There were four of us down there for the first thirty-two months and eleven days of our captivity. And then, very suddenly and without warning, there were three. Even though the fourth person hadn't made any noise at all in several months, the room got very quiet when she was gone. For a long time after that, we sat in silence, in the dark, each of us wondering what this meant for her and for us, and which of us would be the next in the box. Never Get In The Car - For years, best friends Sarah and Jennifer kept what they called the 'Never List': a list of actions to be avoided, for safety's sake, at all costs. But one night, they failed to follow their own rules. Never Go Out Alone After - Dark Sarah has spent ten years trying to forget her ordeal. But now the FBI has news that forces her to confront her worst fears. Never Take Risks - If she is to uncover the truth about what really happened to Jennifer, Sarah needs to work with the other women who shared her nightmare. But they won't be happy to hear from her. Because down there in the dark, Sarah wasn't just a victim. Never Trust Anyone.
"The Never List" is thrilling and exciting...except for when it's not. I think this kind of thing being told in first person point-of-view, past tense, is the problem, because when you're revealing others' details, you can only tell—there is neither no showing, nor is there any chance of it. Only the people can tell the audience. The past tense also makes it difficult to figure out which time is being discussed—the past or the "current", whatever it means in the book? Since those things mix together and complicate everything when you also have PTSD, I understand it's hard, but I feel like it should have been revealed in past tense and the rest of the book go on in present tnse, for the sake of easier reading.
I finished this book in three days, but that's my typical time now—I feel like something was missing. These kinds of stories are typically predictable; I figured the obvious prediction—I mean, it's a trope and a trick: a character can only either be dead or alive. Considering I've watched every Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode and learned the patterns, I could figure out much of the story. The big reveal was a bit of a surprise, though, albeit quite unfortunate.
And then it ended. And it had a weird ending—strange conclusion—that was just odd and left me feeling empty-handed and disappointed. I just can't figure out what it was.
