Keep Her Safe

July 24, 2017
In this unnecessarily complex standalone from bestseller Hannah (A Game for All the Family), Englishwoman Cara Burrows, who’s frustrated with her family, leaves her husband and two children behind in the U.K. and flies to Phoenix, Ariz., where she stays at the exclusive Swallowtail Resort in the foothills of Camelback Mountain. Pregnant with an unintended third child, Cara anticipates relaxing swims and soaking up the desert sun, until she’s accidentally assigned the wrong room and sees a teenage girl who closely resembles Melody Chapa, the most famous murder victim in America. Seven years earlier in 2010, seven-year-old Melody was allegedly murdered by her parents, though her body was never found. Cara soon goes down the internet rabbit hole of the Chapa case and looks up transcripts of Nancy Grace–type true crime TV shows, most hosted by the overly opinionated Bonnie Juno, an early believer in the guilt of Melody’s parents, despite a dearth of evidence. The present-day plot devolves into a kidnapping free-for-all, with Cara inexplicably at the center. Hannah, known for her labyrinthine plots, loses her way early on.

Starred review from August 1, 2017
Overwhelmed by complications arising from her unplanned third pregnancy, a Hertfordshire housewife flees her home for the comforts of an upscale Arizona resort and lands smack in the middle of a fictionalization of the JonBenet Ramsey case, which quickly swallows her up.Patrick Burrows is a good provider and a good man, but he really doesn't want any more children. So Cara Burrows runs away from home--there's no better way to put it--and sinks a third of the family's savings into a two-week stay at the Swallowtail Resort and Spa, which feels like the capital of "America: Land of Hyperbolic Overstatement." In a place dedicated to fulfilling her every whim, night clerk Riyonna Briggs accidentally gives her a key to the wrong room, and the conversation she overhears from the bathroom she thinks is her own plunges her into the case of Melody Chapa, whose parents were convicted of her murder in Philadelphia seven years ago even though her body was never found. Cara becomes convinced that the girl she overheard is Melody, and she's not the only one: regular guest Lilith McNair has been announcing sightings of Melody every year even though nobody pays any attention. Will anyone pay attention to Cara? Tearful Riyonna is no help; the rest of the Swallowtail staff treats Cara to a series of simpering brushoffs; and Lilith McNair seems even crazier in their sole one-on-one conversation. Only sharp-tongued florist Tarin Fry and Zellie, her daughter and sparring partner, take Cara seriously, and their interest doesn't prevent either Riyonna or Cara from vanishing as competing parties--the variously compromised local cops, the FBI, the TV host of Justice with Bonnie who played a key role in getting Naldo and Annette Chapa convicted all those years ago--paw the ground and look accusingly at each other while Cara's peril deepens. Hannah (Closed Casket, 2016, etc.) continues her quest to identify all the reassuring certitudes mystery novels take for granted and demonstrate how much fun it is to toss them overboard. There's no point in objecting to the coincidences and implausibilities required to launch this brilliant nightmare: resistance is futile.

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September 1, 2017
A mistake at Swallowtail Resort's front desk sends a jet-lagged Brit, Cara Burrows, blundering into a room already occupied by a man and his apparent teenage daughter. Later, Cara overhears a guest insisting that she's seen Melody Chapa, a young girl whose disappearance has captivated American popular culture for years. Curious, Cara digs online and is hooked by coverage of justice television host Bonnie Juno's passionate crusade to convict Melody's parents of murder. Cara is certain that the girl she saw that first night was clutching Melody's one-of-a-kind stuffed animal and pushes the local police to investigate. But Cara is kidnapped before she can provide her official statement of the late-night encounter. While Cara strategizes ways to outwit her captor, he is determined to make her understand the secrets behind one of America's most notorious crimes. Astute characterization, particularly in the cases of Cara and Juno, provide irony-laden commentary on America's obsession with criminal cases and the media's impact on justice. Perfect for fans of Laura Lippman's stand-alone psychological thrillers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2017

As Lisa Gardner says, Hannah puts "the 'psycho' in' psychological suspense, ' " and here's her first novel set in America, specifically, sun-bleached Arizona. A chipper British sort is enjoying a holiday until she starts suspecting that the guest in the room next door is the woman who made headlines when she disappeared years ago. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

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