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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Safer" Will Grip You In Suspense, December 24, 2008
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I usually avoid plots where the protagonist is framed or caught in a web not of his/her making. Perhaps because the truth is known from the beginning and the reader must persevere through the unraveling of the story and the sinister plot that is afoot. Perhaps it is because this concept may be the most frightening possibilty each of us might one day face. That being said, "Safer" is one great read. After recently discovering Sean Doolittle with "The Cleanup", I was ready to plunge into this new novel. It immediately captured my interest to the point that I sometimes didn't want to put it down until I finshed it. It is stylish, well-written, tightly plotted, and flows easily although it will soon have you gripped in suspense. Paul and Sara Callaway move to a quiet cul-de-sac in a midwestern small town and begin new jobs. At first life is good and idyllic as they meet and develop relationships with their new neighbors and prominently, Roger Mallory..a retired police officer and sort of self-appointed caretaker of the local community, including the Neighborhood Watch. Almost before he knows it, Paul is in a horrible neighborhood battle with Roger that will have far reaching consequences. As Paul ultimately finds himself accused of a heinous crime and begins to feel the walls closing in around him, he finds his options to escape the sticky web that has ensnared him to be few and dependent perhaps on a questionable attorney and his own will to fight back. It is this fight to prove his innocence against overwhelming odds that keeps the reader gripped in suspense. In the course of the narrative, Paul proves himself not to be the brightest bulb in the box by making several stupid decisions and mistakes, especially one which alienates the support of his wife. His desperate attempt to prove his innocence begins uncovering a decade old crime and a deadly dark conspiracy to hide it. Quickly the reader is left to decide who can Paul trust? Why is he faced with obstruction everywhere he turns? Why are so many not who or what they seem? "Safer" is a gripping read for many reasons, not the least of which is the helplessness and frustration experienced by Paul Callaway with which most readers can identify. It is also a morality tale regarding the intrusion of modern electronic and spying devices and the planned and unplanned consequences they have on the lives that they touch upon. In a way, it is also a commentary on the social structures and neighborhood interactions that develop in small developments in almost any city. I strongly recommend not only "Safer" but also any work by Sean Doolittle.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Two and a half Stars, February 7, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
SAFER, the new suspense novel from Sean Doolittle, begins simply enough, with Paul Callaway and his wife, Sara, moving from Boston to a quiet Midwestern community. On the first night in their new home, they are the victims of a break-in, which marks the beginning of a paranoid suburban nightmare that strains all suspension of disbelief this reader could muster. Doolittle uses a shifting timeline to tell the story, alternating between Paul and Sara's early days in the new neighborhood, and the present-day, and the shifts can sometimes be disorienting. In the flashbacks, Paul tells how the break-in caused him to join the local neighborhood watch, part of the massive "Safer Places" organization, run by their neighbor, Roger Mallory. Roger's a retired cop/lunatic control freak, whose son was abducted and killed a decade ago, and he takes the "Watch" part of neighborhood watch VERY seriously. Before long, Paul has run afoul of Roger, and been arrested for crimes allegedly committed against his thirteen-year-old neighbor. The first half of the book is a tightly-wound little thriller, but by the last fifty pages, my credibility had been strained beyond the breaking point, until SAFER had become an almost INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS-esque exercise in paranoia, where everyone you encounter is a part of the plot against you. The final fate of Paul Callaway ultimately flew in the face of all that had gone before, and no matter how good a book is, if it falls apart at the end, it's got to be considered a failure.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome to (Mr.) Roger's neighborhood, February 2, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
When Paul Callaway and his wife, Sara move from Boston to the small suburban cul-de-sac neighborhood in Iowa, they have no idea what's in store for them. This seemingly friendly neighborhood with it's Safer Places Organization that turns out to be the neighborhood watch from hell, isn't at all what they bargained for. Roger Mallory, a former police officer may have seemed like a nice friendly neighbor, but Paul and Sara begin to have suspicions as soon as the story starts to unfold. This books grabs you right from the first pages with Paul being arrested at a cocktail party in his own home, to flash backs telling what led up to this night. It's an exciting read with lots of plot twists and turns and not a dull moment. It's one of those books that kept me up til 3:00 in the morning because I just couldn't put it down until I found out what happened. Even if you don't usually like crime/suspense novels, this one is different because Sean Doolittle does such a great job writing and the characters are so believable. I plan to read his other books, Dirt and The Cleanup based on reading this one. Two thumbs up!
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