Preview
  • The Safe Place

  • A Novel
  • By: Anna Downes
  • Narrated by: Anna Downes
  • Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,227 ratings)

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The Safe Place

By: Anna Downes
Narrated by: Anna Downes
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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
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What listeners say about The Safe Place

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

A familiar story told in elegant prose. Richly developed characters, superb narration by author.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good Beach read

A good story that us easy to follow. Twist wasn't earth shattering but overall, great!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

The set-up is way too long

The writing is good but you will be 85% into the book before things start to happen. Yes there’s some weird stuff, but nothing terribly frightening or suspicious. Not a page-turner.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Mostly Fun, Unsatisfying

I was really into this thriller, and thought it had the perfect twist - definitely made me compulsively listen to the last few hours. But the ending was very unsatisfying. I think the author chose the most safe option when she could have created a serious twist that would have left us all with our jaws dropped. After listening I’m left with a “meh” opinion.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Sloooooow

The narrator was wonderful, really caught the emotion of each character. It kept me listening, but the story itself was a very slow burn, and it didn’t really pick up for me until about chapter 50. I did like it, but it just took so long to get to the meat of the story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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!!

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Good Read

This book keeps things moving. One thing that I didn’t care for was the fact that this book is not a thriller. I must say that I enjoyed the book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great read!

Whipped through this book in a couple of days! Couldn’t stop thinking about it. Having the author narrate made it all the more enjoyable.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Boring and predictable

I finished this book because I needed to know what happened and many of the reviewers said it had surprises. I didn’t think that was the case at all. I figured out the plot twist pretty early on.

The narration was good probably because it was done by the writer and she understood her characters well. But I couldn’t really relate to any of them nor did I particularly like any of them.

In the end it just isn’t that great of a book. I wouldn’t recommend it.

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