Perfectly awful

This is one of the worst literary experiences I've had in a very long time, thankfully. The plot plodded along, seldom advancing, and never capturing my interest. The character dialogue was unbelievable, disingenuous, and dull as paint drying. I've have happily settled for killing them all off in the first one-tenth of the book, adding a period, and ending my misery. Instead, out of an unfortunate streak of masochism, I forced myself to finish this thing, and believe me, it never got any better.

The narration was perfect for this catastrophe; in other words, it was also horrible. It was stilted, the accents were extremely odd, and she sounded as completely bored as I was, which was probably true.

I've never written such a brutal assassination of a novel before, but this book deserves it. If you're looking for a riveting thriller, something you can't bear to put down, look elsewhere. This book misses the mark by a mile.

16 people found this helpful

Page Turner, or a Great Listen!

This was my first time reading a Chevy Stevens book. I will definitely be reading her previous works. Always Watching, kept me at the edge of my seat. It wasn't a nail bitter, but it surely kept me entertained and wanting to see what happened next.
Dr. Nadine Lavoie works in a lock down psychiatric hospital.Were she meets her new patient, Heather Simeon. A distraught woman with suicidal tendencies. Heather starts to
divulge her in most secrets and demons. It turns out that Dr. Nadine Lavoie & Heather have a lot in common. A man named Aaron Quinn, a group leader in commune on Vancouver Island. But Nadine has suppressed all her childhood memories, Why?
As Nadine struggles to come to terms with her past. She also has to deal with her daughter, Lisa. Who is a drug addict, living on the streets.
The more Nadine digs, the closer she is to danger.
One last thing, the narrator Joyce Bean, brings this book to life. Her performance was a 5 out of 5 stars.
Enjoy!

12 people found this helpful

Excellent like all of Chevy Stevens books

The book kept me guessing which one or more of the people the main character spoke with was going to be a "bad guy". Every book I have read of Chevy Stevens has been suspenseful, gripping and had an intriguing, unique story line. If you are tired of the same type of suspense/thriller books try one of this author's books.

5 people found this helpful

Bad narration but liked the story

Narration was monotone, she was a psychiatrist but her voice made me depressed! Plot was good though!

4 people found this helpful

Amateur but interesting

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listened all the way through, but had to force myself. The entire production is at an English Lit class level of sophistication. Nadine is a psychologist who struggles with claustrophobia from suppressed memories linked to a traumatic incident in her childhood. Unplausable, but you read on, hoping for the best. Then you meet the boring surrounding characters. Robbie, the brother, is dull as dishwater. Her daughter Lisa, a grown woman with an addiction problem, is unlikeable. Her stepson Garrett, who we don't meet until the middle of book, seems only a convenient answer to some unresolved questions. The author keeps using the same phrases and we heard blood roaring or whooshing in Nadine's ears at least 5 times. No problem guessing the good guys from the bad guys, and no problem guessing the ending.

What didn’t you like about Joyce Bean’s performance?

The narrator sounded bored most of the time, but did a fair job in creating the characters and differentiating the voices.

Did Always Watching inspire you to do anything?

Find another book.

Any additional comments?

Good first try, but will look forward to this author's development.

4 people found this helpful

Couldn't finish

What disappointed you about Always Watching?

The story moved very slowly, it was filled with unnecessary details and clumsy sentences, which made the story "plod". It felt like a very dry police report--not a narrative at all.

What was most disappointing about Chevy Stevens’s story?

The lack of character development--the main character was not a good psychiatrist and missed very obvious clues about her patient.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator sounded bored and mispronounced words (not an accent issue, actual mispronunciations).

Any additional comments?

I couldn't finish this book and stopped with 4 hours remaining. I didn't care what happened or had happened and couldn't stop mentally editing painful scenes and sentences.

4 people found this helpful

Disappointment -wont get another from this author

I wanted a story and a diversion - an escape. Instead a got a course in psychiatry and counseling, it is obvious that the author did her research but there is a difference between winding knowledge into a story and using every other sentence to give textbook definitions. It is also something known to most seasoned psychiatric professionals that the textbook definitions don't apply in a straightforward manner to the human person in a stepwise clinical fashion. The author should have spent time creating characters that had more depth rather than following a clinical recipe. In this book each patient with sexual abuse is the same, every event of PTSD unfolds exactly the same, and every addict uses the same evasive conversation. I wanted a story but I got a lesson. I stuck with it hoping it would get better but I was annoyed the entire way through. Doubt I'll listen to another book by this author. Like a good mystery or thriller but don't need a lesson in police investigative process or evidence gathering or forensic procedure. The narrator added nothing to the book and didn't make it any more palatable... The narration may actually have made the clinical textbook-ness of this story worse.

4 people found this helpful

You can feel the emotion in this book

The description and emotion of this novel are very powerful. There are a lot of very uncomfortable scenes of molestation and violence and thw book centres on those events. There are lots of flashbacks which seem lazy with respect to plot development but it still works. There is a lot great about this book and it's easy to spend hours at a time listening to it. Worth the credit!

4 people found this helpful

Really had a hard time connecting with protagonist

Was it the character herself -- most likely. Also may be in part the voice of the reader.

3 people found this helpful

Great Listen!

Having listened to this and Still Missing, I prefer this. The narrator is great, as is the storyline. Keeps you on your toes. Definitely recommend it!

2 people found this helpful