The Never List

De: Koethi Zan

Narrado por: Kristen Sieh

For years, Sarah Farber and her best friend, Jennifer, kept what they called the Never List: A list of actions to be avoided at all costs, for safety’s sake. But one night, against their best instincts, they accept a cab ride -one with grave, everlasting consequences. For the next three years, they are held captive with two other girls in a dungeon-like cellar by a connoisseur of sadism. Ten years later, Sarah’s abductor is up for parole and she can no longer ignore the twisted letters he sends to her from prison. But when Sarah decides to confront her phobias and reconnect with the other survivors she begins unraveling a mystery more horrifying than even she could have imagined.

A blazingly quick listen with eerie similarities to the recent kidnapping case in Cleveland, The Never List is a smart, riveting, and bold pause-resister that will leave listeners awake all night with the lights on.

©2013 Koethi Zan (P)2013 Penguin Audio

full of writer's conveniences

finished quickly so it could be done. fairly predictable. great voice actor. easy listen. good for a younger audience

smart thriller with the right amount of everything

this book was great. it had just the right amount of intensity and mystery, just the right amount of drama, just the right amount of deviance and brutality, and it was just the right length.

the story was interesting, with empathetic characters who are tortured (excuse the pun) by their past and trying to figure out a way to move on while having to revisit their old wounds. it's fast paced, there's no time wasted in getting to the final climax where all the twists and mysteries are resolved or revealed.

it's a perfect creepy crazy story of female victims trying to figure out the realities and overcome the horrors what happened to them.

This book gets my stamp of approval

Would you consider the audio edition of The Never List to be better than the print version?

I did not get the print version

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Never List?

mmmmm not really sure that any one thing left a memorable stamp in my mind but I know I was not so disappointed in the book that I returned it.

What about Kristen Sieh’s performance did you like?

Yes

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

.......

Keeps you hooked!

This was a great, easy read. It was thrilling & captivating throughout the whole thing.

Spine chilling and hoping for a sequel.

What did you love best about The Never List?

The twists and turns the plot took during the story as well as the characters.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, very much so. Just when you think you know what's what in the book, perspectives change and make you doubt your initial analysis.

Which character – as performed by Kristen Sieh – was your favorite?

The main character Sarah. She gave the character life and I enjoyed the developing relationship the narrator builds with you through the character.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes! Definitely! Could not put it down. I usually only listen at work but I made an exception for the last two books I listened to. I just had to know what was going to play out.

Any additional comments?

Wonderful story line and I loved what the element of a narrator brought to the table.

Good narration, some twists

Has some usual “meh” things…fbi being outwitted by the women he is trying to protect. But in the end it was a good book.

Not that gripping

Any additional comments?

I was surprised that a lot of people said this was highly suspenseful and gripping. I didn't think so at all. I thought the story was a bit boring. The subject matter was dark and disturbing, but there was a lack of detail that sort of diluted all of that. Not that I really need a lot of detail to understand what's happening, but the lack of detail made the whole thing hard to believe and get into.

great story

good book. keeps you wanting to know more. great plot twists.good ending. will read again.

wonderful book to read

I just love the book I could stop listening to it. it surprises you and makes you think.

Eerie similarities to Cleveland kidnappings...

The Never List chronicles the aftermath of heroine Sarah’s traumatic kidnapping, in which she and her best friend were chained in a basement and tortured with two other girls. It is a quick read and it is hard not to fall for Sarah’s frank and wry narrative voice.

Clearly, this is a book only for the bravest of readers. I was a bit hesitant about the subject matter, as I enjoy a great twisted tale of suspense but dislike the sort of gruesome and gory torture porn that horror films like Hostel have made popular. The Never List is tastefully done for such dark subject matter, in the way that I think the best tales of suspense often are. Although we get flashbacks of what Sarah and the other girls suffered through, the focus of the book is not on human suffering.

Zan has done a great job of creating a gang of likable female sleuths who have overcome an awful trauma together. When the three kidnapping victims who escaped the basement are told their captor will be eligible for parole, they reunite to investigate loose ends of their case. The male FBI agent assigned to their case is comically absent, a benevolent force always a phone call away but a bit too slow. The Never List is the girl-power thriller that The Shining Girls wanted to be; these women are honest, flawed, strong, taking control of their past and their future.

I heard about this book because of its odd timing – right around the time of its release (July 2013) we all watched in horror as women were rescued from Ariel Castro’s home in Cleveland. The similarities between the real life news story and the events in the work of fiction are bizarrely similar–three women kept chained in a house by a sadistic man. There is an interview on mybookishways.com about Zan’s almost surreal reaction to watching the news in Cleveland unfold. As she says, “I’d written a book based on my worst nightmare, and there it was on the screen—real.” It was such an eerie coincidence.

You will find yourself cheering for Sarah as she overcomes fears, deals with her past, and becomes a stronger person. This is the best sort of audiobook to listen to, as it kept me looking for chores around the house I could do while I kept listening. My house is swept, my laundry is done, and I'm all finished with The Never List.