Thank to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of The Safe House by Cameron Ward in exchange for my honest review.

If you liked A Stranger on Board, you'll like The Safe House too. It follows the same recipe: a determined woman find herself in an isolated environment when all hell breaks loose. And she deals with it pretty well.

The story is entertaining and I found myself interested in what was happening. However, just like with A Stranger on Board, you need to be patient. The story slowly builds up for the first 40% of the book. Each character is slowly introduced and clues are dropped quite seldom. I note that my review of A Stranger on Board, written in 2022 said: "the real action doesn't really start up to mid-way through the book (and I really mean 50%)." This supports my idea that the author is using the success of that book as an imprint for The Safe House. Nothing against that. It works pretty fine.

There are a few things I did not like. The characters are pretty shallow. There is a lot of effort to provide a mental health dimension to the protagonist, but it is all a tell rather than show. And the style, with its repetitions of the same concept two or three times, sometimes drove me mad.
For these reasons, and the fact that A Stranger on Board gave me all the clues to know what was going to happen, I gave it 3 stars.

Faster than wildfire and instantly chilling, I enjoyed every moment of this scorching thriller. Ward paints a masterful picture, from the blazing bushfires, to the strangers within, every scene laced with mistrust and menace.

If you've read Cameron Ward's previous book A Stranger on Board you'll be on familiar territory. Jess is in serious need of r'n'r after a traumatic end to a seriously messed up relationship. Caretaker of a remote mansion in the Australian outback. That'll fit the bill! Actually "the bill" doesn't feature - this is all expenses paid.
All by herself, on her lonesome, no one to please but herself, miles from anywhere, and random strangers are turning up by the car (or camper) load, broken down, injured and needing a bed for the night, especially since an out-of-control bushfire is on the way. No way in, no way out, phones no longer working and the first person goes missing.
Who are all her guests and are they really as random as they make out?
It's a fairly fast read, twisty and the gradual reveal of the backstory makes for added tension. It's writ a bit large and has some bad language but overall I enjoyed it.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Jess is Australian but works/worked for the Met police. After something goes desperately wrong with her ex partner she’s come home to Australia to house sit a huge house in the middle of nowhere. A series of unexpected, unwanted and seemingly unrelated visitors arrive and with a dangerous bush fire looming closer things take a deadly turn. Will everyone survive? Who can Jess trust?

An enjoyable far fetched fast paced read. Suspicion falls from one character to another. Great descriptions of the area, wildlife and the fear of the bush fire approaching. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC

Jess is a police analyst with the Met Police, but she’s taken time out - resigned - from her job after something goes wrong with her ex partner.
Now she’s come to Australia to house sit for a couple of months - a huge modern house in the middle of nowhere off the Great Ocean Road. It has all the mod cons including a pool and aircon, what could go wrong?
But then one visitor - apparently injured and stranded - turns up, and then more people. . With a huge bush fire looming closer things take a deadly turn.
Can Jess look after the house and the people in it - and what is really going on.

A reasonably easy read but a bit farfetched at times.

I love a story set in a remote secluded house filled with potential loonatic stranger so I was so excited to get stuck straight in. It felt a little bit slow to start but it did puck up the pace once we're established in the new house. And to be fair, the start also gives some good insight and backstop into our main character! A few of the character felt a bit pantomime villain but overall they were all well written and some people do come across really odd and weird so fair enough. It's cleverly written and has so much going on, it's more tha just a thriller but never feels over the top, even with all the various topics. Yet another book to add to my favourite genre

What a great book. It reminded me a bit of a twist on Afatga Christie's "And then there were none. The central character is a police profiler who leaves her career and life behind following a traumatic event in her personal life.

Taking advantage of an offer to caretake a property confiscated from a major criminal, Jess soon finds that, rather than being alone to resolve her issues she quickly accumulates a growing number of people seeking help in a bid to escape from raging forest fires.

Some of the people who ask for help are not what they seem and, as the body count grows and the figure gets nearer it's a race against time for Jess to discover who is doing the killing and to escape the destruction of the fire. Cracking read.

This is another tense thriller from Cameron Ward that does not disappoint. What Jess anticipates will be a much needed healing period of isolation for her, house-sitting in a remote villa, turns out to be anything but when a random group of people arrive. Forced together by the threat of fire, Jess feels threatened but doesn't know who she can trust. The dramatically building tension had me racing to discover the final outcome.

Wow is an understatement of how good this book is. I read it in a day and I was so hooked I was up until 3am finishing it as I could not bear to put it down. It is so well written that you feel totally engaged with all the characters. It takes you on a psychological rollercoaster as you do not know who the good or bad guys are. As the storyline progresses I was constantly changing my mind about who Jess should trust and who she shouldn’t, as nobody seemed to be who they said they were. Every disaster that could happen did from spiders and snakes to bush fires, but everything was very plausible and not contrived. It would make such a great film. I cannot wait for the next book.

Jess is running home to Australia after the collapse of her world in London.

She's agreed to take a job as a caretaker of a billionaire's house in the Otway Mountains to give herself some time on her own to recover her mental health

But a series of strangers turn up seeking shelter from the bushfires that could still threaten the property. Some or all of them are not what they seem.

A tense thriller from Cameron Ward has you guessing until the end

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Publishing for the chance to read and review this book.

An officer with the Met in London, Jess is traumatised by recent events; her job is data collection but unwittingly she found herself in the centre.of the action - and the outcome wasn't favourable. An original native of Australia, and not sure if she still has a career, she decides to take a contract as a caretaker of a luxurious house in the South of Australia; remote, isolated - just what she needs to come to terms with her recent experiences. No distractions and being paid to live in luxurious surroundings, perfect!
But native Australia has an agenda and the bush fires that can rage in hot weather, do. The house is on a peninsula and Jess is not concerned at first. But then a stranger arrives and the internet fails; Jess finds a huge safe in the basement with a timed electronic lock, obviously for a very precious trove. She has heard from her contact that the house has been seized by the authorities and the owner is missing so when more people appear, the tension in the house rises as the fires threaten to cut the peninsula off and the new strangers seem to have an agenda that concerns the house Jess isn't sure who she can trust. Marty, the first arrival is an Austrian policeman and seems nice. But Jess knows better than most the things are not always what they seem and could be far worse than might be imagined.

What a wild ride. I usually only read books set in the UK, but this one sounded so good that I made an exception - and boy am I glad I did. It has everything - murder, wildfires, heartbreak,, drugs, and more. It is convoluted and exciting and heart stopping at times. Well written with some loveable and some not so loveable characters.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Books, I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Jess needs to get away from the destruction of her life, both work and private, and house sitting in the outback of her native Australia sounds just what she needs to recover. Unfortunately with bush fires out of control in the area and strangers turning up, it’s not the tranquil spot she was hoping for.

This wasn’t quite the read I was hoping for. For me it started too slowly, some of the people who turned up were too cliched and it felt a bit forced. The pace did pick up, and the plot was nicely constructed. Jess’ back story was good, with the details coming out teasingly slowly. The reader gets the idea of how vast Australia is, and the terror of the uncontrollable fires that spread so fast with the devastation to wildlife and the land it leaves in its wake. Having read a similar story recently (Outback, Michael Davies) I preferred it to this story. However, worth a read if you like the premise.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A very well written book. Which will have you guessing all the way through the book and when you think that you have all the answers you will have to figure it all out all over again.

An amazing tense packed read.

We meet Jess who is travelling to Australia to watch a mansion for the owner who has disappeared after avoiding some taxes. Jess has a troubled past that we get snippets off, we know she worked for the police as an analyst and she is an Australian native originally who took the job opportunity to have her own safe space for a few months to heal and relax but all that comes crumbling down when she finds a stranger on the outside skirts of the mansion.

She can’t just leave him whilst he is injured so she decides to let him in but soon more strangers appear which she hadn’t planned happened. Can anything else go wrong.. well there is an ongoing fire spreading. If we thought this was the worst that could happen to her but no a body is found and it starts going up.

Is there a murderer amongst them and who is it?

Jess is a great character, I really liked her and how she managed herself as well as situations she was put in and despite everything she tried to help everyone and looked at the positive side even though we witnessed their bad sides. Some of the other characters I wasn’t as keen on. The overall portrayal was very well written.

The safe house is jam packed with tense aspects of who done it and how did they do it. You will question everyone. A good few twists and turns and when I thought I knew who it was I was proven wrong again. A wonderfully written suspense and thrill written novel that I really enjoyed reading and would recommend to other book readers who enjoy a good who did it read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Penguin Random House UK for the copy of this arc in exchange of an honest review.

5*

Jess goes back to her native Australia to recover from traumatic events in her job as a Metropolitan police analyst in London. She gets a position as a caretaker in an isolated empty mansion for a couple of months of peace and quiet, but stranded people keep turning up and Jess feels obliged to offer them temporary hospitality. Then a bush fire starts, and they cannot escape, so are trapped together with increasing weirdness, and Jess doesn't know who to trust. Very exciting and violent, with lots of twists.
Recommended.

A really fast moving thriller which grabbed my attention after the first few chapters as I got into the story. The main character is carrying an unexplained back story which is gradually revealed leading to the decision in the final chapter.
A really great read.
Recommended

Mostly a good read but preferred ‘The Stranger on Board’ book.
This one took a while to get going and there was a lot of bad language.
But apart from that it was non stop action once it got going.

The Safe House is anything but.
What a tense thrill ride that was. Jess was a fantastic protagonist, and her random assortment of ‘unexpected guests’ I liked how the story played out. It progressed at a fast pace and there was never a dull moment.
The way that bushfires were described were like being there — feeling the intensity and wall of fire. All the stars for Cameron Ward.,
#TheSafeHouse #Netgalley