3.5 ⭐

When Saffy's best friend Leona goes missing after sending her three mysterious messages, which are quickly deleted, Saffy finds herself stuck between the past and the present. Determined to find Leona no matter the cost, Saffy take matters into her own hands, and along the way, she uncovers secrets she never expected.

This was a solid thriller, impactful and tense, it made me want to keep reading. I liked the character exploration, as it went deeper into the protagonist's minds than usual.

However, I did find the pacing too slow which sometimes pulled me out of the action. Additionally, the motivations of the story's antagonist felt flimsy and so the end wasn't as impactful as I was hoping for.

Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, for my ARC!

Although a bit bit of slow burner, it is well worth sticking with this book. Beautifully written and truly a masterpiece.

A rollercoaster of hidden truth and different motivations from each character.

Your best friend for many years sends you a message asking you to come, alone and don't tell anybody.
You race to her house only for her to deny contacting you and making you seem befuddled in front of her husband. The messages are deleted so there's nothing to show.
Then she goes missing with her husband and young daughter later that day.
The police tell you, you are the main suspect in their disappearance, as you were the last person to see them.
You begin to investigate what exactly is going on because the police are not taking anything you say seriously, and this is a serious problem as you are the main suspect in this investigation.
What can you do?

This novel begins with a seemingly normal relationship between Saffy and Leah, of two best friends from childhood who have drifted apart slightly due to age and family.
Saffy the reliable, loyal best friend, Poppy her vulnerable, but feisty younger sister and Leah the enigma with an idyllic life on the surface.

Saffy was very relatable, as a person who just wants to do good but is caught up in the emotional turmoil of having little boundaries and being effectively very available for everyone around her.
She has a lot of mental health and anxiety issues that dictate how she acts towards others and may make her seem overly harsh at times, especially to her sister about safety. She has a lot going on relationship-wise with an ex-husband who has custody of her son and is getting remarried. Obviously she wants to be present in her son's life but there are barriers to this.

Opposing this is Poppy, the young student sister who just wants to explore life and embrace her freedom away from her sisters constant supervision.
This makes Saffy's attitude seem extreme and unrelenting but unravel the past and you can find the motivation for Saffy's behaviour and the reason why her close friend Leah has drifted away from her life.

The narrative reflects different characters at different times with the main two characters being Saffy and Poppy, and some interspersed recollections from Leah.

The mystery of Leah's disappearance iniates a slew of recollections, questions and revelations about each character and how they have treated eachother in the past.

This was an interesting book that kept you guessing throughout as to what happened and why.

📣MESSAGE DELETED - K.L SLATER: MY REVIEW 🗞

You're at a really important job interview. Your name is called. You're in the room doing the introductions. You'd be perfect for this job,and need it so much to prove stability in your life to your ex-partner, your child,and the courts.
When suddenly you get a text from your best friend..asking you to not reply,but come straight away! A few seconds later it reads "message deleted". You now have a choice to make...stay for interview...or rush to your friend.
This is Saffys dilemma. She chooses her friend..but,when she rushes over there,Leona has no idea what she's talking about. They compare phones,and Leonas has no evidence of the messages. Saffy leaves eventually after all appears ok. Later that day Leona and family are gone,there's blood everywhere and the last person the neighbours saw at the house.....Saffy. What is going on?

As expected from this great author, a very clever and gripping story with twists galore. It kept me guessing right up to the end when all the loose ends were tied up nicely. A great story that I would definitely recommend.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review

Quick chapters which I enjoyed and also changed between the sisters. The book has some good twists however did a times feel a bit predictable, especially the twist in regards to the sister Poppy. Was a very easy read, good descriptions of the characters.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨ slow paced
✨ psychological thriller
✨family drama



✨ this book come in a different pov of timelines. Past and present. After saffy received a message from her best friend leona, she had a panic attack moment . When she comes visit her best friend , leona denies everything . But then later on , leona and her family went missing all of a sudden.
✨ a great drama for someone who wants to read ‘ ‘what happen and who done it?’
The story was quite draggy at some point, this is different writing style from K.L as normally it will leave you hooked and shooked. But this book was average .



✨ Thankyou for the opportunity to read this book for a honest review .


🫶🏼shaye.reads

A great read by K L Slater.
Secrets and lies, twists and turns in this suspense thriller that will have you wondering what happens next!
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Message Deleted, which I received from the publishers via Netgalley in return for my honest opinion, was full of suspense and frustration with the police as they kept making false assumptions. It was an easy read but sometimes I felt it was a bit two dimensional somehow but I did enjoy the ending.

An amazing psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat!

A worrying text that was sent … but was it?

I really liked Saffy and her determination to get to the bottom of the mystery of the text and what happened to Leona and her family. However, I wanted to get into the book and shake some sense into her at times. You see a split POV presenting past and present day which was great to add suspense and information to the story.

Being my first book from this author, I was pleasantly surprised at how brilliantly she is able to write and capture the readers attention.

Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House | Michael Joseph for the arc of Message Deleted by K.L. Slater

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟- another perfect book written by K L Slater if you loved her previous books you'll love this so suspenseful and twisty and had me gripped

Saffy is about to go into a job interview when she gets a trail of text messages from her friend Leona. The messages ask for Saffy to come quick, tell no one and don’t call back.

Then as soon as Saffy reads them, the messages are deleted.

Unable to focus on her interview and immediately concerned for the safety of her friend, who she suspects is being bullied and controlled by her husband, Saffy heads over to Leona’s house, only to be met by Leona - who claims to know absolutely nothing at all about the messages.

As the story progresses, we learn more about Saffy’s past, the incident that shaped the last few years of both her and her sister’s lives, Saffy’s friendship with Leona and the breakdown of her marriage to Neil.

I was desperate to understand more about why Saffy behaved the way she did, what had led to her husband having sole custody of her small son, why her friendship with so-called best friend Leona was so fractured and I was sometimes frustrated with the fact that it was taking time for these things to be revealed - always the sign of a good mystery - but the pacing was excellent and not at all contrived in the way some mysteries can be.

I think the reveal was quite good, certainly unexpected, but on balance, perhaps there could have been just a bit more in the story to lead us towards what had actually happened. Although I don’t think anyone would have seen where it was going.

What I particularly liked was that once we found out what had happened we got some insight into how and why and then also what happened next, which sometimes doesn’t happen.

All in all, a very enjoyable read, just the right amount of suspense and some good characters. Definitely read it if you enjoy suspense and a bit of mystery.

Another great novel by K L Slater, suspense, drama, murder, disappearances - all in all a gripping read and its great for holiday season. Plenty of substories and background relationships which come together to culminate in a great ending. Recommended!

This was a brilliant read. An absolute page turner with a plot that kept me guessing until the end. This is going to be high on my recommended reads.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an early read.

I really enjoyed reading this book

There were times I was shouting at the main character for doing the things she did, but I totally understood and felt empathy for her.

The throw back chapters gave away to me who was involved in the twist, so that wasn’t a huge surprise

I felt anger at Neil, her ex husband and his new partner Mira for the way they treated her and huge respect for Saffy at the end when she forgave them both, showing she was much stronger than he believed

I enjoyed the build up to this story and the suspense around the disappearance of the family. A slow burn with twists and turns it kept me reading and wanting to no what happened. Saffy was a great character who POV left you wandering who to trust. But the end just fell a bit flat for me and didn't live up the the build up of the characters and plot.
Thanks Netgalley for the arc.

What a shame! I was so looking forward to this, as, the premise is an excellent one. A woman receives a few texts from her friend…..along the lines of “ please come immediately, don’t call”….then, they disappear.

The main character of Saffy is going through a bad time following an attack, she then lost custody of her son and is trying to get her life back on track. So far, so good. Unfortunately, I found the characters frustrating and one dimensional and the storyline seemed to plod, rather than romp.

Overall, it’s an ok read, just, for me, a disappointing one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House for the opportunity to preview.

So many twists and turns in this book I thought I had it figured out at least twice to get it wrong again. Very easy to read and couldn't put it down

I enjoyed this book, but felt the storyline was a bit forced. It never really seemed to ring true, so it was difficult to immerse myself in it fully. It would be a good holiday book.

Every so often you get a book that once you start it you really look forward to being able to read it. This was one of those books for me - absolutely gripping and lots of evenings where I was later going to sleep than planned because I just needed “one more chapter!” An awesome psychological thriller with more twists and turns than a high speed rollercoaster! I loved this book and am looking forward to reading more by KL Slater (once I’ve caught up on my sleep! Ha ha!).