Ben Keller's family was murdered twelve years ago, though he has moved on and remarried, he tries to keep his life in control and safe. But when a dying inmate leaves a message for Ben, telling him who murdered his family, Ben's life begins to unravel. Ben begins to investigate Stew Raymo, and even goes undercover to his buisness, and Stew has started over, marrying an ex porn star and starting his own buisness, but he begins to get suspicious of Ben and starts his own investigation, now the games begin. Will Ben be able to save his marriage and buisness and get to Stew before Stew gets to him?

An Incredible read, this was an exciting, hair raising, page turning read. The characters are vivid and able to relate to, the dilemma that progresses through out the book will keep you on edge. I got lost in this book and would recommend it to everyone.

visit Doug Richardson's blog at www.dougrichardson.com ( )

What would you do if your past comes knocking on your safely rebuilt life's door? Would you be able to relive the traumatic events again, after trying so hard to let go of the grief and move forward? What if reliving the past may cost you your safety, which is how you live your life, can you deal with the consequences no matter the cost? These are the questions that Ben Keller had to deal with in his life as The Safety Expert.

Ben Keller is living a good life in Simi Valley, California: he has a loving wife and three beautiful step-daughters, he has a successful safety consultant business, he couldn't ask for anything more. Then one day he receives in the mail a cd recording of a deathbed confession from a prison inmate in Indiana, a man he doesn't know, who reveals the identity of the man who killed his first wife and twin daughters twelve years ago in a home invasion. Ben's world as he knows it is now turned upside down, all the therapy and working through his grief and moving forward in his life has been stymied by the traumatic events of the past. Ben's carefully balanced and safe life is threatened when he makes the decision to investigate and go after the accused murderer. The decision to investigate has costly consequences for Ben, his family, and the people he enlists to help him get justice for his lost family. Will his investigation bring his family's murderer to justice, or will Ben's actions open up a pandora's box filled with murderous evil that will have deadly results?

The Safety Expert is a fast-paced suspense thriller that will have the reader sitting on the edge of their seat anticipating what will happen next. The storyline is well written, it has an intriguing and complex plot with many twist and turns, it takes the reader on a thrilling and very chilling roller coaster ride to the very anti-climatic and breath-holding ending. The characters are complex and fascinating, their individual stories coupled with the intertwining interactions with each other make the story that much more powerful and compelling. The author provides a very thorough description of the safety industry, he includes factoids and data that makes Ben's character and occupation very realistic. The wonderful description of the various settings in California: Simi Valley, San Fernando Valley and Burbank, were fascinating and full of travel guide information, it made me want to google them just to see the pictures of those areas. This story is full of thrills, chills and suspense, it provides the reader with an in depth look into the deep dark mind of people, and leaves you feeling like no one is really ever safe!

In true mystery thriller suspense form, The Safety Expert is a book that I would recommend to all fans of this genre. Doug Richardson is truly in the class of such authors like Harlan Coben, David Baldacci and Michael Connelly. I could easily see this book being turned into a made for television movie, or even a movie for the big screen! This is one book that won't leave suspense thriller fans disappointed!

Disclaimer: At the request of the author, a Kindle edition of the book was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review and participation in the virtual book event.

Virtual Book Event: On Wednesday, March 7, 2012, author Doug Richardson participated in a virtual book event with an Author Guest Post on Jersey Girl Book Reviews. http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/author-guest-post-doug-richard...

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/safety-expert-by-doug-richards... ( )

There was a very sad storyline to this book, A man, Ben, thought he had finally moved on with his life after his wife and young twin girls were brutally murdered all for the contents of the safe.
Ben met Alex his present wife at the grieving counselling sessions he attended. They later married and he took on her 3 daughters.
All was going well, Ben had his own business and was dubbed “The Safety Expert” and he calculated risk for everything and tried to get the safest option for things.
When he received a tape recording from an dying old man from prison which told him the name of the man that murdered his wife and twins Bens world turned upside down.

The Safety Expert was hard to get into at first I must admit, however once the story line had began to get established and I got to ‘know’ the characters and what parts they played in the story I had to keep reading to see how the whole thing unfolded, Would Ben find the murderer? And if he did what would he do? All questions that leapt in my head and thankfully all answered too.

There were a few surprises along the way too which kept it interesting all the way to the end.
I have read books in the past that have left me a little disappointed with the way it ended, This is not one of those books I’m happy to say.

I would rate this 4 stars out of 5 ( )

Imagine living your life in a safe manner, being mister reliable and totally dependable, obeying all the rules and not taking any chances. When out of the blue you receive a cd through the post, from a dying convict telling you that he knows who killed your first wife and twin daughters, naming him and giving you his address. All this happens to Ben, it affects his life in a big way and his current wife suspects he is having an affair but the lady in question is a police officer who is helping Ben with his quest.

On receiving information Ben decides to visit the murderer undercover at his workplace, but after his visit the murderer, Stew, gets suspicious and starts his own investigation. This leads to Stew's downfall to drink and drugs and he starts murdering to get to our hero, Ben. Ben's marriage starts to crumble along with his business, his obsession to catch Stew takes over and he is no longer safe, reliable or dependable, which he now finds exciting.

Ben is not the only one with an obsession as Stew is intent on taking out Ben, which costs him his marriage and business. Who will win, Ben with the help of the police officer or Stew who is totally out of control on drugs and alcohol?

The author challenges the way and manner we all live our lives, are we happy knowing what is safe and predictable or do we want excitement. In the search for excitement or change will this upset the balance, causing doubt, secrets and dishonesty, which also leads to the road of ruin. In the portrayal of the characters we see this happening, how one mans obsession turns not only his life but the lives of the people who rely and trust them. The storyline and language is well versed and the plot is excellent, only slight negative is that I found some parts long winded, but this does not retract from being an excellent book. ( )