Safe Place
No phones. No outsiders. No escape.
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4.0 • 233 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
For struggling actress Emily Proudman, life in London is not working out as planned - in fact, it's falling apart. So when she is offered a job living and working for a wealthy family on their luxurious property in coastal France, she jumps at the opportunity to start over. The estate is picture-perfect, and its owners exude charisma and sophistication. But as Emily gets to know the family, their masks begin to slip, and what at first appears to be a dream come true turns out to be a prison from which none of them will ever escape - unless Emily can find a way to set them all free. Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, The Safe Place combines the modern suspense of The Girl on the Train with the gothic mind-games of Hitchcock's Rebecca.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Some thrillers are designed to be consumed in one sitting. Anna Downes’ gorgeously unsettling debut fits that profile. A precise and evocative storyteller, Downes takes us to a stunning French estate where Londoner Emily Proudman has sought refuge from various minor catastrophes. Here, Emily is tasked with nannying her boss’ daughter, Aurelia—a simple task on the surface, especially in such opulent surroundings. However, dark secrets lie just below the surface. From here, Downes puts us in a python-esque grip, ramping up the tension until a genuinely memorable climax.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Almost overnight, struggling London actor Emily Proudman, the protagonist of former actor Downes's atmospheric, fitfully gripping debut, goes from being fired from the office temp job that's barely paying her bills to being hired by the same boss, no less, dashing investment firm CEO Scott Denny for a gig as housekeeper/personal assistant for his reclusive wife, Nina, and their six-year-old daughter, Aurelia, at the family's estate, Querencia, in the French countryside. At Querencia, Emily is initially bewitched by both the unimaginably lush estate and Nina, who's fiercely devoted to a child whose issues seem to go well beyond a supposed extreme sensitivity to sunlight. But as wine-soaked summer weeks pass with Nina remaining as emotionally tightly defended as the gated grounds, the girl either mute or howling during one of her tantrums, and no sign of Scott, even someone as naive as Emily suspects there's something rotten in paradise. At her peril, she starts to snoop. Though plenty of surprises await the reader, Aurelia's palpable suffering casts something of a pall over this mix of romantic escapism and gothic menace. Ruth Ware fans may want to check this one out. 200,000-copy announced first printing.
Customer Reviews
Safe Place
Very interesting plot, a good read
Loved it!
Characters were easy to get to know and the story kept me in. I also loved the French scattered throughout.
Safe Place
Very different to the norm but couldn’t put it down. Great story