Chevy Stevens has written so many great stories of suspense, so I was excited to get my hands on a copy of her latest, DARK ROADS.

Right away, I was swept up into this mystery! The story begins with Hailey who has just lost her Father in a car accident, and Amber who is estranged from her family and working at a local restaurant.

I loved each character I met, as the story unfolds and the author did a great job of world building and setting the stage for the story.

*many thanks to St Martins Press/Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Somehow this is my first book by Chevy Stevens. I've heard nothing but great things about her thrillers so I was excited to check this one out. It was a bit of a slow burn, but I really enjoyed trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

I thought it was cool how Part 1 was all from Hailey's point of view and it then changes over to Beth's point of view for all Part 2. At first, I was furious at where we left off with Hailey because I loved her so I was reading as fast as I could but then I got engrossed in Beth's section as well. And even though I enjoyed reading about both of them, my favorite character was definitely the dog Wolf!

The author's note at the end was very interesting and I couldn't believe this was loosely based on a true crime - The Highway of Tears, which I knew nothing about and will now be researching.

Only docking it a star because I figured it out before the reveal :)

An avid fan, the legendary acclaimed author Chevy Stevens is back with her best yet! DARK ROADS is extraordinary—I LOVED this book!

The elegant prose propelled me through this spine-chilling thriller, a gripping, richly layered tale inspired by true events. From the vivid, atmospheric setting, the strong heroines that will haunt you, and the jaw-dropping twists. Psychologically absorbing — hooked from the prologue to the satisfying conclusion.

The book opens with a voice speaking for all the murdered women along the five hundred-mile Cold Creek highway. More than twenty young women left on the side of the road or a ditch. From the thick forest to the muddy rivers, wild animals, to torture— the land is for hiding secrets and bodies.

The billboards warn women not to hitchhike. However, in this small dead-end town of mining, truckers, and logging, some girls must escape due to the monsters and horrors within. There are dark hidden secrets. Some monsters may be closer than you think. Are they outsiders, or are they living among them behind their masks?

Hailey is still mourning her dad, recently killed in an automobile accident. Her mom passed away years earlier from cancer. She and her dad were close, and he taught her much since he was a wilderness tour guide.

Now, she is stuck living with her aunt Lana and her young son, Cash six-years-old. The worst part is Lana’s husband Vaughn, known as the Iceman.

He is a bad cop, controlling, and verbally abusive. He uses his power in the town to manipulate her and other teens. He watches her like a hawk, and all she wants to do is escape. She and her best buddy, Jonny, work on dirt bikes and race. They have dreams. She wants to live in a log cabin with a dog, and Jonny wants to travel racing.

However, Vaughn controls her every move and also makes Jonny and the other kids miserable. There is not a lot to do in this small rural town except hang out at the lake, campgrounds, go fishing, swim at the river, ride dirt bikes, or hang out at the Dairy Queen.

Hailey thinks Vaughn is up to no good and begins spying on him and his locked garage. She finds hidden cameras. More weird things start to surface, and fears for her life. She wants to get a job to get out of the house, but Vaughn runs the town and makes sure she cannot.

Hailey and Jonny plot for her to escape and live in the wilderness until she turns 18 and can live independently. In the meantime, she has met a carefree boho-type nice girl, Amber, at the local Mason’s Diner and they have shared a kiss. Of course, Vaughn had to ruin that too.

Plans made, Hailey is brilliant and knows how to survive in the wilderness in an old miner’s cabin in the woods, with Jonny’s help. They must let the town think the highway killer took her so they will stop looking. A dog finds her, and she calls him Wolf. (LOVED THIS DOG!) He becomes her protector and best friend. He is smart and knows his way around the woods. (Reminds me of Gunter in Charles Martin's Murphy Shepard series)

Please let there be a movie or TV series based on this novel!

However, the killer strikes again, and this time Hailey finds the body. She is grieving and fears for her own life. Then to complicate matters, Amber’s sister Beth (attorney) shows up in town and may inadvertently lead Vaughn straight to her. She starts working at the same diner as where her sister worked and hanging out with Jonny. Soon she is homeless and pitches a tent at the campground. She is looking for Hailey to get answers, but she puts Hailey and herself in harm’s way.

“Wild roses are tough. You can mow them down to the roots or set them on fire, and they’ll still come back. They never stop living.” —DARK ROADS

From alternating POV from Hailey/Beth, the characters jump off the page with lyrical prose, symbolism, and metaphors.

From darkness to light, tense and edgy, with richly imagined characters who will break your heart as they confront the evil monsters. With heart-pounding suspense and jaw-dropping twists, a spellbinding story that will haunt you long after the book ends.

Talking about mind-blowing, I read DARK ROADS directly after reading Karin Slaughter’s FALSE WITNESS. Nerve-wracking suspense and both books featured two sisters, a nasty, pervert violent monster preying on young girls, and they liked their hidden cameras.

Stevens has written a tour de force and is one of my top books of the year. The author is at the top of her game and right up there with Lisa Gardner and Karin Slaughter! Highly recommend.

A special thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an early reading copy.

#JDCMustReadBooks

An outsider visiting Cold Creek would find a downtown consisting of a truck stop, motel and Mason's Diner. Mason, a retired logger, served meals to road crews, truckers and loggers. Large farms were scattered on the rural outskirts of town. Seventeen year old, Jonny Miller, a dirt bike enthusiast and racer, lived on one such farm. Cold Creek Highway, a span of roughly five hundred miles, cut through a mountainous area. "The forest was a wall of thick impenetrable trees and dense underbrush...deep ravines...and jagged rocks".

Hailey McBride and her dad were a team. "There wasn't much of anything that Dad didn't think could be fixed by spending time in the woods...We were always camping. Rain, shine, snow...find[ing] shelter, water, foraging for berries...we shared our dreams...". Upon her dad's death, she moved in with her Aunt Lana and her husband, Police Sergeant Vaughn. "[Vaughn] had a hero complex and expected me to be grateful that he'd chosen me as a project". The neighborhood kids called him "The Iceman"... a toughie who seemingly cared about the residents of Cold Creek. The town had a checkered past. There had been more than twenty unsolved cases of missing women. A prominently placed billboard's message: "Women- Don't Hitchhike. Dangerous Highway!"

Vaughn liked to make people feel powerless. His overbearing, controlling behavior and threats to Hailey included locking up her dirt bike for not following his rules. Her defiance consisted of meet-ups with her best friend, Jonny to work together on their dirt bikes and hang-outs at the lake with either Jonny or Hailey's love, Amber Chevalier, a waitress at Mason's Diner. But now, Hailey's world was crumbling. Amber was missing. Hailey felt that she had to get out of her aunt's house ASAP. "I would run away-but-I had to stay off the grid-where no one would find me. I would live in the woods until I was of age... The mountains would protect me". Vaughn had creeped her out with his warning, "Whatever you think you found in my office doesn't exist".

One year after Amber's disappearance, her sister Beth attended a memorial in honor of the disappeared/deceased victims of Cold Creek. Sensitive, fragile, grieving Beth wanted to find her sister Amber's killer. Strong willed, determined Hailey would stop at nothing to implicate Vaughn. Would there be justice for Amber?

"Dark Roads" by Chevy Stevens is a riveting thriller, a murder mystery and a survivalist story all rolled into one. The reader can't help but root for the unmasking of the highway killer. Steven's writing created a tense, high octane pace that was unputdownable and begged to be enjoyed in one or two sittings! My favorite protagonist-Wolf!

I received a free ARC of Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.