Dernier Refuge

by Patricia Mac Donald, Françoise Cartano (Translator)

Dena aimait Brian. Lorsqu'elle a été enceinte, elle a cru qu'ils pourraient être heureux. Mais Brian a changé. Il s'est mis à boire, se montre brutal et jaloux. Lorsqu'un soir il la frappe violemment, elle comprend qu'il lui faut partir. Ron et Jennifer, un couple ami, sont tout disposés à l'accueillir. Elle sait qu'elle peut compter aussi sur Peter, un collègue de travail. Mais Brian semble résolu à tout pour ne pas être quitté. Et puis Jennifer est assassinée. Cependant que remonte à la surface un souvenir : les circonstances, jamais vraiment élucidées, dans lesquelles la précédente compagne de Brian a trouvé la mort...

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Thriller Suspense

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

This is Rosemary's Baby without the supernatural elements!

Dena Russel visited her hometown for a high school reunion. There she met her long time school crush Brian Riley. They get together and she gets pregnant. Now she is stuck in her hometown, with an unexpected baby and a boyfriend(?) who seems to grow more and more frustrated and angry every day! Her only consolation is the time she spends waitressing where she befriends a single father of two young girls, Peter. Her friendship with Peter makes Brian furious and Dena witnesses the true face of Brian.

After he abuses her, she stays at her friend's home. Brian stalks Dena and the police is not very helpful either. Soon someone murders her friend and Dena is wondering if there is a serial killer at loose, but mostly if her child's father is the murderer everyone is looking for?

I could identify the killer however I couldn't understand the connection, the "why". For that element of surprise, I appreciate this book. The writing is good. But its not a fast paced mystery and sometimes its boring. I read in other reviews that its not the author's best work.

What I disliked the most about this book is the character of Dena. She is so weak.She puts up with Brian's emotional abuse for a long time and waits for him to hurt her physically. She reminded me of Rosemary from Rosemary's Baby. She could have escaped from all this mess (what happens later in the book too) if she had acted promptly.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I enjoyed about this book was:

1) Plot - realistic with realistic characters. I also enjoyed the intertwining storylines.

2) Setting - smalltown with old high school mates.

3) Ending - Didn't expect that. Made the book for me.

Patricia writes about a sensitive topic of domestic violence. Look forward to reading more of her books.

[Linda Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dena Russell has made some bad decisions lately. At a high school reunion she meets a young man she had had a crush on. She's now pregnant from a one-night stand. However, when she tells Brian Riley, he's the father, he talks her into coming back to her hometown and starting a life with him.

She's now been with him for 6 months and things are not going well. Brian is moody, controlling, and a little scary. But when he hits her in a fit of anger, she decides enough is enough.

Temporarily moving in with an old school friend, who is also pregnant, she starts to feel a bit safer, although Brian has become a stalker. It's only when the body of her friend is found that Dena starts fearing the father of her child is a killer.

And then she makes another decision that may cost her her life and that of her unborn child.

Has she jumped out of the frying pan into the fire?

I've not read a book by this author that has disappointed, and this one is no different. It's well written with a cast of suspects that will have you doubting everyone. It's a gripping tale that had me riveted from page one until the surprising ending.

Many thanks to the author / Severn House / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, the opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Tana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I don’t even know what to say about this. The story itself was kind of ridiculous, nothing seemed to fit and the characters were dull and all over the place.

More than that, I cannot get over the derogatory and degrading comments made throughout this book, none of which added anything to the story and were totally unnecessary. The author must be from another decade because it was obvious how she felt about homosexuals and black/white races. She even made fun of the elderly a couple times. I am not lying when I say my jaw dropped at several of the remarks made.

This was my first by this author and probably my last. I’m giving it a generous two stars only because I did NOT see the twist coming....but I do wish she would do a rewrite and omit the expressions of criticism and hate. The story does not warrant them and we no longer live in the 1970s. C’mon.

[AGilden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the twist coming from miles away, but the characters were so likeable and the plot was so well done that it didn't really matter. One of her best books yet.

[Wendy Del Toro · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this way too lengthy and meandering with too much padding.. The villain was super predictable and obvious (which I was correct about) so I skimmed most of the last few chapters as they seemed to also follow the same stale overused blueprint.

[Amanda (Books, Life and Everything Nice) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Severn House Publishers, and Patricia MacDonald for an ARC ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

Like:
- Someone is writing about domestic violence towards women who are pregnant; too prevalent not to be talked about
- Interesting careers: piano player, police officer, restaurant industry

Love: —

Dislike:
- Racist, sexist cops who dismiss an abuse victim’s claims
- Reads as if the characters are reading the words off a script instead of telling the story naturally. Not enjoyable to read this way, and distracts from the story
- I didn’t care if I found out what happens in the book

Wish that:
- The book lived up to the great expectations I had for it, based on the initial premise
- I connected with more of the characters. Very few of them were bad, but they didn’t seem fleshed out enough.

Overall, another only okay book to add to my list of disappointing mystery/thriller/suspense books, as of lately. The premise is good, but it didn’t live up to my expectations.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like an airport thriller to read to pass the time. With cool cover art and and interesting premise I was expecting more. The story was more a domestic drama with too much downtime that ultimately felt like a daytime soap opera. There was a lot of focus on the idea and of how domestic abuse that shape women, especially when they are pregnant. The thriller aspects of a potential harmful spouse was there but was very light.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long book with lots of characters to keep track of - none of which are even remotely likable. There are some surprises in the story, but it doesn’t make up for having to trudge through pages and pages of the character’s endless dialogue and thoughts. Very weak three stars.

[Mathilde · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book ever. Évident, tellement que c'en est caricatural.

[Kira FlowerChild · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is actually a pretty good story, so it's a shame that it was majorly overwritten. The author chose omniscient point of view and unfortunately felt the need to tell the viewer almost every single character's every thought, including flashbacks. Not only that, if a character walks into a room, he/she observes every item in the room, in some cases flashing back to where the item came from or how it was acquired. I did a lot of skimming when reading this book. Its 336 pages could have been cut down to 200 and it would have been a much better book.

There are plenty of readers who liked this book, as witnessed by its Goodreads rating of 4.33 stars. As noted above, the story is actually pretty decent, although there were some things that were a little hard to take, such as the rather gruesome death of a woman in the late stages of pregnancy. I very nearly relegated it to the DNR shelf. I skipped ahead to check the ending and, as expected, it is so overwritten it was almost impossible to follow the story without reading the book all the way through, so I decided to go ahead with it, skimming over passages which had literally pages of minor characters' thoughts. I am very happy to be done with it. I would not recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers. If you enjoy novels that take their time and meander through the minds of every character that pops up, then go for it.

[Alex Prins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wouldn't have chosen it, glad I stuck with it. The plot's themes left me feeling uncomfortable and tense the whole way through, and even if it was a little far-fetched at times I felt I couldn't put it down. Parts of the dialogue did feel a bit stilted, and maybe spelt some things out unnecessarily.

[Justine Sicard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.2

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book although I felt the main female character was made to seem too weak and gullible. There were two twists I didn't see coming. I had most of it figured out midway through. The mentally of the men toward woman in this story was also annoying.

[Tina O'reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dena, after an absence of a few years has moved back to her home town, pregnant and living with a local guy she hardly knows. Things aren't as rosy as she'd expected, Brian doesn't cherish her as much as she'd hoped and he definitely drinks a lot more than she'd realised. Perhaps the prospect of fatherhood is just too much for him. It hadn't been something she'd planned either.

Dena works as a chef and Brian is jealous of any man she works with or even speaks to. Arriving at an ante natal class she meets an old (female) friend from school and when Brian arrives he decides not to join the class, but drives home again. When Dena returns he turns violent and Dena realises she cannot stay with him.

A short while later Dena's old school friend is found dead and the finger of suspicion is immediately pointed at Brian. The local police boss, however does not agree.

A good suspense story, keeps you wondering if what you see is really the truth. Loved the restaurant owner characters, a little bit of France on the pages.

[Tee M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book by Patricia MacDonald. I had suspicions about the correct perp early on, but the twists and turns kept me entertained until my suspicion was confirmed. In addition to the main story, I found myself on an emotional roller coaster in relation to subplots. 'Good ol' boy' police work, emotional and physical abuse of women, and bigotry run amuck throughout the story. Instead of throwing my reader across the room in anger, I reminded myself how evasive these non-likable characters are in our society, and how accurately the author captured their horrible essence. Despite rooting for a happy ending for the protagonist, I was mentally shaking her by the shoulders and rolling my eyes about her continual poor decisions! I can imagine this story being a great movie!

[Paola Trentadue · Rating 1 out of 5]

atrocious writing

While I somewhat enjoyed the mystery of the story and wanted to know how everything unfolded, it was hard to get through and quite maddening at times. Based in Pennsylvania, some of the characters sound British and some sound southern. Monroe, a small town that is a 3-day weekend getaway with inns and B&B’s and yet only one place for one to stay the night - the Endicott Hotel. The Black characters were terribly written and the homophobia of the police officers was completely unnecessary. It did nothing to add to the story and I have to wonder why it was included at all. Unless you enjoy reading about bigoted, poorly thought-out characters, this would be better to not read at all.

[Diane Saul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dena Russell is pregnant but is in an abusive relationship. Much as she wants it to work, Dena comes to realize it isn’t safe for her or her baby. She gets no support from the local police chief who blames her for her ex’s actions. When her friend is murdered Dena wants nothing more than to leave town and get away from her ex but she is forced to stay while police investigate the murder.

There is a lot going on in this book. Plenty of suspense to keep you interested. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

[Christine Abruzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read.

Dena lives in Monroe because she joined her old high school boyfriend after their school reunion and after finding out she was pregnant with his baby. She found out a bit late that he was not the man she thought he was but after deciding to leave him, we find she has a habit, of making really bad choices. I never saw the end coming and felt it was a great suspenseful surprise when everything comes to a staggering end . I really enjoyed another book from this author and would recommend it.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is there a safe haven for Dena? She's pregnant and in an abusive relationship with Brian. He's not a good guy. AND, Sheriff Potter is no help, none whatsoever. Things escalate when Dena's friend is murdered and no one but Dena thinks it was Brian. This zips along in, have to say it, a somewhat predictable way. That said, it's a decent read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow

Omg!!!!!! This book was amazing. Why did it end like that. I feel like there was no epilogue. You can't keep the invested reader down like that. I have So many questions. Either way I loved this story. So much going on that I had it all wrong. Must read but you will have to envision your own satisfying ending.

[jacky novak · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok

Not the best, plot was ok and if not so drawn out with lots of unnecessary words and descriptions would have been a lot better. It was not unputdownable or gripping. It became so obvious who the murderer was very early on, characters had no depth and were so stereotypical. If you can’t sleep it’s good to read as I fell asleep every time I picked it up.

[Ms.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this a 3 star, because the ending was so abrupt. The story was good, the characters well built, mystery that kept me guessing until late in the book. But, I like a book with events nicely tied up. What happened with Some of the characters lives?

[Daniela Maciel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opinião completa: http://quandoseabreumlivro.blogspot.p...

[Wynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too long. Abrupt ending. Everyone in this small town seems to be bigoted. Dena got an easy out in the end.

[Aren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of Safe Haven. For some reason the title switches to this when I try to do this review.

This is definitely worth five stars. Patricia MacDonald is a great author, perhaps my favorite, and very aware of injustices in the criminal justice system.

Here, she very accurately portrays the behavior of abusers. There is a cycle, not a circle but an upward spiral with the top being where lives are in danger. At first, abusers pretend to be the greatest guys on Earth and then they gradually ascend into abuse, and then express regret and are good again until they go up into abuse again around the circling spiral. Eventually the best times become as bad as some of the earlier worst times. It only gets worse. Eventually, they stop apologizing and lives are in danger. And often women are trapped and have no way out and those who simply tell them to leave, don't understand that the woman may be saving the lives of others by staying. Abusers get revenge when their victims leave, sometimes killing family members as well as pets.

As for the police, they don't need an excuse to treat abuse victims like they are insane or responsible for their own abuse. Police have the highest rate of domestic abusers of any profession. Women rarely are treated as human beings when they report abuse.

The one place where I would fault the book is on a peripheral issue. The misimpression it leaves about the family law courts is based on how courts were over fifty years ago and is out of date. It's an easy mistaken impression as men's rights groups perpetuate the myth that women and mothers have any rights in family law courts. In truth, the family law courts are extremely misogynistic. Even the female judges fall in line. Former Judge Salcito has spoken about how, in the Monterrey Judges' College (where they go when they are first appointed), judges are taught to disbelieve any claims of abuse by a woman who is undergoing a divorce and to assume the woman is making it up.

Female abuse victims almost never get custody of the children. In 90% of the cases where there is sexual abuse (including of the children), the abuser gets full custody and the mother is placed on monitored visits for which she must pay. In 70% of cases where there is non-sexual physical abuse, this is also the case.

In family courts, judges refuse to allow the police and doctors to testify and then declare the protective mother or female victim an abuser by way of "alienation" and restrain her from contact with the children who is given to the abuser. Exceptions are very very rare. Judges often ignore the laws on the books regarding custody.

For instance, in the real life case of Knight v Elizondo, a registered convicted child rapist was given full custody of Sarah, a six year old girl, the same age as the girl he was convicted of raping. Under California law, he is not even allowed visitation because of his conviction--but Commissioner Compton did not care about the law. Family law judges rarely do. It did not matter than the father had been caught naked in bed with the girl he got custody of or had been seen assaulting and battering the girl, publicly, and had arrested at times with sex toys and the little girl present. It also did not matter that he had convicted drug dealers living in his house. The commissioner went so far as to authorize him to get optional cosmetic surgery on the little girl's nose over the objections of the mother.

Most sex trafficked victims come out of CPS. In the Lexi Dillon case, after the mother was banned from seeing her daughter due to "alienation" after doctors and police were not allowed to testify, little Lexi was twice taken away from the father after she came to school bleeding from the vagina. She was sent to the Orangewood Children's Home and both times, CPS got her out and gave her back to the father who had repeatedly raped her, according to the little girl's statements to the police, to the news media and according to the doctors' reports. Martin Burns, now deceased under odd circumstances, did a series called, "Lost in the System" about Lexi and other children like her.

Lexi Dillon and Sarah Knight are the rule and not the exception. The best that we can figure is that the judges are taking bribes. According to Janet Phalen's research, a lot of judges are getting property through LLCs.

This is something to take into account if you do another book involving domestic violence. However, this is a peripheral issue, and the Safe Haven is an excellent book.

[Cé Littérature · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dena est enceinte et en couple avec Brian, cependant elle n’est pas du tout heureuse. Humiliation, alcoolisme, violence… elle vit simplement un cauchemar qui ne cesse de s’accentuer auprès de celui qui est son compagnon. Jusqu’au jour où elle décide de mettre un terme à leur relation. C’est le coup de trop, le coup qui la fera partir mais surtout une lente descente aux enfers, elle qui croyait se libérer de Brian en le quittant.

J’ai dévoré ce thriller de Patricia MacDonald que j’ai trouve très bien écrit, le rythme s’enchaîne bien, le mystère est palpable, l’atmosphère est oppressante et on ne sait pas ce qui va advenir de Dena et de son enfant. Elle trouve refuge chez un couple d’amis mais l’enfer ne fait que continuer… L’auteur nous invite à un roman, où on ne sait plus à qui notre héroïne doit faire confiance.

Cependant, j’ai trouvé la fin même si très surprenante et inattendu un peu bâclé, les intrigues que j’ai suivi durant plus de 500 pages ont été trop rapidement résolus et parfois encore avec des zones d’ombre pour moi… Dommage. Mais ce roman reste un très bon thriller, addictif, qui vous tiendra en haleine jusqu’aux dernières pages.

https://celitteratureofficiel.wordpre...

[Nitsa]

Dena the main character was portrayed as very naive and annoying. For someone who has supposedly dealt with abuse, she is overly trusting of everyone. Brenda was also overly trusting & dumb by just telling Peter that she knows he kidnapped his kids then outright saying she hasn’t told anyone… obviously Brenda is going to end up dead.

The book felt very repetitive so it took me a while to get into it. Way too many details. “He had to pee, so he did that.” Descriptive writing can be useful but not to let us know every smell, thought, feeling, taste etc. of each character or all the decor in someone’s house.

Found it very hard to keep track of all of the characters. Multiple cops, various friends/family members, different staff, different families, babysitters, ex-wives etc. It was way too much detail that didn’t add to the plot & was distracting.

I think the overall story & twist was good but I found myself ready to give up halfway through and just forced myself to finish it because I wanted to know how it all panned out.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dena Russell got pregnant at her high school reunion. She moved back home to live with the baby’s father, and things went south very quickly. Thinking she found a safe haven, things actually turned out worse than she could have ever imagined. Both Dena’s and her unborn child’s lives are in danger, and feelings of hopelessness and defeat must be kept at bay in order for survival.

I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it were written better. It could have used a couple more trips to the editors and some review panels. Though the storyline is dark, jaw-dropping, and eye-bulging at times, I cannot believe Simon & Schuster published this novel with so many holes in the plot (and with so many grammatical errors).