Always Watching
Stevens hit it big, both critically and commercially, with Still Missing (2010); Never Knowing (2011) sold well, too, but failed to live up to the promise of its predecessor. Her latest is also disappointing, lacking both the emotional punch and gripping action of Still Missing. Following a couple of traumatic experiences, widowed Canadian psychiatrist Nadine Lavoie relocates to Victoria, B.C., hoping not only for a fresh start but also for an opportunity to reconnect with her estranged twentysomething daughter, Lisa, rumored to be living on the streets somewhere in the city. Just about the time she’s beginning to feel comfortable in her new job, Nadine is called in to treat clinically depressed, suicidal Heather Simeon. As Nadine tries to help the suffering woman, she learns that Heather and her husband recently left their home in the River of Spiritual Light Center, a commune run by the notorious Aaron Quinn. Nadine has her own connection to Quinn, having lived on the commune with her mother and older brother when she was a teenager. Deciding her personal connection to Quinn won’t compromise her patient’s recovery, Nadine proceeds with her treatment, but she finds confusing memories of her own year in the commune surfacing. Sounding too often like a lecture on the evils of communal living, the plot drags, and even Nadine’s laudable determination to redress the evils and mistakes of the past can’t push this beyond prosaic.      HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Following two best-sellers, Stevens has an established track record; the quality is slipping, but the 150,000-copy first printing of her latest suggests that her publisher will keep pushing. --Stephanie Zvirin