For a full review, see:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/the-never-list-by-koethi-zan/

The Never List is the story of two friends, Sarah and Jennifer, were kidnapped as college students and held hostage in a sadistic man’s basement. Sarah was rescued, but it was too late for Jennifer. Ten years later, their kidnapper is up for parole, and Sarah engages on a mission to come to terms with the past and to find Jennifer’s body, keeping Jack behind bars.

While the subject matter is violent and traumatic, the story is ultimately a tale of empowerment and healing. Sarah stops functioning as a victim and instead takes the role of the detective. She finally has a chance to fight back and to regain control of her life.

enjoy a good messed up psychological thriller as much as the next person and this didn’t disapoint. The story follows the main character Sarah Farber, now being referred to as Caroline Morrow. It opens up on her flashbacks of being held captive in a cellar in her captors house, one Jack Derber. Jack by all accounts is an incredibly intelligent man but boy is he scarily dangerous.

Sarah now lives her life in a very OCD and controlled way. She never goes outside, she works from home and her concierge of her apartment block never lets anyone near her door unless he has her prior consent. Everything changes when her ex captor is up for his parole hearing and the victims keep receiving letters from him. Jim, the investigating FBI officer talks her into being a witness in his hearing alongside Tracey, another victim. These two have no relationship and Tracey refuses to be in the same room as her. Intriguing? Sarah finds out that Tracey also has received letters and makes the connection that the cryptic information included within could solve some of her questions she contacts Tracey to try and get her on board.

Sarah’s friend, Jennifer was killed during their time in captivity and Sarah hasn’t been able to find peace, is this her opportunity to uncover the truth? Where did he bury her?
Sarah and Tracey discover that whilst in jail, Jack has married a girl called Sylvia and Sarah travels back to try and make contact with her, however, she has dissapeared without a trace. They discover that she was a part of a religious cult. Sarah meets with the leader of said cult, Noah. Another interesting character. Tracey and Sarah go on a road trip of acceptance, intrigue and terror, they meet characters along the way that not only confuse their track to discovering the real driving force behind Jack’s motivations but cement their suspicions.

The first half of the book had me hooked, I enjoyed the narrative of the past and the future. You can feel the very terror of their situation and was edge of your seat reading. However, it fell a bit flat in places for me personally. Jack Derber was this big terrifying figure that had plagued and tortured the women for years and yet within this book there was no appearance from him, no scene with him and I did feel completely dissapointed with that. The terror would have been more relatable if we had some scenes with him.

The other issue I had with the narrative was how readily Tracey seemed to be willing to accept what Sarah offered as way of an explanation and then they just got on with things like they were best buddies. In a real life scenario there would have been far more questioning and relationship building – It was a major event after all.
It was a page turner for sure, you wanted to find outcome to the story and although the ending was a bit shocking I don’t think it was fully out there in terms of endings. However, I would have like to find out what happened explained instead of just skimmed over, therefore I’m rating this book 3.5 stars

3.5 STARS

Via Shelf Awareness, a subscription email, I applied for the offer of a free ARC (advance reader copy) from the publisher, Penguin. The book was touted as a new kind of "Gone Girl" (isn't everything lately?) and a fast-paced thriller. The quote on the back, from Jeffrey Deaver (he wrote Dexter, right?...no, apparently he wrote other things...who writes Dexter? ah, Jeff Lindsay...thanks, Google) claims that I better cancel my appointments and prepare to give up on sleep. Given my trouble with getting truly hooked on novels lately, I was supremely Excited with a capital E to start it.
Thoughts: At the time of this review, I'm on page 225 of 303 pages. In the beginning, it was definitely fast-paced, though I have definitely found myself skimming certain parts as I am wont to do when I'm just really interested in how everything gets resolved. This isn't the fault of the author, I just think that unless the writing is precisely perfect (for me, not the general public) I tend to breeze through unnecessary details to get to the meaty stuff.
In the beginning, I was really impressed by the plot. Revolving around the 4 women who were kidnapped and held captive in a basement and tortured psychologically and physically for over 3 years, the story initially reminded me of "The Room" by Emma Donoghue, which I absolutely loved. I liked the writing, it was straight and to the point and most importantly, believable. Obviously the plot is disturbing, but as a woman who loves SVU marathons, it wasn't entirely outrageous for me, though I will admit that some details made me uncomfortable. I found the investigation into the BDSM lifestyle extremely interesting, especially in the aftermath of 50 Shades, where it became the "new sexy" for housewives everywhere. This book, while not condemning BDSM practicers, does sort of remind its audience that it's a potentially dangerous affair.
While I haven't finished the book, I have become a little less involved--at some point in the book, things seem to fall into place a little too easily and a little too completely. I promise to update if things change by the end, but right now, it's actually reading a little bit like an episode of SVU, like it has to wrap up in under an hour, and I don't know how much I like that.
Still, it's an interesting and definitely fast paced read, and I think it would appeal to readers of "Room", and "Gone Girl". I'll keep you posted on my opinion when I finish it.

FYI: I've finished the book, my opinion has remained the same. Glad I read it, mostly enjoyed it, but felt too canned, as if it was solved too quickly and everything fell into place a bit too easily. Still. Worth a read.

Ah, I had such high expectations of this book so I found myself a little disappointed.

The plot was good, unique & interesting. However, I just didn’t find my heart racing or have the feeling of “I wish I was reading right now” at all times like I have when I really love a book.

Also, some of the stuff that was revealed at the end that the book had been building up to (like why Tracy had such disdain toward Sarah) fell a bit flat. I was left wanting more.

Not a bad book, but definitely not one is read again either.

This book was a definite page-turner with a good writing style and an unexpected ending. But these were the only saving graces for the book. The story had potential, but neither was it dark enough nor did it have any thrilling elements. I guess because of the other extremely good thrillers I have read, I expected more in terms of the mystery/thriller/pacing. And also some things felt far-fetched and convenient for the characters involved. An okay book overall, which is a quick read, but won't stay with you :/

This book both surprised and disappointed me. On the surprising front, it was actually a lot more disturbing and scary than I expected. The scene in the barn, for example, was unexpected and terrifying.

In some ways I almost feel like this is two different stories, or a book written by two different people. Maybe it's a case of a talented author being pigeon holed into writing something popular and shocking instead of more literary. Some parts seemed incredibly gripping and well-written, especially Sarah's escape scene for me. Other scenes were also particularly vivid, such as when Sarah first wakes up in the backseat and starts noticing things.

On the other hand, many aspects are soooo cheesy and out of a Hollywood nonsense blockbuster with too big of a budget. There is almost no characterization of anyone besides the protagonist, and maybe Jennifer, perhaps the what's-his-name sociopath if the author actually described any of Sarah's interactions with him. Traci, Christine, and (good God!) Adele(!) were such horrible, weird caricatures. There's also a helicopter rescue scene. And actual huge plot elements being justified with, "I know it's crazy, scary, stupid, and dangerous, but I just HAVE to do it!!" I guess this could be commentary about Sarah's anxieties, but it also came off as an unbelievable justification.

Maybe I just really like boring books, but I feel like this author could have pulled off an introspective novel about Sarah thinking back on everything that had happened to her, maybe seeking out the other two women and trying to make amends and getting ready for the parole hearing. I got the sense that the author really didn't want to research the legal elements because there were only vague mutterings about a disastrous trial and impending parole hearing that the reader never gets to.

I actually feel like all the action deterred from the storytelling because it got so far fetched and action packed. What the women actually unearthed as going on isn't far fetched, but all the characterization, sleuth work, and random happenstance certainly was.

The other incongruity is that amid all this action thriller nonsense, and maybe all action thrillers are like this and I just don't read that many of them to be used to it, is that the story suggestions are just so DARK and AWFUL. I really got the sense that none of these women would be safe, EVER, because they might be overpowered and trapped by someone just plain stronger at any time. There was only one firearm used for power in the story, and it was wielded by a woman. Every other power struggle seemed imbalanced in large part due to just brute strength, which comes off as such a horrible, foreboding message in a novel where so many horrific things occur as a result.