Katie Shaw works at the local Women’s refuge but then her body is found in the river, a local hotspot for suicides. Before the case is closed though the police discover that maybe Katie wasn’t all that she seemed and maybe she was murdered after all? The women at the refuge have noticed strange things happening and men hanging around, and the manager of the refuge has been receiving threatening emails. Are these events connected or are all these vulnerable women just scared that their pasts have come to find them?

This is a well written book. It is written in the ‘then’ in Katie’s voice. I think Katie’s voice is a very believable relatable voice. The now is written from the point of view of a slightly outdated police detective fumbling his way through the new politically correct world of policing and the voices of several women living in the refuge. Personally, I would have preferred it if there was just one voice in the ‘now’ as I felt the characters became a bit confused and too many messages were trying to be got across. Having said that this book delivers its message very well and does drive home the nature of domestic violence in all its forms and how it is viewed by the wider population. There is a very good twist at the end of this book but I think this book would be better pitched as women’s literary fiction rather than a psychological thriller.

Wow wow wow!
The Keeper was fantastic. The story flits between “Then” and “Now”, a before and after story all building up to a fantastic twist right at the end.
I found The Keeper to be a very interesting read, the main detective is very unlikable, a lot of the story centres around violence against women and he is very insensitive to the plight of these women. I’m sure that he was meant to be written this way but it made it a little uncomfortable to read!
Overall a really important portrayal of how small domestic violence makes you feel and how fragile your circle of safety becomes when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. Sure to be a big hit upon release!

Enter into the world of the perfect boyfriend who slowly grows into your worst nightmare. He never hurts you but plays with your mind and drugging you at times.. Katy is the girl who suffers. This book is skilfully written and edited. The author has written the book as a then and now per chapter which draws you into the book. An excellent read. I would recommend you give it a try.

A highly enjoyable and deeply disturbing psychological thriller.
The plot of this book was well written, descriptive and deliciously dark. It was gripping throughout and very twisty. The subject matter was done justice, handled well and with empathy.
The characters were well thought out and realistic, as were their reactions and behaviours..
A very good read, I will be looking out for more from this author.

Well written book that I enjoyed because it is character focussed and I am always intrigued by books about relationship dynamics.

I liked the concept but it is difficult subject matter.

2.5 stars. This book was okay but the ending was weak and I didn't particularly enjoy the present day narrative. For me, what made this book was the 'Then' narrative that focuses on the beginning, and subsequent demise, of Katie and Jamie's relationship. This was the stand-out aspect of The Keeper and largely made up for what was a pretty substandard story.

This is a really good debut novel. It deals with domestic violence head on. The story and the characters are believable. The writing feels raw and empathetic. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This is a powerful and assured character driven debut from Jessica Moor, looking at the tragic, secretive and harrowing world of domestic violence, so common place in our contemporary society, yet a world from which so many would prefer to avert their eyes away from. When Katie Straw's body is recovered from the river, close to a well known suicide spot, it is deemed by the police to be a straightforward case of suicide. The only reason the police, the old school DS Whitworth and DC Brook, look at it more closely is that the women at Widringham Women's Aid, a refuge centre, strongly contest this conclusion. They are certain that Katie has been murdered, and in a story that goes back and forth in time, Katie's life is laid bare. It tells of her meeting a personable and charming young man, of Jamie's controlling, volatile and manipulative behaviour that reduces her to a terrified wreck of a woman, stripped of all support systems.

As we are given insights of police procedures, we learn the stories of the other women at the refuge, providing a wide ranging picture of the different types and levels of abuse, brutality and terror that each woman has had the misfortune to experience. The author gives us a bleak social, political and cultural commentary surrounding this issue, about the dire state of funding with budget cuts in women's refuges, leaving many women with nowhere to turn, despite the desperate circumstances they find themselves in. Domestic violence leaves traumatised women and children terrorised on a daily basis, psychologically and emotionally damaged, living in constant fear and threats, with their lives in never ending danger.

I always find stories about domestic violence upsetting as I have personal experience of growing up with it, at a time when domestic violence was never taken seriously. It's such a crying shame that today funding is being withdrawn from this much needed area. This is a dark, insightful and well written novel that shines a light on an issue that deserves as much coverage as possible. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.

A non-stop thrill ride packed with intrigue and compelling characters. This isnt my usual read but I'm so glad I picked it up. Sure to be a hit!

Extraordinary and unusual, this makes for compelling reading. Told in parallel - then and now, we learn that Katie has died and the assumption is suicide although not everyone feels that may be the case.
Katie was in an abusive relationship but has had enough courage to escape it and start a new life. Always looking over her shoulder she ends up working in a women’s refuge helping women just like her. Not everyone in the refuge believe that she took her own life and the police are at least asking questions - did she die by her own hand or was it something more sinister. Why can no one find any trace of Katie and what happened in her past? Hi
I enjoyed the concept of this book but confess I was disappointed with the ending.

Keeper is a thriller with a message. Divided into sections that explore Then and Now, the novel looks at the life of Katie before and after her death. We move from the close third perspective of Katie’s Then, to the close third of DS Daniel Whitworth in the Now.

Katie worked in a women’s shelter, caring for women and children fleeing domestic violence or abuse. Her body washed up downstream from an old bridge, popular with suicides. Though it appears to be a straightforward case, Whitworth isn’t quite able to leave it alone. Katie has no records. Who was she?

While the police try to uncover her identity, they attempt to unravel the testimonies of the women at the shelter. It’s a complex place filled with women whose stories are at once very different – different ages, backgrounds, reasons for coming to the shelter – and very similar in that they are all struggling with the complexity of their relationships with the people who abused them and their sense of self-worth. Though the woman who runs the shelter, Valerie Redwood, is an angry, overweight feminist, who bullishly tries to protect the women in her care in a somewhat insensitive way, she does care, but why didn’t she know who Katie really was?

If I say too much more I’ll give away the twists of the novel, which would be a great shame. The ending is pleasingly tight in plot, revealing how easily abusers blend into upstanding society, but unresolved in criminal terms – something no doubt true to life – making the resulting story both disquieting and haunting.

If you’re looking for a bleak, alternative who-done-it, with surprising and painful twists and a complex understanding of the female victims of domestic violence and the huge obstacles in the way of their freedom, then this is a book for you. Keeper is clever, fast-paced, and devastating.

I’m really sorry to say that I just didn’t enjoy this one. I was really intrigued by the description and felt like the book had great promise but for me it moved too slowly and the end didn’t build as much as I thought it would. It does seem that I’m anomaly here though amongst lots of people who loved it, it might just not have been my cup of tea.

Ok I quite enjoyed this book but it felt very familiar to another I have read so that is why I’m only giving the book three stars. This is a book about an apparent suicide of a young girl who works for a woman’s refuge. Did she kill herself or is the truth something much more sinister and why does the girl seem to not exist? It’s a book that keeps you guessing until the very end.

I’d give this a 4.5 rather than a 4. It was a gripping read although I did find my heart beating quite a lot! - it made me strangely anxious even though I’ve been very lucky to not have experienced what the women in this book had. I found I had to stop and start quite a few times. I guess because the description / storyline felt scarily real. I’d probably advise against reading this if you have had experience of violent abuse.

Big shocking twist towards the end that literally had my mouth wide open! I didn’t see it coming.

I can’t honestly say this was an enjoyable read but then neither is it supposed to be. It’s a bleak and chilling portrayal of domestic abuse in different forms and shows how insidious it can be - and how difficult it is to escape. Well written with a shocking twist. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

The Keeper is a psychological thriller that tracks the circumstances of the drowning of Katie Straw, a support worker in a women’s refuge in a fictional market town in Northern England. Was it suicide or was it something more sinister?

The novel cuts back and forth between two timelines: “Then” details Katie’s intense relationship with her partner Jamie; and “Now” deals with the aftermath of Katie’s death. The two timelines have very different feels.

The “Then” timeline is quite conventional psychological thriller stuff. Jamie is controlling and gradually takes away Katie’s independence, killing her with kindness. There are hints of a temper which occasionally shows through in very brief outbursts but mostly sits simmering beneath the surface. Katie becomes afraid of triggering Jamie which, coupled with the stress of coping with a dying mother, affect her life choices. It is well done but rather generic.

The “Now” timeline is more experimental. Two male police officers enter the women’s refuge to investigate Katie’s state of mind prior to her death. Val, the refuge manager, is appalled to have her space invaded by men and fears for the damage it will do to the residents. Val is a comical figure: pompous, militant but easily manipulated into sacrificing her vociferously held principles. The police investigation often fades into the background to allow the spotlight to turn onto the story of each of the residents. They are portrayed as a diverse group, both in terms of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds; and in terms of the nature of the abuse that has caused them to seek refuge. All, though, are portrayed as strong and empowered – which I guess might be true of the victims who have walked away from their abusers – but also as fearful of being revisited by ghosts from the past. This timeline has multiple points of view – sometimes third person, sometimes first person – and can feel as though it is making a political commentary rather than unfolding a police investigation. This rather takes away the focus of the novel and can make the middle feels a bit meandering.

The ending is both a strength and a weakness. There is a twist (isn’t there always?) that is genuinely chilling and causes the reader to re-evaluate a number of past events. But it is also a little implausible and lessens the impact of some of the serious social commentary.

The Keeper tries for something ambitious – to be a socially important psychological thriller. However, the two tracks don’t quite join up and it feels like a bit of a hybrid novel. It’s enjoyable enough, nevertheless, and does provoke thought about the wider context of domestic abuse and the support for its victims.

The Keeper had a gripping synopsis that grabbed my attention instantly, from there on it continued to hold me until I finished reading the last page and even then I could not get this book out of my head! This is a debut book by Jessica Moor but it is evident her writing is going to take her a long way. I would highly recommend you go out and buy this book in Spring 2020.

Despite the book having a few jumps in character perspective, it was easy to follow and all the character's stories were gripping. I was dragged into story and Jamie was a character that had me on edge right from the beginning, just like his control was from the start. I honestly felt everything the characters went through and was on the edge of my seat throughout, screaming on the inside for these girls to be okay.

The Keeper does an amazing job at raising awareness of Domestice Abuse and highlights the signs of abuse and control. In all honestly, I was shocked and found this gut wrenching in places. The book shows that abuse can be emotional and sexual as well as physical and how it can effect the victims of it.

Honestly, The Keeper is a strong and powerful book, it left me feeling quite emotional at times and I found it quite daunting and scary that this does go on in our world today. The story was intense throughout and the twist at the the end nearly knocked me for six.

The Keeper is a must read but be prepared to embark on an emotonal rollercoaster

I really enjoyed this book even though it was a difficult read . Never easy reading about domestic abuse and you often find yourself shouting at the character wondering why they don’t just leave but life isn’t always so straight forward . This is an exciting book from a new talent and I’ll be looking forward to reading more

An interesting story with a twist, this book flicks backwards and forwards telling the story of Katie a young woman who works in a shelter for abused women, we hear her story and the stories of the women she helps. The situations are very true to life and are told in a way that shows how women sometimes feel they cannot leave their abusive relationships or how they sometimes return to them.

Katie's story is complex and nuanced a vulnerable woman trying to make a new life for herself.

The twist was a shock and made me want to go back over the story as it was so unexpected, the ending was a shock and lots of questions went unanswered and I enjoyed the book overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review. I was intrigued by the raving quotes from some of my favourite authors and fascinated by the premise of the book.
This follows several strands:
* Katie, a young 20-something year old who’s moved back in with her mum, after graduating from university and unable to find a job that’ll also pay the rent in the city, and to also support her mum who’s been diagnosed with cancer. She meets a man, Jamie, one night out in a club and the two soon fall into a relationship.
* In the present strand police officers are called to a women’s shelter. Their colleague, Katie Straw, has been found drowned. Did she jump off the bridge or is there something sinister at play?...The situation is complicated by the fact that there is no record of Katie Straw.
* The third narrative strand is also set in the present day and follows the POV of the women in the shelter hiding from their family members.
This was a well-told story that takes a nuanced look at domestic violence. The characters felt real and I was completely absorbed in the story. I did find, however, that the story did lack suspense and I saw where parts of it were going, and even though there’s a twist I didn’t see coming I found the ending abrupt and didn’t quite understand Jenny’s character. Nevertheless a topical book that packs a punch. 4/5.