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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Emily is a down on her luck girl trying to be an actress. When she is dumped from her temp job and her agency, she has no clue what she's going to do. Cue Scott, her former boss who she's actually never met, with a job offer to help his wife Nina and their daughter Aurelia at a vast estate they have in France.
Emily was easily swayed by this offer. She was so naive at what seemed the perfect bliss. You know Nina has something to hide. She was way over protective of her daughter.
I knew this family has a huge secret to hide, I just didn't find out until Emily does along the way why. I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending.
Emily was easily swayed by this offer. She was so naive at what seemed the perfect bliss. You know Nina has something to hide. She was way over protective of her daughter.
I knew this family has a huge secret to hide, I just didn't find out until Emily does along the way why. I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending.
3.5 stars
This started slow, probably on purpose so you'd go crazy waiting for the other shoe to drop. I found it kind of boring. I loved the last third/half/something like that, though. There is one aspect to the ending I could certainly get mad about, if you want to commiserate.
This started slow, probably on purpose so you'd go crazy waiting for the other shoe to drop. I found it kind of boring. I loved the last third/half/something like that, though. There is one aspect to the ending I could certainly get mad about, if you want to commiserate.
After getting fired from her job, Emily is broke and desperate for something new. When her former boss, Scott, offers her a job as a housekeeper and au pair for his 6-year-old daughter at their home in France, it seems too good to be true. Emily arrives at the remote home, Querencia, and meets Scott’s seemingly perfect wife, Nina, and their incredibly peculiar daughter, Aurelia. Upon arrival at the French estate, Emily is overwhelmed by its beauty, but soon realizes how isolated they are. Emily is without cell phone service, and alone with just Nina and Aurelia, and their stoic, unpleasant handyman Yves. While Nina is friendly to Emily, there is something off about her, and quiet Aurelia can flip the switch at any second to violent tantrums. The family is obviously hiding something, and as time goes on Emily grows more and more suspicious.
As a character, Emily is naïve and senseless at times, which was frustrating but also expected in a thriller. The book is told from multiple perspectives, primarily by Emily, but also from Scott’s and Nina’s points of view. The book was an incredibly fast read, and I enjoyed the weird dynamic and relationships between the characters. Overall, the novel was a little predictable, but still suspenseful. This is a definitely one of those “can’t put it down” books!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
As a character, Emily is naïve and senseless at times, which was frustrating but also expected in a thriller. The book is told from multiple perspectives, primarily by Emily, but also from Scott’s and Nina’s points of view. The book was an incredibly fast read, and I enjoyed the weird dynamic and relationships between the characters. Overall, the novel was a little predictable, but still suspenseful. This is a definitely one of those “can’t put it down” books!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
Thriller is a big hit and miss genre for me so i went into THE SAFE PLACE with low expectations, but I’m happy to report that it was a hit
Talk about a slow burn! This was an unsettling and gripping read. You know that feeling when something in a story is definitely * off *, but you can’t figure out what it is? That’s ⅔ of this book - and the final third is a rollercoaster of realizations and emotions that make it impossible to put down. The quintessential summer read that evolves into a jaw dropping thriller! Definitely recommend.
WOW! Anna Downes is hugely talented and I could not believe this book is a debut. I was up late reading every night and was hooked on every word of Anna’s. She tells a story of Emily whose life is falling apart and is given an opportunity to work on a luxurious coastal property in France, the estate is picture perfect but as it goes along it’s not the safe place Emily thought it would be. A big fat 5 stars for this book, I truly loved it and any work of Anna Downes will be a must buy for me.
So, assuming Sharp Objects counts as a thriller, this is my second ever read, so I am very new to the genre.
Overall, it wasn’t bad, but I was very bored to start with. It took me nearly a month to go 75 pages. However, once I started picking up on hints, I got interested and finished it in just a couple days. I felt it was lacking in a true “thrill” as it was mostly just curiosity that kept me reading. I also feel like it was marketed to be darker than it ended up actually being. In all, I rate it 3.5 but marked it down here for the time it took to gain my interest.
Thank you Minotaur Books and Macmillan Publishers for this ARC to review.
Overall, it wasn’t bad, but I was very bored to start with. It took me nearly a month to go 75 pages. However, once I started picking up on hints, I got interested and finished it in just a couple days. I felt it was lacking in a true “thrill” as it was mostly just curiosity that kept me reading. I also feel like it was marketed to be darker than it ended up actually being. In all, I rate it 3.5 but marked it down here for the time it took to gain my interest.
Thank you Minotaur Books and Macmillan Publishers for this ARC to review.
5/10 This book was a slow building mystery but I predicted the ending pretty early on so I was a little bored with the story.
The beginning was good and then it turned around into this crazy, creepy plot twist which I loved!!! But then the ending felt super forced and I hated it.