Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downes’s debut, The Safe Place, is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.Welcome to paradise…will you ever be able to leave?Emily is a mess.Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day.Emily is desperate.Scott Denny, … apartment in one miserable day.
Emily is desperate.
Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily.
Emily is perfect.
Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn’t play along, the consequences could be deadly.
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If you like reading a book with believable characters that pull you into a twisted suspenseful story, The Safe Place by Anna Downes is for you. A job on an Idealic French estate is just what Emily thinks she wants after her acting career falls apart, she loses her job and apartment. Little does she suspect half truths and secrets will turn her life around and could be the death of her. Definitely recommend this book.
While I have to give this author kudos for a well edited and well written debut novel, I also have to say this bookaholic found it to be just okay. I mean don’t get me wrong she has everything here for it to be a great read it just for me fell flat. This isn’t a dull read it just didn’t have the meat I personally needed to be amazed, struck dumb and done but it’s good. Emily is one of those folks that just skates through life using people for what they cn do for her and giving nothing of herself in return. this is all quite evident when she finds herself once again making the call for help without even acknowledging her adopted mothers birthday.
Now she finds herself in a secluded location, no wifi, no one to contact for help and in the middle of a sh$$storm. All of her bad choices have led her to a place where she is now forced to finally make good choices and make things right. It’s a story of someone who is misguided by her own bad choices, misplaced in her own mind and now is paying the piper. The only question that remains is will she do the right thing or once again let her selfishness be her guide.
“Querencia was a little like Narnia. You could spend weeks there without ever leaving, months even, and on your return to the real world it seemed that no time had passed at all.”
I really liked this. The Safe Place is this slow burn mystery suspense read. Like legitimately the entire time I was just waiting for our poor naive heroine to actually have something happen to her. Like something was there, out of focus, just waiting for this unsuspecting woman to get too close.
I think as you read things slowly click into place, but you don’t quite hear them clicking, and by the end I honestly felt like I was the naive heroine of the story. Like, what just happened? Have I been bamboozled. I clearly don’t want to say too much, because what mystery suspense reads well without the mystery? I was left with a few questions at the end, but I’m pretty sure that was intentional and while I wish I had actual answers, I understand that leaving the reader to dream up their own answers, leaves a certain strong impression as well.
All in all I enjoyed this one. I’d love to pick up another from this author in the future, because while a slow burn story isn’t usually my favorite, Anna Downes did a fabulous job keeping me interested in this cast of characters and all of their secrets.
(thank you to bookishfirst and minotaur books for the advanced readers copy and in exchange a honest review)
i thought this book was a fun and quick thriller as i got through it in a few days i figured out the twist of the book when i was half finished with the book and found the ending predictable but otherwise it was a book i could’t put down and enjoyed the plot of I can’t wait to read more from the author and this was such a good debut novel!