The Safe Place
The Safe Place
Author: Anna Downes
Published: July 14, 2020
352 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Dates Read: July 5-July 20, 2020
Book Description:
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.
Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downs’s debut is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.
Welcome to paradise…will you ever be able to leave?
Jessica’s Review:
This one was an average read for me. We had multiple points of view (both Emily and Scott with Nina thrown in from time to time) which I always enjoy.
From the beginning we see Emily have a really bad day which starts with losing her temporary job and agent. Then we have a chapter with Scott’s POV and we know from then that something is not right, we know he has something planned and that plan involves Emily.
Needing a job and now her former boss comes to’ her rescue’ with another job offer (The warning bells should have been going off right there Emily!) Emily takes it. She ends up in a secluded home with Scott’s wife Nina and their child Aurelia. But they are in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception or internet, and Nina will not let Emily into the family home. Emily is cut off from everything/everyone. Once Emily realizes things are amiss, it might already be too late.
I did not figure out the twist, but I should have as the signs were there. . It would be a bit of a predictable novel and the ending did not totally deliver. This is a first novel for Anna Downes and I would give her another try.
**Many thanks to the publisher Minotaur Books for sending me a copy to read and review**
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
