The title of Koethi Zan's The Never List refers to a list that Sarah and her best friend, Jennifer, who survived a car crash at an early age, kept of things they should always avoid doing. The young girls became vigilant about their safety, obsessing over the statistics about being injured or killed in different ways.
Numbers couldn't save them from being kidnapped and imprisoned in a sadist's basement for years with two other women, though. Sarah eventually helped organize an escape, but Jennifer never made it out and her body was never found. Zan starts her story 10 years later, when their tormentor is up for parole. Sarah, now agoraphobic, is determined to keep him locked up and to reclaim her own life by confronting her fears and finding out what happened to Jennifer.
The novel's eerily prescient echoes of the Ariel Castro case add to the gut-wrenching effect of the victims' ordeal. Thankfully, Zan doesn't focus on the torture, but more on the women's spirit, survival instincts and different methods of coping after reentering society.
The novel's weakest aspect is its dialogue. Characters address each other by name too much in conversation and talk in long monologues to reveal all their secrets as the story progresses. But Zan's pacing is tight and her plot both horrific and compassionate toward the women. The Never List might warrant a place on readers' summer reading lists. --Elyse Dinh-McCrilllis, freelance writer and editor, blogging at Pop Culture Nerd