I really enjoyed this book it has tension, red herrings and a storyline that’s like peeling an onion with new layers revealed throughout. I always try to guess the ending of books as I read them but this one had me going in many different directions, which just added to my enjoyment and appreciation of the writer’s craft. Can’t wait to read another one from this anonymous author!

Whoa! What did I just read? How on earth am I going to review this without giving anything away?

This is one of the books that had me gasping out loud and saying “no way” loudly several times throughout. There are twists, red herrings galore, unreliable narrators, a shocking storyline, a truly unique and clever plot and some very, very, very dark and disturbing topics.

This is NOT easy reading – there are topics which are definitely “triggers” for many readers including child abduction, grooming and child abuse and it takes a LOT to upset me and this did upset me. The dark and disturbing scenes are NOT graphic, but that’s what probably upset me more because the readers imagination is left to fill in the blanks and believe me when I say it’s not a pleasant experience.

Safe is the story about a sweet, adorable 6 year old girl, Jenny who goes missing one afternoon on the way to play at a neighbour’s house. The family are distraught and in pieces but miraculously twelve years later Jenny returns, having escaped her captors. Her parents Jake and Laurie are over joyed at her “safe” return, however her older brother Ben is suspicious immediately.

I can’t say much without giving anything away now – except I absolutely raced through this book, I thought the storyline was clever, original and very, very twisty and one I highly recommend to fans of dark, psychological thrillers.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Cornerstone-Century for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Safe’ by S K Barnett in exchange for an honest review. It was published in various formats on 11 June.

In 2007 six-year old Jennifer Kristal disappeared from her neighbourhood. She was only going two doors down the street to her best friend’s house but never arrived. Missing posters were put up everywhere. There were search parties, appeals, and hotlines. The case went cold. The family hired a PI. Yet there was no trace.

Twelve years later Jennifer comes home or rather walks into the local police station and announces her identity. So what happened to her?

Now as this is a very twisty psychological thriller I will say no more about its plot. I read it ‘cold’ and I feel that it is the best way to approach this kind of novel for maximum enjoyment.

Jennifer narrates most of the novel with occasional chapters presenting the viewpoints of family members Laurie and Jake Kristal, and their son, Ben.

I read a fair few domestic noirs/psychological thrillers and this one impressed and surprised me. It was dark and twisty and proved extremely engaging with plenty of genuine OMG! moments.

Recommended.

Safe’ is the latest book by S.K Barnett.

Your child is missing. She was only six years old when she disappeared. Posters went up, the police investigated. But no one could find her. Now, twelve years later, she’s home. And knocking at your door. You’re so happy to see her. But soon you start to wonder why she can’t answer your questions. Where has she been? How did she find her way home? And who is she?

This is a genuine suspenseful story that leaves the reader wondering who’s telling the truth.

When a young woman turns up to a house claiming that she’s the same child that disappeared many years ago, the family are elated that she’s returned, but the older brother can’t seem to join in with the joy of the happy reunion.

The story is mostly seen through the narrative of Jenny and she’s an interesting character, who’s been through quite the ordeal whilst she was taken away. Her story makes for graphic and heartbreaking reading and it really did strike a chord with me, that a child would be treated in that way.

As the story progresses and Jenny begins to settle into the Kristal family, she can’t help feeling that something is amiss and starts to do her own research in the years that she was gone and finds herself wondering what she had returned after she begins to receive chilling messages.

It’s hard to say a lot about this story, as you could easily give something important away but this really was a rollercoaster of a story. Riddled with suspense had plenty of unreliable characters, this claustrophobic tale had me gripped from with the first page, no sooner had I thought that I had figured it out then the author would throw another curveball twist. A haunting and chilling story about disappearance and discovery, ‘Safe’ is a twisty and complex story that will you guessing throughout.

You can buy ‘Safe’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

A kidnapped girl survived twelve nightmarish years.
Now she's safely back home . . . or is she?

Jenny Kristal was six years old when she was snatched off the sidewalk from her quiet suburban neighborhood. Twelve years later, she's miraculously returned home after escaping her kidnappers—but as her parents and younger brother welcome her back, the questions begin to mount. Where has she been all these years? Why is she back now? And is home really the safest place for her . . . or for any of them?

This book is a really good read. When I first picked up the book and started reading it, I felt that it had some familiarity to it, but that soon disappeared and I saw this was completely different read! I did feel that the book was far fetched in places, but it did not take away the suspense and the originality of the book. I had so many theories, but the author shocked me with the ending.

With thanks to NetGalley and Randon House for thr ARC.

Jenny Kristal was six when she vanished from her quiet, safe, neighbourhood.
Twelve long years later she walks into a local Police station...
...or does she?

Who is the young woman who claims to be Jenny? Is she Jenny? If not, what possible reason does she have for the scam?

A highly entertaining and tense story.

The layers of this onion are peeled back slowly but surely to reveal the truth at the heart of the story.
The tension slowly builds as more facts are revealed and hinted at, before the whole story unfolds at the end.

An excellent read.

This was a distressing story about child abuse, murder, fraud and redemption. There were lots of twists and turns and the last few pages were a bit confusing but it was a compelling story.

I loved this book. Jenny was 6 when she was kidnapped outside her house. 12 years later she walks into a police station. She is home. Things seem strange, the family struggle to reconnect after 12 years apart and the trauma they have experienced but Jenny's memory doesn't quite add up. What really happened to that little 6 year old and who will find the truth. This book covers a very wide range of sub-topics whilst following a very good plot on it's own. The struggles of such a long separation on the brother and the things people will do to protect their family. Lots of twists and a good ending that ties up all the loose ends.

A gripping story about a girl who returns back 12 years after disappearing....twists and turns throughout and the written very endearingly from the perspective of the girl...a decent read

I jokingly remember commented on my blog in early January that it looked like 2020 was going to be the year of the thrillers. Little did I know how right I was because I've read so many good one this year and Safe is no exception.

When Jenny was six years old, she left her home to walk two houses down the street to play with a friend. However, Jenny never made it. For years her family searched for her but eventually, everyone gave up hope that Jenny would ever be found. Now it's 12 years later and Jenny shows up back in town. Her parents are thrilled and her brother seems to wish that she had stayed gone. Jenny is trying to readjust to life while her parents, as well as the police, are trying to put together the pieces of her time away. But it seems like everyone has secrets that they would much rather stay buried.

I loved this book. It was compelling and exciting and held a few twists I didn't quite see coming. I could not imagine the pain Jenny's parents experienced and I it was hard to see Jenny trying so hard to reconnect with her family. I feel this is a book that's best gone into blindly and I have to admit, it's hard to say much more without giving anything away. My only real issue with it is that the plot was just a tad predictable, but I think if someone reads a lot of the genre, they sort of have an idea where things are headed. Yet I will add the author throws enough twists in to keep everything fresh and just as exciting. If you are in the mood for a solid thriller, this is one you should consider picking up.

Wow!! This book hit me like a whirlwind and shook me, just when I thought I knew where it was heading the story changed direction. Such a clever, intriguing read, which totally had me holding my breath. Excellent, very well earned 5 stars!

In this psychological thriller we follow a family who lost their daughter when she was six as she tragically went missing walking from her house to a neighbours house for a playdate. The book opens with the daughter finding her way back to where she used to live and feeling lost and overwhelmed. From here after a brief stint at the police station to inform them of where she has been and what happened over the years she was missing, we then follow her story as she goes back to the family home and settles in. It is whilst she settles in that this story really picks up pace, as everything here is not as it seems.

This is an incredibly clever thriller, that takes many twists and turns. I thought I knew what direction things were going in, and only part of my guess was even close to being correct. I was, for the most part at least, miles off and this left me blown away. I can't remember the last time I read something that was so unpredictable. The plot and the characters take so many twists and turns and make so many shocking discoveries and the revelations from everything just left me in awe. For most of the book we follow the daughter through her time back at home, though we do get the occasional chapter perspective from other members of the household, which lead to some explosive plot devices.

This book is not for the faint-hearted, and not one I'd easily recommend to parents. This book is filled with various different kinds of child abuse, sexual abuse, and many other difficult topics. You should not read this book if this is a problem for you, because various abuse is prevalent throughout the story. I'd also be wary due to drug abuse, suicide, bullying, rape, neglect, I could go on, so please keep this in mind before picking this up.

I sadly was unable to rate this amazing mind blowing thriller five stars though, and this was for a very simple reason. The entire time I felt some sort of disconnect. I don't believe it was a character issue, as I found the characters well crafted, they felt real, and I don't need to identify with thriller characters. I think it was something about this authors writing style, I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something off. This author is writing under a pseudonym and wishes to remain anonymous. I have a sneaking suspicion, and that's all I can put this down to, though I have a feeling the author is male, and lacks the necessary skills to write a female character in a way that feels completely authentic. The main character herself did feel fleshed out, everyone felt true to life, just there is that something missing, and I've made the completely wild assumption this is what my problem was. That said, whatever my disconnection was, I had a great time reading this thriller overall, and would still highly recommend it if you can handle the trigger warnings I previously mentioned.

A family devastated by the loss of their daughter and their lives on permanent hold as they don’t know what happened to her. How do they cope , how do they move on and can they even move on. Then one day a young girl turns up in the town where Jenny went missing and climbs she is in fact Jenny. The family welcome her back with open arms or do they. Her brother is not sure but he’s had his issues since she disappeared so is not the most reliable of people. The police follow procedure and investigate Jenny’s story about her intervening years when she was missing. Jenny knows so many things about the family that she has to be her or does she.

You know the feeling of Deja Vu well i got this throughout the book. It could be I’ve read or watched something very similar I don’t know. I just had the feeling i knew what was coming all the way through. The plot of the book is probably every parents nightmare where you lose a child and don’t know where they are. I know i lost my son for a short while when he was two and i was frantic the whole time so twelve years is hard to fathom. The story unfolds as we get to know more of Jenny and her reasons for being “home” . As we venture further into the book we start to learn more about the family dynamics that led to that fateful day when Jenny went missing. When the truth behind the family is revealed it ties up all the bits and pieces laid out to us along the way. Like a trail of breadcrumbs we follow the plot to its unexpected poignant ending. Now that I didn’t see coming even after i had worked out the rest. A suspense building read that builds the layers of the plot page after page. The voice of Jenny throughout adds a heart tugging factor, and makes her a very tragic figure looking for the love and affection she has craved throughout her life. You want her to get that life even if you don’t particularly like her as a character. An enjoyable read that i seemed to fly through.

Jenny Kristal, then aged six, is walking to her friends house, but she never made it and vanished from the street. Twelve years later she returns home, but where has she been, and why? And for what reason is her brother not particularly pleased about her reappearance? Why doesn’t he believe that this woman is the sister he lost years ago? Jenny starts receiving emails informing her that her family home is not safe, and it's not long before Jenny begins to wonder if her rediscovered family are hiding dark secrets.

I was intrigued from the moment I first met the young woman who claimed to be the kidnapped girl. How had she managed to escape from her kidnappers? The author had such a gripping writing style, cleverly creating a real sense of continual apprehension and danger as I fretted over Jenny's level of safety. This gave the book its highly original take on a well-trodden theme, as once a missing child is found, you reasonably assume that the nightmare is over.

S.K. Barnett created a tremendous feeling of claustrophobia as Jenny becomes reacquainted with the family who lost her. There were ominous undertones as she tried to settle into her new life. I was keen to know what was really happening and if everything was as it appeared. As the family dynamics are gradually uncovered the reader is able to see the cracks that slowly spread, but then suddenly everything shatters.

I thought I had the ending sussed out, but S.K. Barnett lobbed in a final twist that I didn’t see coming. The concept of Safe was very original, and I thought it was incredibly well-told. This exciting, dark, shocking, and unputdownable drama-thriller is guaranteed to shock you in every conceivable way.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Random House UK, Cornerstone/ Century via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

This book is crazy on a multitude of levels. It's dark, dark, like the one that gave you the chill in the spine. I must say that it's one of the psychological thrillers that really hit the spot. It's truly twisted and makes me intrigued. Can you imagine a secret within a secret within a secret, that's what this book is and even further. It's more than what I can think of. I am so devastated. There's a lot of things jumps up into the story, which at times make me lost focus, as the language a little bit tangle so I need to reread certain lines but once the problem solves I'm back to fully follow the story. Even though there's a bunch of trigger warnings, I don't regret reading this book as it is such a page-turner.

You often see reports on the news of kidnap victims found and reunited with their families years later. I always wonder how it works out, how they get used to being a family again and if it means a happy ending for all concerned. I sincerely hope that none of those families experience anything like the family in this book did.

Mainly told by the viewpoint of Jenny, but also Ben, her brother and Jake, her father you could see how Jenny’s reappearance affected them all. I thought I knew which way the storyline would go but it didn’t take me long to discover that there was a lot to this novel, that would hint at something a lot more sinister. And nothing that occurred at the beginning of the book would prepare me for what was revealed the further I read.

Jenny was a character who I liked more as I got to know her. Independent, inquisitive, determined and loyal. I appreciated her friendship with Tabs, whose family life couldn’t have been more different. This friendship added some relief to the rest of the storyline which was at times a little unsettling.

I don’t know if I have read other books by this author with him writing under a pseudonym, but I would like to in the future.

Safe is a thriller we all want to read but noone wants it to happen to them. A six year old child missing from home, never to be seen again until the day, 12 years later she walks into a police station.Jenny was taken from her family and they have searched everywhere, done everything to find her. Her elder brother thinks she is dead and he has sort of come to terms with that.Jenny returns and it starts a chain of events noone could predict.
This story is a powerful and heart wrenching one. The author deals with child abuse very caustiously, and it still brought the feelings of anger, sadness and even tears as I know all too well this happens too often in our world.The twists and turns in Jenny and her family's lifes came thick and fast. Her parents are jubilant she is home but her brother is a different story.As events happen and time goes on it is apparent something isn't right but what is it? We are made to wait until the last pages to discover the secrets everyone are keeping.
A hard read at times, tense,disturbing and harrowing but also hynoptic in a way as you just need to keep reading to find out whats going to happen.Thanks to Random Things Tours, Netgalley and Arrow Publishing for allowing me a copy of the book to take part in this blog tour.

Wow. Well this was a thriller that i didn't see coming. It kept giving and giving. As a reader, it was a binge worthy, one sitting kind of read - i can tell you that much.



Jenny Kristal was only 6 years old when she was snatched on the way to a play date, after many years of searching, she turned to a cold case. Somehow though, Jenny has escaped her captors - mother and father and made it home. Her parents elated to welcome her home, her brother - not so much.



How - after all this time, did she get away, and why is she now back? What does she want? As a reader you literally have so many questions, about everything. Not one person is as they seem, and it is completely full of unreliable characters and i down right loved it.



It's a book you need to go into with very little information because, that enhances the plot massively, lets just stick with - not all is as it seems.



I really enjoyed the writing style, i felt it was fast paced, thrilling and engaging. I felt like there plenty of time to allow us to discover a bit of back history of Jenny. It was just so full of twists and turns that as a reader, you were taken in one direction and then sent flying back in another only moments later.





The characters were all unique and like i mentioned, not always trust worthy so it made for a really interesting read because you never quite knew what you was going to get. I didn't instantly warm to them, i was wary and i feel like the author has done a fantastic job in creating that feeling.



One you need to pick up, make sure you set some time aside before you read it because you won't be putting it down.

There are books that are impossible to put down, be advised that this is one of those!
A parent worst nightmare is that their children are being hurt, so when Jenny Kristal is returned home after being kidnapped for 12 years, her parents doesn’t ask questions and embrace her without fear. But, when her younger brother doesn’t trust her, he starts mixing memories making Jenny doubt of her own. But, is she who she tells or she is not the real Jenny?
This story reminded me a little the tv series “The Missing”, where a supposed kidnapped girl returns home, then the parents start questioning if she is their real daughter. I could understand the situation of the parents, the need to trust that this is their little girl, trying to understand all the changes/moods of their daughter after so many years and after surviving hell… But then, there’s the sixth sense, the feeling that maybe something is not totally right with the “girl” that says that is your daughter? What do you have to do? Maybe is your real daughter but has changed totally or maybe is someone else trying to replace her…
As you can imagine this is one of those books that you don’t know who to trust or which twists you’ll find during the story, there are so many doubts and surprises on the plot that it’s quite impossible to stop reading!
Safe is a book to distrust and expect twists on every page, because you never know if you are Safe. Ready?

I found this rather heavy going, particularly the first half. It was quite boring and I really had no inclination to finish it. The characters were very unappealing and the dialogue was very uninteresting.. It was also quite confusing because it was sometimes difficult to know who was speaking. I did not find it at all well written. It did pick up, but not until I had struggle through the first half,. The last 20% or so became more of a page turner and was exciting, though I am not sure about how I feel about the very end.