Hiding // psychological thriller connecting two people from different sides of the world

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hiding was depicted interestingly, by which I mean I’ve never seen a book told like it. It’s reminiscent of The Lake House, one of my favorite movies, in regard to the timing structure; it’s completely different from The Lake House in regard to how the story is told, because the two characters don’t interact at all until closer to the end of the book.

That said, there was a lot of back story and I struggled maintaining interest because of it. At times, it’s hard to read due to the characters, from both perspectives, but I think that this is part of what makes it so interesting, too. I’m not often a fan of shock factors in psychological thrillers, but the scenes that are especially shocking for any sane person—that is, someone who is not delusional—are well-written in the way The Never List failed.

And this is why it’s so hard for me to review.

Hiding doesn’t seem like the type of book anyone is supposed to like. This doesn’t make it a bad book, or mean that it’s a bad book.

Cover

The cover intrigued me, and I feel it’s worth talking about. First of all, the partial face of the guy on the lower half looks like Bradley Cooper in Limitless, and that cracks me up for some reason—but also saddens me, because I’m still not over the cancellation of that show!

Second, the girl standing on the beach in the upper half looks super Scottish to me, and I couldn’t tell you precisely why, but it’s probably because I have Scottish roots and went through a phase…

Character diversity

Something I appreciated from Hiding was the character diversity! Every single character was different and distinct, and I know this is a no-brainer, duh thing that’s supposed to be in books/happen regarding characters already, but I didn’t realize how lacking in diversity things were in a lot of the books I’ve read until I read this. Even with the family, the diversity is on-point and well done.

Overall

I’m giving Hiding 3/5⭐ because it was well-executed, but it’s also quite wordy and made it difficult to keep up with. There was some diction that brought me out of the story, which made it harder to read. My rating isn’t 3/5⭐ because of the difficulty I had reading it regarding the psychological aspect. I get the feeling I’d have preferred to read the chase more. The story feels like it’s being told forwards, backwards, and then forwards again—in regard to the setting, not perspective from which a chapter is told. Keller Baye is, in some ways, reminiscent of Dexter Morgan, but then stops short.

It’s quite push-pull. If that’s the kind of thing you’re into, Hiding is for you! Otherwise, you might prefer to steer clear of this book, because the uncomfortable scenes…well, there are many, and they’re difficult.

Considering Keller Baye…I do think Jenny Morton Potts is an author I’ll have to read more of.