Jennifer Arden a manager of a Housing Association, goes to one of their property’s with two bailiffs. Tenant Sarah Jane has not paid her rent for several months and has ignored the final warnings she has been sent.

In the small flat they discover Sarah’s dead body on the sofa, it appears she has been dead for several months. As Jennifer looks around she sees the small table set with three places with wine and flowers laid out. How had this young woman not been missed by her family or friends!!

Jennifer a single mother to her son Charlie, suffers with anxiety and the discovery of Sarah’s body has exasperated it. Jennifer feels the need to find out more about the young woman and soon starts to piece together fragments of her life.

Interwoven into this book we meet two children who are cousins Prinn and Jane. We find out the connection to the main story later. Sounds intriguing? The timeline flips backwards and forwards.

This was such a great book. I loved how the two stories run parallel to each other but come together seamlessly at the end.

A gripping read that kept me turning the pages late into the night.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

I found this book to be an ok read, it kept me turning the pages but I found the ending a bit disappointing.

When Jenn, a housing officer discovers a body in one of the bedsits she is tasked with managing, it sets off a chain of events and unravels the past in unexpected ways. This is a novel about, obsession, loneliness and ultimately mental health.

Complex and dad psychological thriller moving between past and present. I found it hard going and difficult to empathise with the main character.

This is not the kind of book I would usually read but I had read everything else on my kindle and thought I would give it a go. I'm so glad I did. This is a sad tale of mental health struggles and loneliness.. Its about jenn who works for a housing association and the day she goes to attend to a routine eviction only to find the Tennant dead on the sofa. It looks as though the tenant had been there a while and jenn tries to understand how a young woman could die and no one seems to know that she gone, no family or friends wondering where she is. . Jenn has mental health issues and the story walks you through her fears and struggles as she tries to solve the mystery of the dead woman on the sofa, and it's done in such a caring way, it really touched me. This book is definitely worth a read.

Although this was a thriller it was much more a psychological study of people. It hits upon the topics of mental abuse, loneliness and other related topics. The book was really two stories that eventually melded into one and left Jen self analysing and relating to her own issues. The story lines were well paced with just enough information being supplied to keep me as a reader asking questions.
The ending made the whole book clear and explained so much. I could not relate to Jen but she was very well described and the emotions she had were easy to understand.
Great interesting read.

Thanks Net Galley for being able to read this book for my review. I was looking forward to Safe and Sound but was a little disappointed. The main character Jennifer finds the body of a young woman in a flat she manages. She was going there to evict her. The woman, Sarah, has been undiscovered for almost a year and Jennifer soon realises a lie she told the year before has caused Sarah, to lay undiscovered for so long.

Jennifer is determined to find out what happened to Sarah as she feels so guilty. Someone must have missed her surely? Family, friends? She begins to ask questions and dig into her life.

Also within the story there are two little girls, Prin and Jane, on their school summer holidays. Their story goes back and forth within the book.

I’m not sure if it was the back and forth with the story of the young girls but I quickly lost interest and found it hard reading to the end, which I did.

Sorry just didn’t enjoy this book as much as I was hoping for.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishersfior this ARC

A psychological thriller with a disturbing backdrop. Please be aware that there are triggers of abuse, mental health and illness.

I enjoyed it

Aaahhhhh this book really frustrated me. It touches on issues of mental health, abuse and eating disorders.

I’m not sure if we were supposed to feel sorry for Jenn and what she’d been through but god she annoyed me.

I wanted to climb inside the book and throttle her when she was forcing her eight year old (nearly nine) son, Charlie to take calpol just because she needed some peace. I have a boy the same age and there’s no way he would take calpol if he felt well and certainly wouldn’t sleep in the middle of the afternoon.

I was glad to finish this book if I’m honest but I’m sure there will be lots of people who’ll love it.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for the opportunity to read an advance copy in return for my honest review.

Am interesting read.

A psychological thriller which had an original story. I didn’t know what was coming next. Quite disturbing.

I enjoyed it

I'm not really sure what to make of this one if I'm honest. It flits between two perspectives, Jenn in the present and a young girl in the past, although its not clear who the girl in the past is until quite late on in the book. So for the bulk of the book Jenn is the focal character, and she's definitely one I wasn't a fan of. I got the impression we were meant to feel sorry for her, but I really struggled with that if I'm honest. Yes, she has mental health issues but her behaviour towards her son was abusive, regardless of whether she did it out of concern (no one should be forcing calpol down their kids neck so they can have a break from worrying). And the reveal at the end about how Sarah's life had ended up as it did and how everyone fitted together was just way too far fetched for me. All in all, not one I'd recommend.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

The central concept of this book - a young woman discovered dead in a flat, and all signs indicate that she has lain there, unnoticed and unmissed, for almost a year - intrigued me immediately, reminding me of the Joyce Vincent case. The idea that someone could be dead for so long without anyone realising it tragic and compelling, and the author has explored it in this book with great success. The central character is Jenn, who works for the housing association the flat belongs to and is one of the people who discovers the young woman's body. Unable to forget the sad and disturbing scene, Jenn finds herself digging into the mysterious woman's past, a quest that becomes obsessive, threatening her own mental health and the safety and stability of the life she shares with her young son. Really well paced and managed, I found it gripping.

Whilst I quite enjoyed this one and was suitably hooked the whole way through it didn't have any wow factor to it. I'm not sure why I was hooked but it had a hold on me and I had to finish it, even though at times it felt like a real slog.

It's a story that had me questioning so much throughout, especially who Prim was... but I also felt left with too many questions at the end.

Of of my main negatives, if you can call it that, was I didnt feel the topics over mental health and loneliness were the right fit for this book. They are serious topics that need to be spoken about Yes BUT they just didn't go with the feel of the story.

It's quite an unsettling read that at times left me feeling a bit anxious, the main character is a really anxious person and it was radiating out of the pages (screen)

The narrative is told by two characters who's stories are interwoven, full of secrets, trauma and tension but it got quite frustrating as alot of 'hints' are dropped regarding the characters back stories but nothing comes together until the very end.. which in all honesty was a bit of a disappointment.

An ok read if you can stick with it!

Thanks to netgalley and HQ for the ARC.

I was totally gripped by this clever book from the first page and tore through it in a few days. Wonderful writing and psychological insight. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance edition.

This definitely isn't your typical slasher-fest serial killer thriller, it's a pure psychological and immersive story that is so brilliantly realistic.

We follow two unreliable narrators, which in itself is fantastic. You are left constantly asking questions, wondering how the two storylines connect. If they even do.

Whilst featuring suspense and intrigue, the book also covers mental illness and how this can play a role in every day life.

Full of twist and turns, questions and a need to know more, I'd highly recommend this to an psychological thriller fans out there.

Jennifer is a single mum. She works for a housing association & when she goes to investigate a tenant who has not paid their rent she discovers a dead body. The body had been there for months. Jennifer can't get this woman out of her mind. No-one seems to have missed her, no-one seems to want to come forward to identify her. She decides to try & find out all she can about the mysterious Sarah. However, Jennifer has problems of her own. She is extremely anxious, overly protective of her son Charlie- constantly watching him for signs of damage. She has few friends & her relationship with her parents is strained. She becomes totally obsessed with Sarah & her actions become more erratic. Along with Jenn's downward spiral is the story of a child & her cousin. The child (Prin) is pretty obnoxious & I kept wondering where the link was between these two.

This was quite a hard read. I think if I'd known Jenn, or been Charlie's teacher I might have been giving Social Services a call! In spite of my dislike of the characters I had to find the link- it wasn't what I'd thought. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Safe and sound is the book that made me realize just how much the last year has impacted my life. Being alone and cruelty towards people that feel this way is unimaginable to me. No one should feel lonely and I cried reading the book because it centres the story around exactly that: the loneliness in people. I haven't read anything from Philippa East before but after reading Safe and Sound I will definitely make sure the keep my eyes and ears open and save a space in my heart for her novels.
Regardless of how I felt about it, I do think that the pacing could have been improved and although I wanted to give this book 5 stars for how it made me feel I can't in good conscience.

Jennifer (Jenn) Arden, 31, is a housing manager at the housing authority in Brixton, south London, and single mum to Charlie, aged eight. Jenn is rather protective of her son, always fearing that he is ill or suffering from some disorder or disability, and we learn that there was an incident last year at school that she’s still getting over. Jenn also has a distant and difficult relationship with her parents, especially her mum, and something has happened in the past to create this rift.

A tenant has fallen three months behind with their rent and has completely ignored all attempts at communication, so Jenn has booked the bailiffs to help speak to the woman and try to arrange a payment plan. When they all arrive at the flat, which is tiny and hidden under the stairs, Jenn peers through the letterbox and is concerned when she spots piles of mail blocking the front door. There’s also an unusual odour. She decides to call the police and when they finally arrive, everyone is shocked when they find the body of a woman, Sarah Jones, and she has obviously been dead for a few months, despite the fact the radio is still playing Capital FM.

Jenn feels guilty about what’s happened as she was having difficulties with her mental health the previous year and she cut corners at work and ticked off annual inspections when they hadn’t been done.

She becomes deeply affected by Sarah Jones’ death and can’t understand how someone can just pass away without anyone else noticing. She’s determined to uncover the truth and becomes obsessed with finding out about Sarah and her family and friends.

It begins to affect her life and she loses weight and becomes more paranoid and worried about her son and his health. It was disturbing to read as Jenn got more and more obsessed with looking into Sarah’s past and she was behaving rather erratically in all areas of her life but, being a single mum and not having any close friends, no one seemed to be really picking up on what was going on. In some ways, Jenn was rather similar to Sarah and she found this quite disturbing to consider.

The story is told mainly from Jenn’s viewpoint in the current day but sometime in the past (‘back then’), we also hear from a nine-year-old girl called Prin whose seven-year-old cousin, Jane, comes to live with her and her parents during the summer holidays. Prin’s mum and dad don’t explain why Jane is staying with them and Jane doesn’t discuss things either. Something awful has obviously happened as she keeps having flashbacks and nightmares.

Safe and Sound is very intriguing and full of suspense. It was fascinating as Jenn met people connected with Sarah Jones and little bits of information and clues were slowly revealed. I was also very curious to see how cousins Prin and Jane tied into the story and I had several theories, which were all wrong!

I really enjoyed this gripping and tense psychological thriller. It was well plotted and cleverly written and I was never quite sure whether Jenn and Prin were reliable narrators or not. I had numerous thoughts about whether they were telling the truth as the story progressed and was also suspicious of many of the other characters in the book, who all seemed to be acting strangely at various points!

Overall, this was a really enjoyable and compelling read and I consumed it in a couple of sittings, frantically turning the pages, desperate to see how it was all going to be resolved. I’m keen to read the author’s other book, Little White Lies, now and will definitely be checking out her next book!

I love a good mystery and the blurb was an instant hook for me. I had so many questions running through my head before I had even started reading!

This book will pull you in and turn you inside out. With its unreliability you are never quite sure what to believe. Jenn, working in the housing department, who discovers dead tenant Sarah is an anxiety ridden mess who is obsessed with her son Charlie’s wellbeing making her seem too fragile to cope with such a find.

The timelines change as you get the story of a girl called Prin and her family. All the while I was trying to join the dots to make connections. Just like a difficult puzzle you don’t get to see the complete picture until the very last piece is put in its place.

As in reality people’s lives are often not what they lead the world to believe. When fantasy blurs with reality that’s when the problems start. An intriguing immersive read that had my head dizzy from all the spinning.

Review
I loved Little White Lies and was so excited to be invited on this tour. I absolutely love Philippa's work and this didnt disappoint.

The book itself deals with lots of different topics; mental health, family dynamics, toxic relationships to name a few and Phillipa writes them so well.

Plenty of twists to keep your mind working and I cant wait to read more.
⭐⭐⭐⭐