Review of The Safe Place by Anna Downes

 I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Emily is a mess.

Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day.

Emily is desperate.

Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily.

Emily is perfect.

Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn't play along, the consequences could be deadly.

Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downs's debut is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.

Welcome to paradise...will you ever be able to leave?

My Review:

4 Stars

Everyone falls on hard times at some point in their lives. If they are lucky enough then things will turn around with hard work and determination. Sometimes though things don't turn around no matter how much effort you put into them. 

Emily has fallen on nothing but hard times. Even when she was little her life left little to be desired. Now she's just trying to stay afloat and prove her somewhat distant adoptive parents wrong. That's not going to happen now though thanks to her recent firing at her job. 

Her luck however seems to swing in a way that she's not familiar with. She's offered the job of a lifetime. Sure she has to make a lot of concessions and sign an NDA agreement, but what's the worst that could happen?

The story that follows is a sad insight to the lengths that the wealthy will go to in order to hide the skeletons that reside in their oversized closets. Closets that Emily should leave closed, but can she resist the pull to see deeper into how the other side lives?

Intriguing and captivating, The Safe Place is definitely a great way to spend your weekend.