This was more family drama than thriller. I did enjoy it but I truly wish there was more thriller. I did enjoy the characters and the relationship between Hailey and her best friend Jonny. I did find myself skimming parts but overall I did enjoy the story! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Chevy Stevens takes the disturbing facts of the Highway of Tears in Northern British Columbia, where many young women have gone missing, to weave her latest thriller. It is set in the fictional small town of Cold Creek in western Canada where a billboard outside town proclaims: 'WOMEN--DON'T HITCHHIKE. DANGEROUS HIGHWAY! It is covered with numerous photos of women--some found murdered, some still missing.

This is a character-driven thriller told in three parts. The first is Hailey's story, told from her first pov. She is 17 and has just lost her beloved father in a car accident so she is living with her aunt Lana, Lana's 6-year-old son Cash, and her second husband, Vaughan, a rather scary local cop known as the Iceman. Vaughan seems determined to control every aspect of Hailey's life--who she can see, where she can work--but when Hailey discovers he's also a perv, she plots to escape, with the help of her best friend, Jonny.

Part two is Beth's story, told from third person pov. She is 21 and sister to Amber, the latest victim of the highway killer. In her grief, her life is falling apart so she comes to Cold Creek to try to find some answers. Part three brings both their stories together with some surprising twists as each young woman digs for the truth.

I enjoyed the pace at which this story unfolded, the strong female characterizations and friendships, and the wild western Canadian landscape. If you are a woman alone on that long, lonely highway, be careful who you trust!

I received an arc of this thriller from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Chevy Stevens never disappoints.

This book was definitely better than I thought it would be. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I really liked the way that the book was laid out and I love a good mystery.

When I first read the description for this book, I hoped I was going to get approved by the publisher to read it! I really enjoyed the unique setting and storyline. Cold Creek seems like the creepiest small town I’ve ever read about. I really felt for Hailey and her situation after her father passed away. I couldn’t imagine being a teenager and not having either of my parents alive. I was happy that she at least had her best friend, Jonny, looking after her.
I enjoyed how Beth had such a large part towards the end of the book and how motivated she was to find out what happened to her sister, Amber. I had to speed read through the last ten chapters since I was so anxious to find out who the killer was. It was a major twist that I didn’t see coming! This is a must read if you enjoy multiple character storylines and a survivalist type thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

This book just didn't work for me.

Part one has a very YA feel, with more drama than intensity. I disliked Hailey. I didn't buy into her having to run away and disappear because this one cop had so much power in town. What should have been emotional, compelling content felt... immature, dragged out, and all surface fluff.

Part two, with Beth, stretched plausibility even further. From there I skimmed.

Because I skimmed much of this book, I won't be posting a public review.

This new thriller killer story has three main characters, and three different parts. Two of the characters are strong teenage females, Hailey McBride and Bev Chevalier and the other one is a super hero called Jonny, who is their guardian angel, keeping his eyes open and looking out for them and helping them when he can. He is Hailey’s best and most trusted friend.
Part one sets the scene and tells the reader about Hailey who is now orphaned after a tragic accident killed her father. She has had to leave the family home that will one day be hers, to live with her Uncle and Aunt in Cold Creek until she is old enough to look after herself and pay the household bills. She gets on well with her Auntie but her Uncle is a power crazy Alfa Male, wielding his badge and controlling his family and the local community in his position as the local town police officer. Near where the family live is the demonised Cold Creek Highway, a long, endless, winding road through the wilderness which is notorious for a clutch of historical murders and some more recent as well. Hailey is sure her Uncle is up to no good in his spare time so she decides to run away into the thick forest and live in a shack she and Jonny know about. He takes provisions there for her and when the shack is ready, Hailey makes her run through the forest for freedom. On the run she befriends a lonely dog who she names Wolf and he becomes her loyal canine companion and protector.
Part two of the novel is a year later. Hailey is thought to be an unfound victim of the Killer. The reader is introduced to Beth Chevalier. Her sister Amber was the latest victim of the Killer and she is grieving for Amber. She arrives in Cold Creek and gets a job in the same diner that her sister worked in. She is searching for answers as to why Amber became the victim of the vile killer. She wants justice for her treasured sister. She meets Jonny and the spark of attraction between them is evident from the very beginning. Jonny is sworn to secrecy about Hailey’s disappearance. It suits them both that Hailey is presumed dead. Soon she will be old enough to come back and will claim her inheritance.
The third and last part of the story is totally frantic with action. Revelations are made, secrets are spilt and finally the murderer is caught out. The ending is dynamic, shocking and totally unexpected. You will have read this for yourself because my reviews do not reveal spoilers.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Sphere through my membership of NetGalley in return for an honest review. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences. I thought this novel was exciting and a good read. It was very well written and the storytelling was compelling. The plot was interesting, complex and uniquely twisted. The character creation and development was well done. I admired Hailey and Jonny most of all. Their friendship was strong and had stood tall through thick and thin. The writing was very engaging and this author really understands what the reader wants from a novel of this genre and once again has delivered. I’ve read a few of her novels in the past but this one is definitely my favourite.

It was the cover that got me for this book. And then the description. Honestly, my review means so little when the cover and the description can speak for itself!

"Dark Roads" is loosely based off of a notorious strip of highway in the USA where women are picked up and murdered. Author Chevy Stevens does an excellent job creating an atmosphere for this book that is morbid and sad, while being interesting to read. This is not the kind of "heart-racing, fast-paced" novel that is generally associated with the modern suspense genre. The pacing is slower, but it gives more time to become invested in the characters, enjoy the relationships between the characters, and think about the mystery.

I loved how Stevens was able to make nature calm, relaxing, and terrifying all at once. The story mostly follows Hailey, a runaway teenager that is living off nature to get away from an overbearing and threatening caretaker. I am not a survivalist by any means-- just give me books and the comfort of a nice chair at home!-- so being able to enter Hailey's world was a nice escape.

"Dark Roads" has a satisfying ending and the multiple character storylines wrap up well. The slow start of the novel made it a bit difficult to get into the story until about 35% in, but the rest of the story makes up for it.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for an advanced copy of this book. Published August 3rd, 2021- there is a lot to discuss with this book, and I think that it would make an excellent book club read. I highly recommend "Dark Roads!"

4.5 don’t hitchhike stars

Chevy Stevens has created the fictional town of Cold Creek and the Cold Creek Highway for the setting of this one. It’s based on the real Highway of Tears in British Columbia. Hundreds of miles of desolate highway where too many women have gone missing over the years. Women are warned not to hitchhike or travel alone on the highway or surrounding remote logging roads.

This one starts out with an atmospheric prologue and then we meet our first character Hailey, she’s grown up in Cold Creek. Tragically, her father died recently in a car crash and she’s now living with her aunt and uncle. Vaughn is a police officer and not liked around town for his strict adherence to the rules, bullying, and violence. Hailey bristles under his controlling ways and soon she escapes to the mountains where she spent lots of time with her dad.

The next part of the book focuses on Beth, she is lost in grief. She’s come to Cold Creek one year after her sister was killed there. Beth gets a job at the same diner where her sister worked, and she feels like she’s being watched. Can Beth escape the fate of her sister and find the answers to who was behind her murder?

This one has elements of wilderness survival that I really liked and a wonderful dog, Wolf. I thought the characters were well developed and I rooted for Hailey and Beth. It was well-paced. Don’t miss the author’s notes at the end. I will be looking for more books by this author!

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.

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…


My Thoughts:

From the beginning of Dark Roads, I was drawn into the story of missing girls and a police officer who is controlling his wife’s niece and is also seemingly following other girls.

When Hailey disappears, we get to follow her hiding out, with the help of her friend, and keeping her eye on the place she left behind.

Beth appears later, and we also watch her trying to figure out what happened to her sister…and realizing that Vaughn is someone to be wary of.

As the story moves along, I was surprised by the addition of another nefarious character who would turn out to be involved in the murders. A book I could not put down, this one earned 5 stars from me.

***My ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley

Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens coming out on August 2, 2021. A young teen’s father is killed and a mother who died many years before must live with an aunt and her cop husband. The story is based on the real life events of missing women on Canadian remote highway. The story will have you guessing up until the end. The narration is great! I throughly enjoyed this thriller. Thank you @Netgalley, @MacmillanAudio, @St.Martin’sPress and @ChevyStevens for the advance audiobook copy for my honest review.

First off, I am a Chevy Stevens fan. I’ve read all of her books but one, and it’s sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read.
Dark Roads, while not true, is based on real events that need to be talked about more. Indigenous women are far more likely to experience violence and homicide than the average woman.
Cold Creek Highway and the town itself are not real, but it is inspired by the “Highway of Tears,” where women have been been murdered or gone missing since the 1970s.
I’ve never been disappointed by a single one of her books, and Dark Roads is no exception.
Stevens has a way of building suspense and cutting me off with new POV at the worst time had me not knowing whether to toss it or ignore all my responsibilities to finish it and have my questions answered.
This one nearly had me going through a few stages of grief as I read.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this one.

4.5/5 rounded up.

DNF. According to the numerous high ratings & reviews this will be against the grain - but this didn't work for me. I expected a high tension suspense thriller about a serial killer. Instead I met Hailey who is grieving her fathers recent tragic death from an accident and forced to live with her aunt and her super creepy husband Vaughn who is also a cop. Vaughn is horrible to the Nth unbelievable degree to many, especially to Hailey - in a predatory and bully style. She runs away to stay safe, is assumed to be kidnapped and murdered by the highway killer and it becomes a survivalist story in the back woods. Overall, it read very much like a YA novel. I made it to 38% (the end of Part 1) and can't continue. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Dark Roads will be available on 8/3/21. Perhaps it will work better for you as I seem to be in the minority.

This was somehow the first Chevy Stevens book I've ever read (HOW?!?), and now I'm going to her backlist to catch up.

This book was perfectly plotted, suspenseful, emotional, thrilling -- holy cow.

After her dad dies in a car crash, Hailey has to go live with her mega-creeper step uncle, who is also a cop. She ends up running away to live in the woods, and everyone assumes she’s been kidnapped and killed because the town she lives in is based on Canada’s real Highway of Tears, where an unknown number of Aboriginal/First Nations women have gone missing or been murdered since 1989.

This book was SO GOOD, and I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time. Highly recommended for fans of Karin Slaughter and anyone who loves a fast-paced thrilling read.

Chevy Stevens did not disappoint me in this book!!! I enjoyed this book so much. I would definitely recommend this book! I have read all of her books and look forward to her next release!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens.

Hailey, a teen girl who has been recently orphaned, is now living with her aunt and uncle during frightening times for the town of Cold Creek. Young women are being picked off of the road, only to be found dead later. Women are cautioned NOT to hitchhike or put themselves in vulnerable positions while the town killer is hunted.

But despite her uncle being a cop, Hailey quickly learns just how unsafe she is. Could her uncle actually have something to do with the murders, or is there something more serious?

Without giving away spoilers, this is a story about two vulnerable young girls, tangled in the sordid web of the Cold Creek killer. But between the two of them, can they bring this unknown person to justice?

Oooooh, this will get your blood boiling, that's for sure! I like a story with complex characters who you are rooting for, but who you also find yourself getting so frustrated with. The town itself was a dark and brooding character, dotted with shadowy suspects. You could feel the fear and apprehension in the citizens. This was a great suspense/thriller.

This book was really good. Hailey looses her father who taught her everything especially how to live outdoors and be friends with nature. After his untimely death she now has to live with her aunt and police offer husband who she hates so she decides to go and live in woods. Beth arrives in town because she wants to find out who killed her sister so with the help of Hailey she's now on that journey. This book really kept my interest for most of it. There were times during Beth's story where it dragged a little but it was bearable. This story was really good and it's the first book I've read by this author and it will not be the last. I highly recommend this book and the narrator was fantastic. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for the advanced audio copy of this book in return for my honest reveiw.

Go get this book and enjoy the ride.

While I am familiar with Chevy Stevens as an author, this is the first novel I’ve read of hers. There will be more in my TBR, that’s for certain.
I thought this was really well written, woven, I should say. It’s a sheer suspense story about Cold Creek Highway, where women have gone missing for years, and their cases unsolved, no justice.
Great character development and description. The setting was described so well, I felt the cold lake water on my own ankles, the dust in my mouth. The author has a compelling way of putting you right there, without you realizing it.
Every chapter became a bit more suspenseful, building up to the final pages, where the reader is rewarded with even the smallest details wrapped up. I like tidy endings.
Thank you to the author, St. Martins Press, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read prior to release. My opinion and review is my own.

Not gonna lie........

Opening the door on Dark Roads with the beginning chapters, I thought that all the stars were aligned with the makings of an exceptional read. It drew me in with the thought of a serial killer in the forests of British Columbia. The Prologue was filled with hair-raising details. And then the book got up and walked away from me.

Seventeen year old Hailey McBride lost her father in a car accident recently. She's currently living with her Aunt Lana and Lana's new husband, Sergeant Erick Vaughan of the RCMP. Vaughan is renowned as "The Iceman" in the small community of Cold Creek for his cold disposition and demeanor. He has Hailey constantly in his headlights and bullies her for being friends with Jonny Miller who shares her obsession for dirt bikes and racing. Hailey sets her mind on leaving Cold Creek one way or another.

When a local waitress, Amber, is found strangled, her sister, Beth, arrives in town to find out what actually happened to her sister. Amber is now on the list of over twenty girls/women who have been found dead along the highway. And here is where things go south for me. Dark Roads takes on a YA flip in genre. We'll experience these characters making wild decisions intentionally stepping into danger with flimsy excuses. There's the overuse of injuries in both humans and doggy character. My eyes rolled like marbles in my head from implausible situations. A weak twist will always disappoint you in the end.

According to Chevy Stevens, she based this book on actual occurrences along a highway in British Columbia involving the disappearances of so many indigenous women and girls. Dark Roads doesn't do justice to the reality of that. Instead we're given teenage romances and just plain foolish adults. I expected so much more from Chevy Stevens, Perhaps you'll see this one completely different than I did. It was rated high by others. Take it for a spin and see what you think.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Chevy Stevens for the opportunity.

Chevy Stevens is one of my go to authors for suspense and thrillers. Being a Canadian, many of her books are set in Canada, with this one set in the Cold Creek wilderness in the interior of British Columbia. Residents have been warned about the Cold Creek Highway where hitchhikers and women whose cars have broken down have vanished never be seen again. Local teen, Hailey McBride, decides she needs to leave home when things become unbearable for her, so she takes to the Cold Creek Wilderness, hoping people will think she has disappeared. At the same time, Amber Chevalier, a waitress that has come to Cold Creek to live, is murdered. When her sister Beth comes to Cold Creek a year later for a memorial, she stays with a plan to find out who killed her sister. She gets a job at the local diner where her sister worked and gets to know her friends trying to solve the case. What she doesn't realize is that her snooping is putting her in danger.

Chevy Stevens has done it again, penning a perfectly-paced thriller. Dark Roads hooked me from the first page and kept me on the edge of my seat until the jaw dropping conclusion. The characters were all well developed. Hailey and Beth were both very brave and daring. Hailey knew how to survive in the wild as her father had taught her well. As we got to know her and her life before his death, it was quite emotional. I felt her pain and sorrow. Amber is a young woman, estranged from her family working at a local restaurant. Amber and Hailey become quite close, so when Amber disappears it’s the last straw for Hailey and she decides she has to disappear. Vaughn, her uncle she was living with was creepy. He was an alpha male who wanted everyone to know that he was in charge and had the power. He was an extremely unlikable character. He was hard to figure out, I wasn't sure if he was trying to protect Hailey, or if he had something else in mind. Jonny is Hailey's friend, a young, good looking guy who works with his dad repairing dirt bikes. Vaughn seems to have a vendetta against Jonny, but Jonny is helping Hailey to hide. Then there was Wolf, Hailey's dog. He was perfect for her companion and protector. They have some close calls with danger throughout the book. There were realistic relationships between the characters but the story really focused on the mystery.

This book has a lot of action and scenes in the outdoors with hiking, swimming, etc. The area was well described allowing the reader to become immersed in the story. This was a well-written and plotted story. I did not figure out who the actual perpetrator was until just before it was revealed. I thought I had it all figured out, but should have known better. There are some exciting action scenes in the second half which had me holding my breath, hoping for a good outcome. With just enough information to keep you guessing, the story held my attention to the end where everything wrapped up well. I enjoyed the author's notes that shared information about the actual highway in Northern British Columbia that this novel is loosely based on, all of the women, mostly indigenous, who have gone missing and their abductors never caught, which was her inspiration for this story.