A review by lovelymisanthrope
Hide by Kiersten White

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I read this because it is the Literally Dead Book Club pick for June 2022. I had really high expectations for this because the premise sounded incredible, however I was left a little disappointed by the plot. This story follows a group of people selected to participate in a high stakes game of hide and seek. Each day for a week they have to find a spot and remain hidden in this abandoned amusement park, but two people each day will be eliminated from the contest. The winner at the end of the week is awarded a huge prize. 
I was really invested in the story at the beginning, and my heart was pulling for Mack. She is a young homeless woman who has experienced great trauma in her past. This is her chance to really change her life and finally have something good happen, she also quite literally has nothing to lose. Mack's character started to annoy me about halfway through because I felt like her inner dialogue was the same thing every day and I became uninterested quickly. This story also veers into a magical realism theme, which I did not click with. I wish the story was simply a game of survival, maybe something more like "The Most Dangerous Game". I felt like the lore took away from the story. 
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