Chevy Stevens’ debut novel Still Missing surprised me and kind of blew me away with how much I loved it. Her second novel, Never Knowing was almost as good so I was really looking forward to Always Watching, her third novel. I chose to get the audio book because I love to listen to them.

There are many narrators I love and rarely do I find one that I hate. Joyce Bean was just kind of meh. I found her to be too monotone almost immediately but figured that the story would outweigh the narrator. I was so wrong.

Nadine is a psychiatrist who works in the lockdown ward of the psychiatric hospital. She is treating a young woman who had spent time with a cult when that triggers her own unhappy memories from the time she was with the same cult. She uncovers some nasty memories that she was unaware of and her life kind of spins out of control from there. Her own daughter is a homeless runaway. Nadine tries to put all these pieces together.

There is very little I liked about this book. The plot felt contrived and forced from the beginning. There wasn’t one character I really felt anything for – I didn’t feel one way or the other about anyone in the book. Honestly, I just wanted the book to be over. There is a “mystery” of what the uncovered memories will reveal but it was obvious to me. There was a mystery throughout the book dealing with the cult leader and his nefarious ways. But my overwhelming feeling was I don’t care.

I found Nadine to be whiny, I really disliked her daughter and her brother was annoying.

As I got further into the audiobook the narration got worse and worse to me – the monotone in the beginning got worse. The only reason I finished it is because I loved the author’s first two books so much.

If someone else read and liked it please let me know what I was missing out on!

2 stars for the book. 2 stars for the narration.

~ Clio