Review: Safekeeping

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse

Genre: YA

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Says: Radley just wants to get home to her parents in Vermont. While she was volunteering abroad, the American People's Party took power; the new president was assassinated; and the government cracked down on citizens. Travel restrictions are worse than ever, and when her plane finally lands in New Hampshire, Radley’s parents aren’t there.

Exhausted; her phone dead; her credit cards worthless: Radley starts walking.
Radley is volunteering in Haiti when the President of the United States has been assassinated and all hell has broken loose. Radley is focused on one thing… getting home to her parents.

I was quite intrigued with the synopsis. I started reading this book and I couldn’t put it down. The story is told in three parts symbolizing the three phases of Radley’s adventure/story. The first third of the book is fast paced consisting of Radley traveling back into the States to reunite with her parents. My adrenaline was pumping and my anxiety was at about 100 because like Radley, I too wanted to get back to her parents and find out what happened. It was written that well. It does lose a bit of momentum after that initial rush but all in all, the story was engaging, coercing me into turning the pages at rapid speed.

Imagine my surprise when I was left in a confused state of mind upon finishing this book and thinking of a 3.5 rating.

It wasn’t difficult to believe in a United States that has been broken. It wasn’t difficult to believe that any part of this book could and would happen. What was difficult to believe was that we never learn about the American People’s Party, why they took over, why the assassination, and a world of other questions pertaining to a very broken United States happening in real time… The world building was non-existent in this book. These questions were what motivated me to keep on reading because I kept thinking that eventually all these questions would be answered. Perhaps not in part one or even part two but part three? Surely in part three. They were not. Something else that was off; the pictures that were introduced in part two of the book. I think I would have liked them more if they had been placed in the book from the beginning. I know why they were plugged in when they were but they didn’t always make sense.

As always I recommend that you read this one and let me know what you think because you might like it more than me. I was expecting more but it just fell short with me.

On to the next one!

ARC was provided by Feiwel & Friends via NetGalley.