The Safe Place

Critics Review

• The tension ratchets up and up in this beautifully paced thriller – an outstanding debut which is atmospheric and populated by complex and sympathetic characters. You’ll be thinking about them long after you’ve finished reading. The Safe Place is destined to be a book club favourite, as readers debate the morality and motivation driving the characters and plot

  Chris Hammer, award-winning author of Scrublands

• It’s such a rare thing – a claustrophobic, addictive thriller that lets you actually feel for all of the characters involved. Anna has such skill in combining the heart-in-mouth feeling that everything is building to a disaster with genuine emotion

  Gytha Lodge, bestselling author of, She Lies in Wait

• A brilliantly atmospheric novel that keeps you equally gripped and unsettled from page one. Starkly original and with an alarmingly plausible premise, this is destined to be a bestseller

  Call Me Evie

• 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. Everyone will be talking about this book!

  Christian White, author of The Nowhere Child and The Wife and the Widow

• The Safe Place is compellingly disturbing. Anna Downes is a powerful story writer who will lull you into a false sense of security – and then pounce. An author to be watched

  Jane Corry, The Sunday Times bestselling author of My Husband's Wife and I Made a Mistake

• I loved THE SAFE PLACE… it was tense and atmospheric with the seemingly idyllic yet eerie setting. A truly gripping read

  Karen Hamilton, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Perfect Girlfriend

• An exciting and compelling new voice, Anna Downes’ The Safe Place is a very accomplished debut

  B.A. Paris

• I was completely captivated, which, let me tell you, is rare these days. I loved the characters, how clearly they were painted, their quirks, their flaws and strengths, and I blazed through the book. 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. I recommend reading THE SAFE PLACE poolside with a strawberry margarita in hand. It’s the perfect summer suspense. Five stars from me

  Christina McDonald, author of The Night Olivia Fell

• As thrilling and gripping as everyone is saying. Can’t wait to see this making a splash in the book world on its release. Put this on your #mustread list now

  Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault

• A gripping, brilliantly written thriller

  The Sun

• The Safe Place by Anna Downes is truly a one-sitting read for me as once I’d started it, I honestly couldn’t stop. Anna’s writing is so immersive that I was with her protagonist Emily every step of the way until the very end, when I realized I’d forgotten to breathe! A mesmerizing debut

  Sandie Jones, author of The New York Times bestseller The Other Woman

• When something seems too good to be true, it probably is. 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. She creates an uneasy atmosphere from the first, adding layers of uncertainty that cause Emily (and the listener) to question reality. Chilling. Disturbing. A nail-biter to the end.

  Audiofile Magazine

• A great read and one that should be made in one sitting

  WW Magazine