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Book Summary and Reviews of That Night by Chevy Stevens

That Night by Chevy Stevens

That Night

by Chevy Stevens

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2014, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

As a teenager, Toni Murphy had a life full of typical adolescent complications: 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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Fans of layered mysteries will love this novel as they try to guess the players in Nicole's death and try to figure out exactly what happened 'that night.' A compelling, exceptional read." - Library Journal

"Stevens does an excellent job conveying Toni's near-constant state of unease... And she supplies a corker of an ending." - Booklist

"Despite some wooden secondary characters, this is an exciting page-turner with an incisive twist." - Publishers Weekly

"A thriller that will grip you from page one." - Harlan Coben

"Fast-paced and thought-provoking, That Night is a taut psychological thriller which skillfully explores bullying in its most terrifying forms. From the high school parking lot to the prison yard to a family's own living room, That Night shows just how fast those closest to us can become our most brutal enemies." - Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia

"Intense and disturbing - a terrific psychological thriller." - Lee Child

"Chevy Stevens has done it again, crafting a story fraught with suspense that weaves back and forth through time and keeps you guessing. A gripping tale of secrets, betrayal, heartbreak, and ultimately, redemption, That Night is an emotional rollercoaster you'll be sorry to get off of when you finish the last page." - Jennifer McMahon, New York Times Bestselling author of The Winter People

This information about That Night was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews
Bullying and prison life were the main themes in THAT NIGHT.

The main character, Toni, had been bullied in high school because she was not in the "in" crowd. This bullying influenced her life in a negative way. Toni was very disliked by a group of girls in high school, and they kept after her for no other reason than to be mean.

Being accused of murdering her sweet sister and having the folks that bullied her testify that she always lied about things definitely didn't help her defense. She and her boyfriend were accused of the murder even though they were innocent and victims themselves and were sent to prison for 15 years.

Prison wasn't any better for Toni. Prison seemed like an extension of her high school problems.

THAT NIGHT is the second book I read by Chevy Stevens. To me it was not as good as the other book I read, but it did send a very powerful message?.

As I was reading, I was truly frightened which most likely was the author's purpose in getting across the points of the damaging and horrible aspects of bullying.

I really wasn't pulled in because of the beginning pages, but I kept coming back to learn about bullying and the repercussions of how it ruins a person's life. Stevens did a great deal of research and did a marvelous job of having the reader feel the fear caused by the bullying.

To me Ms. Steven's was unquestionably raising the awareness of bullying and excellently conveyed it in her book.

The book was very frightening as I was visualizing the scenes and thinking about what reaction I would have had in a bullying situation. If you have been bullied, you won't want to read this book; it will bring back too many unsettling memories. I never was bullied, but I was very shaken upon seeing how people act and the cruel things they do.

My rating is mainly affected by the first 200 pages that only talked of high school antics and their jealousy of each other. If you can get past the first 200 pages of high school drama and adolescent problems, the final pages are quite good.

I would have given the book a 2/5 because of the beginning pages, but I am changing the rating to a 3/5.

This rating is changed mainly because the ending pages were excellent as the true story of the murder became revealed and because bullying needs to be addressed. The public's awareness of bullying needs to be more in the open and needs to make the public realize this issue does exist and is a major social problem.

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

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Author Information

Chevy Stevens Author Biography

Photo: www.suzanneteresa.com

Stevens grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still calls the island home. For most of her adult life she worked in sales, first as a rep for a giftware company and then as a Realtor. While holding an open house one afternoon, she had a terrifying idea that became the inspiration for Still Missing. Chevy eventually sold her house and left real estate so she could finish the book. Still Missing went on to become a New York Times bestseller and win the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Chevy's books have been optioned for movies and are published in more than thirty countries.

Chevy enjoys writing thrillers that allow her to blend her interest in family dynamics with her love of the west coast lifestyle. When she's not working on her next book, she...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Chevy Stevens's Website

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