Title: The Never List
Author: Koethi Zan
From: Netgalley
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: 16th July 2013
Challenges: 2016 Blogger Shame, 2016 Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge, Summer COYER 2016
Links: Goodreads - Amazon
Synopsis (from Goodreads): For years, best friends Sarah and Jennifer kept what they called the “Never List”: a list of actions to be avoided, for safety’s sake, at all costs. But one night, against their best instincts, they accept a cab ride with grave, everlasting consequences. For the next three years, they are held captive with two other girls in a dungeon-like cellar by a connoisseur of sadism.Ten years later, at thirty-one, Sarah is still struggling to resume a normal life, living as a virtual recluse under a new name, unable to come to grips with the fact that Jennifer didn’t make it out of that cellar. Now, her abductor is up for parole and Sarah can no longer ignore the twisted letters he sends from jail. Finally, Sarah decides to confront her phobias and the other survivors—who hold their own deep grudges against her. When she goes on a cross-country chase that takes her into the perverse world of BDSM, secret cults, and the arcane study of torture, she begins unraveling a mystery more horrifying than even she could have imagined.
I don't even know quite how to process my thoughts on The Never List yet. It was kind of creepy but massively engrossing and not quite like anything I've read before. Rather than focusing on the original kidnapping and torture of Sarah and the other victims, but instead on the afterwards. The plot was set 10 years after their escape and when the perpetrator was already behind bars.
There were a lot of secrets and twists within The Never List and it was amazing how well the author managed to keep up with that considering that it was a first person narrative, especially when some of the twists were related to Sarah herself. It made Sarah somewhat unrealiable as a narrator without the reader even fully realising it.
I liked seeing Sarah grow as a character too. While the majority of the book was fast paced and thriller like, there was also a focus on healing. Both Sarah and Tracy had some healing to do and worked on it through the book, the Sarah at the end was definitely a very different person.
I don't want to say anything else because I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone that wanted to read it. But this was a fantastic read and I was riveted to every page even if it was a little on the creepy side and I had to put it down before bed!
Author: Koethi Zan
From: Netgalley
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: 16th July 2013
Challenges: 2016 Blogger Shame, 2016 Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge, Summer COYER 2016
Links: Goodreads - Amazon
Synopsis (from Goodreads): For years, best friends Sarah and Jennifer kept what they called the “Never List”: a list of actions to be avoided, for safety’s sake, at all costs. But one night, against their best instincts, they accept a cab ride with grave, everlasting consequences. For the next three years, they are held captive with two other girls in a dungeon-like cellar by a connoisseur of sadism.Ten years later, at thirty-one, Sarah is still struggling to resume a normal life, living as a virtual recluse under a new name, unable to come to grips with the fact that Jennifer didn’t make it out of that cellar. Now, her abductor is up for parole and Sarah can no longer ignore the twisted letters he sends from jail. Finally, Sarah decides to confront her phobias and the other survivors—who hold their own deep grudges against her. When she goes on a cross-country chase that takes her into the perverse world of BDSM, secret cults, and the arcane study of torture, she begins unraveling a mystery more horrifying than even she could have imagined.
I don't even know quite how to process my thoughts on The Never List yet. It was kind of creepy but massively engrossing and not quite like anything I've read before. Rather than focusing on the original kidnapping and torture of Sarah and the other victims, but instead on the afterwards. The plot was set 10 years after their escape and when the perpetrator was already behind bars.
There were a lot of secrets and twists within The Never List and it was amazing how well the author managed to keep up with that considering that it was a first person narrative, especially when some of the twists were related to Sarah herself. It made Sarah somewhat unrealiable as a narrator without the reader even fully realising it.
I liked seeing Sarah grow as a character too. While the majority of the book was fast paced and thriller like, there was also a focus on healing. Both Sarah and Tracy had some healing to do and worked on it through the book, the Sarah at the end was definitely a very different person.
I don't want to say anything else because I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone that wanted to read it. But this was a fantastic read and I was riveted to every page even if it was a little on the creepy side and I had to put it down before bed!
