Keep Me Safe by Sheryl Browne
Genre: Pscyhological thriller
Read: 13th October 2024
Published: 26th July 2024
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Our lies made us the perfect couple. But now our secrets will destroy us…
Alex and I have only been dating a few weeks, but already things are getting serious. With his dark hair and dark eyes, he’s my perfect match. And a real gentleman unlike my past relationships – he always treats me right: holding doors open, picking up the bill, and listening as I tell him everything about myself… Well, not everything. There are some things I must keep secret.
Alex believes we met by chance at a friend’s wedding, and I let him think that. I haven’t told him that I just came out of hospital, or that I met someone in there who shared his darkest secret. I know everything about him, but he knows nothing about the real me… Why I’m really here. And I need to keep it that way, or my plan will fall apart before it’s even begun.
The only problem is that I think someone’s on to me... I feel eyes on the back of my head as I leave the house where I live alone, but every time I turn around, no one is there. Is someone watching me? Or am I just being paranoid. I thought that this was the only path for me to be safe again, to keep my secrets buried forever, but maybe I’ve just walked into the biggest trap of all?
Fans of The Housemaid, The Perfect Marriage and Gone Girl will absolutely love Keep Me Safe.
MY THOUGHTS:
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
I can hardly believe this is my 14th read by Sheryl Browne so needless to say she is one of my favourite authors. Her books always feature something different or out of the ordinary and I am always interested to see how she would spin each new idea.
Some of her books are stand out hands down five star reads and when I think of those, "The New Girlfriend" (my personal favourite) always comes to mind. Having said that, each new book has a lot to live up to knock that one out of the ballpark as it was phenomenal. Some have come close and yet not quite. But I digress...
This tale of secrets, lies and plenty of deceit centres on Lily, a woman with her own secrets, who sets out to lure the very eligible and good looking actor Alex Morgan into trusting her to his secrets. What she didn't envision was falling for him. And then when he shows a moment of aggression, Lily takes flight, fearing for her safety. Thus leading her down a rabbit hole of life on the run and looking over her shoulder.
A little drastic? OK, I though Lily was a tad melodramatic. And yet I could understand her fear, given what she had been through but in my honest opinion, I don't think Alex displayed any of the behaviour she was attributing to him and found her reasoning a little redundant.
Alex isn't stupid. He knows Lily is up to something and he suspects she just wants to fleece him - after all, isn't that what all women want with someone famous? But he is smart. He just doesn't apply those smarts all of the time and therefore ends up drawing his own conclusions which, while not entirely far from the truth, are completely off base. And then when he confronts her, he doesn't even give her the chance to have her say. That is a pet peeve of mine. How can you have an arguement/discussion when only one of you is doing the talking? And he does ALL the talking, despite him suggesting "they should talk". What that translates to is he has his say before she can refute his accusations because what he thinks must be the truth. Lily ends up leaving and fearing for her safety.
Both Lily and Alex are damaged. Both of them are the product of the environment in which they lived respectively, leaving them fearful and trusting no one. Their relationship (if you could call it that) was doomed from the start.
And so Lily disappears. Taking with her all her secrets and thensome. When Alex tracks her down some years later, nothing is as it seems.
We are given a whole host of suspects to choose from and I hovered between two due to the clues she had peppered throughout the story...but were they that or red herrings creating a clever smokescreen with her sleight of hand. While you look over there, you won't see what's happening over here. Did I have the right suspect? Or was she to surprise me with another? You'll have to read it to find out!
Another entertaining read from Sheryl, though I felt it was a little slow to start. But once Lily disappeared, things started to get more interesting. It was at this point (and beyond) I felt that the author would have probably been best to have the story unfold through the two timelines and then have them collide in a culminating climax. I feel that would have kept the pace moving throughout and not just the second part of the story. Dropping titbits as each timeline unfolded revealing to us just enough to whet our appetites before shifting to the alternate timeline would have kept us turning the pages even faster. That's just my opinion as I love that style.
Overall, an entertaining thriller that keeps us engaged throughout and tying all the loose ends up in the conclusion. And yet, in true Sheryl Browne style, leaving the reader to make what they will from the final words she imparts.
I would like to thank #SherylBrowne, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #KeepMeSafe in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
When she's not writing Sheryl can usually be found messing about on the water in her little narrowboat, Aquaduck, which she says she can generally be found falling off and she admits to being a bit accident prone.
Sheryl lives in Worcestershire with her partner and a variety of disabled dogs, of whom she says "my furry-friends give me back much more than I could ever give them. I really wouldn’t be me without them." According to readers of her thrillers, she also apparently makes an excellent psychopath.
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your review, Stina. Really appreciated! :)
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