Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Hiding Place by David Bell

It's the 25th anniversary of the death of her baby brother.  A journalist wants an interview, which Janet gives her.  Doing so brings back the memory of that sunny morning and seeing her brother run into the woods.  It also makes her wonder if she actually saw what she said she saw...

NAL and Net Galley allowed me to download an ebook of this story for review (thank you).  This book will be published on October 2nd, so watch for it's arrival at your local bookstore.

This is an interesting plot with lots of nuances that became apparent after all this time as passed.  Janet was playing with Michael while she and Justin were at the park.  When her brother wanders into the adjacent woods, he disappears.  So begins a nightmare that affects two families.

This is a very detailed story as layer upon layer of buried facts start coming to light.  When the black man accused of the murder is released from jail since he had served his time, a question forms in more than one mind:  Was he really guilty, or was he just convenient?

The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading, but I found the story a little too wordy.  I also thought some minor players in the story should have had a bit more character build up; they seemed to be an almost unnecessary addition to the main plot.  Keep in mind I am fan of short stories, so that might influence this perception.

It wasn't until the end that I started to have some suspicions about the killer.  Justin's murder at four affected everyone involved in dramatically different ways.  The author does a very good job of showing human reactions to an impossible situation.  No one came out unmarked.  They still have a long road to healing but it's beginning to start.

Happy reading.

1 comment:

Shan said...

There is another book with the same name about a Nazi concentration camp and how two Christian sisters made a difference. Thot you were expanding your reading until I saw the cover. Too sad a story for me, and sadly all too often too real these days.

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