Keep Her Safe - Sophie Hannah

I find Sophie Hannah's writing and plotting to be quite clever and have enjoyed many of her previous works. Her latest North American release is Keep Her Safe.

Cara has had enough of her family. She decides to flee to a spa in the US from her home in Britain - and enjoy herself. But there's a bit of a snafu when she checks in. The room she's initially given already has two occupants - a man and a teenager who seems a bit 'off'.

I thought this premise was great. So many possibilities could stem from a mistake of this kind.

But then Cara learns of a case of a girl named Melody, murdered by her parents, The teenager in the room looks just like her and there's an irrefutable piece of evidence that points to her being Melody. But when Cara sounds the alarm - the girl is gone. But is Cara herself now in danger?

An interesting cast of characters populate Keep Her Safe. I really liked Cara - and she's probably the only character I did. The supporting players are abrasive, harsh and somewhat unbelievable. Television maven and journalist Bonnie Juno is probably the worst of the bunch. Although her running diatribes do mirror many sensationalist journalists reporting today. Tarin Fry is another visitor to the spa and she takes it upon herself to 'help with the case. I found it unbelievable that the police would listen and take direction from her. I had to suspend disbelief with quite a bit of the plotting. The final 'ta-da' just seemed too far fetched. Although the descriptions of the spa painted vivid image for me, I found myself becoming somewhat tired of the details after a bit. That being said - the ending was a chilling little gotcha that I appreciated.

I will absolutely pick up the next book from Sophie Hannah, but have to say Keep Her Safe was just an okay read for me. Read an excerpt of Keep Her Safe.

You can connect with Sophie Hannah through her website,  find her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.