The Safe Place

A Novel

By: Anna Downes

Narrated by: Anna Downes

Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

"A captivating narration by author Anna Downes adds that extra spark to her neo-gothic novel...Downes knows her characters and delivers them with professional expertise, original plotting, and a masterful performance." (AudioFile Magazine) 

Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downes's debut, The Safe Place, 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? 

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.

A Macmillan Audio from Minotaur Books 

"Richly evocative with a dark, atmospheric heart, The Safe Place is seductive, irresistible and suspenseful. I was completely gripped from the first page to the pulse-pounding end.... It's the perfect summer suspense." (Christina McDonald, USA Today best-selling author)

“The Safe Place is a dark and wonderful debut that lulls you in with beautiful prose and complex, believable characters, then beats you over the head with a killer plot and a thrilling climax. It’s the kind of book you race through as quickly as you can so you can start it again." (Christian White, internationally best-selling author of The Nowhere Child and The Wife and the Widow)

“The tension ratchets up and up in this beautifully paced thriller - an outstanding debut, populated by complex and sympathetic characters. You’ll be thinking about them long after you’ve finished reading. Destined to be a book club favorite.” (Chris Hammer, international best-selling author of Scrublands)

©2020 Anna Downes (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Good debut novel-big twist ending!

I really enjoyed this debut novel of mystery/suspense/thriller by Anna Downes that is told by three different point of views. First there is Emily, an out of work actor that cannot keep a temp job, can’t pay her rent, and her life is one hot mess. Then there is Scott, an extremely wealthy business man, and his beautiful wife Anna. Scott is looking for the perfect assistant/nanny for his beautiful, doted on wife. They have a big estate in France with all the amenities, including a pool and a cottage for Emily to live in. Scott offers the nanny job to Emily, who was just fired from her temp job at his firm. She is the perfect candidate, which is great for her because she has no place to live, wants an escape from her life and her situation. It sure doesn’t hurt she’s attracted to Scott, so she takes the job.
She is flown off to France in a private jet. Emily is amazed at the beautiful, secluded, huge French estate where she meets Nina and her sickly daughter Aurelia. Life is pretty great in France, all be it there is no wi-fi, and Nina and Aurelia are a little different.
But something isn’t quite right, and as time goes on for Emily, she finds Scott and Nina have secrets, very big secrets…
I found this book hard to put down at times. It was well written and kept me interested throughout. Good character development. The story keeps building up with each characters life, their past with secrets being slowly revealed. There was one big twist at the end. Which wrapped the book up, and tied up the ends. I was a little bit confused at one small part to the ending, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Great narrators. There were three separate narrators for each of three main characters, so it was easy to tell each person apart. Definitely one credit worthy.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, slow burning mystery/suspense/thriller.

Great job

This was a great book, I enjoyed every minute of it. I was reluctant to buy it at first because I read books such as the author Jane Green, who also narrates the audio version is, and it normally doesn’t work well. However, this author was amazing about authoring the book as well as narrating. Great job!

That ending tho...

Was decent but that ending...what happened? Did I miss something? I like when endings wrap things up.

Emily Was Annoying AF

This book & narration were such a mixed bag. On the one hand the pacing towards the end really picked up. It was such a slow burn for a while waiting for something to actually happen. Emily came across as such a nitwit I was hoping for most of the book that Jason or Freddy would jump out & off her. But we're supposed to believe this feckless imbecile is "perfect" & she transforms from aimless millennial into nanny/HGTV home improvement guru/companion all rolled into one! Scott was so poorly written it was painful - basically a himbo. While the author mostly did a good job on narration, I agree her vocalization of Scott was weak & Emily's screeching & self centeredness - wow, she'd fit right in on Girls. Nonetheless, it was intriguing with plot twists. I just hope the next time around the main character isn't so hateful. I mean, what did she learn - she's not part of the family & rich people can be mean?

Good Listen

Good story, nicely entertaining and suspenseful. Narrator was very good . You came to care for all of the characters and their struggles

could not stop listening

Absolutely amazing!!!! A great well put together story! I could not stop listening. The characters, the descriptions of location, perfect. Narrator was excellent and brought the story to life. so so good!

With a tedious, tedious read.

I’ve only finished the book to find out what the hell was going on. Two thirds of the way through I realized it was just a book and that I didn’t have to know what was going on.
The read only became bearable when the finale arrived.

Excellent!!

The storyline/plot is interesting and original. It is well written with bits of humor, emotion and suspense sprinkled throughout. The audible narrator is outstanding and her delivery and interpretation of the book! One of my favorite parts was listening to her. Highly recommend!

Wonderful

Loved this audio book. Never sure how good it will be when the author reads but Anna was perfect. I loved the plot; just the right amount of tension. I recommend.

Kept me gripped the whole time!

I loved this book and thought it was so neat to hear the author narrate it herself. I found myself using every spare minute to listen bc I got so wrapped up in the plot. Great book!!