Release Date: July 14, 2020
My Rating: 7/10
For Anna Downes' debut novel, she graced the Mystery & Thriller genre with The Safe Place, and it is the perfect summer read. This book draws you in with its curious characters and compelling plot. As you get past the initial start of the book, you almost forget you are reading a mystery. Downes paints such a vivid picture of the settings, you feel as if you have traveled there yourself. You begin to fall in love with the characters and the relationships that form between them. Then little occurrences remind you exactly what kind of book you are reading, keeping you flipping page after page until the suspense is broken and you find out just how dark this plot is.
The main character Emily will draw you in because most of us can probably relate to her on some level. And intrigue surrounds Scott Denny, leaving you wanting to know more and more about him and his family, which is exactly what propels Emily into accepting what seems like the job offer of a lifetime in a secluded paradise. We all say it, every time we go on a lovely vacation, the words "I'm never leaving" and that is about to become Emily Proudman's real-life nightmare. Upon arriving at her new utopia she cannot imagine how she became so lucky. Though there are some oddities, it is nothing she cannot look past in order to do her job well. Until it is too much to look past and she realizes that there are secrets hidden in this family, in this paradise, that she is expected to go along with even without knowing what they are. But these secrets have dangerous consequences, life or death consequences, and Emily is not sure she can keep them.
The ending gets tied up in a neat little bow, which can be great when you read dark thrillers non-stop like me. You are let in on all the secrets looming over the characters throughout the book, except one. This left me longing for answers days after I had finished the book which was a little disappointing because it would have wrapped up the ending perfectly.
Make sure to keep an eye out for this thriller because it gets released JULY 14. No doubt this book is going to be a best-seller, launching Mrs. Downes into a bright career as an author!
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