Steffi has just een released from prison. She buys a run down cottage that she intends to renovate herself. She changes her name to Charlie and starts her new life I a small Cornish village. She soon starts to make new friends, even with the grumpy old man who lives next door. But then strange things start to happen around her. She feels that she is being watched. Has her past come back to haunt her?

Theres quite a lot of backstory to contend with. There are parts that seem to drag on. Charlie's character is complex. There were so many characters that could have been the culprit in this story, I just couldn't guess who it was. The storyline is intriguing and it gets better and better as the story unfolds. The dual timeline enables us to understand Charlie's background better, her time in prison and her trying to make a new life for herself. I don't think anyone can escape their past. There is always someone who will recognise you. This is a fantastic read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author Jo Jakeman for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

Steffi Finn just wants to forget her past. Newly released from prison and with a small legacy from her now deceased mother she has bought, sight unseen, a cottage in a small Cornwall village, not far from St Austell. It’s a far cry from her native Sheffield, but that’s what she needs right now – an escape from her past.

Stupidly, she believed her live-in boyfriend when he fed her a pack of lies about where he had been and what he had been doing. Even as he exerted coercive control over her, she still thought they were in love. He turned out to be a killer and she was the one who gave him a false alibi. When, too late, she finally saw the truth and went to the police, her alibi had enabled him to remain free to kill again and Steffi will always have that on her conscience.

The object of scorn and hatred in her home town, especially from those who thought she must have known what her partner was up to, she knows she will get no peace if she goes back there on her release.

So she dyes her hair, changes her name to Charlie Miller and hides away in the small rural Cornish village of Penderrion. She makes some new friends and begins to settle in, but she still feels unsettled. Is it just nerves after all she has been through, or is someone really there, watching her?

Jo Jakeman’s novel is an easy and fast paced read with lots to like about Charlie, even as we are shouting at her for being quite so gullible. The small village gossip network is beautifully evoked as is the general sense of community spirit.

The plot is nicely layered and the characters interesting. A dual timeline enables us to understand Charlie’s backstory and to introduce us to her previous boyfriend, Conor, who now looks after her legal matters and Jakeman introduces different voices and perspectives to the layers she builds.

I liked that this did not feel like a heavy, doom laden thriller and found it to be more entertaining than I initially expected. A couple of plot points did me make me scratch my head a little – was Charlie out on licence and able to just up sticks and disappear without any form of checking in at all – but not enough to over worry about detracting from a decent read.

The theme of whether or not it is ever possible to escape one’s past was well thought through and I failed to guess who was watching Charlie or why. Some nice deflection provides a twisted path to the truth albeit that I was able fairly quickly to work out where the twist lay. Jakeman writes with a light touch and this makes Safe House a satisfying read.

Verdict: Safe House is an entertaining, enjoyable and fast read, but not especially a surprising one.

#SafeHouse #NetGalley
A can't put it down.
Charlie Miller has bought a house by the name of The Buttery in Cornwall. She was a prisoner by the name of Steffi Finn and went to jail for providing false alibi of her lover Lee Fisher.
Strange things started to happen in Charlie's life. Although she had made new friends but dear didn't leave her. Someone knows her truth but who?
Characters and plot are great. It was told from four POVs. All were great. I felt a connection with Charlie's character, when you try to run from your past but your past doesn't leave you. Other characters were good. Overall its a good book.

Fantastic read. I loved the previous book by this author, Sticks and Stones. Safe House certainly didn't disappoint. It was really and truly an edge of your seat thrilling read. There were so many suspects, I just couldn't fathom out who it was going to be. Needless to say I was wrong.. The book is intriguing from the start and just gets better as the plot unfurls. Another brilliant 5 star read by Jo Jakeman

I loved this author's debut book when I read it last year, so I was quite excited to see what she would serve up this time. Excited and a little scared that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. Well, blow me down, she's done it again. I loved it!
Charlie has bought a run down cottage in a small, remote, Cornish village. She's running from her past, her prison sentence for the part she played in keeping her serial killer boyfriend out of jail long enough to strike again. She went to jail, did her time and has now been released. Charlie is not her real name. She has reinvented herself, determined to break from the past ties and reputation. Soon after moving and making a couple of friends, strange things start to happen to and around her. She has the feeling she is being watched. But by whom? And what do they want from her? Has she really managed to leave her past behind or is it about to come back and bite her?
Yes there's quite a bit of backstory to contend with during this book which, at times, did make it drag a tad along the way. But this background did speak to both character development and scene setting so it was wholly forgivable and just added to all the layers at they built up through the early and middle parts of the book. As a consequence of this slowish build up, the ending did come across as being a bit rushed but nothing that really felt too disjointed. All the questions along the way were answered to my satisfaction, and as I turned the last page, I was left wholly satisfied, if a little exhausted!
I connected to Charlie right from the off. Even given her past, as I got to know her more and more I saw that the part she played in the crime that put her away was a lot more complex than appeared at face value. The way she conducted herself in Cornwall, how she made friends and connections, showed that she wasn't the person she had left behind and was deserving of my sympathy. As things started to unravel for her she, along with me, tried to figure out who had rumbled her true identity, and there were several candidates for that position.
It was all things twisty and turny along the way with fingers pointed in several directions but, and it doesn't happen very often these days, I was flabbergasted by the truth of the matter when it all came out. Shock and surprise slowly faded as I then started kicking myself for not realising the signs along the way. Hats off to the author for a job well done.
Yes, there were a few technical issues along the way but nothing too major and nothing that I couldn't accept for the sake of both plot and story progression.
Characterisation was excellent. I've already mentioned Charlie and how well I connected to her, but all the rest of the cast were equally well crafted and easy to get to grips with. Some more than others obviously but I don't want to go into all their ins and outs here for fear of spoilers.
All in all, another winner from Ms Jakeman. Hanging to see what she has in store for me next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow, this book had me enthralled all the way through. I felt connected as though I lived in the village of Pendirrion and was gossiping about the goings on around me.

This is the second novel I have read by this author, the first being Sticks and Stones, and I have enjoyed them both.

Charlie is trying to re-build her life after having spent time in prison; she buys a run down cottage in a small Cornish village and although she tries to keep herself to herself whilst renovating, she starts to become involved in village life and developing friendships amongst the residents but she soon begins to feel uneasy and things start to happen.

With a plausible story line, complex, well developed and interesting characters, a great setting culminating in a thrilling conclusion, this is an enjoyable read.

My thanks go to Random House UK, Vintage Publishing via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

A really great twisty thriller. Great for fans who enjoy creepy thrillers involving prison time too. Literally left me gasping for breath at parts. Highly recommended xx

A sizzling thriller chock full of mystery which kept me second guessing myself up until the end.
I wasn't keen on the prologue, which nearly stopped me in my tracks - Conor came across as pretty aggressively unlikeable, but the focus quickly shifts off him in the main narrative and Charlie is a very likeable protaganist trying to earn her second chance. Full review will be post on 31 October

This was an interesting read, and a variation on the usual lost woman, hiding out scenario. There were quite a few twists and turns. It kept me interested right until the end, although there were the odd occasions where it did become a little predictable. But all in all, a good read.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This was a real page turner and had me hooked from the beginning but then sort of dipped half way through. Nevertheless would recommend to others.

Safe House by Jo Jakeman. This book was an enjoyable enough read but it never really captured me, the beginning was good but I felt that in the middle it got a bit slow and then then the ending felt rushed and way over the top. I was expecting a lot more from the story from the synopsis.

Charlie is new to the small remote Cornish town and ready for a new start. She has just been released from prison where she was serving time for providing her then boyfriend Lee a false alibi. Back then she was Steffi and her boyfriend turned out to be a murderer. Charming! Now she wants to put all that behind her and get on with her life. She plans to keep to herself but the residents of the small town start to become part of her life. She is renovating a house and gets invited to join the book club (I did love the cafe where this was held... heaven!) But she has the feeling she is being watched and strange things start to happen to her.

Thanks to Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

This book was not as good as her previous one
This story was very slow and difficult to follow.
The ending was very rushed and felt like it was an after thought.
It was an ok book but could have been so much better

I really enjoyed this authors first book 'Sticks and Stones' so I jumped at the chance to read this book.

We meet Steffi Finn and get to know her and her life inside and outside of prison, where she is trying to build a new life for herself.

I feel that there was a lot of background story that made the book quite slow and quite frustrating to follow. I feel that it was dragged out too much.

This then led to a very rushed ending. All questions were answered quite quickly. I didnt guess who the person was, but I feel that a lot more time and thought could have been put into the reveal and not been so rushed.

I enjoyed the book overall, but feel that it could have been something so much better than it was.

After a week of disappointing reads my expectations were low starting Safe House. Yes it has a great synopsis but so did the books that let me down. Thankfully Safe House was brilliant!

Jo has a pure talent for writing relatable characters and I fell in love with so many! Charlie has just left prison after being tricked into giving her boyfriend an alibi for murder, I felt so sorry for her. She’s not a bad person just made some bad decisions and I immediately warmed to her. Also a quick shout out to Aubrey! He was described so perfectly I could see his face in my head. Another great character I fell in love with.

Overall this is an amazing read with some clever twists and turns. I recommend to all readers, you need to pick this one up!

An excellent read, tense and twisty with a great storyline and characters. It kept me hooked throughout.

I enjoyed this book. It tells of Steffi or Charlie as she is now known who following being released from prison has moved to start a new life. Although there were some elements the author missed e.g. why was she never seeing her probation officer (all people who serve a prison sentence are released to some form of post sentence supervision) this did not detract from the enjoyment of the book. This had lots of suspects and it had a nice pace about it. I was a bit disappointed with the ending as it seemed to be out of the blue and a bit rushed but still an enjoyable read.

An excellent book! Had fun reading it, and kept me on my toes the whole time. Great character development and fascinating storyline.