Keep Her Safe started off brilliantly. It was one of those books I started late at night and wished I hadn’t because I didn’t want to go to bed. It opens with Holly breaking into the home of single-mother Maggie. She has been sent there by Babysitter who has kidnapped Holly’s child and will return her if she kills Maggie. However when Holly breaks into the house Maggie is ready for her. Why? Because she was in Holly’s position just a few days ago.

The premise for Keep Her Safe was so exciting. I actually said ‘oh my God’ out loud at one point because I was so surprised at one of the revelations early on. Even if you aren’t a parent I think it’d be hard to read this story and not imagine yourself in this situation. Everybody says they would do anything to save and protect their children, even kill, but to be in a situation where you have to orphan a child to save your own? It’s such an intriguing and gripping dilemma for a story and the opening chapters which set the scene between our two characters was fantastic. I actually thought that one of them would kill the other and the story would progress from there but we actually follow Maggie and Holly as they attempt to hunt down the Babysitter.

Richard does a good job of portraying the helplessness of the two women and also the portrayal of them as two women who clearly love their children. The sense of fear is palpable throughout and I was constantly on edge whilst reading this story. I would have liked chapters from the POV of the Babysitter just to understand him more or even to just add more terror to the story but because of how much danger these characters are in, it was definitely a terror filled read without that. Short chapters made me want to read on, and the unpredictability of the characters and the not knowing how the story would progress kept me gripped.

With the positives out the way the story did fall a little flat around the 55% mark. Things became a little repetitive and a tiny bit boring also. Just reading about two women being sent on a wild goose chase whilst down the Babysitter just got tiresome after a while and I just wanted it to be revealed who the Babysitter was and why he was making single mothers kill other mothers. Near the end of the story I would say Richard definitely picked up the pace and the book became very exciting as the story headed to the denouement.

The actual resolution of the story however, whilst fantastic, left me thinking that the actual basis for why the Babysitter made these women do these things was quite weak. And how everything tied together was initially quite confusing. I wondered whether the Babysitter had everything planned out already or, because the women refused to kill each other, he was instead acting on the fly which didn’t make much sense because everything tended to fall into place too neatly for the Babysitter at times.

Keep Her Safe was certainly an intriguing and thought-provoking read however I feel there were more than a few missed opportunities. At times believability was stretched with how the two women communicated and certainly in the Epilogue however having now finished the book I am looking back and thinking about these two characters and how being in that situation might make you behave if it was you. How a bond might be formed and how your reactions might be different to how you would think if you imagined this situation hypothetically. This is the third book by Richard Jay Parker that I have read and all three have been a mixed bag. I’m not a huge fan of inconsistency in the books I read by the same authors however I would pick up another book by Richard again and I do recommend Keep Her Safe.

What a rollercoaster this story is. I read it in one day which is always a good sign, Maggie awakens one night to find an intruder trying to kill her. She knows why as the previous week her baby, Penny, was taken and only returned because she killed another single mother. Maggie and Holly, the intruder, join together to find Holly's baby and the man called The Babysitter who is the mastermind behind the killings. The book is packed full of action and is a brilliant read!

The first part of the book was very intense. In the first chapter, the gender of the culprit was kept hidden for a while by using the plural form. In the beginning it irritated me, because I did not understand why you would use that form for one person, but in the end it could have been a clever idea. A bit sad that, in the blurb on the back cover, it was already revealed that is was a woman.
It was nice to see how the relationship went between the women changes during the story.
I wanted to keep on reading because I wanted to know what it was all about. But unfortunately, the author lost me at the end. I could see that the real culprit has had a traumatic experience, but I could not really see the connection between that and what he wanted from his victims. Especially the last 'action' part was a bit far-fetched. It fell a bit flat.
I liked the cover and I could not put the book down. Although I enjoyed it, I also felt a bit let down.
Thank you Netgalley and bookouture for giving me the chance to read the book.

Holy sh*tballs! Richard Parker has done it again with another fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat storyline that had me captivated!

On starting this book, we find ourselves in the US where fear, family, choices, unthinkable boundaries, lies, secrets, trust, hope, manipulation, control and resolution with justice as the outcome encompass our thoughts as the story unfolds.

OMFG – 🤜🏻 POW 🤛🏻 what an opening! Heart-racing, knuckles white from grabbing the arm of my chair and absolutely breathless as I tried to take everything in at once. This was a fast-paced and riveting read with a storyline that has you asking yourself What would you do… I thought the writing was tight with vivid descriptions that had me right there in the moment. I LOVE it when a book does that to me! Tension and suspense tugged at me each step of the way – I NEEDED to know what it was all about – there was a puzzle to be solved and the author had me in the palm of his hand as I wondered whether it would work out in the end or not! BRILLIANT!

Character wise, this author always has me invested in the people on the pages! Maggie is a mother, determined and I loved her sheer will to get Holly through things while I was also desperate to know what else was going on with her. She held her cards close to her chest, and I knew there was more to be revealed. Maggie was cunning and clever with a strong desire to survive by any means necessary – I was always questioning her motives.

My heart went out to Holly. You could almost see the desperation dripping off her. For some reason, she felt more vulnerable to me – possibly because her child was missing and she had to do things she would never have done in the hopes her daughter would be returned safely. She places her life and trust in others … but can they be trusted? Ooooh the suspense was killing me!

The Babysitter – eeeek! *shudders* 👀 This was one cold, callous, evil…all the scary adjectives you can find…individual who manipulates these women into doing the unthinkable in order to save their children. You just hate this person…however, at one point I really felt for this individual…until I shook my head and thought WTF, Noelle!? Have you not just read what this person is capable of!? I think others, who have read the book, will understand where I am coming from though – so grab a copy and see what I mean!

Do I recommend this book? You bet your sweet arse I do! I have read a few books from this author and have not once been disappointed! I find his plots to be utterly compelling, where emotions are pulled apart and the reader can’t help but wonder what else can be thrown their way! I can’t wait to see what Mr Parker has in store for us next!

😲 What a fast paced book.......Keep Her Safe by Richard Jay Parker. I was gripped by the first page and was stuck in my chair until I read this wonderful book. This is the first book I have read by Richard Jay Parker and it won't be the last. I loved the way he wrote, especially the way story kept you guessing right tot the end of this book.
Single women each with a young child are targeted by a psychopath called the babysitter. He kidnaps their child and instructs the mother what she needs to do if she wants her child back. So how far would you go to protect your child?
This book revolved around 2 main characters Maggie and Holly. Maggie has a young daughter called Penny and she is her world she will do anything to protect her. Maggie is woken one night with a stranger in her house. Maggie runs and locks herself in the bedroom with Penny. Maggie knows why they are here. Maggie will protect her daughter by what ever means and will not give her to the stranger.
She later finds out the stranger is a woman called Hollie who has a young daughter as well. The babysitter has got Hollie's daughter however, if Holly wants her daughter back she needs to kill Maggie! 😲 Who would believe them? They can't go to the police!
They work together as they both will protect their daughters from this psychopath - The Babysitter.
However, the babysitter knows what is happening between the 2 woman! Is he watching them? 👀 But How??? So where is he??? 👀
What do they do next? 😱

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that will keep you guessing until the last page.
Thank you NetGalley, Bookoutre and Richard Jay Parker for allowing me to read and review this book. 💜
Big Fat 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 for this book.

** spoiler alert ** I received the ARC of this book from NetGalley.

From the start of the novel, the reader is dropped right into a scene where one mother of a kidnapped child has been tasked by the mysterious and dangerous Babysitter to murder a stranger, also the mother to a young child. The perspective frequently changes between Maggie and Holly, from them working against each other to becoming partners. Within a single evening, these mothers are pitted against each other, exchange gunfire, survive a fire, and miraculously escape notice of arriving police officers as they flee the scene. Together. Further drama includes a blizzard, mysterious directions to unknown places, car chases, dog attacks, torture, and more. All this precedes a truly unbelievable conclusion.

The author lost me very early on. To start, I found both lead characters lacking in character development. I truly just did not care about either character, and when the author attempted to provide backstory later in the narrative, I skimmed over those sections.

The ludicrous amount of danger that Maggie and Holly faced in such a short period of time was not believable at all. I rolled my eyes each time a new 'danger' popped up. And finally, the reasons behind the Babysitter's actions and that entire scene in the 'cold storage' room was over the top.

If I had not been reading this book for the PopSugar challenge, I would not have completed it.

This time last year I hadn't read any of Richard Parker's books. Keep Her Safe is the third of his titles I've read since June which should give you an idea of how much I love his books. Both Follow You and Hide and Seek made it onto my list of top reads of 2017 so I had high expectations for his latest title.
I wasn't disappointed - Keep Her Safe is a read in one sitting because you can't put it down and your family don't really need to eat anyway sort of book. From the chilling opening chapter when Maggie wakes to find a stranger in her home through to the dark and terrifying conclusion, this breathtaking rollercoaster of a read should probably come with the sort of health warning you see at theme parks - those with heart conditions and of nervous disposition should proceed with caution! Richard Parker's great skill is in taking what is a recognisable, even universal fear - in this case something terrible happening to your child - and twisting it to make it even more frightening that you ever imagined.
This is actually a very difficult review to write; not because I don't have anything positive to say about the book - on the contrary, it is a superb read - but because it has a plot that deserves to be kept a secret for each new reader to discover for themselves.
Told in the third person, the focus of the chapters alternates between Maggie and Holly. This means the action unfolds from different perspectives, which serves to either enlighten or further puzzle readers. They are both complex women whose decision making is not always rational and yet often understandable, caught up in a depraved game they are forced to keep playing until the very end and driven to extreme measures by a twisted individual who appears to hold all the power. They are not always likeable but their resoluteness in the face of what appears to be a hopeless situation is absolutely compelling. As they learn the horrific truth of what motivates the killer the tension is almost unbearable.
Keep Her Safe is an intricately plotted, intelligent and disquieting thriller that takes its readers into the grimmer echelons of society as it explores just what happens to people faced with a seemingly impossible choice - just what are they capable of? Richly atmospheric, with the cold and snow playing a vital part in the story, I loved every minute of this book; it's fast paced, exciting and dark -just what I've come to expect from a Richard Parker novel. Highly recommended.

Maggie wakes in the night to hear someone climbing in her daughters window. She runs to get Penny and barricades herself in her bedroom as she knows why the intruder has come.
I had no idea where this story was going but I couldn’t put it down. From reading the blurb I had a clear idea where I thought the story was going but I was completely wrong.
It was nice to be made to rethink my preconception of the story. I would read this author again.
Thanks to Richard Parker, Bookouture and Net Galley for an ARC in return for an honest review.
#KeepHerSafe #NetGalley

I found this a very disappointing read. I was gripped by the first few chapters but as the book progressed I found the storyline very far fetched. Sorry, but not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

How far will a mother go to protect her child? That seems to be the premise of this book, but I don't think this book does justice to that idea. I found the book to be very boring, and I put it down several times to read something else. The only thing that kept me reading was that I wanted to find out who the Babysitter character was, and I was disappointed by that too.

I wish to thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Gosh! A real nail biter of a thriller about how far a mother will go to save her daughter.

The story begins with an intruder in the home of a mother and baby and builds to a twisted story of kidnapping, abuse and blackmail.

It maintains its tension throughout. A really good read, but, if you’ve got an infant, be prepared for some sleepless nights and nightmares.

A fast paced thriller that I will highly recommend to friends and family. It grasps you from the start and doesn’t let go until the very end. No spoilers here. Don’t hesitate reading this one. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review a digital copy of this book for an unbiased opinion.

This was an interesting story. A Baby was kidnapped. But to get her daughter back, "the Babysitter" tells her she must kill another mother. This book opens and takes off at a cracking pace! There were times in the story where it became a little slow. The ending was satisfying. Overall I enjoyed this story and would be interested in others books by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for a review copy.

Real edge of the seat stuff I really enjoyed this book different to a lot of the physiological thrillers on the market. Makes you think "what would you do to protect your child?" You can’t help but sympathise with the main characters I couldn’t put it down I was burning the midnight oil and also scared myself while reading in in the dead of night with the wind whistling around, very well written with enough gory description to make you turn from the page...........but of course you have to go back because you must find out what happened.
I will definitely recommend this book to friends and professionals.

The book was wonderful and had such a great concept wish I could really see just what goes through the authors mind.

Wow!! I really enjoyed this book. It was a really tense read helped by the short punchy chapters. It was a slightly different formula to a lot of the thrillers out there at the moment, which made it an even more enjoyable read. Well done Richard, I look forward to catching up now on your other books!

This is a tense claustrophobic read....the whole book is based over a 12 hour time frame when 2 Mothers have to save their babies...the man who has taken them basically steals a baby from
a single Mum then makes ( via messages etc) the Mum kill another single Mum to get their baby back...this continues.....until the 2 in the book try and break this chain....
It is a good story and kept me hooked, it is extremely descriptive and a small event in the book is written in long detail, this adds to the atmosphere but at times you are willing it to move on quicker....
The characters are not easy to like but why should they be? They are mothers fighting to save their babies not auditioning for X Factor, they are real and gritty and will do anything to survive
The perp of the crimes is unsavoury and the people he mixes with worse and the last few chapters of the book where all is revealed do not make comfortable reading.....but then again its not a Disney story!!!!
Its a good well written book, chilling and will rattle your nerves and make you tense..... it is a hard hitting, no punches pulled read
4 stars 8/10

I really enjoyed this one and was gripped from the first page! The writing style was spot on and the pace was great - I really liked the two lead female characters and I could sympathise with both of them at times and I went from supporting one then the other!

The book is really different and the plot is really good, very simple at times but oh so effective! The book poses the question - How far would you go to protect your child? I know how far I would go - do you?? 4 stars from me, an excellent star to the blog posts I have scheduled for 2018 and looking forward to Richard's next book- he hasn't let me down yet!!

One word for this book….Unputdownable!
I been a massive fan of Richard's writing since reading Scare me. And once again he doesn't disappoint with this page Turner. Which I devoured in one afternoon. I was hooked from the start and kept on tender hooks until the very end.

With an OMG start we meet Maggie and Holly and follow a roller coaster story told from two points of view about a psychopath who targets mother’s by giving them a choice! Having children myself this really gets you thinking....what would you do in this situation?!

I love how there is only a handful of characters in this story which makes it easy to identified with them and get sucked into the unthinkable.The author's descriptions make it easy to visualise and this book would make a brilliant movie. In fact I loved everything about it and of course there are plenty of twists and turns which will shock you to the core.

Every single chapter is full of tension and will leave you wanting more what more can I say, but I highly recommend Keep Her Safe giving it 4 stars.