I was immersed in Eleanor's story. Her childhood experiences and resultant trauma in the Australian Outback was very memorable and made a real impression.

As a young girl, Eleanor was extremely lonely and this loneliness seems to have remained with her into adulthood. After Arabella's murder, the reader empathizes with Eleanor's frustration at her memory loss. Riddled with self doubt, she doesn't know who to trust, or if in fact she can even trust herself...

With themes of suppressed emotions, guilt, and loneliness merged with a murder mystery, this novel held by rapt attention throughout.

The story was compelling and well executed. The narrative flowed well and the characters and descriptions were well drawn. The ending was satisfying and tied up all the loose ends.

Although this was my first read by Sara Foster, I am now eager to read more of her backlist. Highly recommended!

4.5 stars rounded up

I love Australian books and have read a ton of British mysteries so the combination of a woman with a outback childhood living in England was perfect for me. The usual suspicious death occurs and we go back and forth between the present time and her childhood. I always enjoy an amnesia story and this fit the brief perfectly.

Arabella's body in found the morning after the office Christmas party. It is not known if she was pushed or fell from a great height.

The only person who may have the answers is Eleanor, who has a murky background. As the office temp, she was most likely the last person who talked to Arabella.

Unfortunately, for some reason, Eleanor has no memory of those hours leading to Arabella's death.

Not only do the police look at her as a possible suspect, but people around Eleanor are looking at her with suspicion.

But can she trust her memory while seeking the truth?

This is a character driven novel, with the police investigation taking a back burner to the story. Eleanor is explored and explained from start to finish, with a lot of repetitiousness. Without the investigation, it became rather boring rather quickly. I had expected an exciting thriller, but I was, sadly, disappointed.

Many thanks to the author / Blackstone Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of THE HIDDEN HOURS. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

2.5 STARS

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced readers copy of this title. I enjoyed this title. Suspense books where i don't guess the whole plot midway get my praise. This title was a fun read and had twists and turns.

I’m a sucker for amnesia stories and this one was great. A hybrid who-done- it and psychological thriller this book flows brilliantly and I didn’t look up til I finished it. Excellent. Can’t wait to read another by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for the novel in return for an honest review!

This murder mystery/ thriller kept me guessing until the very end! Eleanor has a traumatic past, which is slowly brought up through current events. I enjoyed the characters and their stories as well as the style of writing. ⠀
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A young woman travels half way around the world to get on the right track in life. Unfortunately, she ends up being front and center in a suspicious death.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were complex, and really moved the story along. I appreciated how the book was written as I had not read this author before. However, my issue is that there wasn't a lot of description of the murder investigation. I would have liked to have seen more about the background of it.

Arabella is dead- floating in the Thames- after an office Christmas party. Eleanor, new to the company and to the UK, doesn't know if she did it. Wait- did someone kill Arabella or was it an accident or did she commit suicide? Eleanor only knows that she doesn't remember the hours around the time that Arabella died. And why? She's a young woman but she's had a lot of trauma in her life. Moving to London to live with her aunt and uncle (and to work at this job they found her) is meant to be a fresh start. This, thriller readers know, will not be the case. What happened when she was a child haunts her. Foster wises spools all of this out slowly, upping the tension and making you question the reliability of Eleanor , even as she questions herself. No spoilers from me but this has a good twisty mystery and well drawn characters that will keep you guessing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

Eleanor’s amnesia could prove to be deadly. Is she responsible for Arabella’s death, or was she at the wrong place at the wrong time. This slow born whodunnit will have you reading late into the night. Thank you Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for my ARC.

Arabella Lane is found dead in the Thames on a frosty winter’s morning after the office Christmas party.,

The only one who may know what happened is the office temp, Eleanor, one of the last to see her..
She is also the one with Arabella’s sapphire and diamond ring “snuggled innocently between her lipstick and mascara” in her small handbag...

But, Arabella cannot remember what happened.

This was an atmospheric story of suspense, with an unique style.
Scattered throughout were snippets of information that were shared with investigators, by witnesses who did not immediately realize WHAT they were seeing, such as a woman who realizes that in the background of a photo she snapped was a woman who could be a witness to the unsolved crime.

The author doesn’t share much of the investigation with the reader, other than a couple of interviews and these revelations which lead to the crime being solved. Although I found that interesting, there was a subplot about Eleanor’s past, and why she blocks out traumatic events, which I was not engaged by.

Originally published in 2017, in Australia, it is now being introduced to The US by Blackstone Publishing, and will be available on Nov. 3, 2020.

Thank you for my gifted copy.
It was a pleasure to provide a candid review.

3.5 ⭐️‘S
Eleanor has come halfway around the world to escape her demons, but, unfortunately they seemed to have followed her. When she moved to London for a new start, she quickly found herself in the midst of a murder investigation. Regrettably she isn’t much help as she can’t remember much of what happened that night. As her family comes under scrutiny, she tries to piece together anything that might help, but nothing is coming to light and she doesn’t know who to trust. As she struggles to remember her past comes back to haunt her. Told in past and present, and with police procedural notes at the beginning of each present chapter, this is a good read, but lacks the suspense needed to make it a great one.

Chilling, athospheric dual mystery with an excellent and shocking climax.

This is my first Sara Foster book, but it sure won't be the last.

The Hidden Hours was just perfect during the Halloween period I read it in: a spooky mystery in which a woman is found dead in the Thames the day after her office Christmas party. The only problem is that the only person who could know the truth about her deather, an Australian expat Eleanor, doesn't remember a thing in the hours leading up to the tragic event.

Two of my favorite things about The Hidden Hours were the atmosphere and unreliable characters. First, I loved how Foster was able to keep the vibe of a cold, frosty, unfriendly December time in London, which worked perfectly well with this murder mystery. And then there's the 21-year-old Eleanor who has no idea what happened - especially when the reader is aware that she used to be under psychiatric care and her paranoia has stuck with her. We don't know what happened to the woman when she was younger that put her in this terrible state, however, which is the second major mystery in this novel.

I can't get over the dual mystery style the author adopts in this novel which gave me dual chills and feels. I highly recommend this book which is a defnitive 5 stars for me.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,

A chilling thriller of memory loss and secret lies by best-selling author Sara Foster who, with five novels under her belt, is proving to be a modern-day master of psychological suspense. Shrouded in the moody, drippy weather of London in winter, this gripper sucks you into the story faster than green grass through a goose!

*Firstly, though, let’s pause for a big thank you to Sara Foster, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for providing a free Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.* Now, back to our main event…

Young, 21-year-old Eleanor is looking for a fresh start. She packs up her belongings, scantly more than a suitcase a few articles of clothing, and heads off to London for a new life. She’ll be living with her mother’s only sibling – an uncle Eleanor barely knows – in Uncle Ian’s tony home on Notting Hill, along with his wife and two young daughters. What’s more, Aunt Susan’s publishing firm has an opening for an admin assistant that should be perfect for Eleanor.

But things start to go terribly wrong on a rainy evening at the company Christmas party. Eleanor has only been in the UK and at the firm a few weeks and so hasn’t yet made any friends. Determined to be merry and hopefully find some companionable souls, Eleanor is flattered when the beautiful, social butterfly Arabella, the belle of the publishing house, singles Arabella out for drinks and conversation. But then the next day, Arabella is dead. And Eleanor has no recollection of what happened after the party or even how she got home that night.

Frightened of The Hidden Hours in her consciousness, and how she may have been involved in Arabella’s death, Eleanor frantically attempts to recreate the tragic events of that night and salvage her future… while simultaneously outrunning the past that lives inside her mind as it were only yesterday.

Not to be out done by the main murder-mystery plot is the fable-like, cautionary tale embedded in the immensely layered and deftly woven flashbacks to Eleanor’s childhood in Australia. These are all the more powerful, as well, due to the contrast between the hot, dry landscape of the southern continent and the damp and dark bustle of the U.K. metroplis.

Originally released in paperback and for Kindle in 2017, in an unusual move, this is the debut release of the hardcover edition for 2020. If you’re a fan of chills and thrills, and things that go bump in the night, then you won’t be able to put this one down! This reader really enjoyed the read and gives it a praise-worthy, four stars.

Support your indie books stores and pick up your copy of The Hidden Hours at www.bookshop.org – the online bookstore that gives away 75% of its profit to support local indie bookstores. (Note: Desiree does receive a small commission should you purchase through this link, however, she shares this out of love and care for her local, corner bookstores everywhere.)

#TheHiddenHours
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While not necessarily unique, this was a solid mystery. It did keep me guessing in certain parts, but I think a bit too much was given away by the 50% mark. I read through the latter half just thinking, "yeah, I know." However, the story was really well-written and the characters were fun!

The Hidden Hour switches back and forth between two different times in Eleanor’s life, one when she was a child and the other eleven years later.

In her early years, years in which she is a girl living with her family in a remote area of Australia, she is an eyewitness to a tragedy. She carries the memories – and the baggage – of that experience with her to London, where she is living temporarily with her uncle and his family.

In London after an office party, Eleanor’s co-worker, Arabella, is found mysteriously drowned in the Thames. Eleanor was with Arabella in her last moments but has no memories of what happened.

The book focuses on Eleanor’s loneliness, both as a child as well as a young adult along with her inability to remember the night of the drowning. This dragged on way too long. Additionally, I found myself becoming annoyed at ‘the ring’ and what to do with it as it, too, dragged on with only a feeble explanation at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5 stars- This is a solid mystery. It was well plotted and interesting but not too twisty to keep up with. I would read other books by Sara Foster.
Eleanor is a young adult who moves to London to live with her uncle's family after trauma at home. She begins working at her aunt's firm and quickly becomes swept up in a murder mystery of another employee. However, the evening of the murder, the victim slipped drugs into both their drinks so although Eleanor knows she witnessed something, she cannot recall what happened.
This book is good. I liked the pacing and it was not too complicated. However, I'm not sure it will stay with me for very long. This would be good as a palette cleanser between some more difficult books.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Well I cant say enough with how much I loved this creepy thriller. It was part thriller and part who did it and also part of a young woman's journey to create a life for herself.. Eleanor relocates from Australia to London for a temp job at a prestigious publishing company where her aunt is one of the executives. Eleanor ends up spending some time with the other executive Arrabelle Lane, who is found dead and Eleanor was the last one to see her. OMG! And of course poor Eleanor cannot recall some of the hours of the evening when her boss was killed.

I love how this story switches between current time, the murder investigation and Eleanor's past. You think you have some details figured, but you really have no idea. There are so many twists and turns and pieces, and I like how you start piecing parts of the story together slowly. This was not predictable at all, which is always a huge positive when I read thrillers/suspense/mystery.

I can't wait to read more from Sara Foster, especially if it is as good as this one. I definitely want a hard copy of this when It is published. It was that good.

Thanks to Netgalley, Sara Foster and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC (wish they would auto-approve me) in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 11/3/20

Kept me on the edge of my seat. It was a nice paced story that flowed and was easy to follow. This was a story I took my time reading savory every page. I look forward to reading more of her books!

This is a well-written and suspenseful whodunit - a nice combination between a traditional British slow-burn mystery and a more American style fast-paced psychological thriller. I always love a good amnesia story and this one had a different twist than usual that I wasn’t expecting. The characters are especially well-written and the ending was a surprise (and I am hard to surprise with mysteries!). It’s a bit of a sad novel, and it will stay with you after you are finished. I felt a lot of empathy and connection to the characters, especially Eleanor. I had never read anything by Sara Foster before but she has a very keen emotional way of writing that makes this novel deeper than some of its contemporaries. I would definitely like to see what else she has in store.

Thanks to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing and Sara Foster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.