Scan barcode
A review by lauriereadslohf
The Hidden by Melanie Golding
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
I was so excited for The Hidden having adored Little Darlings in 2019. That story was so incredibly creepy and I highly recommend it, if you haven’t read it already! The Hidden is a little different, a lot less creepy. I’d say it’s more of a straight up mystery/thriller/police procedural with a little selkie on the side. If you love that blend in a book, this one's for you!
I’m not up for rehashing the plot today and you should find out things as you read the book so I’ll only say it’s about a woman who meets a man after she’s caught spying on him doing some yoga in his apartment across the way. Turns out Mr. Sexy Yoga Man has a wife (?) and a young toddler but, ahem, they are “not together in that way currently”. Okay. Whatever. That’s not at all suspicious . . . Anyhow, Ruby gets involved with this weird couple despite it all and becomes enmeshed in their life and finds herself in the middle of a huge disturbing mess but I do suppose her life becomes much more exciting for it, haha.
I enjoyed the unexpected dynamic between Ruby, Constance and her daughter Leonie and the selkie lore was a great addition but I wish there had been more of it, if I am being completely honest. I would’ve loved to have learned more about Constance’s family history, home and rituals. I enjoyed the “Then” storyline and trying to figure out the strange mystery, the weird relationship entanglements and the drama but the “Now” storyline lost me a bit and that’s completely on me. I’m simply not a huge fan of police procedurals, and freely admit it, and the entirety of the “Now” storyline is basically all of that with some frustrating decisions made by an officer too involved with the case. With that said, it has some strong character growth along the way and I did love that. Relationships and children and parenting are all so very complicated and this story took an emphatic look at understanding those difficult choices with compassion.
I made a few guesses here early on about where this was going and thought some of the characters were leading me astray but I was WRONG and I love that too. I hate being proved right when I’m reading a book like this one. It may make me feel all smug and smarty-pants for a second but it’s not a fun reading experience when that happens. Thankfully this one didn’t do what I thought it might do!
This was a slow burn of a book and it felt longer than its 300+ pages, maybe because the villain was a little too boring for my tastes and the majority of the plot wasn’t able to grab me in the way that Little Darlings did? I’m not sure but I am sure that it has a lot of good going on and it’s a decent read and I can understand why so many are digging it even if it didn’t completely knock me over with it’s creep factor like Little Darlings did. So for all of those reasons above I’m giving it 3 stars. That means I liked it for those who want to scream at me about it and not read my precious and oh-so-important words 😆
I’m not up for rehashing the plot today and you should find out things as you read the book so I’ll only say it’s about a woman who meets a man after she’s caught spying on him doing some yoga in his apartment across the way. Turns out Mr. Sexy Yoga Man has a wife (?) and a young toddler but, ahem, they are “not together in that way currently”. Okay. Whatever. That’s not at all suspicious . . . Anyhow, Ruby gets involved with this weird couple despite it all and becomes enmeshed in their life and finds herself in the middle of a huge disturbing mess but I do suppose her life becomes much more exciting for it, haha.
I enjoyed the unexpected dynamic between Ruby, Constance and her daughter Leonie and the selkie lore was a great addition but I wish there had been more of it, if I am being completely honest. I would’ve loved to have learned more about Constance’s family history, home and rituals. I enjoyed the “Then” storyline and trying to figure out the strange mystery, the weird relationship entanglements and the drama but the “Now” storyline lost me a bit and that’s completely on me. I’m simply not a huge fan of police procedurals, and freely admit it, and the entirety of the “Now” storyline is basically all of that with some frustrating decisions made by an officer too involved with the case. With that said, it has some strong character growth along the way and I did love that. Relationships and children and parenting are all so very complicated and this story took an emphatic look at understanding those difficult choices with compassion.
I made a few guesses here early on about where this was going and thought some of the characters were leading me astray but I was WRONG and I love that too. I hate being proved right when I’m reading a book like this one. It may make me feel all smug and smarty-pants for a second but it’s not a fun reading experience when that happens. Thankfully this one didn’t do what I thought it might do!
This was a slow burn of a book and it felt longer than its 300+ pages, maybe because the villain was a little too boring for my tastes and the majority of the plot wasn’t able to grab me in the way that Little Darlings did? I’m not sure but I am sure that it has a lot of good going on and it’s a decent read and I can understand why so many are digging it even if it didn’t completely knock me over with it’s creep factor like Little Darlings did. So for all of those reasons above I’m giving it 3 stars. That means I liked it for those who want to scream at me about it and not read my precious and oh-so-important words 😆