then something unexpected happens, making you reconsider the various details and scenes. The first two-thirds of the book is quite slow and most of the action was in the last third.

My favorite part of the book was reading about Wolf and how essential he was to Hailey.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this new work.

DARK ROADS By Chevy Stevens
Thriller fiction
384 pages

In Chevy Stevens new book we have a small town in the mountains where girls keep going missing. Everyone seems to think it's a truck driver killer but no one knows for sure. They all warn their daughters and wives to be careful. Hailey is a 17 yr old girl who's parents are dead and she is living with her aunt and uncle. Her uncle although a cop is a creepy, bad guy. He tries to control everything Hailey does and who she gangs out with. Hailey even finds some photos of her that he's got. She makes a plan to run away and everything is going to plan until her friend Amber is killed. Amber's sister Beth comes to town then to avenge her sisters death. Will she be another victim??

I am a huge Chevy Stevens fan and this new book does not disappoint!! It has this authors style of dangerous and twisted storytelling. It will keep you reading until the very last page. My mind was blown with this new novel. I highly recommend this book.

Chevy Stevens has been one of my favorite authors for years. When you pick up one of her books, you know you’re in for quite a ride. This newest one is no exception. Cold Creek is an idyllic little town. Nestled in the mountains, surrounded by forest and lakes, it’s small town living at its best. But all is not as it seems. Girls, young women, have been disappearing for years. Bodies later found dumped in the brush, no clues to help find the killer. Hailey has grown up hearing these stories. But as young people often do, she doesn’t really believe it could happen to her. Until she becomes suspicious of someone close to her…

Book Review: Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

Dark Roads is the mystery suspense novel about a long stretch of Highway with a reputation for murdered and missing women. It is set in fictional Cold Creek, British Columbia (town and Highway) and loosely based on the “Highway of Tears” where dozens of women (disproportionately indigenous) went missing or were found dead over the last 50 years.

Seventeen year old Hailey is facing the loss of her beloved father and living with her aunt and her family. Tensions slowly build in her aunt’s home as her husband (police officer Vaughn) makes life for Hailey unbearable and she plots an escape.

Nineteen year old Beth dropped out of college and heads to Cold Creek to face the loss of her sister Amber and to find answers around her death. Beth will find her sudden appearance shaking up the town of Cold Creek, specifically Officer Vaughn and Hailey’s best friend Jonny.

Each in their own way Hailey and Beth will challenge Vaughn and try to find answers behind the missing and dead girls. Where Hailey struggled in suburban life she excels in the outdoors and survival. Beth is smart and savvy but ill-prepared for the reality of Cold Creek and the rugged terrain around the campsite where she is staying. Both characters make huge mistakes and underestimate their enemy several times and it would be incredibly frustrating if they weren’t literal teenagers. Vaughn verges almost cartoonish in his villainy and I would have preferred a more realistic and nuanced character.

Overall, this is a fast paced suspense novel with a lot of gritty and tragic details. The reader will find themselves rooting for the female underdogs and hoping for an end to the string of unsolved murders that haunt the town.

3.75 stars (rounded up to 4)

Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens is a very highly recommended psychological thriller.

The Cold Creek Highway is an isolated stretch of road through British Columbia that is known as a place where young women go missing. It is said the women were all victims of a serial killer, although no one has ever been charged in any of the cases. Cold Creek is a small town along the highway. Hailey McBride, 17, has grown up there with her father who taught her how to survive and live off the land. Her father was recently killed in a car accident and now Hailey is living with her Aunt Lana and her husband, Police Sargent Vaughn. Vaughn is known as "The Iceman" and roundly disliked by the local teens. Vaughn is more than just dislikeable, he is an authoritarian, controlling man who is watching Hailey constantly. Once she finds out what he is keeping hidden in the back shed, his office, she knows that she needs to leave, hide in a secluded location, and use her survival skills until she turns eighteen and can escape him. She hopes she will be assumed to be another victim of the highway killer

The novel is divided up into three parts. The first is focused on Hailey, while the second is the experiences of Beth Chevalier a year later. Beth arrives in Cold Creek to attend the annual memorial service for the highway victims after her sister Amber was recently found dead by the highway. She is grieving, unable to continue on with her previous life, estranged from her parents, and living in Cold Creek trying to understand what happened to her sister. She takes a job at the diner where Amber worked and meets the locals.

Stevens brings her incredible talent and ability to write an unputdownable thriller to Dark Roads. The tension and sense of menace is palpable. First you have a highway where women have been disappearing for years. Next you have Vaughn who is a creepy, dictatorial despot who will make your skin crawl. Throughout the novel there is an undercurrent of impending doom that keeps intensifying, spreading, and growing. Once you start reading it is hard to set it down. The pacing is perfect. When the tension becomes too much, Stevens provides a respite before ratcheting up the suspense again.

The characters are all finely drawn and feel and react like real people- except Vaughn who just seems evil all the time. The narrative is both character driven and a psychological thriller. Part way through the story the plot slightly strays off into more of a character driven coming-of-age story, but quickly returns to the tense survival story. The ending is twisty, adrenaline-filled, and perfect. I have loved every novel Chevy Stevens has written and this is no exception. Oh, and there is a dog named Wolf.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Publishing Group
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and submitted to Amazon.

4.5 ⭐

I really enjoyed this book. I will say that it's not the thriller I expected. The subject matter in this book is disturbing, but it doesn't make you stop turning the pages. It actually has the opposite effect. It was a slow build, but action packed. The book is laid out in three parts...you learn about Hailey, you learn about Beth, and then alternating points of view from them both in part three. The epilogue from the author was incredibly fascinating. Knowing it's a work of fiction, but based on events that do happen in this world is scary but real.

Young women have been disappearing from Cold Creek for years. Vaughn, the police officer uncle of newly orphaned Hailey, uses that as an excuse to sharply curtail her activities, other than babysitting his stepson. Vaughn is also determined to implicate Hailey's one friend, Jonny, in almost anything. When Hailey realizes Vaughn is even creepier than she imagined, she decides to disappear, using the wealth of knowledge of the woods that her father shared with her before his death.

When the body of another young woman is discovered, everyone assumes Hailey has been murdered, too.

A year later, Beth, the sister of the last known murdered woman, comes to town looking for answers. She gets a job at the same diner where her sister worked and becomes close to Jonny, though he seems to be still mourning Hailey. As Beth gets closer to the truth, she puts herself in more danger.

This dark and compelling suspense novel is impossible to put down. Sometimes you'll want to shake the characters, but sometimes you'll be amazed by their aplomb. I'd never read any books by Chevy Stevens before, but clearly I need to read her backlist.

Dark Roads was the first book I've read by Chevy Stevens but it definitely won't be my last! This is a perfectly-paced, well-written thriller that had me glued to my kindle.

Dark Roads is a disturbing, claustrophobic read that alternates between the POV's of Hailey and Beth.
Hailey McBride runs away into the mountains to escape an unbearable living situation with her aunt and her police officer husband who does everything he can to control her. She wanted everyone to believe she left town but instead rumors spread that she was a victim of the highway killer.
Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek to attend a memorial for victims of the highway killer after her sister, Amber, was murdered the year prior. Beth needs closure but doesn't realize that her search for answers will end up putting her own life in danger.

This book has great character building. I loved Hailey, Amber, Beth and Jonny. Vaughn of-course is a creep but my favorite was Wolf! He's the perfect dog and I absolutely loved him.
I can honestly say I didn't have the slightest idea who the killer was. I thought I did but I was shocked to find out that I was wrong. I love when that happens!

If you're looking for a dark, atmospheric thriller full of twists and turns, I'd definitely suggest picking this up next week!