A great book, I did guess the ending but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. A story that is at points hard to read but emotional and compelling. I really enjoyed it!

Such a good synopsis

Such a bad execution

Whoever sends these arcs out via kindle needs to proof them before doing so. The way it came through was the worst I’ve ever been sent.

Ruined the reading experience for me

Safe is an excellent thriller with plenty of twists throughout. Imagine your six year old daughter goes missing and isn't found. Twelve years later, she shows up at your door unable to answer any questions about where she has been. Who is she and what happened to her? The plot is very intriguing and the story is unpredictable. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy great thrillers!

A six year old girl, Jenny, goes missing and the family’s life is left on hold as they don’t know what happened to her. Then one day, twelve years later, she turns up. Her parents welcome her with open arms but her brother doesn’t seem pleased to see her return. It is very difficult to write a review without giving too much away as it would spoil the reading of this book. Jenny narrates most of this story with occasional chapters from family members and the twists and turns in Jenny’s and her family’s life will have you totally gripped. It’s apparent things are not right but it is not until the end of the book that we discover all the secrets. A tense, disturbing and harrowing read but one you won’t be able to put down.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was insane it had so many twists and turns and I’m so bloody glad I read it. So much darkness and unpredictable outcomes!

It’s so hard to write anything about this book without giving one of the twists away.
Little Jenny disappeared 12 years ago when she was just 6 years old. She disappeared while on the way to a play date with her friend just 2 houses away. Now she has arrived back after a harrowing 12 years of sexual and physical abuse. Her brother Ben isn’t convinced it is her and is distant and moody, spaced out on weed and drugs. Her parents however are overjoyed to see her and welcome her back with open arms. It’s soon apparent however that everyone in the family has secrets and Jenny may in fact be in danger.
I enjoyed this page turner. A lot of it is quite predictable (especially if you have read Josephine Teys Brat Farrar) but there are enough deviations on the twist to keep you reading. Great stuff.
#netgally #safe

How much crime do you read? How many time’s have you turned the last page and thought I’ve read that before? For me that has happened far too many times, but when I chose to be part of the blogtour for Safe, there was the merest hint that it might be something a little different, and oh my it definitely was.

Imagine the daughter who disappeared twelve years ago turned up on your doorstep, would it bring a family back together or tear them apart? Barnett didn’t exactly make it appear black and white, instead she drew me into a web of lies and secrets that were buried so deep that the layers appeared endless.

She could have taken the easy route and looked at the whole drama from the point of view of the parents, their torment and suffering but oh no Barnett chose to take Jenny, the lost daughter, as her main narrator. As she tried to slot back into the family something didn’t feel quite right for her and for us. The more I read, the more the uneasiness crept in before Barnett blew the whole plot apart and you were left thinking just where she was going to take me next.

It was by no means easy reading, the trauma of sexual and physical abuse, of neglect and the search for belonging and love ran deep and Barnett dealt with them in a measured and balanced manner. She didn’t trivialise, or exaggerate but used her narrative and characters, to highlight the impact it had on them and their subsequent actions.

I loved how Barnett grasped the psychology behind each of her characters, particularly that of Ben the elder brother. It was his apparent ability to block events that you knew held the key to the truth behind Jenny’s disappearance. Jenny’s tenacity and determination to unlock his mind was wonderfully compelling, it gave her life purpose where before it seemed aimless, even if it led her into danger that might just cost everything.

Barnett didn’t fill her story with endless police procedural, in fact they took a backseat, hardly noticeable, and the lack of screaming sirens was refreshing.

Barnett’s intricate plotting reminded me of a clockwork toy being slowly wound before it’s mad, furious release, before finally the madness subsided and all was still. You felt Jenny was that toy, that after the relentlessness of discovering the shocking mind bending truth she would arrive at peacefulness and calm, a life to look forward to.

If she did or not is up to you to find out and I do so hope you do. Safe was intelligent, brilliantly written and ripe for a Netflix dramatisation!

WOW! This book was so gripping from the get go, I loved the characters and the story so much. There was no slow build up to an end twist as with most thrillers and instead was constantly changing the dynamic throwing twists around left, right and centre, a lot of which were predictable but it was fine because of how often these twists occurred.
The writing style was great and I couldn't believe that this is a debut novel. Every part of this book was incredible until the ending which just felt too rushed for me and I could think of quite a few ways I would rather this have gone which is the only reason this book isn't getting a five star rating.
If you are a fan of thrillers you will likely love this! I read it in just 2 hours as I could not put it down for a second.

TW: Please be aware there is heavy sexual assault including assault of a minor.

This was a really thrilling story.
I was intrigued from the first page as to what was happening.

I love the idea of this girl who had been missing coming home and was hot finding out what happened to her this whole time.

At times I got a little confused with the writing style however that could be just due to how the book was formatted on my Kindle.

There were an excellent few twists I'm very happy with how this book went

A good twisty drama. A missing person story with a difference and really unexpected ending. A good read.

This was impossible to read as there were numbers scattered across many of the lines so it was a DNS instead of a DNF

Enjoyed this from the start to the finish,. 6 year old Jenny disappeared on her way to her friends, her brother Ben spends a year in a Catholic hospital/school life starts to return to some sort of normality then Jenny comes back!! It's a miracle..........or is it??
Well written and grips all the way must read book for summer.
#Netgally #Amazon

This was a fun read. Well written. Held my interest. Just an enjoyable read overall.

I would recommend this book to my friends and family for sure!

Loved this book . It was exciting and very fast paced. The plot had me hooked from the off. I couldn’t put it down. Could feel my heart racing at time’s.

Safe by S.K. Barnett is a tense and exciting psychological thriller that drew me in from the very first page and didn’t let go until the final, exhilarating page had been turned. I knew very little about this book going in and I’m so glad I didn’t, as this is a story you need to experience for yourself. It’s dark, twisted and not always an easy read, but is one of those tales that I know will stay with me for a long time to come.

Twelve years ago, six year old Jenny Kristal was snatched in broad daylight as she walked to a friend’s house, only a short distance from where she lived. But now, after escaping from her kidnappers, Jenny is back. But as she settles back into a life she barely remembers, questions begin to mount. Where has Jenny been all these years? How did she find her way back home? Why has she suddenly resurfaced now? And the most important question of all…

Is she safe?

This is not an easy review to write, as it’s difficult to say too much without giving something away. But suffice to say this is a book that took me by surprise more than once as the story unfolded and the truth of what had happened to Jenny finally began to be revealed. The tension is palpable as the suspense ratchets up to breaking point, the cleverly woven plot making my pulse race and keeping me on my toes throughout.

There is no doubt that S.K. Barnett knows how to write a superb psychological thriller. I was blown away by the strength of his writing, and found the story so compelling that once started I could not put this tense and suspense filled thriller down.

A must read!

Gosh this story kept me gripped from the beginning to end! With so many dark twists, completely unpredictable turns and a massive dollop of deception. So many disturbing yet incredible moments. I think if you love the genre, you need to read this!

This was flipping brilliant, I could not put it down. I loved the twist at the end and really didn't see that coming. Great suspense all the way though, good strong characters and you would never guess where it was going at the beginning.

Aged 6 Jenny disappears without a trace walking from her home to her friends house a few doors down. 12 years later Jenny reappears and returns home. Her parents are ecstatic, her brother Ben is suspicious.

As I read this book I thought I know exactly where this is heading. I couldn’t have been more wrong! This psychological thriller is full of suspense. The ending was unexpected.

Jenny is 6 years old when she goes missing on what should have been a very short walk from her house to her best friends a few doors down. Her parents are frantic, her brother traumatised and the neighbours all grateful it didn’t happen to one of their children.

12 years later and Jenny stumbles into her old neighbourhood ... it’s a miracle, a dream come true for her parents Laurie and Jake. Her brother Ben maybe not so much but then he has never been the same since Jenny’s disappearance.

Once I got a third or so into the book it really picked up the pace and I didn’t want to put it down. I was a bit uncomfortable about some of the ‘themes’ running through the book but it all added to the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced read copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

WHAT. THE. FREAK!! The book should come with its own personal warning - Prepare to get shot and brains splattered everywhere. I tell ya... It was that good. Author S. K. Barnett with the sleight of his hand was quite a magician. He twisted the story in such a way that a GASP was all I was left with.

Jenny, a lost child came back home after 12 years. The parents were ecstatic, but questions soon arose. Where had she been? Expect the unexpected.

A ride the book was, the debut by the author, it was beyond all the realms that I had read so far. Just when I thought I knew where the book was heading, the author would turn it in different direction.

The prose at first didn't seem friendly, but there was a haunting quality to it that caught me in its snare. A need to know soon built up. The curiosity and suspense that evaded my being left me shell-shocked with the reveals. A master hand was this author who knew how to pull me into the book with his mini reveals.

A true psychological thriller this was. The final twists...yes, there were multiple...left me completely sideswiped. I thought I had read it all, but the author proved me quite wrong.

A MUST READ!!