A good, fast paced story with plenty of action from the start.

Jessie is a great, strong character who doesn't give up no matter what.

There was plenty of twists to keep you guessing until the chilling climax.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I'll look out for her books in future.

An incredible ‘edge-of-the-seat read with captivating characters, vivid description and a very real sense of danger. It’s a wonder I have an fingernails left! I literally fled through the pages, anxious to know how it would end. Riveting!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

they cant get out, he has made the windows jam with a small piece of wood that will burn up and leave no trace, he has set the fire and now he stands back to watch, if by chance they do manage he has his gun ready....

oh my word what a book.....could not put it down...with a serial pyromaniac around, nobody is safe and with the whole town point a finger at jessie, she doesnt stand a chance

ruth an ex fbi agent who is trying to rebuild her shattered life with her family in a new town..struggles to understand they towns apathy towards jessie...

but the out of control fire is getting closer and her lungs cant take the smoke...

right up to the last page this book has you guessing...well written and characters are believable

cant wait for the next book from this author

This is such a gripping read, it drags you in from the first page right up until the last, with an electrocly tense atmosphere and suspense and unpredictability. There were so many twists i didnt know wat to think or who to trust. I loved it

LA Larkin has moved away from her espionage thrillers recently to deliver a couple of page turning thrillers centred around imperilled but resilient women. In Widow’s Island, her main character was a high flyer brought low by tragedy and a national and very public cyberbullying campaign. The Safe Place has a woman in a similar situation but one that is more intimate and insidious. At the same time, Larkin explores the very real dangers of the growing threat of mega forest fires seen in both the US and Australia in recent years.
Eagle Falls is a small town on the edge of a lake and bordering on a National Park. When the book opens there is a mega fire burning in the park, close enough to see but with the direction of the winds no threat to the township. That threat, though, and the constant pall of smoke hangs over all of the action in this book. Jessie lives outside of town in a small cabin, hiding from the populace. She had been in a relationship with Marcus, the fire chief, but after accusing him of series domestic violence (resulting in a broken arm) and not being believed by either the Sherriff or the town at large she has become a pariah. Two suspicious house fires lead police to believe that there may be a serial arsonist at work and Jessie’s coincidental appearance at the second fire, trying to help and getting knocked out, together with her outsider status puts her in the frame and for Sherriff Cuffy that is good enough. Due to the abuse she suffered, Jessie finds it hard to trust anyone, although forms a tentative relationship with Ruth, wife of a local and former FBI agent, who’s family have just moved back into town after living in Seattle for many years. Despite her non-active status, Ruth becomes invested in Jessie’s plight.
Larkin has the pressure on Jessie from almost the first page and it does not let up. Each decision she makes is a good one from her damaged perspective but often just makes her look more suspicious. And as the pressure mounts on Jessie, the threat to the town increases until all of the danger comes to a head in a frenetic, revelatory and explosive action set piece. The wildfire and its growing threat are brought to visceral life, reflecting no doubt Larkin’s experience of the 2019/20 Australian East coast bushfires.
Much as she did in Widow’s Island, Larkin has done her research on both forest fires and serial arsonists. There is a little piece of exposition about arsonists, but it is delivered organically and serves readers as a guide to considering the many suspects that Larkin throws their way. That said, Larkin plays fair even while dropping plenty of red herrings along the way, so some keen eyed readers may pick the solution early, but this makes the revelations more believable when they come. And Larkin manages to tie this plot line in well with her other concerns which are around domestic violence, gaslighting of abused women and control and it gives her the ability to deliver a couple of satisfying final twists.
There is plenty going on here, including an additional subplot involving mortgage fraud, but Larkin manages to tie all of these and other subplots together, having those secrets layer on each other to drive the actions of a range of characters. All up, The Safe Place shows Larkin growing in her ability to deliver thought provoking but page turning thrillers.

This book was severe anxiety inducing as I am a former Australian in the UK and my family still live in a bushfire zone so I am often checking during fire season.

This is a not an easy read but really intense and a very adult read. There are a lot of triggers including domestic abuse but they all make sense. All the loose ends were tied up nicely at the end.

I am so glad I have read this book and will definately be looking for more by this author.

I was given an advance copy by Bookouture and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of The Safe Place, a thriller set in the fictional Washington town of Eagle Falls.

Jessie Lewis has been unwelcome in town since she accused her popular boyfriend of domestic abuse and when an arsonist starts burning the houses and families of people associated with her she becomes the prime suspect. With nowhere to turn former FBI agent, Ruth Sullivan, who has recently moved to the town becomes her only friend.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Safe Place, which is an exciting and engrossing thriller, full of incident and tension. The novel opens with the unnamed arsonist watching a fire burn, well, two fires, a home and the wild fire ravaging the local area, but quickly turns to a split narrative between Jessie and Ruth as they navigate murder, arson, distrust and outright distrust. It’s a heady brew, as neither they nor the reader know who to trust or how to separate fact from fiction. It becomes clear early on that the sheriff and his buddies are a good ole boys club and feel threatened by Jessie’s unwillingness to submit to them.

The plot requires a certain suspension of disbelief given the high body count and level of violence and, I would like to say, the way the sheriff runs the town, but that, unfortunately, is all too believable. I just accepted events as they were presented and got involved in a high octane, tense and exciting read. There is something about fire, be it arson or natural that raises the anxiety level and the author uses it well, both as psychological intimidation and as a tension raiser when the characters fight against the clock. It’s hard to outrun fire.

I like Jessie and Ruth, who are strong characters. As a victim of domestic abuse Jessie is cowed in the face of authority and blindsided by the accusations against her. She is initially helpless, but soon finds the courage to fight to clear her name. Ruth is physically damaged by a work related incident and has taken very early retirement. She is loyal and smart, but manipulated by what she wants to believe.

The Safe Place is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Is there anything more terrifying than an out of control fire? To be honest, I felt this simmered a little at the beginning, but once I got into it, the flames enveloped me and boy did the plot move along at pace.
As well as countless fires, there was murder, lies and domestic violence, nobody comes out of this untouched in some way and there are bodies everywhere. But it is a gripping story, the tale of how you can know everybody in a small town and yet be so lonely. You could feel Jessie’s desperation.
Stick with this book, there are a series on countless plot twists and surprises right until the very end.
I cannot want for L.A.Larkin’s next work.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookoutre for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

A wonderful fast-paced action/thriller that keeps you turning the pages because the evolution of events is shocking and mind-bending. I'm looking forward to picking up more books by LA Larkin soon!

Such a descriptive opening that really had me wanting to be in the town. I do see in the first two chapters that it's so descriptive which can at times knock you out of the story. However the descriptions are amazing so I can forgive being pushed out of story mode.

Jessie I really like the character feeling that a lot of the issues she has is because of inept Sherriff as well as all the lying that former friends and co workers did.

I find I enjoy the angle with the fires. Living in Canada and also visiting the far north of Canada where this is very common to have the wild fires that can cause mass evacuations it made the story hit home more.

The character of Ruth to me feels like the best character in the book. She was well designed with backstory as well as faults and virtues. I really find her to be amazing and just want so much more for her as she seems to be missing something. She is a great mom but I would love to see her an an FBI agent so that we could really see what she was like.

The story was fast paced and kept my attention fully. It had so many wow factor moments.

What I loved about this book was how many plot twists there were that you would never see coming. It kept me guessing and kept me wanting more.

I think what I liked the most it had strong female characters that were able to succeed despite everything that was thrown at them. Seldom am I taken completely by surprise in a book and this really did it. I didn't know which way to turn and with each chapter I fell more in love with this book.

In some ways the book had too much description however it did set the scene well especially in small town USA.

This book has me hooked and I will be going back to read the other books that this wonderful author has written.

This is truly one fiery explosive book.

What an excellent book! I definitely could not put this one down...so many twists and turns! The characters are great, relatable and we'll thought out. I never saw the end coming.

Thanks to the author, netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Before I start, I want to address something that I think all books should have a warning on but don’t. I believe they should always warn the reader of certain abuse that may feature in a book. Especially if to a child or an animal. If I was to know this about any book, I Would not read it. When I started this book I was very concerned how much Jessie’s beloved dog Bertie was featured and I nearly stopped reading as I was scared of continuing incase something awful was to happen. WARNING next line is a very mild spoiler and the review then follows in the next paragraph……………………………………………………………….there is 1 case of animal abuse in this book that is not fatal so I could just about deal with that. BUT I, along with others may have missed out on a great story for fear of what would happen. In the other hand, that one part of the story could be just too much for some readers to deal with. If we had some kind of warning system I believe it would help readers know what would be safe for us to read.
I must stress this is no fault of the author whatsoever!
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Back to the story, Wow, this is an amazing fast paced full of action thriller that won’t disappoint.
The main character Jessie is very likeable yet on occasions you may find yourself screaming at some of her decisions yet still desperately routing for her to not only clear her name for all of the recent house fires but prove her fathers death wasn’t an accident. She is doing this whilst having the entire town, including the Sheriff and her corrupt ex boyfriend the Chief FireMarshall and a killer against her.
Despite guessing the culprit early on it didn’t ruin the storyline for me as I still needed to know the reason for his actions.
This is certainly an author I will be looking out for in the future.
#NetGalley #TheSafePlace

This story shows that there is NO safe place! What a good story of action, mystery and suspense! Enjoyed it!

The Safe Place is a Non-stop, fast-paced action with breathe holding suspense nearly from the 1st to the last page.. Wow, multiple suspects … who can you trust? Adrenaline rush for sure when there is a serial arsonist, serial murderer on the loose, and time is of the essence to catch them now before they murder again and leave no witness behind.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
#TheSafePlace

A safe place... is that not something we all want for ourselves and our loved ones? Sometimes though it very hard to find when you are being chased and each time you start to trust someone it seems like they did not deserve your trust at all. You are constantly lied to, cheated on and when you think you have found that safe place, you have to run again.

The author created a great bunch of characters. I loved Jessie. She is such a great person and my heart went out to her. And then there are the bad ones… OMG some of them, I would have loved to give them a piece of mind. 😊

Little by little the author reveals the story and it was devastating to see who the baddie was and how bad he was.

It’s shows again how little you know a person if they don’t want you to know them. You might be living next door to a serial killer and to you he seems like the most likeable person in the world.

Kudos for the author for writing such an entertaining story that kept me up until the early hours. I just had to finish the book and find out who the culprit was. I was a bit groggy this morning due to lack of sleep, but I happily forgo on some sleep when I am reading a book this amazing.

Thank you for this great story. I am looking forward to your next work of art.

Thank you

What a great book! The characters are complex and the town is overflowing with secrets and creepy vibes. It was fun to read from the beginning but once the action started, it was so exciting and surprising. There's one scene with an axe that was a WHAAAT??? moment like I've never experienced in a book. A must-read for fans of thrillers and/or small town dysfunction.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I will keep this brief because you need to stop reading this and go and get yourself a copy of ‘The Safe Place’ by L.A. Larkin right this very minute.

Jessie Lewis is an outcast from her community. She made a statement that her boyfriend, and town hero, Marcus domestically abused her and the community of Eagle Falls shunned her. Jessie is drawn back to her town when a series of arsons, set during a raging wildfire period, are targeting people that Jessie was involved with making her a suspect.

The sense of place in this novel is incredible. You can really feel the lingering smoke from the wildfire tickle your throat and the small town, insular community, and their behaviours towards outsiders are captured so perfectly. Larkin does a brilliant job putting you right there beside Jessie.

The pacing is incredible. Every chapter ramps up the action and propels you into the next event, I really struggled to put this book down from about 39% in all the way to the thrilling finish.

We also need to talk about the portrayal of Jessie as a domestic abuse survivor. Larkin goes hard on her description of the abuse that Jessie suffered not only at the hands of Marcus but the further indifference of her community when she was brave enough to speak out. It’s a scathing indictment on how many women are treated and Larkin handles it with grace. Jessie begins the book as a broken woman and to see her growth over the pages, as she literally fights for her life, into a confident person was equal parts brutal and heartwarming.

Next time I see a L.A Larkin book you can be guaranteed that I’ll be getting it. Just like you should be going out and getting yourself a copy of ‘A Safe Place’.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookoture and LA Larkin for an ARC of this incredible book.

This is my first L.A. Larkin book but I don't think it'll be my last. It took me a little while to get into the story but once I was in, I was hooked! An arsonist is targeting residents in the woods near the town of Eagle Falls in Washington state and people are dying. A young woman, Jessie Lewis, is prime suspect as she had been seen arguing with one of the victims. But there's another fire - a wild forest fire - that threatens to engulf the whole town. Can Jessie clear her name and find the real culprit before Eagle Falls goes up in flames?

L.A. Larkin certainly knows how to write tense action scenes and she kept me guessing as to how her main protagonist, Jessie Lewis, was going to get out of trouble. Domestic violence is a theme that permeates the book. I thought it was handled well and gave real insight into Jessie. L.A. Larkin drew on the very real experience of the terrible fires in Australia to create that constant background threat. Part of me was wondering why the residents continued to go about their business instead of getting out of town but watching news reports of the volcano eruption on La Palma, you can see that people don't want to leave their homes.

This is a tense, dramatic read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jessie Lewis is an outcast from her home town of Eagle Falls in Washington State. When she reported her boyfriend Marcus to the Sherriff after two years of escalating domestic abuse, he refused to believe that the town’s popular fire chief could have been violent towards her. After everyone in the town sided with Marcus, she was forced to withdraw her complaint and move to a small cabin in the woods where she felt safe and could hide from all the disdain hurled at her by the town. But now someone is setting houses on fire and killing people Jessie knows and the Sherriff once again has her squarely in his sights.

I mostly read this book in a state of high anxiety for Jessie. She was already so damaged and downtrodden, following her time with Marcus and the treatment she received after she reported him, and now she was getting further and further into dangerous situations. Apart from the house fires that someone is trying to frame her for, there are raging wildfires not far from her and her little wooden cabin is far from safe.

With her parents dead and no friends in town, she has only one person she can turn to for help. Ex-FBI agent, Ruth has recently moved to town and while Jessie likes Ruth, she’s not yet sure if she can trust her, besides Ruth’s husband Victor appears to dislike having Jessie around. The sense of fear is visceral and those who have recently lived through recent severe bushfire seasons will recognise how real the smoke, the heat and the ever-present anxiety feel. This is a fast paced, intense thriller that had me holding my breath more than once!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

This book will keep you on the edge of you seat! We follow Jessie, who used to be a volunteer firefighter. Jessie lives in a small town, she is shunned by the community after she accused her exboyfriend, Marcus, of domestic abuse. Marcus is a fire investigator, firefighter and loved by the community, he and the sheriff intimidated Jessie to take back her allegations. Since then, no one wants to interact with Jessie, until Ruth, es FBI, is new to the town and takes interest in her.

The community is faced with a large wildfire nearing their town as well as a serial arsonist wrecking havoc on their community and killing families. We watch as Jessie tries to investigate and Ruth tries to understand the community. So many twists and turns throughout the entire read.