Safe as Houses

January 12, 2015
Two women experience near-death waking nightmares in this lean, edgy crime novel from van der Vlugt (Shadow Sister). Somewhere in the Netherlands, 43-year-old Mike Kreuger, a murderer who has escaped from a psychiatric prison, confronts single-mother Lisa in her yard and forcibly enters her house, where he holds Lisa and her ailing five-year-old daughter hostage. Senta, an accidental witness, takes off in her car for help, but she drives too fast and runs her car off the road into a canal. Senta, who comes close to drowning before she’s rescued, loses her memory and her ability to communicate. The plot relentlessly hurtles from one increasingly tense scene to the next, as Kreuger steals shred after shred of Lisa’s dignity and self-respect, and Senta struggles to regain her memory. A horrifying if predictable ending closes off a thriller that should not be read alone at night.

March 15, 2015
Van der Vlugt, one of Holland's leading mystery writers, has created a story that will engage readers immediately. While Lisa is hanging her laundry out to dry, she notices a strange man. Within minutes, he forces his way into the house, holding Lisa and her young daughter, Anouk, hostage. The man has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane and admits that he has killed his wife and children. Determined to protect her daughter and survive the ordeal, Lisa does what is necessary. When a lost motorist, Senta, tries to get directions, she notices that something is wrong in the house. Lisa believes that she will get help, but she does not know that the woman has had an accident and has wound up in the hospital, trying to remember the important thing that made her go off the road and into a canal. Despite a somewhat disappointing ending, this intense story of two strong women will draw those who enjoy psychological suspense in the Ruth Rendell vein.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)