Clare O’Dey,
an abused wife fleeing her husband, ends up investigating the disappearance of
Shayna in a remote mountain community.
Blackmore is slowly becoming a ghost town after a tragedy shut down the
local mine. Clare insinuates herself into
the town and becomes acquainted with people connected to Shayna, most of whom
are nasty or untrustworthy or both.
There is so
much that is unbelievable about the book.
There is no ongoing police investigation even though Shayna’s
disappearance is fairly recent? Clare’s
abusive husband hired Malcolm to find her, but, instead, Malcolm hires her to
look for Shayna even though Clare has no experience as an investigator and
knows of her history with drugs? And she
agrees to work for this cloak-and-dagger mystery man about whom she knows
nothing? Then Clare becomes strangely
intimate with Charlie, the local drug dealer, even though she has a history of
drug abuse and he resembles her abusive husband? Despite the fact that no one really believes
her cover as a nature photographer, she seamlessly blends herself into the life
of the town? And what’s with all the
similarities between Clare and Shayna? They
look alike and have a similar history of substance abuse and a volatile
marriage. Clare’s mother was ill for a
long time; Shayna’s mother is suffering with dementia.
Clare is
not a likeable character and it’s impossible to relate to her. She keeps taking such stupid actions. Her mother told her, “You don’t think of the
consequences . . . You just dive headfirst.
Reckless.” That trait is supposed
to explain everything? What is her
motivation? Are her similarities to Shayna
supposed to be her reasons for insisting on staying in Blackmore even when her situation
becomes more dangerous? When she’s in
danger, rather than stay clear-headed, she drinks and takes drugs?
Because the
protagonist is unsympathetic and the other characters are equally distasteful,
I found myself not caring about what happened.
It was obvious that Clare would uncover what happened to Shayna. Many people have commented about the shock of
the ending but that means they totally ignored the oh-so-obvious clue of the
title!
There is a
sequel to this book: Still Water. I had difficulty convincing myself to finish Still Mine so I certainly won’t be
checking out its follow-up. Anyone looking for a psychological thriller should look elsewhere.
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