Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 29, 2023
After receiving an inheritance, Theresa moves to Victoria, Australia with hopes of finally being able to complete her first novel. It isn’t long afterward though, when she meets Rick, a business owner and former TV star. Rick has big dreams, too, and soon enough, the two are married and starting a life together. But Rick is keeping secrets from Theresa, and he is quick to anger when she calls him on it. Then, Rick’s ex-wife is found murdered, her body abandoned in the bush, and the police come calling. Theresa knows that Rick has a dark side, but is he capable of murder?
“Far From Home” is the debut novel by Australian author Naomi Shippen, and unfortunately, it reads like one. Although the plot was entertaining enough to keep me engaged, the writing was amateur and the characters were unlikable. Rick is supposed to be a “bad guy” and he plays the role well. What I didn’t expect was how much I disliked Theresa. I felt no sympathy for her, and although she found herself in a rotten situation, she was naïve and weak-willed, encompassing all of the stereotypes that women in controlling relationships get labeled (mostly unnecessarily, but not in Theresa’s case). Poor Chloe, Rick’s young daughter, was the only one I sympathized with and for.
The story has short chapters, each narrated by Rick, Theresa and Marco (whose role exists simply to throw the reader another possible suspect), which makes the novel easy to read. The romantic relationship that is just beginning at the end of the novel is completely expected (I’m also not sure how ethical it is?) but overall, I was satisfied with the way the character arcs played out.
Shippen has the beginnings of a writing career just under the surface and future novels may prove this. “Home” was a good starting point, and is an easy read, and with some tweaking and development, Shippen has the capability to deliver a crowd-pleaser.

3.5 stars-This book was just average for me. The writing is good, but the plot just moves along a straight line. You know going in to the story what is going to happen, and then…it happens. There isn’t much of a thriller element, just a story of a woman who is controlled and gaslit. The ending to Theresa’s story was way too tied up in a nice little bow happily ever after for me. That being said, it did keep my interest and I would read another book from this author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ms Shippen indeed has a wonderful pen(woman)ship — congratulations!

Now to the story...

Theresa, a wannabe writer in her late thirties, moves to the suburbs of Melbourne after inheriting her granny's wealth.

She thinks a silent and serene environment would help her in achieving her long-pending creative goal of becoming a published author.

Theresa comes in contact with Rick, a local businessman in his fifties who runs a restaurant.

He was once a famous TV celebrity. His personal life is not so great — twice divorced, has a son from his first marriage and a daughter from his second. He stays alone in a secluded bungalow far away from the centre.

Soon, both Theresa and Rick get on well with each other, and they get married too.

All goes on well until he gets a message from his ex-wife Anita to take care of their teen daughter Chloe. The reason: Anita is on an artist's retreat to Italy.

As Chloe comes to stay with them, Theresa finds difficult to play the part of a stepmother.

In the meantime, some usual money problem arises in the family. However, Rick never bothers, but there is a talk in the town that he has burrowed huge sums of money from almost everyone.

Theresa finds something fishy about Rick's character and his long absence on a regular basis as part of business trips. In addition, she is now pregnant.

The complexity of both physical exhaustion and mental fatigue takes a toll on her body.

Still no word from Anita, Chloe's stay is extended, and she's even joined a local school.

Then comes a news of a body found in a bushland near Melbourne, where Anita is found brutally murdered in a semi-naked posture rotting for months.

Who is the crime suspect/murderer? Of course, obviously, exes are the prime ones who can't be ignored. What will Theresa do — will she be for or against Rick?

However, there is an arrest of a land agent who had some bad business dealing with Anita.

Then comes a twist in the tale that will keep you invested completely to solve this investigation.

Once the examination begins, the pace of the novel picks up and keeps the reader glued as various red herrings are deftly placed to confuse the audience.

What I liked the most about this revenge saga is not the crime itself but its motivation, which connects all the dots.

This novel takes its sweet time to establish the characters, setup, and their intention behind each and every action.

An absolute treat to readers who love to deep-dive into the character study of human vulnerability and ugliness to control and manipulate the fellow person to achieve whatever it takes.

This is the authors first published book and reading the acknowledgments at the end tmeans a lot after many years of wanting to take up her passion for writing and can only applaud her for that 🤗
Lets get the negative out of the way and possibly not the authors remit but the title is difficult ( doesn’t seem to flow well ) and for me does not rely the actual content of the book, if anything quite the opposite unless I am totally misunderstanding it??, and also the cover, it does not do the book justice imo

And the book itself, well that’s good, its a well written story about manipulation, narcissism and control and the man who wields all 3 and the unfortunates who are in his path, the main character Rick is suitably vile yet almost humours himself over his cruelty which was unnerving and as for the poor main victim Theresa she was all in benign in her love and seeing all that she wanted to see, maybe she missed a few red warning signs…but like many tales there wouldn’t be a story if all did as we would hope to do, I liked her and empathy overcame any niggle at her blind faith
The setting in Australia was, as I always find with books set there, fresh and descriptive and the authors really know how to paint a picture of the area they are writing about that transfers easily to your minds eye
For a debut this was more than satisfying and the writing encouraging as to what come next from this obviously talented writer

Thank you to NetGalley and Kingsley Publishers for the eARC of this thrilling title! A fun and suspenseful read! The author does a great job of introducing the characters! Did not see the twists coming! I could not put this read down and it is an amazing debut novel! I am excited to read more in the future!

This is a very entertaining and quick read. I read it in one day. The main character is rather infuriating. Seriously I’m colorblind but even I see the red flags. I highly recommend this one!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Kingsley Publishers for the eARC of this thrilling title!**

While Far From Harm was closer to a 3.5 star read for me, I am rounding up to 4 stars due to it being a debut novel and the fact that it really is a page-turner!!

I read this book between 2 sittings, and couldn't get enough from each of the characters as the POV shifted every chapter. Farm From Harm follows Theresa as she moves from the city into the Australian countryside following the death of her grandmother. She buys a house, and settles down to take the year off to work on a novel.

Everything changes when she meets Rick, the owner of the coffee shop she frequents in town. He approaches her at the shop, invites her out to dinner, and it was a crazyyyyy spiral from there.

I loved the story and it was definitely a well done nail-biter. My complaints are with the character development, the jumps in time, and the ending. The female MC seemed like a perfectly well-adjusted, intelligent woman. Despite that, she made SO many idiotic choices throughout the book that it felt like a completely different character doing these things. The chapters also jumped in time quite a bit and at times even the author seemed to be confused about when things had happened, which made it feel a little disjointed as a reader. My final and biggest gripe is with the ending. The story was SO good, yet the ending felt rushed and not as satisfying as it could have been.

With all that being said - definitely check this book out!! It was a fast, wild ride and would be great for getting out of a reading slump. I don't think that I've ever read a book that is fully considered a domestic suspense but this one was a wild ride and I am definitely looking forward to checking out more from this genre and especially Naomi Shippen in the future!

The story is led by a variety of narrators, with each opening chapter giving us a perspective from different characters. There’s a lot of information to unpack in the opening chapters but it feels as though we are being set up for a really fascinating, sinister story ahead, and an untangling of how all the threads are going to come together.

The writing style is easy flowing and well paced, and I personally really like lots of shorter chapters like this has over longer ones as I feel like the story is moving along at a good speed.

The main characters are a real mix. Theresa comes across as a bit naive and wanting to be loved, but not a bad character, and you feel early on how manipulative Rick is going to be with her and you worry for her. As the story develops you do become a little frustrated with Theresa and the amount of obvious red flags that she misses, and her slightly self absorbed assumption that she can be a better wife and mother than Ricks exes.

The story has everything from deceit, murder, missing persons, teenage angst, family dynamics, suspense and rage. The ending felt a little rushed in comparison to the rest of the story and wrapped up a bit quickly, but not disappointing in its conclusion. An solid debut novel and I will definitely return to the author for further reads in future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kingsley Publishers for this e-arc for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kingsley Publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to scream at Theresa so many times during the book. So many red flags right in her face !! The book was really interesting all along, reading from his POV all along also. So many things he'll go through just for his greed. Love is clearly not his priority, not even for his children.
This is the first book I read from this author and I found it great.

Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, Action, intrigue, murder, gas lighting, abuse, mystery, a great who done it and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!