Being brutally honest, I did struggle to follow this story a bit. Overall it was interesting, however (for me), there was so much more that could have been done with it and with the characters. I couldn't help but feel a little unsatisfied by the ending of the book, and not all of my questions were answered.
This book has so much potential, however I feel it is just not 100% there yet.

I found the plot quite disjointed and it didn't allow me to connect with the characters to any degree. It's not a bad book but I feel it could have been better developed.

Book starts with the death of a young boy, and his best friend goes missing. This reminds DI Cannan of another girl's death many years ago. The book was well written, even though the time jumps between now, and 5 years ago might be confusing it you don't pay attention, it does make for some interesting reading. Book is recommended.

I flew through this book, with a well-thought-out plot and really believable characters. would definitely recommend it!

Safe No Longer by Gayle Curtis was a great read! An intriguing storyline that had me hooked right from the very start - and an ending I didn't see coming!

The premise of this book is incredible, it's such a clever idea but unfortunately it didn't come together for me. The characters manage to be some of the worst people going and the timelines are hard to follow. There's no one really likeable or otherwise with enough depth for you to form a connection.

Great book. Highly recommend and will most defiantly read more by this author and suggest to others!

I found this book a little tougher to get into than others I’ve read lately.
I persevered and found that the characters were well thought out and the story telling quite engaging
With a harebrained scheme in mind there’s only really one way the plan can go…. Terribly wrong.
Clever plot line

I recently bought a new kindle after my old one broke. For some reason I was unable to download this title from the cloud onto my kindle, therefore I will be unable to review this title. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused

*4 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read and I found the characters to be interesting too. The ending surprised me, definitely not what I was expecting.

As an elementary teacher I always find myself turning away from thrillers that involve children. With that being said, I did enjoy Safe No Longer. It kept me on my toes with many different characters. I enjoyed getting to know each character and how they impacted their small village. Each child's story was unique and I kept asking myself questions throughout.

Great 2020 read!

A great storyline, a fascinating lead character and the perfect level of suspense to keep you wanting to read more. I really enjoyed this book, and the twists throughout the story really did keep me guessing.

I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)

As I had hated her last book I wasn't holding out high hopes for this one but I was surprised. SAFE NO LONGER by Gayle Curtis is a well constructed thriller that is somewhat confusing and convoluted in places but on the whole was something a little different, if not intricate. It's no secret that the author likes to tackle the darker type of thrillers and this was most definitely that!

One child dead. Another child missing. A village in shock.

Best friends Raymond and Cara are enjoying a sleepover in a tent in the backyard one summer evening, telling each other ghost stories and playing macabre games. Raymond's mother Kristen keeps a close eye on the children despite popping over to the pub next door for a quick drink to celebrate her birthday. She returns, the children are still telling stories, so she settles on the sofa whilst leaving the patio doors open for them to come back in the middle of the night...as is usually the case.

But when Kristen wakes the following morning there is no sign of the children in the tent or in the house. And then she sees the silent prone figure of her little boy across the green, hands tied behind his back, his body long cold. But where was Cara?

Rachel Fearon is a school teacher at the local high school. Her husband long since gone, missing, presumed dead in a car accident though his body was never found, Rachel has raised her daughter Cara since. In an attempt to promote interest in her daughter with the local talent scout, Rachel organises with disgraced former cop Jason Brunswick to kidnap Cara and keep her safe until the time was right to release her. All the while, Rachel is to set up a fundraising page on social media, where parents of missing children can rake in thousands, and local talent scout Adrian Player's interest in Cara will be peaked once again.

That was the plan.

But something has gone wrong. Jason does not have Cara and has no idea where she is. He tells Rachel he waited half an hour from 3am as they arranged and Cara never showed. So...if Jason didn't have Cara, who did?

Adrian Player is the local talent scout and owner of a vast number of gyms around the county. But it's his private gym that aspiring gymnasts and football players are interested in. There they get one on one training and invitations to exclusive try-outs and competitions. But that's not all they get behind those doors. Long suspected of being a paedophile, Player uses his gyms as a front to scout for "talent" for his own interests and for those of his members of his exclusive club. Cara had been one of his favoured talents...until, at 11, she became too old and his interests them shifted to her best friend Raymond who was 9. Hence the kidnap plot concocted by Rachel and Jason to renew his interest in her.

Jason Brunswick is a former police officer who was disgraced for misconduct involving children. Now he works for Player at one of his many gyms. But Rachel doesn't seem to know of his misconduct nor of Player's real interests. I'm not sure why because most of the other parents in the village are fully aware for most of them are his former victims from their childhood...and now he is abusing the children of those he had abused decades ago. But then Rachel doesn't appear to have the best foresight either, for she herself is involved in an affair with one of her 16 year old students, and now finds herself pregnant.

Jody Brunswick doesn't believe a word that everyone says about her father. Even when the kids at school taunt her with comments that her father is a nonce she stands her ground...going as far being suspended for attacking a classmate. But then she hears that her father's van was seen on the green the morning of Raymond's murder and Cara's disappearance and she vows to do everything to protect him.

So back to Raymond and Cara. Who murdered this 9 year old boy? And what happened to his best friend Cara? Enter DCI Rita Cannan, senior investigating officer and close friend of Raymond's mother Kristen. That in itself should have precluded her from the case but Rita kept a lid on it because she had her own motive behind the investigation. One that was even greater than her friendship with Kristen. She knew Player was involved, she knew what he was and she wanted him behind bars. And she would stop at nothing to put him there. Even when her own parents were found dead in their home across the green, Rita would not be stopped from putting Player behind bars. To discover the truth, Rita must confront her own past...but can she do so and uncover the truth in time before more innocent lives are lost?

WOW! So much going on for a such a small village with everyone having some form of input into something nefarious one way or the other. All these little subplots designed to take the focus of the main story but still Raymond and Cara would not be forgotten. Even in the alternate chapters five years on where Rita was being interviewed about the case, the intricacies in the tangled web were slowly unravelled but the mystery still remained. What had happened to Cara?

An intricate story, SAFE NO LONGER did have rather a lot going on, some of which may have seemed irrelevant, but it was indeed a clever plot. Surrounding a topic that is often taboo, the author deftly drew attention to both that story and the one at hand whilst confusing us with all the others. Yes, there was a lot of drama going on here...but I think that was the point. Added to that, none of the characters were at all likeable and most of them were so selfish it was hard to sympathise with any of them or even care what happened to them. And most of them seemed to be suffering from some kind of personality disorder or mental breakdown.

I really didn't think I would like this book, but I was surprised to find I actually quite enjoyed it. It was different and despite the various subplots, the storyline had me engaged from the start. Whilst the ending was a bit out of left field, I thought it was rather clever...even if there was no real sense of closure.

A heavy intricate read, SAFE NO LONGER is not for everyone. It is not always an easy read with raw topics such as child sexual abuse and some other sensitive issues that others may find hard to read. While the story itself may seem far-fetched, sadly these things do happen and outlines the complexities of abuse and the lifelong effects it has on its many victims.

I have to say my favourite part, surprisingly, was the final page.

I can't say that I would recommend this to everyone, because it is definitely not a read for everyone. But if you like the darker side of thrillers, not afraid to tackle those darker issues...then this is for you.

I would like to thank #GayleCurtis, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishingUK for an ARC of #SafeNoLonger in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the story as much as one can like a story about such going ons, but it was the ending that made me leave five stars. I hate stories that peter out and end up exactly as you are expecting. This is not one of those. Very talented writer.

This is a classic British law enforcement novel! My only struggle with the book was that I had a hard time connecting the characters and keeping the storylines straight because there was a lot of back forth in the timeline. Once I was able to connect everything, it made much more sense. Good read!

Unfortunately this wasn't a book that I really enjoyed. I persevered through it but it's not one I would recommend. I found it hard to follow at times.

Two kids- Raymond & Cara both are best friends & an amazing gymnasts who had been choosed to be trained at Adrian Player's private gym, which is a dream for many. One evening both were camping out overnight in the garden at Raymond's house while in the presence of his mother Kristen. As same day it was Kristen's birthday so she was a bit drunk so she somehow felt asleep & when she wakes up in the morning she finds out her son had been murdered & Cara is missing.
.

DI Rita Cannan is appointed to investigate Raymond's murder & find Cara alive. But the case carries echoes of another girl's death that rocked the close knit decades ago. There are so many connections & mysteries hidden for almost past 3 decades which includes serious crimes including sexual offences & pedophiles luring as young as 5yrs old kids in their trap.

The story & plot had been amazing but it fell badly downside. Ok, so the story has been presented through 5 POVs and 2 time lapses. You're figuring out 1 POV then you've to jump to 2nd, you are trying to make connection b/w the 2 of them you need to jump to 3 & so you've to maintain 5 of them and then when you're getting some idea about a time you're made to jump into 5 yrs later one. It's like you've an amazing story but probably in nervous state you're stretching the story through flip flops for 1st half & then you suddenly gets excited making a fast run in 2nd half again with quick flip-flops but there comes a time you feel exhausted so you just ends it. The ending really didn't made any sense to me. It wasn't like I was expecting happy ending but still it was like 'What did I just read? Can I get any help to understand it ?' .

This is an important story about the complexities of child abuse and its many, many victims and the lifelong effects it can have on the child. It has the hallmarks of a good thriller and the story line itself had potential. However, as a narrative it was a struggle to read in parts. It was difficult to follow with so many characters and I felt there could have been better formatting/structure to organise this. The ending was very unexpected but also a little unbelievable and I don't feel we really knew enough about Cara's backstory to be convinced she was crazy enough to do those things.

It has been a few months since I DNF'd this and I did not write a review at the time (thanks COVID for taking over my life). So I do not remember why I did not finish the book. Apologies for the negligence on my part.