Member Reviews

What a ride this read was. It is a mystery that was so compulsive and I just could not put it down. It was so twisted all the way through from page 1. The three main characters were all easy to relate to and i kept getting mixed feelings about there behaviour. Saffy who is so protective of her baby sister Poppy and Leona who is Saffy's bestest friend for ever.The flashbacks through slowly let the reader get new information that helped to rethink eachtime as to who was the baddy.. Thisis a very tene story and I have to say it was my favourite one of the year so far. I have read other books by this great author but this surpassed all that came before.

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'Message deleted'. The phrase evokes a visceral fear in me. How many times have we wanted to retract a message, and wondered if it's best to a) leave it b) send another message to save face c) delete it and hope the recipient doesn't comment?

My heart went out to Saffy from the very beginning. Imagine that you're about to go into an interview for a job you desperately need and then you receive the following messages from a friend: 'Can’t speak… don’t text or call… please just come'. What would you do? In Saffy's case, leave and go to check on her friend, to find that same friend saying that she didn't send any messages.

It's difficult to say too much about this one without giving it all away. The characters were well-drawn, the multiple perspectives and flashbacks were used effectively, and it was certainly unputdownable. Last, but not least - a fantastic twist. Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for the ARC!

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While waiting to go into a job interview, Saffy receives an urgent, worrying text from best friend Leona. Walking out of the interview, Saffy hurried to Leona’s house, but once there, Leona denies sending it. Later that day, Leona, husband Ash and daughter Rosie disappear, and blood is left at the scene.

This is a great psychological, whodunnit thriller, which kept me guessing, and changing my mind throughout. From the first page until the end, this story was twisting and turning, to the point I almost got whiplash.
K.L. Slater is a new author for me, but I’m so impressed with this book, that I will be reading a lot more from her. I have been reading a lot of psychological crime thrillers lately, and this is one of the best.

Thanks to the author, and NetGalley for providing me with this free ARC, with which I leave a voluntary review.

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This is probably one of the most disturbing books I have read for a while, I was unsettled from the first page and the feeling never left me. I read it in an afternoon so it is fair to say I was totally gripped although I wouldn’t want any of the characters as a friend!

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I found this to be an easy and quite enjoyable read. I was intrigued from the start with the deleted messages and the flashbacks making you question the characters. However, I found some of the plot twists a bit obvious and it felt like some were put in just for extra drama rather than actually serving the plot and storyline.

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Message Deleted is the first book by K. L. Slater that I have ever read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It is a suspenseful thriller with compelling characters and many twists and turns and will keep you guessing until the very end.

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I found this to be an easy and enjoyable read for summer - easy to put down and pick up again. The way the book was presented … the idea of the deleted messages was intriguing. The story was quite tense but the way the flashbacks were presented sort of gave away the ending … there were only two characters who could have done it! Whilst the ending didn’t surprise me, this was worth reading.

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Wow, this was an extremely cleverly written book! I could not put it down . Saffy and her best friend Poppy have a very close relationship but it has been fractured due to Poppy husband.
A call for help that then turns into Saffy being arrested for murder!
Complex plot that twists and turns and I liked the ending.

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What a brilliant book. Totally compulsive reading from start to finish and I did not want it to end. Totally immersive. A great read.

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This book hooked me in right from the first page. It was quite the roller coaster ride. It was clever and complex. An excellent read.

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I found this to be an easy and enjoyable read. It was tense and twisty. The ending surprised me which is always a good thing.

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When Saffy gets worrying texts, immediately deleted, from her best friend Leona, she has to rush over there. After all, she has good grounds to worry about Leona and her controlling husband, Ash. Her fears initially seem unfounded, but Saffy soon finds herself drawn into a nightmare of a situation, coming under suspicion of having committed a serious crime.

This isn't the first darkness she's had to contend with - there's stuff in her past that just won't go away, and she's suffering from an anxiety disorder. Her younger sister, Poppy, is a source of stress. Her beloved young son is living with her ex-husband, and she's only allowed to see him when said ex-husband sees fit. (This was annoying and unlikely. A court would not remove Saffy's parental rights because she was ill for a while. There'd have to be a much stronger reason than this for her to have no rights to see her son and be forced to rely on the varying levels of goodwill of her ex. This girl needed legal advice, and fast.)

The plot is far-fetched but entertaining enough. I quite enjoyed it, but wasn't gripped by it. I wouldn't say it was predictable, but given the structure of the novel it was pretty obvious that one character would prove to have a significant role.

A fun, forgettable read.

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Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC of Message Deleted.

I have read some from this author before, and have always enjoyed them, this was no exception.

A quick start and we are thrown straight into the main story, and things quickly go awry.

There are some places in the book that are slower than others, and it maybe could have been edited down a bit, but, on the whole, a solid 4 stars and another triumph from KL Slater!

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Messaged Deleted follows Saffy who receives a strange message from her friend Leona that is suddenly deleted. Shortly after, Leona vanishes with her husband and young daughter - and as the last person to see them all alive, Saffy is the main suspect.

I’ve never read a KL Slater book before and unfortunately i’m not sure this will convince me to read another. I found the plot twists quite obvious and I didn’t really care for any of the characters by the end to be honest.

I’m sure people who enjoy a fast paced thriller will enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me sadly.

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Message Deleted is a compelling psychological thriller involving Saffy, who receives a cry for help from her best friend Leona via a text message which is then immediately deleted. On responding, her friend denies any knowledge of the message and all seems fine. Shortly after, Leona, her husband and daughter go missing, believed abducted, and Saffy is the prime suspect. Saffy is an archetypal unreliable witness, with a complex back story and a failed marriage of her own, making it a complex web of interlinked mysteries which took me a long time to unravel and work out.

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This was a bit too slow for me. It took until about 90% of the way through for me to fully engage. This is a shame as the last 10% of the book was quite good.

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A very enjoyable read, a well crafted story which kept me intrigued and guessing to the end. Likeable and interesting, though somewhat flawed, characters.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

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The past has returned with a vengeance. The author demonstrates well how life can turn on a sixpence. The four female characters are gullible and easily led into unworthy relationships, and inevitably, dire circumstances arise with consequences. They all harbour secrets and past traumas.

Despite having the best intentions, Saffy is possessive, arguably controlling, and meddlesome. Her anxiety is omnipresent, fearful and oppressive, prompted by earlier traumas. It rules her life. Her younger sister, Poppy, is flighty, strives for independence and prefers casual relationships. Leona is the bad seed of the bunch because of her complicity, selfishness, and betrayal. She’s not the good friend she appears to be. Simpering, Mira is consumed with second-wife jealousy. The detectives don’t come out of it too well. They are frosty and jump to conclusions. Most definitely, this novel paints people at their worst during this fiasco of past and present situations. The novel ends with an unexpected crashing boom. I enjoyed it enormously.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House.

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An enjoyable read. . A little bit slow to start but good when you get into it. The characters work well together and the plot was full of unexpected twists. Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Random House for the advance copy.

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I read this in two sittings, I found the premise very intriguing and I was hooked on this book, wanting to know what was coming next at all times.

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