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A review by hnagle15
Safe by S.K. Barnett
4.0
This is a mix of both [b:Only Daughter|29095402|Only Daughter|Anna Snoekstra|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456412033l/29095402._SY75_.jpg|49331400] by Anna Snoekstra and the story of Frédéric Bourdin & Nicholas Barclay.
This book is fast paced and had me racing to reach the ending, I simply could not put it down. The weaving of past & present for Jenny was well done, and I loved the way we heard from other characters throughout the novel as well by providing their POV a chapter.
Minor spoilers:
-I did think the whole Catholic church school place Ben was forced to go to was weird as hell. It felt soooo out there and bizarre for the story.
-Tabs' "hacking" .... omg this was like a bad movie!! Where they punch a few keys and yell "I'M IN!!" It was just rough. There was NO frickin way it was just so simple
-The ending was really sweet, I really liked the redemption in that it just shows how shitty addicts can be, and it's not them it's the drug. I thought this was a really nice way to wrap it up.
-The child sexual abuse was pretty graphic... and honestly that is part of why I am not rating a 5 (+ the major spoiler below), I think that could have been written differently.
Major spoiler:
There were a couple times throughout the novel that it felt almost like it was plagiarism of the two stories. Jobeth was very much like Bourdin in that she impersonated multiple missing children and got kicks out of it. The story of Jobeth/Jenny was very similar to that of Barclay, where the parents went along with it because it was simply easier... there has been a lot speculation that Barclay was somehow killed by a family member and they covered it up, then with Bourdin arrived they were so relieved to have an out they just made it work. And this is pretty much exactly what happens in Safe.
TW: child sexual abuse, child abuse
This book is fast paced and had me racing to reach the ending, I simply could not put it down. The weaving of past & present for Jenny was well done, and I loved the way we heard from other characters throughout the novel as well by providing their POV a chapter.
Minor spoilers:
Spoiler
-I did think the whole Catholic church school place Ben was forced to go to was weird as hell. It felt soooo out there and bizarre for the story.
-Tabs' "hacking" .... omg this was like a bad movie!! Where they punch a few keys and yell "I'M IN!!" It was just rough. There was NO frickin way it was just so simple
-The ending was really sweet, I really liked the redemption in that it just shows how shitty addicts can be, and it's not them it's the drug. I thought this was a really nice way to wrap it up.
-The child sexual abuse was pretty graphic... and honestly that is part of why I am not rating a 5 (+ the major spoiler below), I think that could have been written differently.
Major spoiler:
Spoiler
There were a couple times throughout the novel that it felt almost like it was plagiarism of the two stories. Jobeth was very much like Bourdin in that she impersonated multiple missing children and got kicks out of it. The story of Jobeth/Jenny was very similar to that of Barclay, where the parents went along with it because it was simply easier... there has been a lot speculation that Barclay was somehow killed by a family member and they covered it up, then with Bourdin arrived they were so relieved to have an out they just made it work. And this is pretty much exactly what happens in Safe.
TW: child sexual abuse, child abuse