What would you do if your child’s life was in danger? Would you kill another human being to keep your child safe from harm? How far would a mother go to protect her child?

Maggie knew all to well the answers to these questions as she was faced with them once before. So when she hears a noise late in the evening, she knows why the intruder is breaking into her home. Maggie grabs her daughter and locks herself in her bedroom. The intruder, Holly, is a mother just like herself and someone is pulling her strings forcing her to do things in order to get her baby back. Maggie knows she is running out of time, but what would it take to convince Holly that there might be another way to put an end to the horror they both face.

I really enjoyed the intensity at the beginning of the story. Someone breaking into your home while you are alone with your child would surely scare the life out of me. I am not a mother, so I can only imagine the heart pounding fear one would feel if placed in a situation like this. Maggie was fierce while protecting her child and herself at all cost. It almost made you feel sorry for Holly and the situation she was in. While Maggie did have empathy for Holly, she sure was not going to go down without a fight. I felt that Maggie was definitely the mentally stronger character between the two, but on the other hand Holly seemed to have more of a heart as she questioned if she could really go through with the task at hand in order to save her child.

While the first part of KEEP HER SAFE felt like more of a psychological thriller to me, the second half felt like more of a mystery and definitely gave off a completely different vibe. At this point though, I was really emotionally invested in both Maggie and Holly’s story and really needed to see it through to the end. While I liked the second half of the book it was definitely different than the first half. It was still really good, but it didn’t hold the same “keep you on the edge of your seat heart stopping action” as the beginning of the story until it reached closer to the end and then the action was back in full force. Although the shift felt quite different they both worked really well together as a whole and I was far from disappointed at the turn of events.

I needed to know who the bad guy was and what turned him into such a sinister manipulator. One thing I would have really enjoyed was getting inside the head of the bad guy and reading his POV inter-weaved through the story. What can I say, I am a sucker for evil characters and love reading their thoughts.

I would highly recommend picking up a copy of KEEP HER SAFE, the action was intense and really had me thinking what I would do if faced with same situation. The author, Richard Jay Parker, really knows how to grab your attention and his writing is top of the line. He grabs your attention right from the beginning and doesn’t let go until you are on the very last page. I will be searching out his other books and adding them to my TBR.

When Maggie wakes up in the middle of the night to find an intruder in her home, she knows exactly why they’re there. The stranger in her house has until dawn to carry out orders from an unknown person to keep her child safe. But Maggie isn’t just going to roll over and let them get away with it.

There is no slow build-up here. From the first page, you’re thrown right into the action. Like Maggie and Holly, you barely get a minute to wrap your head around what’s happening. The pace of this cat and mouse game is absolutely relentless as Maggie races against the clock to break an absolutely horrible cycle of events.

Richard Parker has this uncanny ability and insanely evil brain that manages to take something rather simple and turn it completely onto its head. The whole concept is quite thought-provoking. How far would you go to keep your child safe? You can’t help but feel for these two women and the emotional rollercoaster ride they’re on. But what stood out for me the most, is how a story that basically only involves two characters could be so intensely gripping.

Keep Her Safe has a complicated plot that doesn’t reveal all its secrets until the end. Who is this wicked person who’s putting these mothers in these heartbreaking situations? And why? I had no idea how this was all going to turn out. Now I must admit, that the first half of the book had me utterly hooked as the stand-off between the characters was incredibly compelling. But I found the latter part a bit less thrilling. There’s a fair bit of running around and I couldn’t quite see where things were heading or why. Admittedly, I was one of those annoying kids who was always asking “Why? But why?” and I don’t particularly feel like I got all the answers I was looking for.

Still, this is quite the page-turner and a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining read with a satisfying conclusion and I look forward to more from Richard Parker.

Richard has written a masterpiece of deliciously, devious darkness in his newest book, Keep Her Safe. Lock your door and turn on the lights, the opening chapter delivers an irrefutable sucker punch which will open all the flood gates of your worst fears, dare you read alone.

Maggie a single mother is awoken in the middle of the night by an intruder, a woman, Maggie knows the reason, a game of cat and mouse, follow the directions and your child will stay safe.

How far would you go to protect your child.

The pages flew as I delved deeper and deeper into the plot, but don’t think for one minute I’m going to give anything away. The synopsis is the ember which will ignite the fires within your imagination, filling your very mind with fear, intense anticipation, compelling you to ride the rollercoaster and hold on tight.

Richard has written Keep Her Safe with few characters, the use of two main characters, strengthens the plot, making it easier to connect with them, preventing the spaghetti junction which can occur in books with too many personas. I found that I sidled back and forth between the women feeling each and every emotion as there dilemma unfolded. The dark, ruthless and conniving personality of the psychopath pulling the strings filled my very soul with dread, an outpouring of ice water running through my veins but it didn’t stop me from wanting to know who and why they were trying to control these two women, to what end.

The short, sharp chapters satisfied my need and desire to devour every word written without losing momentum, pushing further and further into the book, looking behind me, checking every dark corner and holding my breath waiting for the next surge of twists.

Richard put the skids on me with the conclusion, after all the racing, turning and twisting, OMG that end smacked me in the face, wowzers I couldn’t predict the outcome, I’m still trying to scoop my jaw up from the floor.

Grasp your kindle with both hands you’ll be in for the ride of your life, go on lets get the party started, download today…………remember my advice #Dontreadalone

Thanks to Richard Parker, Bookouture, and Noelle Holten for a stonking great read which executed perfectly my every dream of a rip roaring, butt clenching, OMG psychological thriller.

I have to start by saying that this was one of the first books I read in 2018 and wow what an impressive start to the year. I think I read this book in record time I just couldn't put it down well until a little thing called sleep got in the way. The opening had my heart beating so fast and it truly felt as if I was right there with Maggie through it all.

To call it nail biting is an understatement the pace is unrelenting which made for an exciting read. I have to admit to being on edge pretty much all the way through with no idea what would happen next. The not knowing really made the tension all the more greater. A complete edge of your seat experience from start to finish. My husband attempted to talk to me while I was reading and I really know that it's terrible to ignore him but I'm sorry this story demanded my full attention!

With short and snappy chapters guaranteed to have you turning the pages I was completely hooked on what I was reading. It is a full on experience seeing how everything plays out and if there would be any way out for the characters from this scary situation. It was thought provoking too especially if you are a parent making me question what would I do in the same situation.

You really are in for a treat when you pick this book up, intense is definitely the word I would use to describe this book. Along with brilliant and completely addictive!

Five stars from me!

With thanks to Noelle at Bookouture for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to damppebbles today as it's my stop on the Keep Her Safe blog tour.  Keep Her Safe is written by Richard Parker and is the third of Parker's books published by the mighty Bookouture.  I am a great fan of Richard Parker's writing having previously read and reviewed his other two Bookouture releases, HIDE AND SEEK and FOLLOW YOU.  I loved Follow You so much, it made it onto my Top Ten Books of 2017.

So, with this in mind, I was excited to make a start on Keep Her Safe.  Really, REALLY flipping excited.  And what a book!  What an absolutely brilliant hook!  Richard Parker has done it again, he's created the stuff nightmares are made of.

Having sat here for 10 minutes staring at a fairly empty screen I have realised that this is going to be a hard review to write.  Not because I didn't enjoy the book (I loved the book!) but because I don't want to be the one dishing out spoilers left, right and centre.  There are things not mentioned in the blurb above which are key to the storyline.  Now I could bring them into my review but that seems totally unfair to you, the reader.  So I'm going to be as vague as possible and say that the impossible situation Parker's characters get themselves into was the killer hook for me, it was everything and made me fall head over heels in love with this book!  Where Parker's ideas come from, I would LOVE to know.  It really is the stuff of nightmares.

The beginning is shocking, dark and quite disturbing.  It made me think, 'what if...?'.  The end took me to places I never expected it to.  It comes like a bolt out of the blue and knocks you sideways.  I promise you won't see it coming.  I have to be 100% honest at this point and confess that at times, during the middle section, I did find my attention drifting a little.  There was lots of action but the initial hook had been blunted a little and the focus of the story had shifted elsewhere.  Still a terrific piece of writing but after the intense, high drama of the opening chapters, I guess I wanted more of that and less of the 'comrades joining together against a common enemy' (all very cloak and dagger but I'm trying to be vague, hahaha).  The spikiness of the story was suddenly less...spiky.  I liked the spikiness, I would have liked a little more spike in the main body of the story.  I'll shut up now....

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!  It's brilliant and the slightly slower middle section doesn't change my opinion of that.  If you want a book that will, in parts, leave you breathless with shock then this is the one.  Totally gripping, very unexpected and leaves you asking yourself, 'what would I do?'.  Another BRILLIANT thriller from the pen of Richard Parker.  I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next!

Five stars out of five.

I chose to read and review an eARC of Keep Her Safe.  The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Richard Parker is back with yet another nail-biting, 'heart in your mouth' novel - and what a novel it is! Having read Parker's previous two novels, I was super excited to find out what was in store for me when I opened the book. 'Keep Her Safe', in my eyes, is considerably different to the authors previous novels, as the theme is a lot more intense due to the topic which the storyline covers. As a mother myself, I find this book to be quite a difficult read. Let's just say I moved a lot closer to my daughter in bed when I finished reading this book!

'Keep Her Safe' certainly kept me on my toes, whilst also threatening to knock me off the edge of my seat the further into the storyline I got. Yes, it was all fiction, but by golly did it feel exceptionally real. I was petrified for the characters myself, yet I wasn't going through it! My heart seemed to put up a camp in my mouth whenever the children were mentioned, with my fingers getting cramp due to the constant crossing them in hope that the younger generation remained unscathed.

I did enjoy this book, but I have to be honest and say that I had to read a much lighter novel before I went to bed - I was scared! Hats off to the author for producing such a realistic and intense storyline which highlighted a mother's biggest fears.

A rollercoaster ride from start to finish, 'Keep Her Safe' took me on a hair-raising, heart stopping and nerve-wracking journey which I couldn't stop reading. Even if I wanted to, I had to know how the book ended. I had to know the outcome. My only irk about this book was the ending, as I felt that it didn't really fit with the other 280 odd pages I had previously read - a bit too abrupt for my liking with some loose ends still loose. That said, I am hoping that there is a follow on book to this one as I really do feel that the author has left the ending incredibly open. Who knows!

All in all, 'Keep Her Safe' is an addictive, hard to read novel with some rather gruesome, yet brilliantly executed (pardon the pun) and memorable situations. 

Thanks Bookouture.

He calls himself Babysitter. He has your baby. In order to get her back safely you have until sunrise to kill someone. How far would you go to protect your child?

This book was one helluva roller-coaster ride. Too bad I wanted to jump off. There were so many times I wanted to quit. The characters were unlikable. I couldn't sympathize for them. How can I not sympathize for a mother who is determined to do anything and everything to protect their baby? Basically I was just bored which is hard to say since there was so much action in this book. In fact it was non-stop action which made the story preposterous and unrealistic. You go on this wild goose chase to solve the mystery of who Babysitter is and the outcome was so anticlimactic.

This is how the story should have went: Maggie’s daughter Penny is her whole world… and she’d do anything to protect her. So when Maggie wakes one night to find a strange woman in her home, she shoots her. Maggie then calls the police and tells them she just killed someone who broke into her home and tried to kidnap her baby. The End.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and Richard Parker for a copy of "Keep Her Safe" in exchange for an honest review.

Exciting plot twists that are believable and suspenseful at the same time. Well developed characters one becomes attatched to, as strange as they are. A great read overall.

EXCERPT: Maggie waited, her heart feeling as if it was frantically clawing it's way up her chest. She still didn't move. Her thoughts were rewinding to the previous week, when she'd been sick with terror outside another door. . .

THE BLURB: How far would you go to protect your child?

Maggie’s daughter Penny is her whole world… and she’d do anything to protect her. So when Maggie wakes one night to find a strange woman in her home, she runs to lock herself in her bedroom with her child. But Maggie knows why she’s come…

Someone has been targeting mothers and offering them a choice: do as he says or their child disappears. This stranger in her home has until dawn to follow his orders… but Maggie too has the ‘choice’ to make. Can she put the pieces together to stop the cycle before her time is up?

MY THOUGHTS: Once I got beyond the first chapter of Keep Her Safe by Richard Parker, I found this very fast paced and action packed thriller to be a quick and easy read. The problem with the first chapter was that although there was obviously only one person attacking Maggie in her home, the author constantly referred to the attacker as 'them', 'they' and 'their', making the script unwieldy, clumsy and irritating to read. A short example - 'Maggie kicked again, and this time caught their chin. As they grunted, she wrenched her ankle from their grip and slid away. . .'. I think that the author has written it this way in an effort to hide the sex of Maggie’s assailant. But, as this is given away by the blurb, Maggie knows, and it is revealed just pages later, it seems an unnecessary and detrimental precaution.

As I said, Keep Her Safe is fast paced and action filled, but I found it to be a bit OTT and lacking in depth for my taste. There could have been a lot more made of the psychological aspects motivating the person manipulating the women, but this is glossed over and 'rushed'.

If I had to use just one word to describe Keep Her Safe, it would be 'lurid'. This is a book that relies on sensational action scenes to keep the reader's interest rather than well-developed plot twists and good characterisation. I certainly wouldn't class it as a psychological thriller, but do believe that it would make a popular movie. I don't think that this is an author I will be reading again, but that is purely personal preference. There will be a good market for this book, and if you enjoyed my excerpt and find the blurb interesting, I urge you to pick up a copy of Keep Her Safe by Richard Parker and give it a try.

Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Keep Her Safe by Richard Parker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This was a really gripping, unpredictable thriller! I liked the twists and turns and was captivated until the end.

3.75 stars rounded up🌟🌟🌟.75

What would you do to save your child’s life? Could you take the life of another person? Would you be able to leave another person’s child motherless? These are the questions brought up by this book.... questions I myself as a pretty ferocious mother have no idea what the answers are to.... I just hope I am never put in the position to need to answer any of these questions, that is for sure!

The first half of this book was seriously intense.... Holly has been sent by a man calling himself “the babysitter“ to kill Maggie in order to save the life of her daughter Abigail.... Maggie understands the desire for a mother to protect her child all too well, because she was just recently put in the same situation in order to save her daughter Penny.....

This is a definite plot driven story.... and in the beginning I felt as though I was in the house with Maggie and Holly... and I had no idea what either woman was going to do... and no idea what the right thing to do was.... then at about 60% this book took a very odd turn out of nowhere.... and while I still found Maggie and Hollys situation quite compelling... the rest of it was just a little out of place for me....

I would have really liked Holly and Maggie’s characters to have been better developed.... you really didn’t know much about them... other than the fact that they were mothers... there were little tidbits of backstory but not enough to sink your teeth into.... it also would have been interesting to have had the POV of “the babysitter“.... perhaps if I had been more invested in these characters the plot turn would not have been so jarring....

I would absolutely read another book from this author... the first half was really one of the more intense books I have read lately, unfortunately the last half of this book just fell a little short for me....

*** i’d like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review ***

Magpie's daughter Penny is her whole world and she will do anything to protect her. So when Maggie awakes one night to find a strange woman in her home, she runs to lock herself in the bedroom with her child. Maggie knows why she's come someone has been targeting mothers and offering them a choice: do as they say or their child disappears.

The first part of this book had me on the edge of my seat. Myheart was in my mouth during the stand off between the two women. The story is told by alteriating perspectives of the two mothers. The second half of the book takes the two women on a different journey. This is a gripping Phychological thriller that you won't want to put down.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Richard Parker for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Very cleverly written and devised novel with a a storyline that is off the normal track. Exciting and unnerving at the same time, I found this book gripping me and my loyalties continually fluctuating between the main characters. Their fate and that of their siblings is what holds you in and the ordeal they are put through is both frightening and thrilling. A great read, looking forward to reading Hide and Seek now.

As a reader all my life I’ve read quite a lot of books. As a blogger I’ve read even more and crave a unique storyline, a story where I’m telling myself I’ve not read anything like this before. Richard Parker gave me that in Keep Her Safe. I pretty much inhaled this story from start to finish.

We read this story through two points of view, two mothers Maggie and Holly. The Babysitter, a sick psychopath, has Abigail Holly’s daughter as hostage. To save her daughter Holly must enter Maggies house and kill her. Maggie knows why Holly is in her house as she’s been there. Will the two mothers save their daughters?

After reading this I’ll certainly be reading more from this author.

The premise -- what will a mother do to protect her child? In this particular novel, the mother is asked to kill another mother so that her own child will live. The murder is ordered by a man known as The Babysitter. His motives are unclear, but he targets single mothers. He kidnaps their babies and then sends them to kill. So, murder by proxy.

Unfortunately, the execution of the plot left me completely unable to suspend my disbelief at the events that transpired. The two main characters -- Maggie and Holly -- endured a night together that left me scoffing in amazement. Amazement that I actually continued to read to the end. The frantic activities that engaged Maggie and Holly bordered on ridiculous as they attempt to outsmart The Babysitter and get Holly's daughter back. Their decisions and actions made no sense. Their near death experiences and escapes from the perils they endured did not make for exciting or tense suspense. It was all just TOO MUCH. I didn't like either of the women, I didn't feel empathy for their plight, and I just wanted to get to the end so it would all be over and I could say I finished it.

I've read another book by this author, HIDE AND SEEK, and it was much better written than this one. I simply can't recommend it unless you can force yourself to believe that there is any way this sort of thing could happen as described. I'm sorry to say I can't find anything nice to say so I'll stop now.

I do want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me access to the e-book ARC to read and review.

Thank you to Richard Parker, Bookouture, and Netgalley for providing an ARC for review. Full review and links will be added on Jan. 11th for the blog tour.

Keep Her Safe was an entertaining page-turner from beginning to end. The synopsis pulled me in, making me eager to see how this story would play out.

When two mothers are pitted against each other, they both must determine the lengths they will go to protect their children from imminent danger. As a mother myself, I enjoyed reading about the maternal instincts of the two main characters. The story definitely makes one evaluate what they would do if forced into the same position. Do morals outweigh instinct?

The first half of the story won me over and I couldn't wait to see what would happen. I hoped the women would join forces to outwit their common opponent as their time to keep their daughters safe ticked away. However, after the halfway mark, the story took a bit of an odd and far-fetched direction. Up until this point, there weren't any clues within the plot to show the story would take this turn. It almost seemed as if the author wasn't sure where he wanted to take the story.

One of the most annoying aspects, to me, was when either Maggie or Holly made a suggestion, the other immediately agreed. This didn't seem very realistic to me, as I'd hope for both characters to be a bit more determined and decisive while their children's lives were at stake.

Overall, I could only give this novel a middle of the road rating. I enjoyed the story enough. It was a quick and entertaining read, but the plot was lacking and the characters needed a bit more backstory to make them relatable and lifelike. I think with a bit of fleshing out, Keep Her Safe could have been an excellent thriller. Instead, I imagine the author needing to make a deadline and slightly missing the mark. I hate for my thoughts to wander in this direction while reading because I obviously want to be fully immersed in the story. All in all, a decent read, but I hoped for more.

Excellent story line and great main characters. I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend.

You don't look very panicked...

Another great novel by Richard Jay Parker! I can't say that I enjoyed this as much as Hide and Seek, but it certainly had it's moments. Perhaps if I was a mother it might have resonated with me more, but nonetheless, it was still riveting.

At the start of the novel, the narrative hook has you captivated. You're completely entranced by the struggle between Maggie and Holly and you don't know which mother you feel for the most. A sadistic man that calls himself Babysitter has taken Holly's daughter, Abigail, hostage and he won't give her back unless Holly enters the home of Maggie, also a single mother, and kill her. Maggie, is all too familiar with what is happening having also suffered through the games of the Babysitter. Maggie decides she won't give in that easy, she will stop at nothing to protect her child. As she and Holly are in a stand off, the Babysitter decides to make the game more interesting. Maggie convinces Holly that the only way to to get her daughter back and get out of this alive is to team up, because if she kills Maggie, the Babysitter will just send some other single mother to kill her next. The cycle will just continue, that's what he does, that's his game. He kills off single women, all the while, never getting his hands dirty.

I loved the original concept of this novel. It made for a very compelling read. My only complaint is that as Maggie and Holly are traveling from one location to the next, playing the Babysitter's game, I did lose a slight bit of interest at times. Certainly not enough to turn me away by any means, but maybe just enough to make my mind wander at times. This seems to be a recurring problem of mine lately, so perhaps I've just got a lot on my mind lately that's just distracting me... so I wouldn't read too much into this.

Now, there is one thing about the narration that irritates me. I see this often with writers from the UK. This novel took place in the United States, so that makes these characters Americans. So with that said, Americans would not use words like pram, fringe, specs, and jetty. We would use the words, stroller, hair, glasses, and dock. Maybe that's not worth mentioning, but once I see words like this, it's hard for me to continue to visualize the characters as Americans.

I want to thank NetGalley, Bookouture, and Richard Parker for allowing me the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my review.

Brace yourself. This story goes at a break-neck, breathless pace right from the first page. Heart in mouth. Maggie and Holly become involved in a strange chain-killing spree by a warped man who manipulates them by threatening their babies. Who is the power behind it? How far will they go to protect their babies? It's a gruesome, macabre plot but it's ingenious. Maggie and Hollie desperately try to out-wit him and get into many scrapes and need to make a lot of quick decisions. They are a resourceful plucky pair. I would have had a nervous breakdown before the end of Chapter 1. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture. I shall post this to Amazon and my blog.

This is a fast paced thriller which I enjoyed but I must admit I found the story a bit too far fetched.
Part of the blurb says:
“Someone has been targeting mothers and offering them a choice: do as he says or their child disappears.”
I like to escape into a book and imagine what I’d do in the same situation, but with this story I couldn’t get into the mindset of the two main characters.
The story is told from alternating perspectives of the two mothers in the book who are facing life or death decisions and fear for the lives of their babies.
However, I just couldn’t imagine this happening so found it hard to fully integrate myself into the story.
I’d give this book 3.5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me a copy to read and review.