That Night by Chevy Stevens

Title: That Night
Author: Chevy Stevens
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: June 17, 2014
ISBN: 9781250034601
Number of Pages: 370
How I Got It: Staci Burt (publicist)
Format: Paperback

Publicist Supplied Summary:

“They said she was a murderer. They said she killed her sister. But they lied.” This is the mystery surrounding Chevy Stevens’ upcoming novel, That Night 

Toni Murphy was eighteen when she and her boyfriend, Ryan, were wrongly convicted of the murder of her younger sister. Now she is thirty-four and back in her hometown, working every day to forge and adjust to a new life on the outside. She's doing everything in her power to avoid violating her parole and going back to prison. But nothing is making that easy--not Ryan, who is convinced he can figure out the truth; not her mother, who clearly doubts Toni's innocence; and certainly not the group of women who made Toni's life miserable in high school and may have darker secrets than anyone realizes. Before Toni can truly move on, she must risk everything to find out the truth and clear her name.

My Review:

I think that this novel's release date was absolutely perfect. With season 2 of "Orange is the New Black" releasing just over a week ago, female-prisoner themed stories are buzzing. Inside the prisons the "I'm innocent" pleas are met with eye rolls, snickers, and "We're all innocent" snarky replies from fellow inmates. Author Chevy Stevens did a good job of keeping the true story of what happened "that night" from being figured out until she was ready to play her hand. Her descriptions of Shauna (the best villan I've read in a long time,) Shauna's friends, and the caste system of a small town were spot on. They were so good that they made me quite uncomfortable. After growing up in one of these toxic environments myself, I knew exactly how Toni felt. Stevens provides a believable character with hurt but resiliant Toni by not having Toni perform any cliched missteps (you know, the girl that goes in the shed alone in her underwear without a flashlight in a lightning storm.) I read this book pretty quick and was really hooked by the suspense. I've not read any other works by this author but I will definitely be ready to read her next release.

** I received this book in exchange for an honest review **