Always Watching

17170547

 Author: Chevy Stevens
Audiobook

Published: June 18, 2013
Dates Read: October 25- November 9, 2016

My Rating: 3 stars

Book Summary from Amazon:

She helps people put their demons to rest.
But she has a few of her own…

In the lockdown ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Nadine Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the desire—healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for seven years.

When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today?

And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realizes that danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most…and fight back.

Sometimes you can leave the past, but you can never escape.

My Review:

I listened to the audiobook Still Missing by Chevy Stevens a couple of months ago and I was blown away (I had listened to it several years ago, but did not remember much about it). I decided that I wanted to listen to more of her books since my local library offers hers on audio. Always Watching is another good one by Chevy Stevens, but it does not live up to Still Missing.

Heather Simeon becomes Dr. Nadine Lavoie’s newest patient after a suicide attempt. As Heather tells her story, Nadine realizes they have some similar circumstances in their lives. Heather was part of a commune (a cult) which Nadine was a part of when she was younger as she, her brother, and mother joined. Heather’s story brings to light some of Nadine’s repressed memories. And because of these memories which include sexual abuse, Nadine sets out on a mission to discover if there were any other victims. This decision brings danger to into her life.

Nadine’s daughter Lisa has been on her own for a while and she has been a drug addict. She comes into the story and Nadine also tries to save her in more than one way. Lisa becomes very important to this story.

Will Nadine find out if there are other victims, and will she save herself and her daughter from the dangers that come about in the novel? You will have to read to find out.

Always Watching is written well and I wanted to know what was going to happen. Maybe I expected a lot out of it after listening to Still Missing, but I just wasn’t pulled in to the story as much as I would have thought as I find cult type stories intriguing. I think I just wasn’t as attached to Nadine’s character. Always Watching did not have as much of a shock factor as Still Missing did. There are some intense scenes in Always Watching.

Warning: If you have issues with sexual abuse of a child, you might want to stay away from this book. There are not many scenes, but enough to possibly bother some more sensitive readers. There is also a tough scene involving an animal death.

If you want to check out some of Chevy Stevens’ work, I would say read Always Watching first then read Still Missing. I don’t really like to compare books, but I think having recently ‘read’ Still Missing affected my enjoyment of Always Watching. I do plan to read/listen to more of Chevy Stevens.

I would say overall that I would recommend this book.