Meg agreed to take into her home an abused wife and her two kids. Little did she know that this was the beginning of a drastic life change for her. This is a great read with twists and turns all the way up to the ending, which I think was too abrupt and could have been a little easier on Meg. I did enjoy the story very much and I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Met Galley for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

Meg lives alone in a quiet rural property with her beloved dog, Esme. Having been a victim of domestic violence she is keen to help other women. She is approached to help Nerine and her two little girls escape from her abusive husband Duncan. While Meg tries to reassure her that no one knows she is there, Nerine is paranoid that Duncan will find them and kill them and this is reinforced one night when a wind chime is played and a screen window is taken off the spare bedroom. Nerine begs Meg to get a gun to defend themselves and finally Meg does so but from then on things change.

This is an incredible story that holds you spell bound but also horrified at what people are capable of doing. While the first half of the story held my interest the second half had my heart beating rapidly and I was terrified!

Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Text Publishing for a copy to read and review.

Shelter is a tense and difficult domestic thriller that explores the different kinds of abuse, as well as the gaslighting.

The story itself is very tense and I found it psychologically draining. It literally gave me the feeling of being abused and it was somewhat exhausting.

The plot was completely decent and interesting, though I can't say I was excited about the ending. It was kind of depressing (which isn't necessarily bad).

I definitely recommend this book to all of those that are genuinely interested in psychology and want to really get a quality insight in how gaslighting feels like and to all of those, who are fond of realistic/pessimistic storylines ...

‘I first saw her spotlit by headlight, a pink plush rabbit tucked under her arm.’

Meg’s own experience with an abusive partner helps her to decide to help another woman who is fleeing, with two small children, from an abusive partner. Meg knows that she left it too long to leave her own partner, Keith, and as a result she is essentially estranged from her daughter Emily.

Nerine, the mother, seems incredibly stressed. Her daughters, Analiese and Colette are anxious and afraid. Meg thinks that she can help. Her home (aptly named ‘The Bolt Hole) is remote, and Meg has plenty of supplies to keep the family out of sight. Meg will provide the three of them with shelter for a few weeks until another woman is able to offer them shelter.

But Nerine is convinced that her husband will find her, and when strange things start happening around Meg’s home, Meg is concerned. Meg is in a dispute with her own ex-husband: is he trying to intimidate her, or is Nerine right?

What a bleak, heartbreaking, and incredibly beautifully written story this is. The characters are well-developed, the issues are real, and the tension is high. Nothing is straightforward, and while I worked out a few of the twists, I was not at all prepared for the ending. If you read this novel, be prepared to ride an emotional roller-coaster.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

From Australian author Catherine Jinks comes her latest standalone thriller and what a ripper!! Two women meet up in the middle of night to facilitate the handover of another woman with two children. As they adjust to life together out in the boon docks, their past come back to haunt them. A gripping, atmospheric tale, that ratches up the tension, with each page turned. A most realistic and believable psychological thriller with a 5-star rating.

Definite page turner! I figured things out early in the book, but that didn't deter from the reading experience - it actually made it more fun since I continued to look for "clues" to support my suspicions. Knocked a couple stars because the ending was a bit of a let down, don't want to give any spoilers here but Meg's cluelessness and end situation didn't make sense to me at all and I thought that could have been handled differently. But overall, a really good read, definitely recommended!

Great book! I was hooked from the start, thank you so much for providing me a copy of this book to read. This is something I would love to purchase.

No good deed goes unpunished takes on whole new meaning when late one night Meg opens her home up to Nerine and her daughters who are on the run from an abusive partner. Meg knows all about being on the receiving end as she is still being harassed by her ex husband Keith who never raised his hand but verbally abused and intimidated her and used their daughter to control her.

A rather brilliant on the edge of your seat read that pulls you in and takes you along for the ride. I thoroughly enjoyed that!

Violent exes and lives torn apart by fear. Meg lives nearly alone on rough land. She has a nice job she enjoys, an older dog she loves and a few hens she adores. Her life isn't easy and it isn't always peaceful but it's hers and she likes it.

But our story moves very quickly to a pass off - a women with 2 children on the run from a violent husband. She is passed off to Meg to hide at her house for a few weeks before the next house and pass off point opens up.

However, this new mother is testing Meg's boundaries and patience right off. The mom on the run is paranoid, afraid of every noise and is keeping Meg both up all night and up early in the morning. She is calling all hours at her job - she's positive someone is around the house, someone is watching. She's sure her husband has found them.

It was interesting to try to work around what was happening. I spent time trying to piece apart everyone's stories and enjoyed learning Meg's backstory because it finished rounding out the whole story. This is a well written, fast moving story.

But I'm disappointed by the end. I wish it had ended differently.

A slow build thriller that makes you question everything and everyone in the story. Well written and very engaging and entertaining. Highly recommended

The saying goes, 'no good deed goes unpunished.' Meg lives alone in the outback after a horrific marriage and divorce. In the process, she loses you daughter. As she wants to help others that were in her situation, she agrees to take in Nerine and her children as they are escaping her violent husband. Meg is too trusting as she realizes too late that Nerine wants more than just an escape. Previously, I had only read Catherine Jinks' middle grade novels, but after this adult tale, I'll never look at those books the same.

Intense, twisted and a side bar of ..... say what!??!?

I enjoyed the ride on this one. I felt the anxiousness of the characters and was invested in their safety. Boy was I in for a ride. To most this would seem a little slow paced and lacking, however, I found it to be the opposite. When someone is in danger moving slow and intentional is key, and covering the tracks of course. This was a great read that had me guessing; was it her ex or her guests' ex.....never did I see the ending that came.

Thank you netgalley for an eARC.

Shelter by Catherine Jinks is a dark and gritty story, set in rural Australia, and is a riveting thriller that is stark yet quite atmospheric. (check out that cover) The characters are deeply flawed yet some of them are surprisingly appealing and strong willed. I especially liked how she wrote about a toddler and five year old. Their behaviour, speech and thoughts were so believable...well done!

The setting springs vibrantly to life and provides the perfect backdrop for the shocking pasts we learn about that our main characters went through. Catherine Jinks brings this incredibly fascinating novel, with lots of twists to an amazing conclusion, I highly recommend it and look forward to future books by Ms. Jinks.

This is a decent, fast paced drama about a woman who tries to help a vulnerable family, with disastrous consequences.

Catherine is the lead character who has a history of an abusive relationship and so wants to help a young mother obviously in need.
What follows is, I found, in turn; tense, exciting, frustrating and enjoyable in equal measure, with well drawn characters and a decent plot.

A recommended 3* Good Read and thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

Meg knows what it is like to have a difficult partner. Keith may not have been physically violent, but his mind games and manipulation were just as damaging to Meg's mental wellbeing.
Leaving him had been hard, especially with her daughter Emily to consider. But she'd done it, and stayed strong, even though Keith continued to play his mind games, but it was to little to late, and her daughter, as soon as she was grown, took off to England, in an attempt to get as far away from both her parents as possible.
Regretting not getting her child away from Keith sooner, Meg decides to help another women to escape her abusive husband, getting involved in an organisation, that helps women to escape, when the courts fail them.
With her isolated home, aptly named "The bolt hole" she's in the perfect location to hide away a mother and her children. But her attempts to help, don't go quite how she imagined.
Nerine and her two children, Analiese and Collette are naturally anxious and afraid, but nothing Meg does or says, can convince Nerine that she's safe, and that no one can find her here.
But when strange things start to happen around her home, like strange footprints in the dirt, and tunes being played on her windchimes, Meg is left feeling confused, is Nerine correct, has her husband found her, or is it Meg's old husband, up to his tricks again?

This was an interesting read, with well developed characters and a surprising plot. I adored Meg, who was kind, thoughtful and surprisingly strong, given the mental abuse she had suffered from her husband.
Analiese, the older of Nerine's children, broke my heart, and Collette the younger was adorable, and although decidedly oblivious to most of what was going on around her, as most young children are, still showed cleverly crafted signs, that her past had left scars.
But this is not a straightforward story, there are some incredibly twists, and turns. And quite a few heart stopping moments, that keep you glued to the pages.

The only thing I wasn't overly keen on with this book, was the cover. The little shack and spooky atmosphere, did draw me in, but I just felt that it could have been done a little bit better, and that it's unpolished look might put some people off.

That doesn't effect the rating though and I'd give this book a solid 5 out of 5, as Catherine's writing style is lovely and flows well. Which means you can really lose yourself in the story. She also seems to have a good grasp of human emotions and this really shone through.

I'd definitely be interested in reading more by this Author, in the future. And am grateful to NetGalley, Catherine Jinks and her publisher, for allowing me to read, Shelter for free, in exchange for an honest review.