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ashleywatt's review
4.0
It took me a while to get into this (probably as much my mood as the book), but once I did I could barely put it down. Compelling.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
4.0
Stella Duffy was absent from the crime writing scene for a long time until THE HIDDEN ROOM was released in 2017. The book then made the shortlist for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards, because, in a nutshell, Duffy knows how to develop strong, realistic characters, and weave them into a plot that's clever, well paced and intriguing.
Classified as "domestic noir", this is a story about things very close to home. In this case Laurie (born in China / adopted by a US family) spent her childhood in the American desert, her family members of a secretive cult. Years later, she and her wife Martha, and their three teenage children, are happily living in the British countryside in a rundown old house, with all the pressures that you expect with modern families these days - balancing work and family commitments, busy lifestyles, the demands of a house that needs constant work, and all the small stuff that everybody battles with these days.
Hidden away in the house is a special little room, literally the place from the title of the novel, a private, hidden spot that only Laurie knows about and uses as an escape. The figurative interpretation of the title is more internal - there are aspects of Laurie's past that are also hidden away, locked in her memory, that start to be revealed as that past bursts into the present.
The striking thing about THE HIDDEN ROOM is the way that the obsession with the minutia of day to day life is almost soporific, until it's not. The switching timeline between Laurie's past and the current is seamlessly delivered, never interfering with the gentle ramping up of a number of elements - threat and thriller, psychological drama and fear, against a backdrop of day to day life, and past and present clashing, as Laurie wrestles with internal and external struggles.
Cleverly constructed, THE HIDDEN ROOM works on multiple levels, ramping up the threat, wrong-footing the reader about motivations and likely outcomes, and always with a sort of low level dread of the unknown, the lurking, a presence, something hidden - somewhere.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/hidden-room-stella-duffy
Classified as "domestic noir", this is a story about things very close to home. In this case Laurie (born in China / adopted by a US family) spent her childhood in the American desert, her family members of a secretive cult. Years later, she and her wife Martha, and their three teenage children, are happily living in the British countryside in a rundown old house, with all the pressures that you expect with modern families these days - balancing work and family commitments, busy lifestyles, the demands of a house that needs constant work, and all the small stuff that everybody battles with these days.
Hidden away in the house is a special little room, literally the place from the title of the novel, a private, hidden spot that only Laurie knows about and uses as an escape. The figurative interpretation of the title is more internal - there are aspects of Laurie's past that are also hidden away, locked in her memory, that start to be revealed as that past bursts into the present.
The striking thing about THE HIDDEN ROOM is the way that the obsession with the minutia of day to day life is almost soporific, until it's not. The switching timeline between Laurie's past and the current is seamlessly delivered, never interfering with the gentle ramping up of a number of elements - threat and thriller, psychological drama and fear, against a backdrop of day to day life, and past and present clashing, as Laurie wrestles with internal and external struggles.
Cleverly constructed, THE HIDDEN ROOM works on multiple levels, ramping up the threat, wrong-footing the reader about motivations and likely outcomes, and always with a sort of low level dread of the unknown, the lurking, a presence, something hidden - somewhere.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/hidden-room-stella-duffy
rachyc's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. Very suspenseful and so many plot twists. Thought I knew what was going on but more secrets were revealed which changed everything. 5/5
lilymae_essam's review against another edition
3.0
Life is good for Laurie and Martha. They have three great kids, a much-loved home in the countryside, and Laurie's career as an architect is finally taking off. Everything's perfect.
Except it isn't.
Someone is about to walk into their happy family and tear it apart.
Laurie has been hiding from him for years. The question is, now that he's found her, can she keep her family safe? And just how far will she go to protect them?
Review~
This I must admit was a bit of a strange book. There was a lot to keep up with all at once. We are first introduced to Laurie and her wife Martha who have three children. Their oldest is Hope and they have twins Anna and Jack. The chapters switch between past and present as we learn about Hope and her new dance teacher, who is also doing life coaching sessions with Martha, and Laurie's childhood. We soon find quite a few links between the two and it slowly begins to spiral out of control. I found that there were quite a few plot holes within this book, for one the whole entire ending was a plot hole that I don't think we will ever find the answer to. There are also some unanswered questions about Laurie's childhood which to be honest I found the most interesting part of the whole book and wanted to learn more about but unfortunately it just felt like maybe the writer had a word limit and wasn't able to actually finish the book, who knows. Overall, I would recommend this book.
Except it isn't.
Someone is about to walk into their happy family and tear it apart.
Laurie has been hiding from him for years. The question is, now that he's found her, can she keep her family safe? And just how far will she go to protect them?
Review~
This I must admit was a bit of a strange book. There was a lot to keep up with all at once. We are first introduced to Laurie and her wife Martha who have three children. Their oldest is Hope and they have twins Anna and Jack. The chapters switch between past and present as we learn about Hope and her new dance teacher, who is also doing life coaching sessions with Martha, and Laurie's childhood. We soon find quite a few links between the two and it slowly begins to spiral out of control. I found that there were quite a few plot holes within this book, for one the whole entire ending was a plot hole that I don't think we will ever find the answer to. There are also some unanswered questions about Laurie's childhood which to be honest I found the most interesting part of the whole book and wanted to learn more about but unfortunately it just felt like maybe the writer had a word limit and wasn't able to actually finish the book, who knows. Overall, I would recommend this book.
hillersg7's review against another edition
4.0
Picked this book up off the shelves while having a few days away. It is a gripping thriller and a great twist at the end.
sarahs_bookish_life's review against another edition
3.0
The Hidden Room I found to be a slow paced and intriguing read.
The story itself flicks between past and present. We get a glimpse of Laurie's life growing up with life in a cult as a child and to life now with her partner Martha and their three children.
Cult's are something that has always fascinated me and how the leaders can brain wash their followers. What hope does a child have when they are so impressionable as it is? I found Laurie's background a very interesting one and seeing the person she had become today.
Hope is Laurie and Martha's eldest child. She plays an important part in the story and through Hope, you really get the sense of what it's like as a parent with all the stress and worries that come with parenthood.
Admittedly it did take me a while to settle into the story as with this sort of genre, I am used to a steady to fast paced reading experience. I think being slower paced though it actually allows you to delve into Laurie's background and the characters lives more. The story line covers quite a few topics and offers more in that respect than a normal crime book.
If you love a slower paced read packed full of suspense and intrigue, then would definitely recommend giving The Hidden Room a go. The story certainly builds up to a satisfying finale with an outcome I wasn't expecting.
My thanks to NGAIOS for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.
The story itself flicks between past and present. We get a glimpse of Laurie's life growing up with life in a cult as a child and to life now with her partner Martha and their three children.
Cult's are something that has always fascinated me and how the leaders can brain wash their followers. What hope does a child have when they are so impressionable as it is? I found Laurie's background a very interesting one and seeing the person she had become today.
Hope is Laurie and Martha's eldest child. She plays an important part in the story and through Hope, you really get the sense of what it's like as a parent with all the stress and worries that come with parenthood.
Admittedly it did take me a while to settle into the story as with this sort of genre, I am used to a steady to fast paced reading experience. I think being slower paced though it actually allows you to delve into Laurie's background and the characters lives more. The story line covers quite a few topics and offers more in that respect than a normal crime book.
If you love a slower paced read packed full of suspense and intrigue, then would definitely recommend giving The Hidden Room a go. The story certainly builds up to a satisfying finale with an outcome I wasn't expecting.
My thanks to NGAIOS for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.
nocto's review
4.0
I read Stella Duffy's Saz Martin mysteries a few years back and my memory says they were pretty good (later I'll go and check what I actually said at the time, there are often discontinuities between my memory and reality) but I don't think I've read any of her other books since. This jumped off the library shelf into my hands and engaged me so much I read it in about 24 hours which is something I used to do all the time but rarely get to do any more (mostly I blame me and my life for that rather than the books). The story's about a woman, now grown up with children in the UK, who was adopted into a cult in America as a baby, and about how the past comes back to haunt her. In places it was a little predictable maybe but in the kind of "oh no, this is all going to go horribly wrong, can I read it with my eyes closed?" probably intentional sort of way. A good read for sure.
sarah70's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
balancinghistorybooks's review
3.0
Stella Duffy is a prolific author, but before picking up her newest novel, The Hidden Room, I had shamefully never read any of her work. She goes back to her roots, so to speak, with this title, returning to the genre of psychological thrillers after twelve years.
The Hidden Room has been wonderfully reviewed. Crime writer Val McDermid writes: 'Nobody turns the screw of tension tighter... [it] left me gasping', and Alex Marwood adds: 'Duffy roars back into crime writing with her trademark intensity. The Hidden Room is spooky, atmospheric and as psychologically on point as it could be. If you want to be disturbed, read this book.'
The novel follows a married couple named Laurie and Martha, who should, by all accounts, be incredibly happy. They have three healthy teenage children, and live in an enormous house, a finished renovation project which they undertook together, in the middle of the Lincolnshire countryside. After Laurie's architectural career takes off, 'Martha had become the prime carer by default, which had never been the plan, and had almost grown into a problem - until Martha had something else to occupy her thoughts, someone else. Someone to think about when she was increasingly the only parent picking the kids up from a late practice or date, the only parent around to enforce Sunday-night homework. Someone to make her feel a bit sixteen again, and a lot less thirty-nine. A lot less almost forty.'
The novel's opening paragraph sets up the creepiness and tension almost immediately:
'Laurie lived in a community when she was a child.
Some people called that community a cult, and she was taken away when she was nine years old.
She didn't stay in touch with anyone from there.
She never went back.
Nothing remains from that time in her life.
Laurie keeps secrets.'
Throughout, Duffy introduces a series of flashbacks which relate to Laurie's early life, and the cult which she belonged to. When still a child, she was 'covenanted' to a boy two years older than her. After the ceremony, they 'led the community in their dance that night. They led stumbling, unsure, it was difficult to make the steps with their hands crossed and bound to each other, but they led anyway. Exactly as Abraham often explained, they led because the others followed - he had dreamed the community into being, and it was a community only because they all surrendered to the dream. The dream and the promise, all tied together in a long, thin strip of tired red cotton.'
When Laurie is alone in the house, she finds a small crawlspace in the attic, which she soon begins to refer to as her 'hidden room'; it is 'narrow, wide enough for a single bed with a very little space to move alongside, and just over six feet long. It was definitively a part of the house, and it had once been a room, the bookcase had been nailed and drilled into place against what had been a door frame.' She tells nobody about it, and when her past comes back to haunt her, it is to this space that she retreats: 'So when she found the little room behind the bookcase she saw it as a gift. She didn't think Martha would have minded if she'd said she wanted a space, for her work, or even just to think. But it wasn't only a room that Laurie wanted, she wanted a secret, something of her own.'
Both the present and past stories which Duffy builds in The Hidden Room are engaging, and her often breathy prose sets the pace marvellously. Whilst the novel was nowhere near as taut, nor as tense, as I was expecting, and whilst I did guess the twists, I found the novel compelling nonetheless. Some elements were predictable, and others strange, but overall, the balance which Duffy has struck here works well.
The Hidden Room has been wonderfully reviewed. Crime writer Val McDermid writes: 'Nobody turns the screw of tension tighter... [it] left me gasping', and Alex Marwood adds: 'Duffy roars back into crime writing with her trademark intensity. The Hidden Room is spooky, atmospheric and as psychologically on point as it could be. If you want to be disturbed, read this book.'
The novel follows a married couple named Laurie and Martha, who should, by all accounts, be incredibly happy. They have three healthy teenage children, and live in an enormous house, a finished renovation project which they undertook together, in the middle of the Lincolnshire countryside. After Laurie's architectural career takes off, 'Martha had become the prime carer by default, which had never been the plan, and had almost grown into a problem - until Martha had something else to occupy her thoughts, someone else. Someone to think about when she was increasingly the only parent picking the kids up from a late practice or date, the only parent around to enforce Sunday-night homework. Someone to make her feel a bit sixteen again, and a lot less thirty-nine. A lot less almost forty.'
The novel's opening paragraph sets up the creepiness and tension almost immediately:
'Laurie lived in a community when she was a child.
Some people called that community a cult, and she was taken away when she was nine years old.
She didn't stay in touch with anyone from there.
She never went back.
Nothing remains from that time in her life.
Laurie keeps secrets.'
Throughout, Duffy introduces a series of flashbacks which relate to Laurie's early life, and the cult which she belonged to. When still a child, she was 'covenanted' to a boy two years older than her. After the ceremony, they 'led the community in their dance that night. They led stumbling, unsure, it was difficult to make the steps with their hands crossed and bound to each other, but they led anyway. Exactly as Abraham often explained, they led because the others followed - he had dreamed the community into being, and it was a community only because they all surrendered to the dream. The dream and the promise, all tied together in a long, thin strip of tired red cotton.'
When Laurie is alone in the house, she finds a small crawlspace in the attic, which she soon begins to refer to as her 'hidden room'; it is 'narrow, wide enough for a single bed with a very little space to move alongside, and just over six feet long. It was definitively a part of the house, and it had once been a room, the bookcase had been nailed and drilled into place against what had been a door frame.' She tells nobody about it, and when her past comes back to haunt her, it is to this space that she retreats: 'So when she found the little room behind the bookcase she saw it as a gift. She didn't think Martha would have minded if she'd said she wanted a space, for her work, or even just to think. But it wasn't only a room that Laurie wanted, she wanted a secret, something of her own.'
Both the present and past stories which Duffy builds in The Hidden Room are engaging, and her often breathy prose sets the pace marvellously. Whilst the novel was nowhere near as taut, nor as tense, as I was expecting, and whilst I did guess the twists, I found the novel compelling nonetheless. Some elements were predictable, and others strange, but overall, the balance which Duffy has struck here works well.
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