Title: Safe With Me
Author: K.L. Slater
Genres: Mystery | Psychological Thriller
Length: 324 pages | 4829 Locations
Source: Netgalley
Format: Mobi
Rating: 3/5
Premise:
Thirteen years ago after ruining her life, Anna sees the woman who caused it all.
She views it as a sign and starts plotting her revenge.
But what really happened back then? And is Anna able to tell the good guys from the bad guys?
Review:
Safe With Me started fairly surreptitiously. You can tell something is off with Anna and as the narrative evolves you get to see just how much. The more I read the more I though that if this was the victim, I did not want to meet the perpetrator.
Getting into the mind of Anna was quite disturbing and definitely the highlight of the novel. However, that by itself does not sustain a book and I did feel the pace lacking throughout most of it.
There are quite a few things going on, both in present day and in the past, 13 years prior to the narrative. Mostly we read Anna’s side, told in first person, but there are chapters referring to her neighbour Mrs Peat, Carla Bevin and an unknown person.
Things do wrap up in the end but I felt it took too long for them to click into place and that a lot of what happened before the climax did not really add much to the story, so I was actually bored at times.
On the other hand, things that were said to lead the reader a certain direction were not followed upon, so even though the main events are explained in the end other things felt rushed and I wished I had closure for them.
And then there were some episodes that did not make much sense, like a triage nurse wasting so much time with a patient and actually tending to their injury. I don’t know how it’s done in the UK but here they want the quick run through of the patient’s symptoms, assign them a colour correspondent to the urgency degree and off they go.
Also there was a crucial thing in my opinion, which was Anna saying Today is my thirty-third birthday and 13 years ago she was said to be 15, so the math does not add up.
Finally, if there’s one thing I dislike is that the title of the book does not connect to the story in a clear manner, which happens here.
Overall I would say this book is definitely unique on the psychological side but the pace threw me off, and the resolution took too long and felt rushed.
Disclaimer: I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read from Nov 20th to Nov 24th, 2016
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