I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would from the premise. The book was too slow paced and simply did not hold my interest long enough. It felt like a chore reading this book.

Esther can barely remember life before she came to the house with her mother. For sixteen years, the two of them have lived in the bunker under the hillside, sheltered from the dangers of the outside world. They are safe there, following daily checklists to maintain the structure that protects them. Once a year, Mother makes the dangerous journey to the city to replenish their supplies. She wears a mask and protective clothing to shield herself from the dangerous pollution of the outside world. It's too risky for Esther to join her, even though Esther is an adult and desperately wants to see what's out there. Mother leaves. Esther remains in the house with her list of chores. And then a man appears outside, calling her name and asking her to open the door. Telling her that the world outside is still there, still safe.

The premise intrigued me, but it didn't hold my interest for the second half of the book. I wound up setting it aside for more than a week before finally picking it up and finishing it.

Gripping! Thoroughly enjoyed, addictive reading! Lots of unforeseen twists in the tale, really good read.

When the one person you have lived with your whole life is lying to you, what do you do?
Our main character, Esther, is twenty-one and lives with her mother in a remote bunker. They have everything they need to sustain life, and Esther has never questioned the things her mother tells her. She knows the world outside is a threat. She knows that the air outside could kill her. What she doesn’t know is why there is a young man outside, stuck in a bear trap, who claims to have information for her.
When Tom arrives at the bunker, things change quickly. Esther realises that her mother has not been entirely honest, and she takes it upon herself to go and seek answers from those she thinks might be able to help her.
Alongside the flashbacks we are shown, Tom is the key to Esther learning about how she came to live this life.
Hard to know what to say. Esther goes from questioning nothing to taking on the only adult she’s had experience of, on the say-so of someone she vaguely recalls playing with as a child. The truth is stranger than anything you could conjure, and the book left me with a rather unsettled feeling as elements of the story were left unexplained.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this prior to publication.

Perfect plot, the writing just didn't do it justice. I tried my hardest to ignore and focus on the plot; but couldn't. Could be so much better!

Her whole life has been a lie..

Esther's mother has dedicated her life to keeping Esther safe. For sixteen years they have stayed safe in the House, where the air is clean and they can avoid the dangers of Out There. Esther has no reason to doubt her mother until a man who knows Esther by name comes around. He tells her that everything her mother has ever told her is false. Has her mother been keeping her safe, or holding her captive?
This is the second page-turner from Louise Mumford and I have really been looking forward to reading it. I could not get enough of this story and was on the edge of my seat for most of it. The twists and turns truly shocked me and I never knew what to expect next. I couldn't imagine growing up sequestered away from the world my entire life. I definitely recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good thriller and I can't wait to see what Louise Mumford comes up with next!

This was a quick, fun read. There's not a ton of build up before stuff starts happening. This can be hard to do well, and this book manages to establish characters and background, without feeling like the first third of the book is just backstory.

The story is interesting and kept me interested throughout. If you like a mystery/thriller with touches of paranoia, impending mass disaster, and a light love interest, you'll like this one.

Wow, this is a great psychological thriller. Definitely a real page turner with full of surprises. I will definitely recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down. A very original story line which made for intriguing reading. Recommended,

"The Safe House" starts with an excellent idea: the notion of somebody for whatever reason taking themselves out of society is fascinating and the outworking of that decision many years later is a great position to start for a science fiction novel or thriller. Unfortunately, this book proves to be neither of those and though it pains me to say, it does not live up to its promise. The original premise is developed for a good portion of the book, but then abandoned to be simply a jumping off point for what proves to be quite an ordinary story.

It seems this was intended to be something else altogether; possibly a consideration of the impact of mental health on child development or a perspective on the changes in society and its impact on the environment, viewed from a position genuinely outside this or left behind by it. It could simply have been a great starting point for thriller as it appears that it nearly was. However, it proved to be none of the above and in effect, became a family drama. True, there are one or two twists and the climax does return to the thriller format, but for a very large section the novel leaves this format and indeed reads like a different book. But with the same characters.

There are also a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies in this story and I would feel bad simply going through the numerous as I know there are many readers who will take this book at face value and enjoy it for what it is, but for someone who reads a lot of thrillers (what the book is billed as), it really misses the mark. The author obviously has some talent developing a story but slightly disconcertingly, "The Safe House" makes you feel like you have started reading one novel but by the time you are halfway through it seems you are reading a different one.

However, it is not all bad, and there are some genuinely humorous sections in the book but the blurb and promotion of "The Safe House" portrays one type of novel but the book itself it is not quite sure if it might want to be another.

Not posted to Amazon as I don't want to put anyone off purchasing this - I didn't get a lot out of it but it's not that bad!

A gripping, fast-paced, twisty read, especially in the latter third.

For 16 years, Hannah and her daughter Esther have lived cut off from society and protected in a remote bunker, designed to keep Esther safe from her severe asthma attacks.

Esther hasn't left the building or seen anyone apart from her mother in all that time, until an injured stranger appears outside their house while Hannah is away on a rare trip to purchase supplies.

Tom has a very different perspective on the situation and Esther soon begins to realise that there may be more to her mother's actions. Is the house which is supposed to keep her safe actually her captor?

The Safe House
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 5/12/22
Author: Louise Mumford
Publisher: HQ Digital
Pages: 335
Goodreads Rating: 3.96

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Esther is safe in the house. For sixteen years, she and her mother have lived off the grid, protected from the dangers of the outside world. For sixteen years, Esther has never seen another single soul. Until today. Today there’s a man outside the house. A man who knows Esther’s name, and who proves that her mother’s claims about the outside world are false. A man who is telling Esther that she’s been living a lie. Is her mother keeping Esther safe – or keeping her prisoner?

My Thoughts: The story is narrated from Hannah (mother) and from Esther (daughter), from their own perspectives. I thought the plot of being in a bunker for 20+ years was a unique story and one that I have not seen lately. The characters have depth, they are engaging, and likable. The author’s writing is brilliant, complex, intriguing, and engaging. There were some slow parts of the book but the last third moves very fast and the last few chapters are tense, twisty, and just work well for this book. To grow up with no social interaction and only knowing what you mother has taught you for over two decades, then to learn differently, has to be paralyzing. Mumford does an amazing job of interpreting these paralyzing thoughts to paper and just breathes life into them. This was an awesome book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would not hesitate to read other novels by this author.

An intense, fun, thriller that I read in practically one sitting. Great for fans of suspense and edge of your seat suspense!

An original storyline. I enjoyed the setting of this book as it was different to the norm.
The character of Esther was well portrayed and believable, I particularly liked how she described her asthma which I felt was very realistic.
I did skip a few pages in the middle and wondered where the book would be heading from there but the twist took me completely by surprise and injected more drama into the book. A satisfying read.

Esther was a poorly child; asthma is a scary thing.
Hannah and Ned had different ideas about how to keep their daughter safe. Hannah's ideas were far more extreme and would finally lead to a big move - one which would keep Esther away from harm for a very long time.
I could not put this book down - a brilliant read!

There's nothing left for them out there and the house keeps them safe...or so she's told...
For the past sixteen years, Esther has lived with her mother in the safety of their house, protecting them from the dangers of the outside world. Esther hasn't seen another person since she was five years old, until now, when someone shows up asking for her by name. This strange man claims the outside world isn't like what she's been told and that she's been lied to her whole life. Has her mother been protecting her or has she spent her life as a prisoner in her own home?
Louise Mumford has been on my radar for some time now, having Sleepless on my TBR for about a year now. I happened to get to The Safe House first and am not disappointed. This book was so captivating, I couldn't wait to read more. There were several twists that I didn't see coming and made me audibly gasp. There were a few ideas I found a little far-fetched, but overall this was story is very enjoyable and absolutely worth reading! I read the e-book, along with listening to the audiobook, and thought the narrator did a wonderful job. Add this to your TBR if you like an enthralling thriller.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

When Esther was five years old her mother took her away from her home and father to live in an old World War 2 style bunker in the middle of nowhere. This was ostensibly to keep Esther safe as she was asthmatic and the bunker had been adapted to include its ow.n air filtration system and water supply. Esther had been living this isolated life for 16 years until one day when her mother had gone on her annual trip for supplies, Esther was shocked to see a young man approaching the house.. The young man, Tom, had some information for Esther that would turn her world upside down and make her question everything her mother had told her over the years.

A very enjoyable story which kept my interest throughout.

I loved the short chapters and the small cliffhangers at the end of most of them. For awhile I was anxious to keep going, but by the end even that didn’t save this one for me. It took me two full weeks to make it through this book. Part of that was due to my lack of a lot of downtime recently, but a lot of it was because I just simply wasn’t dying to get back into it in the free time I did have.

It started off strong, and then just sort of fizzled out for me. Some of the MC’s reactions were unbelievable for a person who has been living in a bunker for almost her entire life. The twists were okay, but I honestly wasn’t invested in the characters or the story enough to really be wowed by them.

Thank you to #netgalley and HQ Digital for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

The world is poisonous and decaying so Hannah has taken her 5 year old daughter to live in a bunker she had prepped. 16 years later the life they have lived is shattered when they see a man walking towards The House from the woods.
Really enjoyed this book, with shades of M Night Shyamalan.

If you’re into dooms day pepper's this book is for you
Overall, The Safe House is a post-apocalyptic-like thriller that you won't be able to put down. One highlight of this book is how original it is. I haven't read any thrillers with a similar premise before. I did take off 1 star, because I'm not really a fan of books about doomsday preppers, and so, I didn't find the plot that exciting or gripping