Book Summary and Reviews of Safe by S.K. Barnett

Safe by S.K. Barnett

Safe

by S.K. Barnett

  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2020, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

A kidnapped girl survived twelve nightmarish years.
Now she's safely back home...or is she?

Jenny Kristal was six years old when she was snatched off the sidewalk from her quiet suburban neighborhood. Twelve years later, she's miraculously returned home after escaping her kidnappers—but as her parents and older brother welcome her back, the questions begin to mount. Where has she been all these years? Why is she back now? And is home really the safest place for her...or for any of them?

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"The pseudonymous Barnett takes an all-too-common premise and winds it into a twisty and tense exploration of family secrets, survival, and the often blurred lines between fantasy and reality and predator and prey...A creepy and darkly addictive thriller." - Kirkus Reviews

"Up until the jolting last-minute twists that lead to a somewhat clichéd conclusion, this makes for involving if unsettling reading. Genre fans will want to see more from this talented author." - Publishers Weekly

"A thought-provoking premise, excellently executed and featuring the incredibly believable voice of a cynical teenager who's seen way too much." - Booklist

"Fantastically good—dark yet compellingly upbeat, and insanely suspenseful...Even the twists have twists." - Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Dark, compulsive, full of OMG moments. If you think you know where it's going…YOU DON'T. This is one you won't forget in a hurry." - Lisa Jewell, New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone

"Safe is an absolutely first rate psychological thriller, with a serpentine plot and complex, fully realized characters. I picked it up before bedtime - an amateur mistake, in retrospect - and kept whispering just one more chapter to myself until I'd finished the whole damn thing." - Cristina Alger, New York Times bestselling author of Girls Like Us

"Safe is everything you want out of a thriller and then some. Emotionally fraught storytelling with crisp prose and perfect pacing in service of one hell of a twisting journey home." - Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead and If She Wakes

"All I can say is WOW. This is the very definition of a page-turner. Compulsively readable from the beginning and then as you get past that first twist, absolutely riveting. The kind of 'pull the carpet out from under you' blockbuster that made The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window such huge hits. What a diabolical read! Should be a #1 bestseller!!" - Christopher Reich, New York Times bestselling author of The Take and Numbered Account

This information about Safe was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

S. K. Barnett is a pseudonym for a New York Times bestselling author whose previous book was turned into a major motion picture.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Safe, try these:

  • River Sing Me Home jacket

    River Sing Me Home

    by Eleanor Shearer

    Published 2023

    About this book

    Rare. Moving. Powerful. This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother's gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery is a remarkable debut.

  • Marilou Is Everywhere jacket

    Marilou Is Everywhere

    by Sarah Elaine Smith

    Published 2020

    About this book

    Consumed by the longing for a different life, a teenager flees her family and carefully slips into another -- replacing a girl whose own sudden disappearance still haunts the town.

  • Never Coming Back jacket

    Never Coming Back

    by Alison McGhee

    Published 2018

    About this book

    Never Coming Back is a brilliant and piercing story of a young woman finding her way in life, determined to know her mother - and by extension herself - before it's too late.

We have 10 read-alikes for Safe, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!
Win This Book
Win Theo of Golden

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

Enter

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Chelsea Girls
    by Catherine Lloyd
    A glamorous biographical novel on Mary Quant, whose daring design of the miniskirt revolutionized fashion.
  • Book Jacket
    Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
    by David Woo, Margalit Shinar
    Nine linked stories reveal how globalization sparks life-changing consequences across continents.
  • Book Jacket
    Days of Sun and Shadow
    by India Hayford
    A young woman’s coming-of-age story set in the early American frontier, shaped by tragedy, nature, and resilience.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    An Infinite Love Story
    by Chanel Cleeton
    “A tender, romantic drama that soars as high as it’s astronauts.” —Kate Quinn
  • Book Jacket
    Summer of Love
    by Kerri Maher
    Three women reshape their family's Napa Valley winery after the 1967 Summer of Love.
Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

The C is A R

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.