Synopsis:
Officer Eden Mercer has something to prove. A rookie cop in a small Oregon town, she’s still fighting to outrun the fundamentalist cult that shaped her—and nearly destroyed her. Her K-9 partner, Shadow, is the only backup she trusts completely.
A routine welfare check on a bitter December morning changes everything. Behind the decorated door, a domestic-violence counselor lies murdered in her ransacked office, her confidential files ripped apart. Someone wanted those names. Someone desperate enough to kill for them.
While the Christmas market glitters on Main Street, Eden and Shadow hunt a predator moving through the shadows of this tight-knit community—silencing the survivors the counselor died protecting. The killer is methodical. Patient. And he’s not finished.
Eden understands what it means to flee people who claim to love you. She knows what happens when they catch you. Now she’s racing to reach the women on that stolen list before he does—because the last name scrawled at the bottom might be hers.
Review:
The beginning made it clear that this story would be very intense. Starting with the scene of a murder and ending with the reason for it being loving her too much was just a tiny preview of what to expect.
Learning that the victim was helping other women get out of abusive relationships added to the urgency of finding out what happened and, especially, finding the murderer. When it became clear that important documents had been stolen which contained information about the whereabouts of these women, it was obvious that this impacted a lot of people and that everyone was immediately in danger. I appreciated that it was given the priority it deserved. The lies people told to avoid being held accountable or portrayed in an unfavourable light felt very frustrating. Especially the fact that connecting the dots took time and realising that not everyone could make it out felt realistic.
Adding the little bit of personal connection to Eden and her past was the sprinkle on top.
This series is not for the faint of heart. The crimes so far have been intense and dark, and they have quite often left me feeling more or less uncomfortable. This one, though, felt next level to me. It came with a lot of heavy topics, and I appreciated physical and emotional abuse being portrayed this way. Sure, there was an element of making the story entertaining, but I would not rule out the possibility that it is not completely unrealistic.
That was my favourite book in the series so far, and another big applause for Hannah and the amazing narration.
🌙 Recension: Unsafe Haven (Eden Mercer K-9 Mystery Thriller #7) by Paige Black
📚 Genre: Thriller, Crime
📅 Release Date: September 16, 2026 (Audiobook)
📖 Publisher: Charmed Pages Publishing
👤 Narrator: Hannah Somerville
📗 available in various formats – included in Kindle Unlimited
📱 Read as: Audiobook
💸 I received a free copy and am voluntarily leaving a review.
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages / Listening Length: 10h 7min
⭐️ 5/5
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