The premise sounded good so I was very pleased to be offered a chance to read this thriller. Sad to say it didn't thrill me. The story was so very slow to get going. I very nearly gave up at the prologue. Far too much superfluous, minute detail. I didn't click with any of the characters. It was a bit of a case of, throw everything in from your inventory, something's got to work but sadly it didn't. Stereotype upon stereotype.
In addition there are grammatical errors, formatting errors and something that really gets my goat, American spellings in a UK book by a UK author, That's like nails down a blackboard.
The ending was far fetched and seriously beggared belief. I was extremely disappointed

This book follows the lives and seemingly rocky friendship of Saffy and Leona, childhood friends. When Saffy receives worrying messages from Leona one day, which are swiftly deleted, she rushes to Leona’s aid. But has she done the right thing?

This book drew me in from the start. I’m a big fan of KL Slater and living in Notts, really appreciate that her books are all set in familiar areas.

The book kept me guessing until the very end and kept my interest. Another good read from KL Slater.

Wow just wow gripping story line with lots of twits and turns - took me a day to read this I could not put it down.

The characters had deep emotional ties to each part of the story line, written well can’t wait to read another book by this author will be buying the book once it comes out

I devoured this book in about a day. It was such a page turner with many twists and turns with little parts being drip fed to the reader. It tells the story of Saffy who receives some cryptic messages from her friend. Her friend Leona insists everything is fine when Saffy arrives at the house. Later that day, the police interview Saffy as a person of interest - Leona and her family have disappeared and Saffy is the last person to see him.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

The message has disappeared. So has your best friend.

Saffy is just getting back on her feet after a shocking event years earlier, finally allowed access to her son and a new job on the horizon things are really looking up until she receives three short texts from her best friend. Except the messages disappear and her friend denies sending them, what is Leona not telling her? When Leona, her husband and daughter go missing all eyes are on Saffy. She needs to work fast to protect what she’s worked so hard for and not let the past destroy it again.

I’ve read books by this author before so knew it wouldn’t disappoint and I was right. Great book, kept me totally engaged throughout. Not one of the characters could be trusted which lead to me racing through the book to uncover their secrets. Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and good luck to the author on its release.

Publication Date - 18/07/2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#MessageDeleted
#KLSlater

I rather enjoyed the whole twists and turns this story took, and the whole story was wrapped up nicely at the end. I was able to work out a few of the twists, which I didn't mind.

One thing that did annoy me with the whole story was how the police officers acted. They were described as being incredibly standoffish, without any pause for thought, and although I know towards the middle and end of the book that they were supposed to be that way, they didn't have to be so aggressive when they were first introduced.

Another thing was that even though the book is set in Nottingham, in the UK, all of the spellings were Americanised, which did actually annoy me a lot.

The book had rather a lot of mistakes and grammatical errors, which I found annoying. There were conversations between two different people that were all in the same paragraph, rather than in separate ones, and at one point, the author called a neighbour 'Fiona' instead of 'Tania'. Some of the spacing for the paragraphs and sentences were also out quite a lot.

This book resonated with me in several ways. I had been a student, living in digs in West Bridgeford, and I, a new user of WhatsApp, had just inadvertently sent a message to the wrong recipient, and was worrying about whether I had been quick enough to delete it! However, there the similarities end. This disappearing message had far greater consequences than mild embarrassment. Saffy seems, to all intents and purposes, a caring, kind friend and sister. How can her good intentions be so gravely misinterpreted? This is an absorbing read, with twists and turns, as well as shocking revelations, throughout. It is so easy to jump to wrong conclusions and ostracise innocent people. There’s no smoke without fire must be one of the most misleading of clichés. All of the characters and well drawn, with strengths and weaknesses that reveal their humanity and frailties. I enjoyed this book very much, as it is more than just a suspense novel. It is also a study of how good people can make foolish errors of judgement that have long lasting consequences. Essentially, though, the theme of forgiveness and second chances lifts it from the ordinary and makes for a thoroughly satisfying read.

Overall I think this book is great. At some parts it does seem repetitive but I assume that's to zone in on the fact that's how it must be for one of the main characters. It's well written, had me constantly turning the pages. It's one of those that has you guessing from the beginning and leads you to thinking you know who's done it and why then suddenly it throws a curve ball at you and sends you in the complete opposite direction. My only fault (which has easily been looked past as once I'd noticed I forgot all about it) is literally one or two spelling mistakes and one part where two characters are mixed up for a second.

This is a book that's right up my ally and if you're into books that have you questioning everything and keep you on the edge or your seat I highly recommend it.

Thank you for the opportunity of reading the ARC of it. I'll probably end up buying the physical copy so I can always come back to it.

I've recently gotten really into thriller books and when I got an email from netgalley advertising this book I found the concept really intriguing. We follow Saffy, who one day gets a couple of messages from her friend asking her to come quickly, but the messages get deleted as Saffy is reading them. When she gets to her friends house the friend acts as though she doesn't know what Saffy is talking about and you sort of assume this is because she is scared of her husband and doesn't want her husband to realise that she's asked for help. Saffy stays for a little while, plays with her friends daughter to make sure she's ok and then heads home. Then the next day the police turn up at her doorstep. Her friend, the husband and the daughter are missing and Saffy was the last person to see them.
Throughout the story we follow Saffy as she becomes a suspect in the disappearance and we see how she tries to clear her name, as well as following a couple of other characters and what they've been getting up to.

Having read a lot of thrillers recently I've learnt not to trust any character and almost every character we come across has a potential motive so for me it wasn't obvious who was responsible which I liked. When we do find out who it was, I appreciated that it was a character that did have a good plot line within the story as I've read other authors in the past were the perpetrator is someone who was barely even mentioned and sort of just appears from nowhere. So this tied everything up neatly and made sense.

I will definitely read more by this author.

Just brilliant. The book hooked me from the first page to the last. Saffy is one remarkable woman who will stop at nothing to protect those people in her life that she cared about. One deleted message from her friend leads to so much trouble for saffy and those she loves.

Highly recommend this book but definitely clear the diary difficult to put down

Saffy and Leona have been friends since childhood. They were as close as sisters and even lived together for a time when Saffy's mother died and she was left to care for her younger sister Poppy. Saffy and her husband divorced and he gained full custody of their young son Fox. Saffy and Leona are not as close as they used to.
Wow loved the plot. I was hooked from start to finish.

A fantastic thriller that pulled me right in. Lots of tension and twists I didn’t see coming. A well deserved five stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Message Deleted is a fast paced thriller about Saffy whose best friend has sent a cryptic message then deleted it straight after. Her friend disappears with her husband and daughter and the police are looking suspiciously at Saffy as she was the last person to see them. I did guess some of the twists but, there were plenty to keep me interested. Finished in under 48 hours so I really couldn't put it down! I would definitely read more by this author.

From the synopsis, I was looking forward to a gripping psychological thriller with plenty of twists. However for me, this novel was good but not great. It was a bit of a slow burner and didn’t really grab me as expected. Having said that, I was compelled to finish it although this wasn’t my favourite book from this author. Thank you to NetGalley, Michael Joseph Penguin Random House and the author for the chance to review.

Absolutely brilliant, loved it, really exciting but written in such a calm and measured way. The character of Saffy trying to protect her family and her friend was great, loved her!

I have read several books from K L Slater, she is one of my go to authors, so I was looking forward to reading Message deleted.
Saffy and Leona has been best friends since childhood. When Saffy is just about to go for an interview for a new job, she receives a text from Leona say in Can’t speak, text or call please come. Saffy drops everything. She pretends that she is ill and leaves to go to Leona’s house. When she gets there, Leona’ denies that she sent her the text, and everything is fine. Even shows her, her phone with nothing on it.
But when she goes home 6 hours later, she gets a knock on her door. It’s the Police. Leona’ has gone missing with her little girl and the Police thinks that Saffy had something to do with it.
I thank the publisher for a copy of message deleted. I liked the premise of this story and got stuck in straight away. This for me was a slow burn set in two timeline and POV’s. But as time went on, I found this story to drag on a bit, but the story did end up in a satisfying conclusion. I was an interesting read but was expecting more. 3 stars from me.

Really enjoyed this, suspense was kept throughout. The story highlighted a number of current issues including how modern communication methods, such as texts can influence peoples actions.

A coupleof points for editor page 218 I believe Bannatyne should read Shah or McCartney and p300 Ash should read Harry

I look forward to reading more from this author

This was my first book I've read by k.l. slater and after hearing so many great things this book didn't disappoint. It was absolutely brilliant! Had me gripped from the start and kept me guessing until the end. I love the writing style of the book and will definitely reading more from this author

Thank you Ntegalley, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House Publishing and K L Slater for the eArc of Message Deleted.

Message Deleted follows Saffy and Poppy who are sisters. As the story unfolds, Saffy a very anxious due to a trauma that both her and her sister endured. Patterns in their earlier life now starts popping up in Saffys life. She's worked so hard to get herself sorted after her breakdown after having her son. She starts to worry about her friend, Leona as it seems that her fiancé isn't treating her right. And then she receives 3 text from Leona ;

Can’t speak… don’t text or call… please just come and then they are deleted.....

After an impromptu visit to Leona after she receiving these disturbing messages. Leona and her family go missing and Saffy finds herself the prime suspect in a missing person case.

Ive read and listened to most of K L Slater's books and I really enjoy her writing style. I love her character building as you get a sense of who the main characters are and act mostly within these characteristics. She also sets the scene very well. Well described inner buildings/ living places as well as outer places.

I sat and read this pretty much in 1 sitting. I feel that K L Slater has quite predictable twists and turns within her writing, with plenty of red herons to through you off the scent. For regular readers, they may suss the end game out fairly early. For me however, it didn't detract from the suspense and how tense the book was from beginning to end.

Another corker of a book from K L Slater and a 4 star!

Though I’ve seen KL Slater’s name around a lot, this is my first book by this author, and it did not disappoint. It was a fast paced twisty rollercoaster from start to finish. Had me questioning and doubting every character up until the final section of the book. One of the few books I’ve read that although there were some twists I had caught onto early on, it in no way took away from the enjoyment of the book as a whole. Can’t wait to check out more from KL Slater.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for this ARC.