I seem to be on a streak of "ok" books. I didn't hate it, and I read it quickly, but I really didn't love it either. I read the book almost entirely in one snow day, but it was terribly predictable and fantastic at the same time- in the way of crime thrillers. Nothing new or original, and the writing was just okay.

There's a lot to flesh out in this book, and it felt too short to accurately do that. The story would have been interesting enough had it just been about the girls locked in the cellar, but we only get brief snippets of it. It's hard to feel empathy for a character who went through a traumatic experience when you're essentially just told it happened. The author also kept out scenes until the very end, which seemed a little unnecessary. Sarah talked constantly about how she escaped, but we don't hear about it until the last few pages, and it doesn't even add much depth to the story.

This book is also extremely unrealistic to me. Do I think girls who are held captive would band together (after essentially hating each other) to track down the accomplice to their captor, when it's been 10 years and they're trying to restart their lives? Is it believable that they would

Spoiler

go back to the house where they were held for five years instead of giving the cops clues and letting them figure things out?

. It read like someone who binge-watched a hundred episodes of the likes of Criminal Minds and caught inspiration, honestly. Adding to that, there was one chapter that stuck out like a sore thumb. The main character, whose POV the story is told from, goes incredibly in depth on Christine's life prior to the cellar. Even if Christine told the girls about her life while they were together, there's absolutely no way that Sarah could have known some of the things she did. The POV drastically changed for that one chapter, and again, I couldn't help thinking of how unrealistic the entire thing was.

I don't even know that I was shocked or surprised by the ending. It was probably meant to be a huge twist, but by the time I got there, I was used to the author throwing strange bits of nonsense that didn't add up into the plot, and the ending was nothing different.

So I picked up this book because it was bargain priced at Barnes & Noble. Let me just say that I am happy that I did not pay full price for this book. I expected this book to be one of those books that would be tough to get through because of the topic but it would be worth it in the end. It wasn't one of those books at all. This story was all over the place in my opinion. The characters were annoying and the plot just had too much. The goal of the main character changed so many times and it was ridiculous. This book was so slow moving in the beginning and it just annoyed me. The only part that I did like about this book was what happened with the main character's friend Jennifer. I will not say what happened, but it was unexpected and it took me off guard.

Wow. I thought I might like this book a lot. It was an extremely quick read, and I was pretty into the storyline. I genuinely cared about the mystery.
And then the last hundred-ish pages happened. So so so many twists. It became a farce.

Best friends Sarah and Jennifer faced death as children and managed to survive. Jennifer's mother did not. As they grew older, the two concocted lists meant to protect them from anything that could cause them harm. But as careful as the girls were, nothing could protect them from Jack Derber. Sarah and Jennifer were abducted and kept captive in a basement for over three years along with two other girls. When Sarah and the other girls were finally saved, Jennifer was already dead. Now, with Jack Derber up for possible parole, Sarah must face the demons she's fought so hard to overcome.

So a big Happy Book Birthday to Koethi Zan today! THE NEVER LIST has made many a summer reading list this month and it's finally out in stores! I was lucky enough to get an early copy and spent part of this past weekend buried in this book.

Koethi Zan has a freaking scary imagination! THE NEVER LIST hit like a ton of bricks. My reaction here was similar in a lot of ways to my reaction upon reading Elizabeth Haynes's debut, INTO THE DARKEST CORNER. A few warnings, though, in reading either or both books - don't start them late at night unless you're prepared to stay awake to the very last page and lock your doors! THE NEVER LIST is most definitely one of those books that will make you look over your shoulder at night.

Without giving too much away, Sarah is the kind of heroine that you definitely root for but hasn't quite faced up to all of the things that she's been forced to face. This becomes clear very soon in the book and makes you want to stand by her even more.

Zan's book isn't perfect but any flaws are quickly forgotten. Not only does the book begin with Sarah and Jennifer's abduction, kicking it off with a bang, but Zan manages to throw in new twists and surprises throughout the story, each one possibly more chilling than the last.

Strangely - or not - there are a slew of thrillers concerning kidnappings due out this summer as per this post from BookPage's The Book Case. (In addition to NEVER LIST I've got two more of the four books listed in my TBR right now.) I say or not because some of the best thrillers out there play on the things that scare us most and trust me when I say that this is one scary plot.

Was a gruesome read, the topic focusing on paraphilia. The story unfolds with 3 women who have escaped a psychotic Psychology Professor who had imprisoned and tortured them (emotionally and physically) for years, before they could somehow escape. The fourth was murdered and body was disposed off at an unknown location. One of the ladies, Sarah was close friends with the dead girl, Jennifer. Ten years later her escape, Sarah who is living under false identity comes to know that the mad professor is about to be granted parole. All the sleeping demons within her wake up and she seeks the other two who are now leading separate lives, to help her to fix up the professor, so that he's not granted parole. Their uneasy coalition and further discoveries lead them to religious cults, BDSM clubs, female slavery, peculiar people and deserted areas. It was a horrible topic, the more so, because the torture wasn't overtly described and too much was left to fertile imagination. The plot was good, but execution had something wanting. Hence only a three star rating.

Here we have a "pulled from the headlines" style thriller. After years of keeping a "never list" of actions to be avoided to stay safe, Sarah and Jennifer think they have beaten the odds. But one night they get into a car and wake up in a basement. For the next three years they and other young female captives are sadistically tortured in their basement prison. But it is when they escape and must deal with the consequences of those years and their choices, that contain the true horror.

There are far far far too many of these types of cases in the news. 2010's [b:Room|7937843|Room|Emma Donoghue|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344265419s/7937843.jpg|9585076] was another novelization of such a horrible case.

Here the story is told in flashbacks between an adult "free" Sarah and the scared college girl in the basement. The horror here lies in not a monster or zombie lurking in the shadows, but within the hearts of man. (And yes I'm humming the old Shadow theme song while I type that cliche).

I don't normally go for thrillers or crime novels, but this one appealed to me because of the psychological aspects of the story. Much of it is about the breaking down, and rebuilding of Sarah's mind. Overall, captivating page turner and fairly well written. There were a few characters I wish I had more development on, but ultimately it was quite a good book.

More of a 3.5 i guess but I rounded down because the writing was not particularly great. It had a very....unique plot though so there's that.

I wouldn't call it torture porn, but the mileage you get out of Koethi Zan's alternately compelling and frustrating The Never List will probably depend on how you feel about the imprisonment and torture of young women as a plot device. I mean, it's not the first time that kidnapping, torture, murder, etc., has been used to drive a thriller (in fact, it's practically de rigueur), but in our post-Harvey Weinstein world, I find myself increasingly squirmy with this kind of gender politics, even when the novel is written by a woman and features a trio of strong female characters.

So where to start? The basics: In high school and college, Sarah and Jennifer are hyper-cautious. They make exhaustive lists of the things they'll never do, a compendium of verboten actions that they think will allow them to take control of their own destinies. One of these rules is to never take a taxi. But one night after a party they break their own rule and – wouldn't you know it? – it's driven by Jack Derber, a college professor of psychology with a penchant for sadism, who kidnaps them and locks them away in a cellar with two other women. Sarah endures three years of torture before finally escaping one day, which leads to Derber's capture and imprisonment. Jennifer, however, disappears and is assumed dead.

Fast-forward ten years. Derber is about to go up for a parole hearing when Sarah and the other two survivors (Tracy and Christine) receive letters from him. These missives are typically teasing and taunting, with hints of a manipulative game lurking right below the surface. Sarah initially wants nothing more than to provide the kind of testimony at Derber's parole hearing that will keep him behind bars, but she begins to suspect that the letters are a treasure map of sorts, one that will ultimately lead her to the location of Jennifer's body, which was never found.

What follows is a thriller that just misses greatness. As I said at the top, it's certainly a compelling premise, and Zan weaves a twisty-turny mystery that goes to unexpected but wholly believable places. It takes in religious cults, the BDSM subculture, sex trafficking, and, erm, the academic conference circuit, and as Sarah (and eventually Tracy and Christine) unravel the thread behind Derber's letters, I never felt manipulated the way I have with some mysteries. You know the kind: the author has the dots in mind, but doesn't know how to connect them in a way that feels natural. The journey Sarah goes on feels inexorable, and I bought into it. The characters, similarly, are complex and finely drawn. Sarah, Tracy, and Christine have all dealt with their survivor trauma in different ways, and it influences the way they react with each other. None of them have been able to put the past behind them, and even though it doesn't control their lives, it surfaces in ways that are often unexpected and inopportune.

Sarah's growth is especially resonant; we start to see how her search for the truth is good for her (she's a virtual basket case at the beginning of the book, working from home and avoiding all but the most cursory human contact), and Zan depicts this healing process subtly, in fits and starts. We notice it happening, but Zan hasn't made it so obvious that it feels belabored (LOOK EVERYBODY, SHE'S GROWING!). And the book's closing line is really nice: hopeful, in a way it really hasn't been until that point.

It's unfortunate, then, that it all couldn't have been so good. The dialogue is clunky in places, where characters say things that are super obvious and that I suppose need to be said in the service of the plot but never actually sound like things real people would actually say. There's also a pivotal moment – that I can't give away because spoilers – that relies on the most stupefying deus ex machina this side of Greek tragedy. It's the one instance that contradicts what I said previously about the organic nature of the plot, and it's so big and so dumb that it almost grinds things to a halt.

It's lapses like these that kept me from ever getting fully on board with The Never List. I liked it, but it also felt like a missed opportunity that I didn't love it.

After finding out that there is a chance that her kidnapper might be released on parole, Sarah meets up with Tracy and Caroline, two other women that were held captive by the professor. Together is hoping that together they can make sure he never gets out of prison.
What the end up uncovering along their journey is bigger and more disturbing than they even imagined.

I liked that they were so determined to see that sick twisted creep rot in prison, but these ladies seemed to put themselves in some questionable situations. They did it a little too easily/willing for to me completely buy.

The Never List is a unique psychological story that somewhat mirrored an actual real life event. I’ve never read a book with this particular situation before, but it’s one that won’t easily be forgotten. While the book was interesting, I didn’t feel sucked into the story line like I thought I would. But I did want to know how it would all play out.



** I received this book of behalf of the publisher, in exchange for nothing except my honest opinion.**