I enjoyed this a lot. The setting in the Australian wilderness was well described and the various characters were well described, I liked the fact that there was an element of constant stress and anxiety around the approaching wild fires. Overall it was an excellent take on a traditional scenario of a whodunnit in a confined environment

This was a fast paced read which I really enjoyed.

Jess returns to her Australian homeland to recuperate following an incident in her job as an analyst for the Met Police. Looking after an empty house in the Australian outback should be exactly what she needs. However, strangers approach the house seeking refuge and the outback code means you don’t turn people away as you never know what they may face out there. Are they who they seem and are they more dangerous than what they are escaping?

An excellent read, very fast moving with a lot of tension.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Wow, a thriller which starts off fairly quietly and builds up the action as it progresses. Jess is a police analyzer, currently taking a sabbatical after an unexplained event (this comes later) . She answers an advertisment to house-sit a remote luxury house in Australia, where she originally comes from. forest fires are destroying much of the countryside and when people starts turning up at the house, she lets them into the house, albeit with misgivings, because it is a place of safety.
Little by little more about Jess's life and her problems is revealed (the story is told from her point of view) and her reasoning about the others in the house also adds to the feelings of insecurity, more so when first one and then another man is found dead. 'Towards the end, the action escalates and a lot of information about different members of the house is revealed as the fires get closer and closer. I could not put the book down by this stage.
Thanks to Net Galley for a great read in exchange for an honest review

This is the second Cameron Ward book I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. I loved the main character - a strong, independent but flawed female. The constant feeling of impending doom and that something wasn’t quite right made me feel unsettled and on edge as I was reading it. I found it very atmospheric and really quite scary. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the end which was a bonus. Thoroughly recommended.

I loved this book! It had me gripped form the off and I couldn't put it down! I loved how we had the storyline but were also finding out about why Jess was there in the first place. It was really well written and I was absolutely trusting no one!! I thought it had a fantastic ending and I hope we do get to read more as I feel very invested.

Wow what a book! Most of the time is spent wondering if anyone is who they say they are, the twists and turns are amazing. Impossible to put down!

A very entertaining, tense thriller set in the Australian outback as forest fires spread ever nearer. I liked the backstory to Jess and how pieces of it were revealed throughout the book. The setting is very claustrophobic with a limited number of characters and this helps increase the tension as we don’t know their backgrounds or who Jess can trust.
I’ve not read any other books by this author but based on The Safe House I would definitely do so

The house sounds fantastic (bush fires notwithstanding) and I was initially quite jealous of Jess for the solitude, but as more and more odd bods appear out of the smoke the intensity of the anxiety and then fear ramps up rapidly, leaving you turning pages faster than you thought possible.

The tension mounts as Jess investigates and find first of all a mysterious safe in the basement and then evidence that someone is trying to break into it- one of the strangers she has granted refuge but should have left outside the gates!

fantastic read!

I was unsure about what to say about this book as it left me feeling edgy and a bit claustrophobic but that being said it’s a really great read if this is your kind of genre. I’m a cozy crime reader and not sure why I chose this book as it’s the exact opposite of that. But well written and well thought out plot wise.

I found this compelling but also disturbing as to who was good bad or somewhere in between. The idea of being isolated from the world is not appealing and it happening in the middle of a bush fire raises the stakes.

It was definitely a case of trust no one and keep your wits about you for a chance to survive.

Thanks to Cameron and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Safe House before the publication date.
Cameron excels in locked room thrillers and the tension is present from the first page.

As a nervous flyer, Jess’s journey to Australia is challenging.
Arriving in Melbourne, the staff at the car rental desk warn her about the wild fires which are sweeping the state.
The temperature continues to rise and the car overheats as Jess drives to the remote mansion where she will be the caretaker in the absence of the owner. The relief which she feels when she arrives is short lived as there are unexplained noises in the house.

For a remote location it is surprising when a strange mix of characters seek refuge in the property, from a bickering couple who are on a trip to save their marriage to an aggressive park ranger and a couple of surfers who are stoned out of their minds.

As an analyst, Jess is used to processing data but with no mobile phone signal and the landline dead, the only information available about the progress of the fires is on the TV.

When they learn that the fires have surrounded the property and there is no escape route, the tensions increase. Jess finds herself unable to assess who to trust.

There are plenty of twists and turns and so many red herrings that I lost count.
However I was disappointed in Jess’s character who talked about her training with the Met yet failed the basic tenet of policing which is to prioritise life above property.

Australian Jess is a police analyst with the Met Police. After a case goes terribly wrong with her ex-partner involved, so she has resigned and taken a few months to get her head cleared. An opportunity arises to caretake a huge luxury property in the Australian outback. The offer of an isolated, all-inclusive trip by herself is just what Jess feels that she needs, so she jumps at the chance.

Upon arrival, it all seems perfect. Until the bushfire warnings seem to be coming close to her location. Then an injured stranger appears looking for help. Jess lets him in to get some water, and make a call, planning to then send him on his way. Her plans are scuppered by the arrival of more people seeking refuge. Jess and her motley group are soon not only looking for safety from the fire, but when one of them goes missing, and is later found dead, Jess realises that the group of individuals are not as random as they seem, and didn’t appear on her doorstep by accident.

This story was a great, fast and fun read. It started off a little slow when setting the pace. It was also a little slapstick comedy when all of Jess’s uninvited guests kept arriving. It didn’t seem like it was going to end! But once all of our characters were in place the story ramped up. Jess has taken on her role of caretaker to the house seriously and is anxious about all of the unexpected guests. When one of them is found dead, her police training kicks in and she tries to figure out who she can trust. She quickly starts to feel like it is nobody. Her paranoia rubs off on the reader, and we are trying to figure out who we can trust, and why everyone has turned up unannounced. The ending will surprise you. The encroaching bushfire adds an extra element of tension to the story. Will Jess find out who the killer is, and will she manage to avoid both them and the fire? A great quick and entertaining read.

*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

This is an action packed, tense read and would make a great movie. Jess is caretaking an isolated luxury house in Australia, with the threat of bush fires getting closer by the hour. When random people apparently need shelter, she can’t turn them away, can she? Slow to start, the tension builds rapidly in the second half.

What a wild fast paced thriller that had me hooked from start to finish. I would highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The safe house is about a house that's anything but! The plot was very well written and the setting of the story was an interesting one. It provided an interesting twist
I loved it!

Jess is back in her native Australia, taking a career break from her analyst job at the Metropolitan police. She’s accepted a two month stint as a caretaker of an isolated property near Apollo Bay owned by multimillionaire Bill Drummond-Willoughby, who has disappeared owing millions in taxes. She hopes the isolation will give her the solace she needs, but will the real world catch up? It seems so as over the next day or so a disparate bunch of unwelcome visitors turn up at the gates. Jess is forced to offer sanctuary as the threat of encroaching bush fires intensifies.

First of all, the location is absolutely fantastic and the descriptions of it are so well done, especially of the wildlife though I could’ve done without the huntsman spiders, thank you very much! The tinder dry land and the bushfires are used to great effect in the ensuing drama, adding an extra dose of extreme danger.

The “visitors“ are a very weird group, the dynamics are off from the get go and make little sense and it gets weirder by the minute as Jess grapples to try to make sense of it all. You certainly get a building sense of unease which ripples through the incredible house, the outside fires intensifying and mirroring the atmosphere in the house as tension, anxiety and danger levels rise exponentially. The pace is fast and there are several layers to the storytelling including characters back stories which further adds to the growing intrigue.There are shocks and good plot twists as carnage ensues, Armageddon like.

The characterisation is very good, especially of Jess, whose instincts prove right as she bravely tackles the situation, she finds itself in. Other characters give you the creeps and sends shivers down the spine.

Does it get a bit far-fetched? Yes probably, but it’s always very entertaining and there is never a dull moment as it reaches a Hollywood thriller dramatic ending. What a cracking read from beginning to end!

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin Michael Joseph for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Being a fan of A Stranger on Board, I was looking forward to reading Cameron Ward's new novel The Safe House.

Unfortunately for me, the story took a while to get going and I did find myself struggling through it until the bush fires happened. I also felt frustrated with Jess and some of the decisions she was making, she really just kept putting herself (and others), in more danger when she didn't need to.

#TheSafeHouse ,#NetGalley
Wow!!! All the wows!!!
Jess accepts an offer to caretake a luxury property in the Australian outback, the isolated, all-inclusive solo trip is just what she needs. But Jess isn't as alone as she thinks. As bushfires rage in the distance, strangers start showing up to seek refuge. And as the fires start closing in, tensions in the group begin to rise. Then, the phones stop working. All exits are cut off. There's no way out. Quickly, Jess's guests begin to panic. And when the first person goes missing, she realises that someone in the house isn't who they say they are., The danger is closer to her..
Wonderfully written. Don't miss it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for giving me an advance copy.

I loved this book i was gripped from beginning too end there were so many different characters and no clue who was bad and what was going on it was great.