Book Review: No Bad Deed | Heather Chavez

What a ride!!! This book starts with a bang and takes off at breakneck speed until the very final page. When you start Heather Chavez’s No Bad Deed, just make sure you clear your schedule for the next 24 hours because I promise you won’t want to put it down!

About the Book

Packed with the electrifying pacing and pulse-pounding suspense of Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner, a thrilling debut about a mother desperate to find the connections between her missing husband and a deadly stalker who knows too much about her own dark family history.

Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, the veterinarian makes a split-second decision that will throw her sedate suburban life into chaos. Against all reason and advice, she gets out of her minivan and chases after the violent man, trying to help his victim. When Cassie physically tries to stop him, he suddenly turns on her and spits out an ominous threat: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.”

A veterinarian trained to heal, Cassie can’t let the woman die. But while she’s examining the unconscious victim, the attacker steals her car. Now he has her name. Her address. And he knows about her children. Though they warn her to be careful, the police assure her that the perpetrator—a criminal named Carver Sweet—won’t get near her. Cassie isn’t so sure.

The next day—Halloween—her husband disappears while trick-or-treating with their six-year-old daughter. Are these disturbing events a coincidence or the beginning of a horrifying nightmare? Her husband has been growing distant—is it possible he’s become involved with another woman? Is Cassie’s confrontation with the road-side attacker connected to her husband’s disappearance? With all these questions swirling in her mind Cassie can trust no one, maybe not even herself. The only thing she knows for sure is that she can’t sit back while the people she loves are in danger.

As she desperately searches for answers, Cassie discovers that nothing is as random as it seems, and that she is more than willing to fight—to go the most terrifying extremes—to save her family and her marriage.

Reflection

Honestly I am keeping this review on the shorter side (for me) because of two main reasons: 1. I truly believe that the less you know about the direction this book takes, the better; and 2. I am honestly still processing all of the twists and turns and heart-pounding moments that make up this book. Do yourself a favor and add it to your list!

Cassie is driving home one dark and stormy night when she sees a woman and man on the side of the road fighting. When she tries to help, the man turns and issues one ominous threat “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.”

But that is only the beginning. While Cassie helps the woman, the man steals her car with her purse inside. And now he knows all about her. When her husband goes missing the next day while out trick or treating with their daughter, Cassie doesn’t know what to think. Was it the man who threatened her? Or did her husband Sam leave her finally after months of him growing more and more distant from her?

I’m not going to say much more, which honestly is frustrating because there is SO much more to this book than what I just captured. I think I can safely say that in the hours and days that follow Sam’s disappearance, things get more complicated. Cassie reports the disappearance to the police, who can’t do much since Sam is an adult. And then there are the text messages she gets from Sam confessing to leaving her. But is it really Sam texting her? As she tracks down clues, evidence seems to pile up. But the evidence is pointing directly towards her!

This is one of those books where—similar to Cassie—you just don’t always know what is real and what is faked. As two initial scenarios divide—that Sam left Cassie and that the man from the night before is after her family—I found myself questioning everything. And soon more scnearios will start to break off from those, until you are looking at so many possibilities as to make your head spin!

And trust me when I say you’ll meet some other characters and witnesses along the way. You’ll get to know more about Cassie’s marriage. You’ll find quick, short chapters that accelerate the pace. You’ll find webs of twists and turns that you can absolutely lose yourself in. And finally, you’ll have a whirlwind ending that you’ll think about days after. Truly a mind-bending thriller!

A word of advice going into this—just enjoy the ride! Don’t try to overthink it too much, don’t get too caught up in how realistic you find certain elements. And most importantly, don’t turn out the lights!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and William Morrow Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.