The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens

 

Been a while since i’ve posted. Still reading, just find the time to pen a review has been difficult. 

I reviewed a prior book by Chevy Stevens a few years ago (Still Missing) and just raved about 

it. Not gonna happen today.

The Hitchhikers revolves primarily around Alice and Tom. A later 30-something couple doing a 

road trip east across Canada eventually reaching Montreal for the 1976 Olympics. They are 

hoping this adventure will repair some glaring holes in their relationship that blew up with the

 loss of a child during childbirth. They’ve purchased a pickup/camper to camp their way across 

Canada. 

On a gravel road leading to a campsite, they pass a young couple walking in. As the 

campground was some distance, they offered the couple a lift. The girl introduces themselves 

as Ocean and Blue (latter day hippies it seems). The two aren’t all that conversational but they 

open up enough for Tom and Alice to offer a meal and to let them roll out their bags at their 

campsite.

Doesn’t take long for the author to reveal tidbits about Ocean and Blue’s backstory. Basically 

broke and living off the generosity of others. And that Ocean is pregnant. Next day, Tom offers 

to drive them to the next town. At one of the stops, Alice glances at a newspaper and is 

stunned to see that their passengers are wanted for the brutal stabbing murders of 

Ocean’mother and stepfather. She tears out the article and stuffs it in her pocket to show Tom 

when they’d be alone.

Once she shows Tom what she’s found, Blue discovers that their secret is out. The two men 

struggle and Blue manages to subdue Tom, secure both in the camper and all four head out. 

Where? Who knows. Tom and Alice know that wherever they are being taken will end up as a 

1-way trip.

And about now, I lost interest. The story made me flashback to a TV movie of the early 70s 

called Badlands. A lost soul presented as a James Dean-wannabe who picks up a shy teenage 

farm girl and they go on a killing rampage in the Dakota Badlands. The film introduced most 

viewers to future A-listers Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. If that kind of story interests you, 

watch Badlands. I found the unfolding of the Ocean/Blue story to be tedious. Didn’t develop any 

real connection or interest in either couple. While some might consider the ending to be an 

unexpected twist (and it was), it just seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to get to it. 

Don’t get me wrong, based to Still Missing (and reviews of some of her other books), the author 

is talented and has won her share of awards. This one didn’t do it for me.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Annie O'Sullivan has a bit of a messed up past. Her dad and adored older sister will killed when Annie was a pre-teen, by a driver running a stop sign. Her mom, who lived life through the lens of a vodka bottle, remarried a nice man who was generally a failure at his schemes to make money. But Annie was doing OK. She is a Vancouver Island realtor, had her own house, a dog, and an open house that Sunday. She had 3 things on his list that day - the open house, don't get into an argument with her mother, and dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend/chef Luke. He was supposed to meet her at the end of her open house, but was late. She's taking down the open house when one more looker drops in . . . he seems nice enough, nice smile, well dressed, but he is kind of in her space just a bit, and when she opens the patio door, he pushes a gun into her back, escorts her to his van and injects something into her leg causing her to pass out.

What follows is one of the most harrowing and shocking books I've ever read and I won't reveal anymore of the plot only to say that Annie is held captive inside a mountain cabin for a year by The Freak, repeatedly raped, and controlled on virtually every level - what and how much she eats, when she sleeps, what she wears, when she pees, everything. He impregnates her and she gives birth to a daughter.

This is the debut novel by Canadian Chevy Stevens and has been getting universally high praise (People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, O [that's Oprah's magazine for you in a testosterone-induced haze] NY Times, USAToday, Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, etc.). The worst review I read was 3 out of 5 stars by some citizen. Stevens deftly describes not only Annie's life on the mountain (about 60% of the book), but also the important and her sadly empty aftermath as how she deals with the abduction, the police, her mother, the press, her friends, Hollywood, and . . .

. . . her shrink. And that's the setting of this deeply disturbing tale. Stevens leads us on a not too gentle path of discovery through Annie's sessions with her psychiatrist. You see, the reader is the proverbial fly-on-the-wall, eavesdropping in on only what Annie chooses to reveal during each session (the book doesn't have 'chapters', it has 'sessions'). These sessions have only one rule (set by Annie) and that rule is that the shrink listens; the first utterance of 'how did you feel?' will end the doctor-patient relationship. So we watch and listen as Annie slowly reveals (in terrifyingly graphic detail) what happened during and after the abduction (and Good Lord, I hope writing this story wasn't cathartic on some level for the author).

I read a short blub about this book in an Entertainment Weekly last week when I was dog-sitting for my daughter and was stunned to learn that I didn't have to wait for it from the local library. EW (and most other reviews) used all the typical trite summer beach read adjectives; to wit, "riveting", "page turner", "couldn't put it down", "disturbing", "thought provoking" et al. And none of that does this book one bit of justice. The reviews offer extraordinary praise, and not one of the reviews comes within a inch of relating just how good this book really is. This is an irresistible psychological thriller (although I not sure 'thriller' is the right word. How about 'family drama'?) that, at least for 2010, is in a class by itself. Really - a master class with an enrollment of one.

Yes, this story (and author) are a bit out of the norm for Men Reading Books. And we don't do something as common as a 'top 10' list cuz we don't focus only on current titles. But if we did do something like that, based on what I've read with a 2010 copyright so far this year, the first 10 items on my list would be Still Missing.

East Coast Don

available on Kindle.

p.s. WCD, if you haven't read this within the month, I'm gonna have you banned from every golf course on the planet, get your passport revoked, and chain you in your office until you've read it. If this ain't 'up your alley' then something untoward has blocked its entrance.

p.p.s. And to the Knuckmeister, don't read this on the subway - you'll miss your stop.