Book Review: Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh

Title: Safe and Sound

Author: Laura McHugh

Pages: 304

Publication Date: April 23, 2024

Goodreads Description: 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 Review: 

Safe and Sound is a missing person thriller by Laura McHugh. Briefly, my thoughts: This book isn't labeled YA, but what with the young characters who are drinking and putting themselves in dangerous situations, the clueless and toxic adults, and the bitter feelings about small-towns, I think I am too old for this book?

 I mean they relentlessly made fun of Amelia and Grace's boss, who was admittedly creepy and a bad guy, but I felt like they were making fun of him for being old and he was in his 30s. Also, I don't live in the south or anywhere near it so maybe it's different there (I live in the Pacific Northwest), but small towns aren't the villains this book makes them out to be in my experience. And last, this book truly reminded me of On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel in many ways, it was giving me some serious de ja vu.

Kylee and Amelia are sisters. Amelia is a waitress after graduating early and Kylee is in her junior year of high school. They live with their mother who is a stripper and cocktail waitress and isn't the nurturing type. So for most of their lives, they had the positive influence of their cousin, Grace. But she has disappeared several years ago when the story begins. Inspired by the anniversary vigil, Kylee and Amelia start looking into Grace's disappearance and quickly uncover a lot of information previously unknown.

This book had lots of potentially triggering situations in it that made the book hard to read for me at times. However, it was a quick, fast paced read that kept me hooked. The end was pretty twisty, if not realistic. 3.5 stars rounded up.