Cold Creek highway has a dark history of missing and murdered young women and Hailey McBride as a resident of Cold Creek is very aware of this history. She has lost both parents, her mother to illness and her father to what she believes is an accident. Living now in a very unhappy place with a very controlling law enforcement officer who sends her mixed messages about safety she befriends Beth Chevalier. Beth has come to town to find out what happened to her murdered sister. Hailey decides to run away and live in the woods where she feels safer thanks to her father's wildlife and hunting lessons. She takes a puppy with her and it ends of saving her life and giving her someone to trust as the people turn out not to be what they seem. This is a fast paced and well written suspense story with a great dog.

Whoa. I mean, really – whoa. The action does not stop in this book.

There was a point where I wanted to quit. It’s very apparent that Hailey’s uncle Vaughn is a baddie and his mistreatment of Hailey was so egregious that I wanted to just stop reading. I didn’t want to ingest an entire novel full of the underdog getting outsmarted and beaten by the bully, but I’m so glad I didn’t stop!

The book starts out with Hailey’s point of view. Teenager Hailey is living with her aunt Lana, uncle Vaughn, and cousin Cash because her father has recently died in a car accident. She is grieving the loss of her Dad while trying to navigate school and her new living situation, and it seems like her uncle Vaughn, a high-ranking local police officer, wants to box her in at every turn. Everyone in town is terrified of Vaughn and he appears to hold all the power. Vaughn tells her to avoid her friend Jonny, stops her from getting a part-time job at the local diner, and interferes in her budding relationship with Amber, and supposedly does all of this in the name of keeping her safe. There has been a history of girls disappearing on a certain road in their small town, and Vaughn says he wants to make sure Hailey is not the next victim. Aunt Lana is oblivious to all of this and before Hailey can decide how to handle it, she discovers that Vaughn has secret cameras and is collecting digital photos of naked girls. Hailey decides to run away and live in the woods (her Dad was a naturalist and trail guide) to get away from Vaughn and find a way to prove his guilt with the photos and possibly even the murders.

Meanwhile, after her sister Amber is found murdered, Beth comes to town to try to find out what happened to her. She gets tangled up with Jonny and intimidated by Vaughn, and finds a job at the diner just like Amber did.

The red herrings in this one are few but very obvious. Is it Vaughn, who is clearly a bad guy even if he’s not connected to the murders? Is it his partner Thompson, who seems to be more trustworthy, but his mere trustworthiness makes him a suspect? No one else seems to be considered a suspect so I kept reading and hoping for Vaughn to get what’s coming to him. The writing style is crisp and yet it still evokes the heaviness of a small town that has labored under the burden of so many missing and murdered young women. The tension is thick and even I, a cynical reader of quite a few psychological thrillers, wasn’t able to anticipate what was coming.

Dark Roads is a fantastic psychological thriller from Chevy Stevens. It really pulls you in and keeps you turning pages to find out what happens next, keeping you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5
I spent the first 2/3 of this book annoyed because I thought I’d already figured it out. Something kept me engaged though so I continued. I’m glad I did because my prediction was wrong and the ending was better than I expected. I think there are better suspense/thrillers out there, but overall this was a good read. Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for this eARC.

Dark Roads is the story of a the Cold Creek Highway where women have vanished along it over the years and have never been seen again. Hats off to Chevy Stevens for basing this book off of the Highway of Tears where indigenous women were murdered and missing beginning in 1970. This story overall starts extremely face paced, at times it skipped several months with no real solid back story. It just started and started fast... Fast forward to part 2 and 3 of the book where things start to slow WAY down and almost seemed repetitive to a certain degree. I think the characters in the second half of the book were better developed.

I ended up guessing/knowing the big 'plot twist' and it honestly wasn't that fulfilling or exciting. Almost a let down. Spoilers ahed: it was bizarre to me that Hailey survives in the woods for over a year but Beth is just able to find her and happen upon her. If Thompson was truly investigating Vaughn like he told Hailey in the end then why didn't he take these calls more seriously and do constant surveillance on him? Certain holes in the story didn't sit right with me overall.

I think this wasn't a big page turner of a thriller that I had hoped for. And it almost felt like the first and second & third parts of the book were written by different authors. But overall, it was a decent read.

OMG

Completely gripping
So many twists and turns
From the beginning you are part of this story
Groupthink you have it figured out - but you don't

Have missed your writing Chevy Stevens please don't leave it so long for the next one

Thank you netgalley, Chevy Stevens and St Martin's press for allowing me to read and review this book

In the town of Cold Creek, over twenty young women have disappeared along the Cold Creek Highway. Various missing posters and a giant billboard warn of the dangers of hitchhiking and discourage young women from traveling alone in the vicinity of the highway. The novel is told from the alternating voices of two women, Hailey and Beth. Seventeen year old Hailey is living with her aunt and uncle and young cousin after her father dies in a car accident. Her Aunt’s new husband is the Police Sergeant of Cold Creek, an intimidating man that the local teens refer to as The Iceman. Hailey feels increasingly uncomfortable with her uncle and conspires with her best friend Jonny to leave the household. Beth is the sister of a recently missing Cold Creek woman who takes up temporary residence in the town to find answers regarding her younger sister’s disappearance. As the two women seek answers regarding the identity of the serial killer loose in Cold Creek, their lives become entwined and each woman finds herself in danger of becoming the next victim. I was interested in this novel because I have enjoyed Stevens’ previous novels. Dark Roads interested me from the very beginning and had me guessing the whole time. It was a good suspenseful read that I would recommend to others.

Chevy comes thru again!!! An atmospheric story of loss and redemption. Haylie lost her mom and only had her dad they lived a life they loved, hiking, fishing, telling stories until an accident one night leaves Haylie alone. After moving in with her aunt Lana, Uncle Vaughn town police office known as Iceman, and cousin Cash, Haylie can’t get settled. She tries to make the best of the new situation but can’t, something she finds makes her uncomfortable and she bolts. The story changes to survival for Haylie with her ever present cohort Jonny and stray dog Wolf that finds her, helping her lead a quiet secret life until a new voice emerges. Beth is in town looking for answers to her sisters death is it really the highway killer or something more sinister in the small town? I went back and forth in this book but the last 3rd had me racing to the climatic end! Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review this long awaited book.

You’ll never drive down a deserted highway with quite the same feeling again! Gorgeous, gritty and poignant, this dark tale will leave an emotional handprint on your heart.

Set around the atmospheric woods in the Pacific Northwest, Dark Roads follows Hailey, who decides to run away from an unbearable living situation. But people have been warned about the Cold Creek Highway nearby. Hitchhikers vanish. Women go missing. Hailey counts on people thinking she was the victim of the killer. But disappearing never solves anything. And the killer is still out there.

With a creeping sense of dread and tension ratcheting up every page, Stevens weaves a tale that is both intensely ominous and profoundly human. I was spellbound from the very first page to the heart-stopping conclusion.

Loved this book! It kept me turning page after page and racing to the end. The plot is so well written and the characters are developed perfectly. My first book by Chevy Stevens, but will definitely not be my last!
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read Some of Chevy Stevens other books and have always enjoyed them. Unfortunately this one just didn’t hit the mark.

The book has two main characters we follow throughout the story and their lives are intertwined: Hailey and Beth. With all of the characters there is a lot of telling and not much showing. Most of the dialogue is unbelievable and even the actions of the characters don’t ring true. For many pages in the middle of the book the characters just wander around and don’t do much other than go to work and have sort of pointless conversations with other characters.

There is one small surprise at the end when you get to the whodunit part but the rest is predictable. And for a book that kind of wanders through the middle part, the ending gets graphic for no real reason.

Thank you net galley for the arc! All opinions are my own.

3.75 rounded up
Good characters and interesting story. I did figure out some of it but not everything and it didn't ruin the book for me. This was a great distraction from real life.

Wow! This book had me instantly hooked, one of those books I wish I could award a bonus star . I have closely followed the sad stories From the Highway of Tears and I was blown away and how well this story was told. A fictional town and fictional highway but the same basis. Absolute goosebumps. Written so thoughtfully and respectfully. The characters were amazing. I could not put this book down. I am actually sad that I finished it, it has been too long since I had a heart pounding story like this with characters that I loved this much. This book is an absolute must must must read.

Chevy Stevens did it again! I could not put this book down, the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat. Chevy has a way to be so detailed in writing yet get to the point of the story. Amazing

Many women have gone missing along a highway. Amber who has left her family home moves to a small town near this highway and finds employment at a truck stop along this highway. Amber starts a relationship with Hailey who has left her aunts home to live in the woods with the help of Jonny her longtime friend when she finds incriminating pictures on her uncle’s computer. Amber goes missing and since Hailey suspects her uncle Vaughn she and Jonny try to entrap him. Beth, Amber’s sister moves to town to search for information about her sister’s death. Everyone in town open their arms to her. The way the author has Hailey, Jonny and Beth join forces is well developed. The story is told from Hailey and Beth’s viewpoints. There is suspense throughout the novel with you anxious to keep reading. .I couldn't put it down until the end!! It was a very good suspense novel.

I was very excited to read this book because, like many, I absolutely loved "Still Missing." Stevens definitely delivers a satisfying, fast-paced thriller with "Dark Roads." Although this book is definitely suspenseful, it's also very much a novel about resilience, friendship, and family - which for me gave it more depth than many novels in this genre.

This book starts out as a pretty typical mystery involving multiple unsolved cases of missing girls. One of the protagonists, Hailey, thinks she's figured out who is responsible, but this knowledge puts her in danger, so she has to pretend to also be one of the missing until she obtains the proof she thinks she needs. Our second protagonist, Beth, is the sister of one of the missing girls. And though Hailey has figured out SOME of the answers, Hailey will need Beth's help to learn the whole truth, which puts both girls in terrible danger. They are both damaged, decent people in pain who deserve a resolution.

I read this book in a few days. It's very much a page-turner. I only subtracted one star because I found the final resolution a bit unrealistic, considering the characterization of one of the guilty.

However, this book has much to love - strong suspense; four very strong characters who've experienced so much loss that it's easy to become invested; a gorgeously-described setting; and an endearing dog.

I highly recommend this novel It's not "Still Missing," but nothing ever could be. Chevy Stevens is very talented at building suspense that sucks you in with characters in which you become quite invested.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read this excellent book in exchange for my honest review.

This book just didn't do it for me. I usually like Chevy Stevens, but this time, she just didn't deliver as I hoped. The story dragged, though I did enjoy it enough to finish.

In “Dark Roads” by Chevy Stevens we are thrown into the life of Beth Chevalier. Her sister was murdered the previous summer and she was now in the small town of Cold Creek to find both closure and find out the truth. But as she inserts herself into the life her sister had she begins to see that the town holds secrets that it doesn’t want discovered and the truth she is looking for might pose more of a danger to her then she could ever could have imagined.

I received a copy of this book through Net Galley and this is my honest review.

"For decades, people have been warned about the Cold Creek Highway. Hitchhikers have vanished along it over the years, and women have been known to have their cars break down... and never be seen again." This is a beautifully atmospheric novel with rich descriptions and excellent character development. Chevy Stevens executes an homage to her inspiration, The Highway of Tears, a true life story of women (indigenous women) going missing and murdered in Northern BC Canada.
Hailey McBride has been through a lot an then her father passes away unexpectedly. She has to go live with her closest family member, her Aunt and her aunt's creepy, overly protective husband, a cop in Cold Creek named Vaughn. The living situation gets to be too much for Hailey to bear, so she decides to go live on the mountain and run away, but little does she know the town of Cold Creek will assume she's been murdered by the Cold Creek Highway Killer.
Beth comes to visit Cold Creek a year after her sister, Amber, has been murdered by the Cold Creek Highway Killer. She wants closure and to find her sister's killer. She's got a bit of a pill popping problem and right away seems to be an unreliable narrator.
There is a lot of action as the identity of killer unfolds and we see the connection between Hailey and Beth. The book took on a bit too much in my opinion and could have been shorter. It also had me hanging in disbelief at some moments and I felt that Beth was really pushy and unlikeable. The end was too long winded for me but it was a solid 3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of this thriller.

Could not put this one down. Read it in ONE day. SO, SO good! Highly recommend for thriller fans and library collections. Will e purchasing for fiction collection for recommendation for book clubs and mystery fans.