Heather Chavez | NO BAD DEED

Plot (via Goodreads):

Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, the veterinarian makes a split-second decision that will throw her sedate suburban life into chaos. Against all reason and advice, she gets out of her minivan and chases after the violent man, trying to help his victim. When Cassie physically tries to stop him, he suddenly turns on her and spits out an ominous threat: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.”

A veterinarian trained to heal, Cassie can’t let the woman die. But while she’s examining the unconscious victim, the attacker steals her car. Now he has her name. Her address. And he knows about her children. Though they warn her to be careful, the police assure her that the perpetrator—a criminal named Carver Sweet—won’t get near her. Cassie isn’t so sure.

The next day—Halloween—her husband disappears while trick-or-treating with their six-year-old daughter. Are these disturbing events a coincidence or the beginning of a horrifying nightmare? Her husband has been growing distant—is it possible he’s become involved with another woman? Is Cassie’s confrontation with the road-side attacker connected to her husband’s disappearance? With all these questions swirling in her mind Cassie can trust no one, maybe not even herself. The only thing she knows for sure is that she can’t sit back while the people she loves are in danger.

As she desperately searches for answers, Cassie discovers that nothing is as random as it seems, and that she is more than willing to fight—to go the most terrifying extremes—to save her family and her marriage.

Review:

Once I read the plot to No Bad Deed, I automatically needed to read it and I completely ate the entire thing up in a matter of hours. I was a man obsessed and let me just say, chugging coffee and reading this one was a combination of a great idea and a horrible one. This one starts off with a scene that was so eerily creepy and cinematic that I need it to be a movie or a television show and I need David Fincher to direct it. It was such a key element to the story, but I swear I read the first scene three times because I just couldn't get enough of it and I wanted to make sure I absorbed every single detail.

I thought I had an idea as to where this one was going the minute I read the opening and then I was thrown completely into left field and the minute that all of these different occurrences in the novel started to tie together and more characters were introduced and their parts they were playing in this plot were starting to be questioned and the revelations were slowly coming out, I was dumbfounded. I had no idea where Chavez was going to take me with this story, but in the same sense I loved the feeling of not knowing what the hell would happen next. Her way of telling this story is not only cinematic and features great characters and brilliant pacing, but her twists and turns didn't feel like they were done for shock factor, it felt more realistic like this is the stuff that could actually happen in real life that would leave you speechless; and speechless I was for majority of this one.

I loved these characters, even the bad guy was creepy and yet enjoyable to read. I wanted him to keep doing bad things to entertain me, but I also wanted to protect the characters that I was loving to read. The story definitely took some major turns that I wasn't expecting and never saw coming, but once the entirety of this story started to come together like a puzzle, it was beguiling and so sensational to read. This was such a thrilling and adventurous read that had characters that will stick with me for a long time and some minor moments that were so small and yet completely unsettling. I absolutely loved this read and I think it is the perfect novel for all suspense and thriller readers.

Rating: 5/5