Chevy Stevens - That Night

As a teenager, Toni Murphy had a life full of typical adolescent a boyfriend she adored, a younger sister she couldn't relate to, a strained relationship with her parents, and classmates who seemed hell-bent on making her life miserable. Things weren't easy, but Toni could never have predicted how horrific they would become until her younger sister was brutally murdered one summer night. Toni and her boyfriend, Ryan, were convicted of the murder and sent to prison.
Now thirty-four, Toni, is out on parole and back in her hometown, struggling to adjust to a new life on the outside. Prison changed her, hardened her, and she's doing everything in her power to avoid violating her parole and going back. This means having absolutely no contact with Ryan, avoiding fellow parolees looking to pick fights, and steering clear of trouble in all its forms. 

But nothing is making that easy—not Ryan, who is convinced he can figure out the truth; not her mother, who doubts Toni's innocence; and certainly not the group of women who made Toni's life hell in high school and may have darker secrets than anyone realizes. No matter how hard she tries, ignoring her old life to start a new one is impossible. 

Before Toni can truly move on, she must risk everything to find out what really happened that night.But in That Night by Chevy Stevens, the truth might be the most terrifying thing of all.

Comment: Two years after having read another book by this author, I've decided to try something else. The blurb of this book intrigued me and that was it!

Toni was a 18 year old, with the usual problems many teenagers have and some more, when a tragedy destroyed her family. She and her boyfriend Ryan were considered guilty of killing her sister Nicole, and were sent to prison. Now that she is out, Toni is still angry and resentful and her relationship with her parents was never the same. But she and Ryan are innocent, although not many people believed them then, nor now. However, one of the key witnesses - a girl from a group who bullied Toni - claims she is sorry. But is she sorry for what exactly? The problem is that after saying this, she seems to have disappeared...

Although two books might not be a very good sample, I'd say that this author has a particular style: heroines who share their stories in first person and who went though terrible/challenging situations. I didn't have many expectations, only the usual ones of getting an engrossing book to read, but this one grabbed me completely and I was both tense and eager to read what Toni would face next. Again, as I had experienced with the other book, the aim here was not to shock the reader, but the anticipation of what would be shared next, and a lot saddened me because I knew something bad might come; still, I also wanted to know anyway.

This author's books are not easy, that seems quite a factual warning. It's not the kind of story with violent scenes or awful descriptions, but reading this also made me a bit sad because some of Toni's choices seem to lead to avoidable problems. But, who doesn't have all the solutions after a problem happens? Often I wish I could have warned her or tell her she should think about what her mother was telling her or what it would mean to say or do this and that... in terms of how she could deal with her sister's murder... well, this lack of awareness is probably the most unexpected part of the novel.

The tale is divided into three moments, two of them more prominent than others: Toni as a 18 year old facing her issues and telling us about what led to the moment she and Ryan went to prison, then Toni already in prison and how she faced it all, and then Toni as a parolee, trying to move on while still feeling angry over the ordeal and the lost years. In the middle of this, the weight of the loss of her family, her sister, her boyfriend and dreams. The story feels quite depressing, there were a few times I even cried imagining myself going through those emotions and losses, but the author does manage to write in a way that was, for me, mostly intriguing.

The only thing we know from the start is that Toni and Ryan are innocent. They didn't kill Nicole, but in 1996, when the crime happened, police investigation wasn't what it is now and they were easy targets. Since the story is told by Toni, we do focus a lot more on her feelings and the harrowing notion she is meeting disaster at some point. It's also distressing to think she lost so much but was still expected to control herself and become a "normal" citizen at some point. Psychologically, this novel was quite thought provoking to me.

When the story finally reaches the end, there is a surprising twist, but I will say it wasn't as unpredictable as that! I'm not primarily a thriller reader but some clues seemed to lead to a very likely scenario, which proved to be right. Despite guessing who and why, the how was still a novelty and I think Toni reacted less effusively than what I expected. The heartbreak, the pain, the unfairness, all these things never left Toni, but it's quite ironic that she was convicted for murder when in reality she is quite a good person...

If this book had been more polished here and there and if the end had been a bit happier (it does end well, but I wanted more!), I'd have upgraded, but in the end, it was still quite captivating. I'll now investigate further, to see if any other title catches my eye...

Grade: 8/10