REVIEW: THAT NIGHT, BY CHEVY STEVENS

Arrested and convicted of her younger sister Nicole’s murder when she was only eighteen, Toni Murphy spends the next fifteen years in prison. Her boyfriend Ryan was also convicted.

But they are innocent. And the rage and fear Toni suffers is intensified by the challenges she faces in prison. But will she find even more challenges once she is released?

The primary story is set in Campbell River, on Vancouver Island. That Night begins as Toni is being released from Rockland Penitentiary, to a halfway house, and alternately flashes backward and forward, revealing the many layers to this story. Like the bullying that made up a huge part of her high school experience, from a group of girls headed by Shauna McKinney. The fact that her parents saw her as a trouble-maker and her sister as the good girl. That her sister Nicole was slowly being drawn into the very circle of enemies that had tormented Toni….

Toni is our first person narrator, and as we learn more from her perspective, it is easy to be enraged by what she suffered and by the intensity of emotions she has experienced. All of which must be kept under wraps in order to survive inside. As the story unfolds, in its back and forth fashion, I had a hard time setting it down. From one minute to the next, I couldn’t wait to see what would happen. One would think that life would be better for Toni outside, but she discovers that those who are out to get her are still there, and ratcheting things up.

What will her enemies do next to ruin her life? Why are the “mean girls,” now adults, still intent on destroying her? What are the secrets they are keeping? And what was the truth about Nicole’s secret life during that last year?

A highly intense and emotional read, I felt myself pulled into the midst of the drama, completely engaged with the characters. Toni was a character that I enjoyed, despite her tough girl persona. I was rooting for her from the beginning. And in the end, it seemed as though justice would never come…but then a surprising revelation brought satisfaction. Five stars.