Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. It is well written but I didn’t connect with the characters and the pacing felt slow.
Thank you to NetGalley and The Book Guild for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This has was an enjoyable read that gripped me at the beginning. I found the pacing fluctuated slightly throughout the book but honestly I was just enjoying the ride.

This was such an interesting story, I didn’t know what to expect the ending to be like but I enjoyed the journey there. Highly recommend!

The pacing is steady, with just enough tension to keep the pages turning, while still allowing room for quieter, more reflective moments. An emotionally charged story that blends suspense with heartfelt character development

3⭐️ Overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked the main character and the overall plot line of the book.
I do feel like it dragged a little throughout the middle of the book. It could have been 50 pages shorter in my opinion but it was a good read that kept me interested.

Allison Meldrum’s Keep Me Safe is an atmospheric and intricately woven thriller that thrives on tension, secrecy, and the complexity of human relationships. At its heart is Maggie, a young woman whose life is turned upside down when she witnesses the brutal murder of a boy. That single event becomes the catalyst for unearthing the hidden truths of a town that has been burying its darkest secrets for far too long.

What makes this story so powerful is the way Meldrum crafts her cast of characters. Every person introduced is not just a background figure but an essential thread in the larger tapestry of lies and revelations. The narrative moves fluidly between perspectives, each character adding depth, suspicion, or clarity, and you can’t help but feel compelled to keep reading, desperate to learn more about them and how they are connected to the crime.

Maggie is a particularly compelling protagonist—haunted yet resilient, fearful yet unwilling to back down. Her determination to uncover what really happened draws readers into her emotional turmoil, while also keeping the suspense razor sharp. As she digs deeper, we see not only the cost of uncovering the truth but also the danger of silence in a community where loyalty and betrayal walk hand in hand.

Meldrum excels at building atmosphere. The town itself feels like a character, cloaked in mistrust and unease. Shadows linger in every corner, conversations are laced with hidden meaning, and neighbors carry secrets that could either protect or destroy. This sense of unease permeates every page, making the story feel as much psychological as it is procedural.

Thematically, Keep Me Safe is about more than solving a murder. It is about survival in the face of fear, the weight of collective silence, and the way trauma ripples through individuals and communities alike. It forces readers to confront the uncomfortable truth that sometimes the people you should be able to trust are the very ones who hold the deepest deceptions.

With sharp pacing, layered characters, and relentless suspense, Keep Me Safe is a novel that keeps you hooked from the opening scene to the final revelation. It is a haunting reminder that secrets may keep us safe for a time—but the truth always demands to be heard.

Keep Me Safe hooked me right from the start with its mix of small-town secrets, investigative journalism, and that unnerving twist of modern technology creeping into every corner of life. Maggie Shields is such a compelling protagonist — a journalist carrying the heavy weight of a murder she witnessed as a teenager, now thrown into the disappearance of a high-profile figure in her seaside town.
What stood out to me was the depth Meldrum gave Maggie. Her struggles with OCD felt sensitively written and added so much authenticity to her voice. Pairing that with her use of an AI therapist was fascinating — it felt both timely and chilling, and I was never sure whether it was helping or making things worse. That thread gave the story an edge that made it stand apart from other thrillers.
The tension builds beautifully as Maggie’s investigation exposes layers of corruption, betrayal, and cover-ups. I loved the balance of personal trauma with larger conspiracies, and the seaside town setting added a claustrophobic, everyone-knows-everyone atmosphere that heightened the stakes.
This was a clever, dark, and thought-provoking thriller that made me both uneasy and unable to stop turning the pages. I’ll definitely be looking out for more by Allison Meldrum.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley, The Book Guild, and Allison Meldrum for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Keep Me Safe" by Allison Meldrum is a gripping psychological thriller that follows investigative journalist Maggie Shields as she delves into the disappearance of a high profile person in her seaside town. The story skillfully intertwines past trauma with a present-day mystery, exposing a tangled web of corruption, murder, and betrayal stretching over a decade. Maggie is a compelling, haunted protagonist whose search for truth is fraught with paranoia, grief, and the eerie presence of an AI therapist whose intentions remain ambiguous. Allison Meldrum’s taut writing and well-paced plot create an immersive, suspenseful atmosphere that keeps readers hooked from start to finish. Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers with a modern tech twist and emotionally resonant characters, "Keep Me Safe" delivers both depth and edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Emotional, heart-wrenching, and suspenseful all at once. The characters are written with such vulnerability that you can’t help but root for them, even when danger looms. A perfect blend of tension and tenderness.

this book gripped me from the blurb. there were questions i was already forming and things and themes that it covered that really intrigued me. also the AI part im always questionable about reading. as it a big oogy boogy for me. but this had more to it and im glad i did go into it as this book was fab.
this book follows investigative journalist Maggie. who like many in this kind of realm has her own demons that spur her on and cause her problems along the way. and this book beautifully blends past traumas with a present day case to follow. Maggie is immediately drawn into a missing person in her own town. but she quickly finds with each new point of unravelling she seeks there is way more to this than she could have thought. and it spans decades.
Maggie is such a captivating character to follow. shes got so much on her shoulder you can feel it directing her and her thoughts sometimes. but she is also whip smart and clever and determined as anything. her search digs her deeper into her own issues though, and those of the present. so she has grief, trauma and paranoia at play. and then there is the added twist of the AI character which is so disturbingly relevant to today but in reading it in this book allowed me to take a slight step back and read what Allison would make of it. and what Allison does in this book is bring the appropriate sense of space and feeling to her scenes and chapters. the atmosphere is built alongside the tension. the more i as a reader learnt the more i cared too and wanted to find out how all these missing pieces would fall together. you not only care about the plot and where it will go but for the characters as well.
this book was brilliant. you felt like you were right alongside the story figuring it out, feeling unsure, feeling unsettled. and this was both exciting and atmospheric. i cant wait to see what Allison will write next and want to be reading it.

Keep Me Safe holy smoke! What a ride. The book opens with Maggie. She is meeting with a psychologist that her job is forcing her to meet. Maggie is a journalist and is under pressure from her boss to find a big story. She just didn’t think the one she finds will bring her right back to one of the worst nights of her life. She has mental scars that effect every aspect of her life and with this missing person case she realizes she doesn’t know who to trust. ‘Keep me Safe’ is a slow burn. Filled with such a twisted web of lies and deceit. The more the case starts to unfold the more Maggie questions everyone in her life. The book comes out September 28th 2025 and is a must read for all thriller fans!

Maggie Shields is a Scottish investigative journalist looking into the disappearance of a well-known rugby player. This case quickly erupts into a possible connection to a long-ago murder, corporate corruption, AI therapy and Maggie’s brother’s secrets. The pacing is spot on, the story suspenseful and full of interesting characters. Most compelling is Maggie, who battles severe anxiety, yet she is skilled, determined and resilient. This is a complex mystery with humanity. I highly recommend it.

Intriguing and fast paced! Do 2 wrongs make a right? This book follows a neurotic Reporter. But is she really neurotic or is she being gaslit by her own family members? As she sniffs out a story that several warn her away from will she learn the evil truth that goes against everything she's believed for years.

Honestly, the chapter titles were unnecessary in my opinion, without them the story was still very clear, I would lose them.
Otherwise, the story is short and an easy read. Some parts felt like a bit of a drag, but it was still enjoyable.

First, I want to ensure everyone looking to read this understands it's based in Scotland. If you're not familiar with some of the dialect, it may confuse you.

For a debut novel, this one is pretty solid. Maggie is an investigative reporter who ends up digging into something she wasn't quite expecting. As the tidbits come in and she pieces things together, it becomes a much larger investigation and shes got some skin in the game.

Can Maggie piece it all together and will it drive a wedge between her and her brother?

Keep Me Safe by Allison Meldrum is a gripping psychological thriller that had me hooked from page one. Following investigative journalist Maggie Shields, the story seamlessly blends past trauma with a present-day mystery. Maggie is drawn into the disappearance of a high-profile person in her seaside town, but the case quickly unravels to reveal a tangled web of corporate corruption, murder, and betrayal that stretches back a decade.

Maggie is a compelling protagonist—haunted, stubborn, and fiercely determined. Her search for truth is layered with paranoia, grief, and the added twist of an AI therapist whose motives may not be as helpful as they seem. Meldrum’s writing captures both tension and emotion, giving the story a moody, immersive atmosphere where every shadow could hide a secret.

The pacing is spot-on: taut, suspenseful, and difficult to put down. Meldrum balances the thrill of the investigation with deep character work, exploring the cost of silence, the weight of past trauma, and the courage it takes to finally confront long-buried truths.

Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers with a tech twist and strong, emotionally resonant characters, Keep Me Safe delivers both suspense and depth. I read it in one sitting and can’t wait to see what Allison Meldrum writes next.

Thanks to Allison Meldrum, the publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

Wow what a great book! I really enjoyed the premise of this book. The characters are great. I even enjoyed the secondary characters. The writing style was great and this really was an easy read. It had meek hooked from page one. I don't always have a hard time putting books down but this one had me..lol. I highly recommend this book if you are in a reading slump. This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last.

What a read this was.

Keep me safe is a thriller which follows an investigative journalist in a Scottish town, Maggie Shileds, on a search for the truth combining a personal trauma 10 years previous to something she was trying to write on in the present, with the help of personal grief, a little paranoia and ocd and stubborn human decency.

This book had me gripped and I couldn’t turn the page quick enough at times to see what was coming next.

A must read for lovers of psychological thrillers.

Thanks to Allison Meldrum, the publishers and Netgally for the advanced read.

This is a thriller with teeth—and a heart that’s been bruised but refuses to stop beating. Allison Meldrum’s Keep Me Safe follows Maggie Shields, an investigative journalist whose latest case dredges up more than just headlines. A missing person, a decade-old murder, and a brother’s silence form the tangled roots of a story that’s as personal as it is dangerous.

Maggie is a compelling lead: sharp, haunted, and quietly unraveling. Her search for truth is layered with paranoia, grief, and the eerie presence of an AI therapist that may be helping—or manipulating. The seaside town setting adds a moody backdrop, where secrets feel soaked into the pavement and every wave seems to whisper something ominous.

Meldrum’s writing is taut but emotionally resonant. The plot moves briskly, yet there’s space for reflection—for the cost of silence, the weight of memory, and the fragile hope of justice. It’s a story about what we owe to the past, and what it takes to finally speak.

Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers with a tech twist and a deeply human core.

With thanks to Allison Meldrum, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow!!! Is all I can say about this absolutely outstanding book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope there is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked! This was an outstanding novel from the cover to the last page!