Safe Home by Kerry Watts is the second installment of the DI Jessie Blake series and I must admit that I am well and truly hooked. The first book of the series, Heartlands, showed tremendous promise, and this follow-up does not in any way disappoint.

DI Jessie Blake is called to the scene when six-month old Finlay Lucas is reported missing after his father finds his crib empty. Family, friends, and neighbours are quick to offer assistance, but nearly everyone involved seems to be keeping secrets from Jessie and her team. When a revered member of the community is found murdered, a possible link between the two incidents becomes a working theory for DI Blake, and further muddles the list of suspects.

This is a novel that held my interest from the very beginning and it did not falter for even a moment. Much more of Jessie's history is revealed throughout the course of the narrative and, as a result, I feel quite invested in this intriguing and highly likeable protagonist moving forward. I am very much anticipating the third installment of this series. Long may it continue.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

OMG, this book was sooooo good and did not disappoint!!!!! This is the second book in the fantastic Detective Jessie Blake series and you can read this as a stand alone if you want. This book was just as great as the first if not better. I’m hoping there will be many more in this series.

This book was about a couple who lost their baby. The mom puts the baby down for a nap and when her husband comes home and checks on him he couldn’t find him. Where did he go? Is he alive? Did someone take him? Are they ever going to see him again? This is where Detective Jessie Blake comes in and tries to answers all these questions for the parents.

I have to say that I loved the first book in this series and had my hopes high for this one. Let me tell you Kerry Watts exceeded my expectations. This book had it all. Scandals, drama and lies, oh my. It took me on an emotional roller coaster ride that I never wanted to get off from. With every chapter the mystery deepened and you didn’t know who to trust and what was going to happen next. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened and devoured each page like it was the last. I couldn’t sleep until I found out what was going on. The ending blew my mind. I did not expect that at all. It was definitely twisted.

Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Now here is a book to get your teeth into!
First of all its worth saying you 100% can read this as a stand alone and the bits alluding to the previous book actually enhance this story and don’t distract from it

Darren and Claire have a 6 month old son Finlay, when Darren returns home from work and goes to check
on him ( Claire is having a snooze ) he’s gone, vanished and no trace can be found.........
Enter the wonderful Detective Jessie Blake to try and solve things with her colleague Dylan
And what a puzzle it is to solve
The many characters in the book, all fabulously portrayed, could all be guilty, and as the story progresses I was making judgements, deciding who it was and wasn’t and basically getting it wrong but loving every turn and twist doing so!
I am not a massive lover of Police Procedurals but in this book its vibrant and engaging and interesting and brings you the reader into every aspect of it
There’s lies and affairs, obsession and tested family loyalties along with a separate horrific murder that happens and could be related, or might not be!, that all makes a really stomping and exciting ‘Whodunit’
Really really top class storytelling that has left me wanting the next book in the series
A great mystery, told expertly that is one of those books that I sometimes say makes you ‘happy reading is your thing’
10/10
5 Stars

Although this is the second book in the DCI Jessie Blake series, not having read the first book didn’t hinder my enjoyment. Starting out with the sudden disappearance of little 6 month old Finlay from his cot, Blake and her wingman are assigned to investigate. And boy are there lots of secrets hidden by each character. Whilst the story was engaging and kept me interested in finding out what happened to little Finlay and who is responsible, it felt a little lacking. Further events occur which make this a very confusing case for the duo. There were some unanswered questions left at the end of the book (which would be presumably answered in the next book). I would read more of this series.

I was hooked on this book from the beginning. The plot moved quickly, while posing a different interesting NEW problem and suspect at each turn of the page. Perfect fast paced, unpredictable “who dun it” crime thriller that weaves multiple crimes and plot lines together, overlapping and complementing one another fluidly.

Bottom line: you will wonder WHO, WHY, WHERE, HOW until the last page. So get out your popcorn and whiskey —that is unless you’re ON the wagon, then maybe some koolaid heavily doused with ice cubes and some slipper socks with a good ole fashioned Snuggie and enjoy a fun, attention keeping book!

IG Handle Janicedoesbooks

Goodness me, I knew when I read 'Heartlands', Kerry Watts first novel that the second book would be even better than the first but wow! I liked Jess and Dylan from the start and in Safe Home, they definitely came into their own.

Finlay Lucas is six months old and, when his dad, Darren, goes to get him after a nap, not where he should be. Worryingly, it is January, the Scottish weather is bitterly cold and its snowing hard! Detective Jessie Blake and her partner, Dylan Logan, are called in to take charge of what they know will be a traumatic investigation but have no idea how complicated and all consuming it will become.

This is a book written in very sensitive manner; it covers various aspects of mental illness compassionately as well as the many other issues arising from the disappearance of such such a tiny baby. As in the previous book there are a large number of characters to get to grips with but they all have a place and a role to play in this excellent story.

There was very little down time for the officers with the action moving along at a good pace from the very first page. There weren't as many cliffhangers as you might expect in a book of over one hundred chapters but that didn't stop me from wanting to just keep reading. This is everything you want in a murder mystery and I am encouraged by the ending as there are still things which need to be dealt with, hopefully in another instalment of this excellent series.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first book or wants to discover a very good author; there are no spoilers and this can be read as a stand alone.

Safe Home is billed as an addictive new crime thriller that will have you hooked from the start. A bold claim, however this book certainly lived up to it. I started reading it intending to just read a few chapters and the next thing I was quarter of the way through. Thankfully the next day I had a three hour train journey to devour the rest of the book.

Darren Lucas returns home from work to find his usually chaotic house in silence. His wife Claire is sat in the sofa surrounded by piles of washing, his six month old son Finlay... isn’t there. Detective Jessie Blake is called to the family home to investigate and realises not everything is as it seems.

What follows is the search of the small Scottish village looking for the baby and also seeking answers to what actually happened.

This book will grip you and draw you in with each turn of the page. Wonderfully written with great characters. One of my favourite books of the year and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

This book was a quick and easy read. The characters were well developed and I was invested. I didn't realize this was a part of a series, and I will go back now and read the first book.

I was given this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for this advanced copy of "Safe Home" By Kerry Watts.
I had not read the previous book to this author, I wish I had!

Not because it affects reading this book, it was just this book was so good I want to of read them in sequence, and will be looking forward to the next installment of D.I Jessie Blake.

This storyline was very good, 102 chapters I think!? I was shocked when I got to 100 it's not something you find in most books, but I loved the short chapters made up of all the different characters in this book. It gave me countless opportunity to pick up the book as and when, and easily put it down again and know where I had left off.
The characters themselves were a great mix, a real suspense of "who dunnit'", it was not easy to guess the outcome and with 2 stories running along side each other, when one was tied up you still had the other to look forward to!

Will definitely look out for the next book by Kerry Watts and will go back to read Heartlands. I have faith it's going to be just as good as this!

Totally recommend ☺️

I always did not fit anywhere and we can do strange things .
When Darren Lucas becomes home from work and to a silence of nothing and his wife Clare is in her pyjamas and Finlay has gone , what does he think of his son has gone
I had an ARC from Bookouture

This is the second book in the Detective Jessie Blake Series.

Not everything is as it seems! Whose telling the truth?

Jessie and her team are sent to investigate the disappearance of a baby boy 'Finlay' who is taken from his cot whilst his mother is sleeping.

The story will have you gripped and guessing until the end. Some great believable characters.

Was great to see the acknowledgement of Mental Health (Bi-polar disorder and post-natal depression) within the story.

I enjoyed reading this book although it was quite low key and at times I wondered how it would be able to continue on its permanent even keel. The characters were very rounded and very easy to imagine. I wouldn't put this in the category of psychological thriller, there's not a lot thrilling about it. But nevertheless it kept me interested to the end although being honest I wasn't really bothered about what happened to the guilty parties when all was revealed. Where the book did shine was in the descriptions of the short life of little Finlay and these went a long way to breaking my heart right up until the very end. His death and the events surrounding it were covered expertly and at the very end where his father is going through his clothes and toys I could have cried and cried for the loss of his joyful son.

Great read. Heartbreaking in places. This book is full of suspense and emotion. I am really enjoying reading this series.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Safe Home by Kerry Watts is an excellent read. It's the second book in the Detective Jessica Blake series. I haven't read the first, though I wish I had, and it's fine as a standalone book. I really liked Jessica, she's a good policewoman but comes with her own problems from the past, which I really would like to know more about! The story starts with a missing baby but soon escalates into something more. Full of interesting characters and twists and turns, Safe Home soon grabbed my interest.

Thank you Kerry Watts and NetGalley for my copy.

On the whole I did enjoy this. I didn’t realise it was second in a series, but it didn’t seem to matter too much.

This was an enjoyable if not terribly exciting book. There were plenty of suspects but the identity of the killer was unexpected to say the least. I liked the team of cops and will look out for this author in the future.

Posted on Goodreads and Amazon

Thanks to a reviewer I discovered that this book was the second in a series, so I downloaded ‘Heartlands’ from Amazon and read both in order. I put a review of it on Amazon. It was a superb read. The format in ‘Safe Home’ is different. It follows chronological rules in the third person. There were a few hints in the first book about Jessie’s fear of her ex-husband, Dan, so I was delighted that this was fleshed out in the second book. As in the first book, there are a diverse set of characters. It made me wonder if there was a problem in the water in that vicinity. Finlay, a baby is snatched from his cot. That’s all I can give away. My most significant difficulty with the book was that there were so many characters. I had to figure out who they were and their relationship to each other. I got there in the end, but it slowed down my reading progress. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

I saw this and wanted to read it as it's based in Scotland, around Glasgow. Then I discovered it was the 2nd in a series so had to go read the first, Heartlands, first. It was ok but felt a bit amateurish in places. However, I liked the 2 police detectives and I also like to read the 2nd in a series if I feel it deserves another chance.

So I just finished reading Safe Home and much preferred it to the first. The author has learnt a few lessons I think. There is still an abundance of characters but not so many that it's hard to keep track of them (like in Heartlands). I also liked the progression of the two main leads AND the introduction of a third police character whom I'd like to see continue in the series too.

In Heartlands, I felt the author's timing or chronology wasn't great, e.g., Jessie sends her assistant constable to the kitchen to make tea whilst she sits down with the woman she wants to question and before she's even asked anything, hey presto the constable appears with a full tray with cups of tea and biscuits! So that felt like a thought process rather than a well written scene. Thankfully, that wasn't present in this book. The only mistake I picked up on is when Darren escaped from Dylan (the assistant constable), jumped in his car and got away but it reads that Dylan's wheels spun on the gravel! It should have said Darren, who was escaping from Dylan.

I also like Jessie's back story, although for a D.I, she seems a little too accepting of noises and things she thinks she's seen out of the corner of her eye. She's aware her violent ex husband is stalking her but still dismisses things that go bump in the night! I want to see her being more in control of this situation and protecting herself better. I DO like that there may be a new love interest in Benito and that her stalking ex husband has just seen them together in a cafe, laughing. So I'm not sure Ben is going to last very long!

I also want to find out more about her marriage and the violence that went on ... and how exactly she lost her baby. This is referred to much more in Safe Home than in Heartlands.

Interesting that the story in both books is about the loss of a child and the parents being best friend couples having an affair with the best friend's wife or husband. So both books seem quite similar apart from the age of the child who's lost.

Safe Home however did include a second death which needed investigating alongside the child death as there was some interlacing of relationships and characters. It added another dimension and the whilst the perpetrator of the baby death was fairly obvious, the perp of the second murder wasn't and even in the reveal, I thought, nope, another red herring ... but the surprise was that it wasn't a red herring at all!

I look forward to a third book in the series but I really do hope it's not a repetition of the same crime and the same marriages/friendhips/cheating relationships. Other than that, definitely want to read more of the main characters and see how they progress.

Great book will be reading other books by this author.
Will also recommend this book to others.
Great read! 5*****

I believe this is the second in this series of books and I’m keen to now read the first.

DCI Jessie Blake and her team are called to investigate the disappearance of a young baby, Finlay, from his cot whilst his mother, Claire, took a nap. Claire is suffering from severe postnatal depression and home life for her and her husband, Darren, is draining, chaotic and unhappy with everything falling on Darren’s shoulders. Has Claire hurt her baby or are others involved in an abduction of the child. Time is of the essence to find out the truth.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to others.

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange an honest review.