The Safe Man: A Ghost Story by Michael Connelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Scare Factor: 💀💀💀| Plot: 📕📕📕📕| Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length: 🎧 02:20:00 | Genre: Thriller | POV: N/A
Dates Read: 06.18.24 – 06.18.24



✴✴✴ TW: Assault, Death, Mentions of past with alcoholism ✴✴✴



🕊️ ➞ Tropes:

👻💀Paranormal💀👻
👻Ghosts 👻
👹 Demons 👹



🕊️ ➞ Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly comes a riveting detective story, nail-biting heist thriller and supernatural mystery performed by a full cast starring Jack Quaid and Titus Welliver.

When Brian Holloway (Jack Quaid, The Boys) was hired by famous horror author Paul Robinette (Titus Welliver, Bosch) to crack an antique safe in his home, he had no idea what he was about to encounter.

Opening that safe door unleashed something sinister—something that continues to haunt him. But what exactly? And can whatever slipped through that threshold be stopped?

Plagued by a series of disturbing supernatural encounters, chilling prophecies, and a criminal investigation into a missing girl, Brian begins to realize that he is inexplicably linked to the eternal, and that he must defy fate if he has any chance of saving the most important person in his life.

Set against the eerie tropics of Florida, The Safe Man reimagines Connelly’s 2012 short story as a pulse-pounding audio drama. This Connelly masterpiece delivers his signature flavor of suspense, and is produced with brilliant sound design for an unforgettable experience. Listen now.

©2024 Laugh at the Sky Productions, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC



🕊️ ➞ Plot Breakdown & Commentary:

Audible’s adaptation of Michael Connell’s The Safe Man followed a professional safecracker, Brian Holloway, who was hired by a horror novelist, Paul Robinette, to crack open a Threshold safe to discover its contents. After many trials and errors, Brian was able to open the safe only to find it void of contents. With Paul’s blessing, Brian sold the door of the safe to a collector before Paul called Brian back and asked him to return it. Paul and Brian began experiencing strange things as they uncovered the truth behind the safe and how to get the door back.

Threshold safes were portals and doorways between spirits and the eternal space – which is essentially heaven. Brian had begun hallucinating a little girl who was a drowning victim; after going to a spiritualist, Brian was told that what he saw was someone he was related to but wasn’t born yet. When Brian first saw her, his daughter hadn’t been born yet. This became a motivator for him to steal back the door from his client and close the portal, disregarding the spiritualist’s sediment that closing the door wouldn’t change what was fated.

The story ended six years in the future when the Holloway family had moved to Arizona, as a way to get as far from the ocean as they could, and were celebrating their daughter, Lucy’s, sixth birthday. Brian and his wife began to argue over moving back to the ocean now that they had gotten Lucy to age six, they were interrupted by a delivery at the door from Paul to Lucy. As a joke, Paul had gifted Lucy the t-shirt that Brian saw her ghost wearing. Enraged and panicked, Brian called Paul and explained that they weren’t in the clear yet and that by giving her that shirt, he could’ve set things into motion. The call was interrupted by Lucy telling Brian to look at her in the new shirt and as he began to beg her to take it off, an earthquake hit. After it settled, the family fled the house as the evacuation sirens sounded, warning them that the dam was unstable. The family was fleeing in their car when they were swept away by the water.

Paul had taken advantage of the Holloway tragedy and was in the midst of writing the ending when Brain’s spirit appeared to kill him as revenge for sending his daughter that t-shirt. According to the police, Paul had died from natural causes… in front of a computer screen with blank pages.





🕊️ ➞ My Thoughts:

I listened to Audible’s cinematic version of this and absolutely loved it. First of all, I liked both actors who narrated the characters so it made this experience even more enjoyable. Second of all, the way Audible adapted The Safe Man was captivating; the eerie music and sound effects mixed with the phenomenal acting of Jack Quaid and Titus Welliver, this audio experience was * chef kiss *

With it being only a two-hour listen, I strongly suggest making time to enjoy it – especially if you like all things spooky, supernatural, and haunting. If you’ve read or listened to The Safe Man, drop a comment! Especially, if you’ve read the actual book; I’m curious if that version differs in any way. What did you think of the Threshold myth? Do you think Paul’s gift resulted in the Holloways’ deaths? What did you think of his gift? Do you think it was in poor taste? How about the ending?? What were your thoughts on Brian’s return and Paul’s death? Tell me all about it in the comments!

I can’t wait to hear from you. ❤️

xo,

L.B.

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