Thank you Random House / Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Safe and Sound in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Random House
Published: April 23, 2024
Summary:
Six years after their cousin vanished from their home while they were sleeping, two sisters set out to learn the truth behind what happened—even if it puts their own lives in danger—in this haunting thriller from the internationally bestselling author of What’s Done in Darkness
In a town no one ever leaves, there are only so many places to hide.
As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving only a smear of blood on a door. Scrappy and driven, Grace had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and going to work at the meatpacking plant. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better.
Now, as their own high school graduation looms, Amelia and Kylee dream about getting out of Beaumont, but the likelihood of that happening seems as low as that of Grace being found. When human remains are discovered in town, the sisters think they finally know who took Grace—but as they dig deeper into her past, they unearth long-buried secrets and a growing list of suspects.
Amelia and Kylee vow to find Grace, dead or alive. But as they draw closer to the truth and slip deeper into danger, they question how far someone would go to put a woman in her place, or to cover up a crime. The answer is worse than they could have imagined, and in the end, it won’t just be Grace they’re trying to save—they’ll have to fight for their lives.
My thoughts:
I became a fan of Laura McHugh after reading her last book, What’s Done in Darkness. Her books tend to be dark, emotional, haunting reads and this latest one is no different.
This book is incredibly atmospheric, with that small-town feel really pulling you in. One of the aspects of I love of the author’s writing is how well is she does gritty, dark stories with a human touch. This one tackles the complex bonds of family and how trauma can affect us whether we realize it or not.
I loved the strong sisterly bond we see play out over the course of this book. As I mentioned, this is a dark, and at times disturbing read, but what got me through it was seeing how these sisters stuck together time and again through it all. The bond that Amelia, Kylee and their cousin Grace had is what really drives this story. This is most definitely a character-driven story and one that gets under your skin in the best way…I haven’t stopped thinking about these characters since I put the book down!
Right from the start I knew I would love this one…I just didn’t know how much. I was so emotionally invested in these characters and loved the way the story unfolded, told in multiple points of view, with Amelia and Kylee’s chapters in the present and Grace’s chapters in the past. It really is brilliantly plotted and filled with just the right amount of twists to keep you engaged and guessing where it is heading.
If intense, dark, emotional thrillers are your type of reads, I highly recommend picking this one up!
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