Review: You're Not Safe - Mary Burton

Review: You're Not Safe - Book #3 Texas Rangers - Mary Burton - January 2014

Here we are at the end of January, and honestly, it feels a bit different this year. Last January I was flying through books : 42 of them! but this time around? Life had other plans. Work has been hectic, and I've found myself in one of those reading slumps where you stare at your TBR pile but nothing quite clicks. I managed 20 books this month, which isn't terrible, but it's definitely a slower pace than I'm used to.

The silver lining? I've been gravitating toward thrillers lately. Romances just aren't holding my attention right now, so when I picked up You're Not Safe by Mary Burton from the depths of my Kindle (you know, that digital graveyard where books go to be forgotten), I was hoping for something to pull me out of my funk.

The premise immediately grabbed me: a man is found hanging from a tree with a photograph pinned nearby. Staged to look like suicide, but the police aren't buying it. As the investigation unfolds, we discover someone is systematically targeting a group of adults who, years ago as troubled teens, all attempted suicide and ended up at a rehabilitation facility called Shady Pines. Now, someone is killing them using the exact methods they once tried to end their own lives. Chilling, right?

The pacing is solid and Mary Burton keeps things moving, and I appreciated how she weaves the past and present together. The Texas Rangers angle adds a nice procedural element, and even though this is Book #3 in the series, it works perfectly fine as a standalone. I never felt lost or like I was missing crucial backstory.

While the concept is dark and compelling, some elements felt a bit predictable, and I found myself guessing the direction earlier than I would've liked. The characters were decent but didn't quite stick with me the way I hoped they would. It's a perfectly serviceable thriller , entertaining enough to keep me turning pages during my lunch breaks but it didn't completely blow me away.

Still, I'm glad I finally cleared this one off my Kindle. It's part of my 2026 challenge to tackle those older titles that have been languishing in ebook purgatory, and honestly, it feels good to chip away at that backlog. If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller with a twisted premise and you're not expecting it to reinvent the wheel, You're Not Safe is worth a read. Just maybe don't expect it to become your new favorite.

Here's hoping February brings me out of this slump and back to devouring books like I used to!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4tbgeIg