#BookReview Panic Room by Robert Goddard @TransworldBooks

Panic Room by Robert Goddard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes the danger is on the inside . . .

High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter.

The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable – and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped.

But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house’s owner, missing rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to know where his money has gone. Soon people are going to come knocking on the door, people with motives and secrets of their own, who will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t – or won’t – want to answer.

And will the panic room ever give up its secrets?

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Panic Room is the first book I have read by Robert Goddard and the cover and blurb intrigued me. A panic room that should be open, but is closed and no one knows what's inside, together with a mystery woman who is hiding out at the house. I just knew I had to read the book.

Panic Room is a book that not really lived up to my expectations, sure it's an interesting book, with a great mystery, but I found myself not really engrossed in the story and one thing that really disappointed me was that Blake turned out to be such a let-down. I had hoped for a more thrilling background, but the more I learned about the less interesting she became. I mean I still don't see what special relationship she had with the house owner and her past was, well nothing special, nothing that I felt made her interesting. I did find Don Challenor, the estate agent who more and less just happened to get mixed in the whole mess, to be more interesting. I mean, who doesn't like a character who by mistake get caught up in something? Don's presence made the book better.

As for the ending, you know what, oh it was so disappointing! Sorry, I just thought that the ending was too "Hollywood", too safe, not daring enough. Sure, it may seem wrong to wish for a different ending, but that would have truly shocked me. In this case, it just felt lackluster because one knew how it would end. There is just no thrill to reading a book that fails to shock the reader.

All and all is Panic Room an interesting book that ultimately failed to live up to my expectations. I found myself wanting to know the truth, but the pace of the book and the lack of suspense was a drawback. If the ending had been a bit more unexpected would it definitely have made the book better!

I want to thank Transworld Publishers for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!