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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Aiken Ponder’s The Safe Place Was a Lie follows Dr. Idris Bardot, an obstetric emergency physician who has spent years noticing young women return to his hospital with pregnancies that do not fit their records. When a teenage girl vanishes from the building, Idris learns the girl is Solace, the child he never knew existed. Her mother, Dr. Jeela Thunderhawk, has built a life around keeping Solace safe and will use every connection she has to bring her home. The search pulls Idris back toward the woman he lost while exposing a network that turns vulnerable young women into commodities. As Solace fights to survive, Jeela and Idris must find her before the people holding her decide what she is worth.
Aiken Ponder’s The Safe Place Was a Lie understands the first rule of crime fiction: time matters. Ponder turns pacing into the book’s signature. The pursuit after Solace is taken proves it, and every point of view change moves the same chase forward from a fresh angle, giving the reader one more piece at exactly the right moment. The settings fit into the story as almost characters in their own right, and MidLakes University Hospital is probably the best example of that. Its polished corridors above the basement loading bay give the setting a public face with danger underneath. Jeela owns every confrontation through sheer physical presence and her persistence is palpable. The short paragraphs give the chase scenes speed; quieter sections arrive exactly when they should. This is crime fiction at its finest and readers who love fast-paced thrillers should put The Safe Place Was a Lie at the top of their list.
