by Ellie Marney
Published by Thomas & Mercer
Reviewed by Cecile Shanahan
Ellie Marney’s first adult fiction novel, and her thirteenth published novel, No One is Safe was high on my list of most anticipated reads for 2026. I’ve long admired her writing for young/new adults and was keen to see how the ‘step up’ to writing for a wider audience would translate. I was not disappointed. In Ellie’s own words the book is ‘an adult thriller set in a morally grey universe, and contains scenes of violence, adult vices, and murder – quite a bit of blood gets splashed around’, so it is a departure from her earlier crime/mystery work.
Despite being a completely standalone book for a new audience if you’ve been lucky enough to read Ellie’s None Shall Sleep sequence, you’ll very quickly realise you’ve met one of the main characters in No One is Safe before. But this is a totally new side to Simon and his relationship with the other main character, rebel ex-cop turned private investigator Nomi Pace, is super compelling and incredibly entertaining.
Although both Simon and Nomi clearly have hidden secrets, and a lot of baggage, readers will be drawn to each of the main characters (and their delightful landlady Sofia Rosa, who you adore instantly). You’ll find yourself rapidly swept into their orbit and wanting the pair to succeed in their quest to find answers for Simon and justice for Nomi’s client whose young daughter has been kidnapped.
‘There are sharp edges to Simon Noone that make her wary, and she really hopes this isn’t a decision she’ll regret changing her mind about.
“What are you going to do when we find out who you are?”
He stops. “I’ve got no idea. Figure out a way to make both halves of me join up somehow, I guess.”
Good answer.’
I was completely hooked from the get-go and wanting to read the book at every chance I had to discover what would happen next – both in the search for clues to the mysteries being investigated within the story, but, just as importantly, with how things would play out between Nomi and Simon. Trust, loyalty and honesty do not come easily to these two outliers and the dynamic created as they realise they may just need each other makes for a great read.
There is no doubt that Ellie writes kick-ass women characters and Nomi is a devilish delight. She’s brash and bold and trusts no one, particularly those who try to “save her”.
‘Rather than hold his arm as they make their way out of the first floor of the tenement, Nomi holds the couch, the door, the wall. Simon finds this amusing. It reminds him of a saying they have in Piedras Negras about a stubborn person: thatthey can see the storm clouds coming but refuse to kneel and pray for God’s protection. Nomi is exactly like that. She sees the storm but refuses to kneel. Much as Simon knows the aphorism is supposed to be cautionary there’s something gutsy about her attitude.’
From the first line of the prologue the novel’s pacing is on pointe and never relents. Seeing the story unfold from both protagonists’ perspectives helps build and sustain the tension and keeps you invested in each problem the duo must solve, taking them and the reader on a tour of mid-80s New York. Nomi has lived in and around the meatpacking district for some time while Simon is new to the area and indeed the country. The city’s streets, buildings, bodegas and clubs each play their part to set you squarely back in time, with the gritty environment popping off the page and pulling you further into the
story.
‘Cannibal cows seem very plausible at 3:00 a.m., when streetlamps show clumps of men in their butcher uniforms, white coats glowing, spattered with gore. Simon’s in the thick of it now. Men everywhere—coughing, talking, smoking, walking back from their
break. Carcasses hang in a row near the entrance to Gennaro’s, beneath the overhang. The air has the chilled, greasy smell of refrigerated fat.’
The book is being billed as Dexter meets The Bourne Identity but I’d also throw in Killing Eve vibes into that mix – there’s something akin to Villanelle and Eve in the way Nomi and Simon are drawn to each other and their mutual need to be near each other and truly know more about the other person, despite the (usually violent) consequences.
It seems No One is Safe is the first book in a new series, it’s listed as Noone Thriller Book 1 on Amazon, which is excellent news. I can’t wait to read more about the sordid crime investigations Nomi and Simon will be dragged into and see what direction their maybe friendship takes. Highly recommended reading.
Publishers blurb
Dexter meets The Bourne Identity in a gritty thriller about the unkillable past, the first in a pulse-pounding new series from New York Times bestselling author Ellie Marney.
Simon Noone is a serial killer…but he doesn’t know it. Pulled from a river in Guatemala in 1982 with nothing―not even his memories―he returns to America five years later, looking for answers. He finds work at an NYC meatpacking plant and meets rebel ex-cop turned private investigator Nomi Pace. But she has problems all her own.
Nomi agrees to help Simon, if he lends his mysterious talents to solving a child kidnapping case. The two team up and make headway on both investigations, growing closer with every step. But when Nomi discovers the dark truth about Simon’s murderous past, he quickly turns from asset to liability.
Nomi contemplates her next move. Meanwhile, the weight of Simon’s deeds hangs like a dripping carcass on a meat hook. Were his homicidal urges erased along with his memory, or is there a sinister reason why his deft hand itches for the butcher’s cleaver?