Still Missing

Chevy Stevens' Still Missing is suspenseful -and creepy- in a good way. Realtor Annie O' Sullivan is abducted from a home showing and taken prisoner in a remote mountain cabin. "The Freak" as she calls her abductor makes her operate by a strict schedule, monitoring what she eats and how much she sleeps, bathing her each evening and then forcing himself on her. I probably could not have continued reading, but because this story is told as Annie retells her story while in counseling sessions, I at least had the comfort of knowing she survived this horrible ordeal. When Annie finally does return to her former life, she realizes how much she has changed. She is unable to have relationships with people she was once close to - her best friend and boyfriend - and even her relationship with her family is different. Annie has never been particularly close to her mother whose life became difficult when she lost her oldest daughter Daisy and Annie's father. Now, remarried, her husband does not have the money for them to live the lifestyle which she desires. Annie also questions her mother about her uncle Dwight, a man she has never met, a person her mother never wants to speak of.

Through Annie's counseling sessions not only are the events of her abduction revealed, but also the details of the investigation as Annie remains terrified that her abductor may have worked with someone else and perhaps they are not done with her. As the investigation eventually leads to the real mastermind behind Annie's abduction, Annie's life is forever altered.

This book was a little bit creepy for me...the fact that something like that could perhaps really happen made it a little scarier. I was always happy for Annie's narration of her counseling sessions that reminded me she had survived. I also enjoyed the suspense of this novel, not knowing until the end who had been resonsible for Annie's abduction.

This one was hard for me to put down. I stayed up late reading, got up early to finish it, and ended up missing my morning workout because I "needed" to get this one done.