Title: The Safe Place
Author: Anna Downes
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3 out of 5

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, 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.

It's very difficult for me to read books when I don’t like any of the characters. And…I didn’t like any of these. Emily is selfish and naïve to point of being stupid, and I just can’t deal with that. Her loss of her job and her apartment was due to her own incompetence and willful denial of reality, so I didn’t feel sorry for her at all. Then she started crushing on her married boss, was absolutely awful to her mother, and I lost any remaining shred of liking I had for her.

Also: these people are crazy. Not a fan of the characters, so not a fan of the book, although the writing was solid.

Anna Downes was born and raised in the UK but now lives in Australia. The Safe Place is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Anna Downes debut novel The Safe Place will surely place her safely amongst the rising stars of mystery-thriller authors.

This very suspense mystery is set in the U.K. and in France, and it is narrated by both Emily Proudman and Scott Denny. Emily is an interesting character. She is a white-hot mess. Even as an adult, she behaves like a petulant child having a tantrum when she bothers to contact her adoptive parents. There is something in Emily’s past, and neither Emily nor the reader ever gets a full view to the dark, repressed childhood trauma. It is clear that she is desperately seeking approval and acceptance.

Her employer Scott Denny and his wife, Nina, are creepy. There is something off or “not quite right” with each of them, and together they are the “power couple” of crazy. These characters add greatly to the story’s foreboding. The entire book, I questioned Scott’s complicity and motivation. Like Emily, I questioned the rumors surrounding Nina and Scott’s relationship. At first, Nina seemed lovely if not lonely and forgotten by her too-busy husband. But looks can be deceiving! Nina remains a little more mysterious since the reader never gets her POV, but Scott’s unreliability as a narrator makes him easily as difficult to know.

Ms. Downes is a good storyteller. Overall the plot is well paced. The story is believable. There are clues to the mystery sprinkled throughout the story (that I caught in hindsight). The characters are interesting and compelling in an odd way. The mystery wasn’t what I initially anticipated, and the ending was quite different that I had expected. There is just enough justice and closure to be satisfying even though I didn’t feel that Emily or I got her full story.
4.5 stars

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

2.5* rounded up.

Emily, a failed actress, is an atrocious temporary secretary, gets evicted for failure to pay her rent, and has distanced herself so much from her adoptive parents that she forgets her own mother's birthday. She is our heroine. Her boss has a Machiavellian plan which involves firing her, pretending he didn't want her fired, and then employing her as a housekeeper for his wife on their estate in France. The tone throughout is creepy and mildly menacing. Life on the French estate is very off, but Emily is slow to wake up to this, and the book drags a lot in the middle. The ending was predictable and I skimmed it.

It left me feeling a bit icky.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I had seen this book all over instagram and tried not to read too much into the hype.

Emily has reached rock bottom. She's lost her job, her acting career is down the drain, she has little money in her account and she just got an eviction notice. She's made all the wrong choices in all aspects of her life. That is until Scott, her old boss, shows up in the knick of time to offer her the opportunity of a lifetime. Is anything ever as perfect as it seems?

I truthfully had no idea where this book was going until about 60-70% of the way through. I couldn't figure out what Scott was up to when he seemed like such a genuine guy, but had such a strange habit. Nina rubbed me the wrong way immediately, but I couldn't connect the dots. While I didn't love Emily's character, I found myself feeling sorry for her and wishing she could catch a break. I was very intrigued as to why Scott thought Emily was the perfect match for this 'job position'. I couldn't figure out the dynamic between Scott and Nina.

Overall, this book was a great guessing game, but not a wild goose chase thriller. It had it's moments, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat the whole book. The writing was good, the characters were very well written and the story seemed fairly original. My main, and only, hangup was the ending. It felt incredibly rushed and I felt like the whole thing deserved more. I wanted more from the outcomes and I wanted to understand why it happened. I'd definitely recommend it for a fast-paced quick read!

Thank you to #netgalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! The book came out on July 14th!

Synopsis: Emily Proudman is a failed young actress who just lost her day job as a temp and her agent. Now she is being evicted from her apartment with her filthy roommate. When Scott Denny (her former boss) approaches her about working for his family in France, she jumps at the chance to make a change in her life. At first everything is great: her growing friendship with Nina (Scott’s Wife) and Aurelia, his daughter except she is never allowed in the main house. There seems to be very dangerous secrets the Dennys are hiding and Emily is eager to find out.

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐.5 / 5 stars

The suspense of this entire novel Anna Downes kept me going. I could not wait to find out what was happening with this creepy family. It sounded way too good to be true. The ending was not too much of a surprise, I figured it out half way… but I was expecting so much more. I wanted more of Yves and his interactions with Emily. Also, Aurelia is very annoying. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but her portrayal makes her seem very unlikable even though she is just a child! In summary, a good thriller, but not my favorite.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆
I have to admit that although I liked the writing style, I didn't enjoy it because I found it impossible to engage with any of the characters. I don't expect all protagonists to be appealing, but I do expect to empathise with at least one of them. Sadly, I disliked them all. At the beginning I assumed I was supposed to, so that there could be a point of redemption – but sadly, that never happened for me.

The pace is good, the plot is fine, I enjoyed how we get flashbacks to see Nina and Scott from when they met and how it all unfurled, I just never liked any of them! The renovations were fun, although I couldn't understand how the house was in such a bad state, yet Emily lived in that very house with no issues of damp, etc. But I suspended reality for that part, and loved the location where they were hidden away and living in suspense.

If you don't have an issue with unlikable characters, then this would be worth a read, as it is well written.

I had no idea where The Safe Place was going to take me. The entire time reading this novel, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew, of course, that there was something wrong with Scott and his family, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until it began to be laid out through the flashbacks. I was on the edge of my seat reading and waiting to see where Emily’s story was going to go.

Emily was a mess who couldn’t hold down a job and had alienated her friends and family, leaving her lost and vulnerable. Scott was both a predator and a victim in his own way. While definitely a villain in this story, I couldn’t help but also sympathize with Scott. He was clearly in a lot of pain, as evident through his self-harm from the very beginning and his visit to see his mother in the nursing home. Struggling to obtain control of his own life, Scott chose to toy with others like Emily and exert a semblance of control over their lives.

On the one hand, I liked Emily’s character. She was fun-loving, sweet, and innocent in a lot of ways, but her naivete also wore on me. How could she not second-guess this abrupt too-good-to-be-true offer from out of the blue? She was also very selfish, especially when it came to her parents. She seemed to treat them very harshly for taking her in. How could she not even at the very least send a simple call or text to her parents to let them know she was leaving the country? Obviously, it all worked really well within the narrative, but I felt like Emily was punishing her parents for adopting her because she didn’t feel like she worth it in a way.

This story was an interesting look into who and what home means and where it is. “Home is where the heart is,” they say and it can mean so many different things to so many people. It was easy to relate to Emily and see how she could so easily get swept away into life in the French countryside. After all, who wouldn’t love an all-expenses-paid trip to paradise drinking wine and sitting by the pool all summer?

I also really enjoyed the correlation between Emily’s childhood and Aurelia’s and how she was able to connect with the child when no one else could come within proximity. The only thing that I wish had been resolved was Emily’s childhood. The entire book alluded to some trauma she had experienced that sat just beyond her grasp in her subconscious, but she never discovered what it was. I kept thinking, particularly towards the end, that Emily would figure out what had happened to her and why she had blackouts. For me, that is still the one major question I am still left hanging onto.

Though Emily is obviously set up for her new job by her former boss, what is awaiting her at this remote place? And why is this man so eager to have her join his wife at their place in France?

Author Anna Downes caught my attention and didn’t let go until the final page. While there were times I thought I could foresee how it was going to end, like most good mysteries, I still jumped back and forth between good-guy- or-bad-guy guesses.

This is the perfect summer read. While not everything about it is suspenseful or thrilling, the author did an excellent job of capturing my interest and causing me to want to know more and more.

The characters are developed enough but not to a great degree. While I can’t say I felt that close to any of them, I was interested in learning more about them. Why were they reacting a certain way? What secrets were lurking at this deserted place. So the pages kept turning. And slowly the information came.

The writing is very good, in fact, I felt like I needed to drop everything and read, read, read. I needed to discover the whys and get answers. Obviously, that doesn’t happen with all books, and when it does, I’m excited.

While there wasn’t a dramatic twist to tie everything up at the end, I did feel like it was surprising and very satisfying. Let me say that again, extremely satisfying!

What Concerned Me
Though not a real concern, I guess some might desire to have a little more information at the end of the book. Perhaps to tie up all of the details of the main characters. (This might seem vague, but if you read it you will no doubt understand.)

What I Liked
I was completely immersed in this story. And the plot was intricate enough without feeling I had to suspend disbelief for a wild twist here and there.

The is a new author that I definitely will have on my radar!

Thanks to NetGalley and MinotaurBooks for the ARC and the ability to post my opinion of the book.

First - thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive an early arc in exchange for my honest review. I did enjoy this book and loved the cover. Good story but pretty predictable.

Really liked the fuse 25%. Then it went downhill for me. Too much of a lull, and then the ending was a bit too far fetched. Overall, I give this one 3 stars. Not too memorable but not the worst I’ve read. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a perfect summer thriller! A temp worker, Emily, is offered a dream job by her boss. He asks her to move into his home in France to help his wife and young daughter. It's very out of the blue and she doesn't really question the offer which I found a little unbelievable but she is young and at a bit of a crossroads. At first things with the new job are great and Emily can't believe her luck. When the twist was revealed I was shocked, I didn't see it coming at all. I did feel like things moved really quickly once the twist was revealed and I would have liked a little more detective work on Emily's part. There were two things that weren't exactly resolved that I wish would have been but they weren't a big enough issue for me to dock any stars. I definitely recommend this one!
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Good premise and writing.

This does have a slow start, things start to pick up about 1/4 of the way through. It had some twists but was somewhat predictable for the experienced thriller reader. There were some plot points that kind of petered out and others left unanswered.

This review really seems harsh and please don’t let me scare you off - this was entertaining and for a first book quite impressive. I would definitely check out the next by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for a copy in exchange for a review.

**Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book**

Emily loses everything! Acting Agent, her Job and her apartment in one day and then offered the dream job by Scott. She travels to France to begin her new life and is loving it! Her employers are perfect, the estate is perfect... but then she starts to notice strange and concerning things. What did she get herself into?

This was a really interesting book. I enjoyed reading it and following along with the characters. While this book did not blow me away and receive a 5 star rating it is a book I will still recommend to others.

Emily is working as a temp receptionist, while trying to get an acting job. The owner of the company, Scott, starts putting some things in place so that he can hire her to work for him as a caretaker/companion for his wife and daughter. The job is in paradise, a secluded piece of property in France, but Emily finds it is too secluded. I had a hard time getting into the story, partially because of the change in point of view and partially because of the sections in italics - I couldn't always tell whose point of view it was. Good story, but left me hanging at the end - it seemed to end abruptly and I had questions that needed answers.

This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Emily’s life is a mess. Hard stop. So when she receives an offer from the charismatic and wealthy Scott to be the housekeeper at his French estate she jumps at the opportunity. Charmed by his wife Nina and eccentric daughter Aurelia, Emily is soon drawn into their world and discovers that that her safe haven is not exactly what it seems ... ⁣
⁣
This is a slow burn thriller, but a super quick read. The first part of the book focuses on setting the stage and developing the relationships between Emily, Nina and Aurelia. Less suspense and more plot development. The twists and suspense build slowly and don’t really actualize until the latter part of the book. I love a thriller with good character development and plotting and I did feel like I got to know these characters well. ⁣
⁣
This is a quick- read thriller, that’s foreseeable but fun and will take your mind off your day. A good summer thriller for a hot day and a cool glass of wine. ⁣
⁣
Thank you to @minotaur_books and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. ⁣
⁣

What dark secrets are hidden away at Querencia? Emily is about to find out.

Emily is sweet, quirky, and naive. The perfect person for Scott’s unthinkable offer to stay with his wife and daughter at Querencia. What Emily finds at first is a loving, yet possessive, mother to a daughter with an illness that can be controlled in a happy environment. But secrets start to come out and Emily is in danger.

Told in Emily’s, Scott’s and Nina’s voices, the story slowly unfolds. My heart breaks for Emily and her need to belong. She seems to find it with the Denny’s, but then all hell breaks loose and a frightening truth unravels that only she can fix. Scott is another sad character that has backed himself into a corner with no way out. As for Nina, she loves Aurelia, but at what cost? And Aurelia, I can’t imagine the trauma she has gone through.

Overall, this is a slow-building emotional whirlwind of a story that is gripping until the very end. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down.

Thank you to Ms. Downes for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley and St Martins Press in exchange for my honest opinion. I absolutely couldn’t wait to read this after Seeing the gorgeous cover. I so desperately want to be on a beach someplace Reading during this crazy pandemic situation. This book has so many incredible twists and turns through out that you will not see the ending coming at all. I would absolutely recommend this!

“Yes, he thought. She’s the one.”

Recently fired and soon-to-be evicted Emily is offered the job of a lifetime by her boss Scott. Scott flies her to his France estate to help his wife Nina as a live-in helper to their special needs child. Emily feels like she’s hit the jackpot working for this beautiful movie star couple and enjoys helping out with their daughter Aurelia. She is given all the comforts yet not all is as perfect as it appears. Emily soon learns that life at Querencia is unconventional, uncomfortable and a bit odd. Her new Shangri-la seems to be a bit dodgy and she is questioning what is happening around her. Can't say more other than the author has cleverly crafted this story to keep the suspense going.

There was a niggling suspicion I couldn't quite put my finger on related to the obviously odd behavior in parenting. Kind of like reaching down to pick up a piece of paper but the wind blows the paper farther down the road and I couldn't quite reach it. The suspense was killing me!

This was a compelling mystery surrounding a privileged family. I flew through the pages though I wish the author had included more about the mysterious Yves.

Let me say from the outset that I really liked this book. This is the perfect combination of a thriller and a beach read which may I say is perfect.
The setting of this story is a beautiful French estate where we see Emily, the protagonist as a housekeeper for Scott Denny and his wife. What starts off as a breezy, amazing job at a stunning locale turns into something else when Emily realises there is more than what meets the eye.

This was an entertaining, gripping read. The author does a good job with the short chapters and in fleshing out the characters and lulling the reader into the beauty of the place only to then change the pace and tone of the book with the underlying edginess of the story.
I did question Emily and her decisions, but overall I quite enjoyed this atmospheric summer read and devoured it in one sitting.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great read. I was engaged from the first page. The pacing was a bit slow in the middle and dragged a bit. This is my first Ana Downes and won't be my last. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the eARC.