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READING GROUP GUIDE About the book: She helps people put their demons to rest. But she has a few of her own… In the lockdown ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Nadine Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the desire—healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for seven years. When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today? And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realizes that danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most…and fight back, in Always Watching by Chevy Stevens. Sometimes you can leave the past, but you can never escape. "This was one tough book to put down…Highly recommended." —Suspense Magazine
Always Watching Chevy Stevens
ISBN: 978-‐1-‐250-‐04900-‐1* Paperback * St. Martin’s Press * May 2014
Discussion Questions
1. Nadine says, in regards to Aaron Quinn, “But back then, I believed. We all believed.” What about Aaron Quinn’s personality and the circumstances of their situation made it possible for people who lived at the commune, specifically Nadine and her brother and mother, to believe in Aaron Quinn?
2. What are some of the manipulative techniques, such as “love bombing” and “alertness-‐stopping”, that Aaron Quinn used?
3. As a psychiatrist Nadine is able to examine her own feelings from a clinical perspective. What are some instances where you see her do this? How does Nadine’s analysis of her own feelings compare and relate to her analysis of Heather?
4. How does Nadine’s training as a psychiatrist influence her interactions with Lisa?
5. Heather appeared to be doing better right before her suicide. As a reader were you shocked by the turn of events, or did you anticipate it? What had you expected to happen with Heather?
6. Nadine describes how an instance of using the backhoe at her brother’s business after Paul’s death gave her a sense of peace. Has there been an instance in your own life when an unexpected and/or seemingly random activity or place gave you a sense of peace during a difficult time?
7. Were you surprised by Robbie’s initial reaction when Nadine told him that Aaron Quinn had abused her? How did you expect him to react?
8. Robbie tells Nadine that while he was unconscious in the ambulance he could see her as if he was above her, and he felt peaceful and calm. Nadine is skeptical. What do you think?
9. On page 314 Nadine says, “I saw now that his fear of rejection had shaped everything he’d done all along…” Explain what she means by this.
10. What significance does Glenda the stray cat have throughout the story?
11. The reader discovers what happened in the past at the common along with Nadine as she recovers her memories throughout the novel. Were any revelations surprising to you? Which ones? Were there others that you had suspected?
12. The months that Nadine and Robbie spent at the commune during their youth shaped the way they live their lives as adults. In what ways do you see the impact of their experience on the choices they make and the way they react to events and people?
About the author:
CHEVY STEVENS grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still lives on the island with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s camping and canoeing with her family in the local mountains. Her debut novel, Still Missing, won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel.
Want to learn more about Chevy Stevens? Visit her at www.ChevyStevens.com
Or follow her on Facebook www.Facebook.com/ChevyStevens
Or on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/ChevyStevens