Keeper is a powerful first novel exploring the subject of domestic abuse and its repercussions across friends and family as well as the victim. I enjoyed the timeline approach as it kept you guessing as to how the pieces of the jigsaw were going to fit together at the end and provided insights that you could keep in mind as you jumped back and forth in time. A great read.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book

This is a powerful debut novel looking at the complex world of domestic violence.
This is a dark insightful read which handles a difficult topic so well.

Keeper is a difficult book to read, it's immersive, raw and pulls you right in from the start. The choice of timelines was a very bold but clever idea as it made this story so much more interesting and captivating as it keeps you guessing on... who and how. Really well written too.

I really enjoyed this book. Great characters and a great insight into domestic abuse. There were lots of twists and turns that kept me interested. Definitely worth a read.

Loved it...couldn’t put it down and it tackled the subject of domestic abuse very well, the characters were well written and the plot and storyline fab, a must read for 2021

If you’re a lover of a literary thriller - go and buy this book!

I was captivated and kept up late reading, finishing Keeper within a day. It is a more literary style thriller with wonderful writing, which draws you in and works so well with the subject matter here. The plot line was devastating and the cast of characters felt so utterly real. All of their stories stick with me, they were so impactful and nobody felt unnecessary.

This is a raw, gripping and chilling story and an incredible debut! A masterpiece!

firstly, thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
For anyone uncomfortable reading about domestic violence, this is a book that you should avoid.
I was unsure of the book in the first two chapters, but once I got past those, I was immersed into the book and hooked.
The book is full or twists and turns.
The book is well written and a great debut.
I would highly recommend this book!

I read this book in 2020 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt like there were some plot holes, and a couples of areas where it dragged a bit; but overall it was a good book with good representation.

Do you have a women’s refuge in the city or place where you live? Is there a shelter women can turn to, when they are confronted with domestic violence?

Starting off with above question, you might be able to guess which core topic Jessica Moor’s book Keeper is dealing with. In the course of reading I got the impression that perhaps, Moor’s actual intention was to write a book causing #awareness for this very sad topic, rather than to mainly write a gripping thriller book.

I liked DS Whitworth and how authentic he has felt, the examining detective responsible to solve the ominous death of Katie. It looks like suicide but only, at first glance. Whitworth and his colleague Brookes get more and more involved into the background of what makes women flee their homes and stay at a women’s shelter, Katie’s workplace. What exactly was it that Katie could provide and has offered to these women?

This is one of those books which I find very hard to place onto the “thriller” shelf (thinking bookstores and libraries). While it does offer flashback scenarios that certainly fit into this category, for the majority of the novel, I somewhat missed what makes me stay up late into the night, the ‘page-turner’ effect. Also, because Moor focuses a lot on sharing the sad truth how victims of domestic violence struggle with taking their children, leaving their homes behind, moving into utterly unknown territory … into an uncertain and definitely, hard future. If this was her purpose, she truly has succeeded!

Keeper
by Jessica Moor
My Rating: 3 stars
Recommended to actually non-thriller readers who are interested in learning about domestic violence and the inner struggles victims carry deep inside.

Thank you, to @vikingbooksuk who have granted me access to the e-book version in exchange for an honest review. I am definitely going to keep checking your range of books in particular, your crime and thriller section.

Note to the publisher:
My review will be shared on Instagram as well in the course of the upcoming week & I will inform you once it has been posted.

The author has dealt with this topic of domestic abusive in a really sensitive way, not too graphic but very thought provoking.

Keeper by Jessica Moor is one of the most gripping thrillers I have read this year!

Synopsis:
When Katie Straw’s body is pulled from the waters of the local suicide spot, the police decide it’s an open-and-shut- case. A standard-issue female suicide.

But the residents of Widringham women’s refuge where Katie worked don’t agree. They say it’s murder.

Will you listen to them?

My Thoughts:
As soon as I started reading Keeper, I couldn’t put it down. The story is gripping from the very first moment, and the intensity keeps growing with each page.

Scenes from THEN and scenes from NOW give us a story of Katie’s life before, and the investigation of Katie’s death now. In the past, we get a detailed view of Katie’s life in her new relationship, and how it progresses from true love to something very unhealthy. In the current time, we meet a couple of refuge women, who all suffered domestic violence, as they are being interviewed by the detectives, in the hope to shine some light to Katie’s death.

There is no evidence to point out that Katie took her own life, but there is also no evidence to suggest that she has been killed. And the detectives now have to rely on small clues, to try and figure out what exactly happened that day. Some secrets that Katie kept also don’t help their investigation at all.

Even though this is Katie’s story, it is also the story of the refuge women. Even more so. Through their experiences, we can fully understand Katie’s perspective. And through their lives, we find out secrets hidden that should never have come to surface.

The main subject of the book is about domestic violence, both physical and psychological. This can be a trigger warning, as many scenes go into a lot of detail. We meet different characters that suffered in their relationships in different ways. And while they are in the refuge home, we see the aftermath that these relationships have on the women. Some women are unable to speak to men anymore. They are unable to trust people. Nothing is ever the same. And some decide to go back to that horrible environment, because it’s the only thing they know. On average, a woman tries to leave her partner seven times before she succeeds. This tells you all you need to know, of how hard it is to leave in the first place, and why it is so easy to also go back.

I loved the main mystery. The fact that we assume something happened to Katie, but we are not sure. It is not until the very end that we actually find out the truth. The plot twists in the end were very well done, and I really enjoyed that WOW factor. I have the urge to read the book again now, just to capture the secrets clues that were right in front of me, but I never saw them coming. I also loved the issue this book raises about domestic violence, the refuge centres, and how little help they are getting. Struggling for budgets and being ignored by large organisations is very a very common practice, and the women staying there can feel this, which results in them not feeling as safe as they should be, or not getting the help they really need.

Keeper is set in a very uncomfortable atmosphere. In each chapter, you can almost feel what these women are feeling, and even though I cannot relate to them, I could feel their pain and felt so anxious to help them. Jessica Moor was able to perfectly capture their fear, their anxiety, their struggle, and I could empathise with them.

Beautiful fast-paced thriller that you can’t put down, with amazing plot twists and topics so unfortunately common and infuriating! I definitely recommend it, you won’t be able to forget Keeper easily.

This is a book which will leave you thinking about it long after you have read the final page. A genuine can’t put down as your curiosity will want to know what is going to happen next. So many threads of stories are woven into this novel but they are beautifully told so it is easy to keep with them and not lose track of what is happening - the stories are told with compassion and are real, ugly, sad and not happy and polished to make the reader feel better. The book is all the better for this. Yet still the women’s strength of spirit shine through.

The story is about a young woman called Katie and told in two perspectives ‘Then and Now’. Katie works at a women’s refuge with Val - everybody at the refuge has a dark history - Katie appears to be the one with a vocation. All the women have different reasons to be afraid of men - yet two men are sent to investigate when Katie is found dead - apparently a suicide.

The story takes twists and turns, the death being investigated by two policemen at either ends of their career - a young new eager detective and a seasoned, jaded waiting for his pension older man, with his own set of opinions and behaviours (not always PC). Is it a suicide of a desperately sad young woman or has something more sinister happened.

The more I am writing the more I realised how deeply I enjoyed the book, and how I have been changed by it. And how I would really like to jump into the story and shake a couple of people. It’s a really well told description of coercive control, how not all abuse is physical be it by a man or woman. Yet it doesn’t sensationalise it.

And the twist in the tail is what you only see coming just before it hits you - you’re given a hint then POW!!!

I could go on forever but I won’t just READ THE BOOK!

Very well written book on a difficult subject. I would highly recommend this book it is a great read.

I love crime but I probably wouldn’t have read this but my god I’m glad I did.
It makes you feel emotions you probably didn’t think you had.
I recommend this to my friends and we all discussed it agreeing it was emotional and eye opening.

I’ve been in an awful reading slump recently but I kept thinking about this book so decided to pick it up and I’m so glad I did. I found this to be such a stunning read and I found it really hard to put down. The novel opens with Katie Shaw meeting a man in a nightclub, the storyline then splits into past and present as we learn what happened to Katie and how she got to where she is now. I found this to be such a powerful read with a really sensitive and realistic portrayal of the aftermath of domestic violence and stalking. I know how hard it is for women to access support and this book really explores so many angles to this. The story is compelling and it is such a page turner as well as it being eye-opening. I finished reading this book a while ago now and I still keep thinking about it. I’m currently trying to work out my favourite books of the year post and I’m sure this book will be on my list. I highly recommend it!

This book deals with a difficult subject - domestic abuse - in an effective way.

With two interwining plot lines, both now and in the victims past, there were lots of plot to keep me reading.

However, I have to knock it down to 3 stars simply because the two detectives in charge of the investigation, DS Whitworth and DC Brookes are just so UNLIKEABLE! I appreciate that their 'views' are there to make a point however they really didnt have any redeeming qualities!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review :-)

Keeper surely was a Keeper!
I couldn't put this book down. I finished it in a weekend.

I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The end was very clever, a little unbelievable but clever all the same. I would of liked more to the ending but maybe could have a follow on?

I'll not spoil it for you.

I was sent a copy of Keeper by Jessica Moor to read and review by NetGalley.
This is a really good book on many levels. It is a mystery/detective story, which is great, but it’s real strength is the way it handles the emotive subject of domestic abuse and life in a women’s refuge. The writing is sensitive and at the same time hard hitting because the subject matter is so intense. The author has obviously researched her subject well and the way she has written this novel gives an amazing insight into the minds and lives of women who are so desperate that they need to flee their homes. Insightful, well written and entertaining. Everyone should read this novel that is so tragically based on truth.

Really compulsive, unsettling thriller. Chilling and gripping; can’t wait to read more from this author.

Really enjoyed this book and found it gripping from the very beginning. Well written and very descriptive. First book I've read by this author and it won't be the last.