I was gifted my copy for the blog tour.

Well, this was an unexpected read for me. I was hooked on it but it was so full of twists and turns and a narrator you couldnt really trust made for a fantastic reading experience.

Jenn is a housing officer and one part of the job she hates is visiting tenants who have gotten behind on rent, but she believes she is a reasonable person and some agreement can be made if Sarah answers her door. When she arrives at the bedsit that morning with Bailiffs and a plan of action, she doesn't expect her life to change so dramatically. Yet Sarah doesnt answer the door and instead they find a body and call the police. However Jenn can't let it go - and all pointers seem to be that Sarah was full of life, was waiting for friends and was very sociable. 

Jenn starts to dig deeper, but as she gets further down the rabbit hole that is Sarahs life, her own life seems to start to unravel with uncertainty at work, issues with her son and her grip on reality changing it makes everything that much more muddled.

I found this book put me on edge without knowing why - i had an uneasy feeling reading because i just couldnt place what was happening and it was done in such a brilliant way that it really kept the reading invested. I felt like the author created such a unique atmosphere and reading experience through her use of words and characters that this became such a stand out read for me.

Jennifer the manager of housing association flats comes across the body of a young woman. Follow a troubled Jennifer as she takes it upon herself to investigate the circumstances around her death.
The books addressed very important issues such as mental health and loneliness. It highlights issues within society that need the spotlight shone on them.
The two perspectives intrigue the reader leaving you puzzling throughout trying to slot the story together.
However I found this book incredibly slow burning and difficult to stick with. The descriptions in places were not needed and it would have held my attention better with things actually happening.
The characters were also difficult to connect with.
The ending was good and it was worth reading but it felt like a bit of a task to get there.

Safe and Sound - Phillippa East

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I thought I was going to be getting a run of the mill thriller with twists and turns and essentially a who done it.... however - this was so much more, I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster with the main character, who is definitely coming to terms with her own emotions and past experiences whilst trying to get to the bottom of the topic of the book (really trying not to give any spoilers here!) The book really does have a main focus on mental health and anxiety, but I feel that it was handled in quite a compassionate way. Overall a gripping read from a new (to me) author, who I will looking forward to reading more from.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ for allowing me the chance to read the e-Arc in return for an honest review.

Not at all what I expected....a thriller but so unpredictable. Told via a dual timelines. I was hooked from the start., overwhelming tension and anxiety..at times quite a unsettling read. 
This was well written, at times disturbing.. with Jenn as the main character unravelling a mystery and at times finding herself unravelling too. A compelling read

A dynamic and daunting story told in a dual timeline that merges allowing the characters to look inward on themselves. It epitomises the cause and effects of fragile mental health on an individual’s life and those around them.  The story is told in a dual timeline that does effectively merge to give insight into the events within the story. It scarily makes you wonder what is real and what is imaginary.

Safe and Sound was a really unusual and interesting read. A thriller, but not a typical one. Jenn is a Mum to Charlie, and works for a housing association in Brixton. She eats little, and sleeps even less with constant worry and anxiety over her son. At work she maintains a professional demeanour, but doesn't allow anyone close to her.

On a seemingly ordinary day she is tasked with issuing an eviction notice to a private tenant. Only to be met with a horrifying situation. A woman, Sarah Jones, 26, dead in her flat. A table laid for three, and a body undiscovered for ten months. 

Jenn cannot stop thinking about this pitiful story, and begins to investigate Sarah. But her own fragile mental health begins to suffer in her search for the truth. 

Interspersed with the present, we are invited to read about back then. A seven year old girl taken to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin. What is the significance of this story? And Jenn herself alludes to a difficult past.

The tension is nail-biting at times, and unlike many thrillers, the plot is not predictable. The story is revealed gradually and I for one, became fully engaged with Jenn, at times feeling worried about her, and protective over her.

A really enjoyable and well-crafted story.

This book crept under my skin.

The way it starts with the main character’s anxiety really draws you in and makes you slightly uncomfortable but makes you invested in the investigation which is the main story.

Well written and enjoyable.

The story unfolds across dual timelines and it takes a while to realise how the plot lines tie together. There was a twist I wasn't expecting. The book is a thriller but there are various themes covered including mental ill health, isolation and familial dysfunction.

Jenn works for a housing association in South London, when one of her residents is found dead in their bedsit. What happens next sparks some deep seated anxiety issues with Jenn and threatens to unravel her life. 

 Quite a twisting novel, with a focus on mental health and how easily it is for someone to suffer. The author has captured the feelings and actions of Jenn really well and I really felt her suffering and how her mind easily slipped from her grasp.

This story of a woman with anxiety coping with a child, a job and issues from her past was a hard one to get into. The mystery that she becomes embroiled in exacerbates her anxiety making it an uncomfortable read at times. The story does have a good ending making it worth reading to the end.

Two people whose paths cross years ago but intersect again. The unravelling of a life and the variations told to other people becomes more puzzling. A mystery that will keep you guessing right up to the end.
I really enjoyed the story and will be looking for more by Philippa East.

Tense, Anxiety Inducing....
A tense and anxiety inducing read from Philippa East. Running a parallel storyline, involving serious themes and with a fragile protagonist the tale is well written, suspenseful, disturbing and often heartbreaking. Not for the feint of heart.

Safe and Sound is a thriller that builds layers of tension throughout the story. While it was a slower paced story, I thought it worked really well in this book. Rather than feel like it was dragging the story out, it felt well crafted, adding more clues, reveals, and questions at just the right place. 

There are hints that Jenn may be an unreliable narrator, so you’re not sure whether to trust her, adding to the mystery of the story. The added uncertainty of whether to trust Jenn, and not knowing what happened in her past, add to the building tension and keep you guessing about what’s really going on. 

The flashbacks throughout the book build up a separate plot and characters, bringing everything together at the end in a satisfying conclusion, tying up the different threads of the story.

When Jenn carries out what should have been a routine visit in her position as housing manager, she has the feeling that something isn’t quite right. After not hearing from one of her tenants for a long time, she is forced to pay her a visit with the bailiffs in tow but when the tenant doesn’t answer her door, Jenn’s uneasy feeling returns and she calls the police to force entry. Nothing could have prepared Jenn for what lay on the other side of the door - in amongst the ruins of the flat is a table set for three and a badly decomposing body on the sofa. All indications point to the tenant, Sarah Jones, as being popular and full of life so how can it be that her body has lain undiscovered for ten months?

I found this to be a really well-written story with a compelling plot; although I did find the first part of the novel quite slow and primarily made up of Jenn’s repeatedly circling inner thoughts, the pace did pick up soon after and I was intrigued to find out where the story was going. 

The emphasis on Jenn’s mental health is portrayed very realistically and you can almost feel yourself spinning out of control along with her. Some of the events that unfolded in the book didn’t make sense to me until right at the end when Jenn’s main trauma is revealed and it suddenly clicked into place why she struggles the way she does. Although you can get a real sense of her anxiety and panic throughout, I don’t think you fully understand it until you’ve finished the story.

Overall, this was an interesting and easy read and although more of a slow burner, it definitely gets more complex and twisty the further in you get.

Really liked the twists and backstory of the book! Really enjoyed reading a story with an imperfect mother, and her road to getting better through solving a mystery.

I enjoyed the premise of the book, the protagonist is determined and this keeps us engaged. I didn’t find the middle and the unravelling of the mystery became confusing. But overall I’d recommend this - I had that ‘ah’ moment at the end.

Jenn is a complex person with few friends and few social skills and when she comes to evict a tenant and finds her dead she becomes obsessed with finding out what happened, going to great lengths to trace colleagues, friends and romantic partners of the deceased in her quest for answers. 
The book dots between parallel stories and in places gets bogged down in unnecessary detail but as things draw to a close the reasoning behind the storylines becomes more understandable and the reveal is suprising.

Really sorry but this book was boring,Jennifer is such hard work and the flashbacks to the other story annoying, really wasn't for me so gave up at 50%

This book started out a little bit slowly for my liking but once it got going it ended up being a decent story and gave a insight into how mental illness affects people.
No hesitation in recommending and would be happy to read more by this author
Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for ARC.

This thriller had me hooked ..
Loved the writing style and also how it flashed to the past and gave us deep insight into the characters past .
So many questions ran through my mind at the end of each short chapter . I couldn’t contain my mind was in overdrive. 
Real page Turner and I read in 3 sittings .