In Safe Haven, It is often difficult for a reader to discern what is real and what is a part of a character’s delusions. The reader is presented with two versions of the story of Katie and Kevin’s marriage. Katie tells her story first to Jo and then to Alex, describing a marriage that was full of fear, control, and manipulation. Kevin prohibited her from getting a driver’s license, forced her to make elaborate meals on a shoestring budget, and refused to take her to the hospital when she broke her fingers for fear someone would see the bruises on her face. For Katie, it was a horrible marriage that was completely one sided.

Kevin, however, saw himself as a man who paid attention to his wife and bought her things he knew she wanted just by the way she looked at them or from little things she said. He thought apologizing was enough to make up for the beatings, and he believed Katie should have understood that he was under a lot of pressure at work. Kevin made excuses for his actions and felt that should have been enough.

The more the reader gets to know Kevin, the clearer it becomes that he sees the world through an extremely distorted lens.