Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a chance to read and give feedback.

Another tale interwoven with folklore and reality. This time the author borrows from a Scottish story of a mermaid coming on land and unable to return to her home. Constance, Ruby and Leonie are under the grip of a psychopath who will go to all lengths to keep his true persona from being exposed. Loved how the story is unraveled through all the characters.

I love the premise but the pacing feels a bit off. A rather, long-winded tale to tell the story of a Selkie who meets a psychopath.

Fun to read, - I totally enjoyed reading and trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Emily was raised by her alcoholic grandmother and left home. She has a social list of one. From her apartment she watches a neighbor in the late hours doing yoga and then by chance meets him. Emily becomes involved in his life and his ‘captives’; Constance and her baby, Leona. Gregor tells her Constance is disturbed and he needs her help to watch her and the baby. As the plot thickens there are many warning signs that things are not right. They escape and Constance leaves Emily to protect the baby. But Gregor is in hot persuit

Folklore meets thriller in this page turning new novel from Little Darlings author Melanie Golding.

A child is abandoned on the seashore and is later claimed by her frantic mother who lost her. Only, it isn’t her mother.

So begins the story of a loner, Ruby, who becomes entangled in the lives of her neighbours- Gregor, the charismatic charming man, Leonie - his adorable daughter and Constance - his mysterious, aloof and seemingly unhinged ex partner. But all is not as it seems ….. (da da da!!)

While this wasn’t the most shocking thriller I’ve read, and sometimes the characters’ choices made me want to throw the book across the room, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for and advanced copy for review*

It took me a while to get into this one, and I almost decided to give up on it. But I kept reminding myself how ,such I loved Little Darlings, and so I forced myself to keep going. About 30% of the way in it picked up and I was invested, but it starts off slow and removed, focusing on Ruby.

Once you're into the meat of the plot (a handsome young man across the way has a woman and young child living in his soundproofed apartment - he says they're undocumented and agoraphobic, but the woman tells Ruby that she should be scared of him, and goes on and on about a coat...), it picks up and I wanted to know how it would all shake out.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one, but the cover hooked me almost instantly so I picked it up. I'm so glad that I did. Melanie Golding is an author I have seen before but never tried, but this story was unique and sucked me in almost instantly. I'm not totally sure how to classify this book as it has supernatural, thriller, mystery and horror elements wrapped up into a single package.

While I didn't exactly like any of the characters, as they are all so flawed, the story itself was good enough for me.

⭐⭐⭐⭐+ Stars
I read Melanie Golding]’s [book " Little Darlings" and thought it was great ~ true dark and creepy but I have been looking forward to reading another one of her stories.
In that story we are introduced to Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper. Well she is back in this one.

Story starts off with a lot going on. Nearly three-year old Leonie is drawn to a shop with a Christmas tree; the shop keeper is worried she has been abandoned by her parents and calls an Officer. Diane from Social Services is called. A woman identified herself as the mother states the child just wondered off.
The little girl is calling Momma. The woman says yes “Baby Girl Momma Bee is here.
She identifies herself as Constance (which just happens to be the real mother’s name ~ however her name is Ruby.).
Next we hear about the apartment with a serious leak. In the flat below, Mrs. Stefandis is concern about the leak on her ceiling from the apartment above and calls the Super to check. When he arrives his Master key doesn’t work. Police Constable Steve Atkinson and D. S Joanna Harper are called and force the door open. There they a young man Gregor Franks injured floating in the tub. Paramedics are called and he is rushed to the hospital. Joanna Harper and is in on this investigation, the apartment is checked. They find toys suitable for a young child, two bedrooms ~ one neat with men’s belongings and the other messy with an adult bed as well as a child’s bed. The plot gets even thicker when Joanna finds out that her own daughter Ruby is involved. (Joanna was just thirteen when she had Rudy ~ her mother raised Ruby as Joanna’s sister).
Okay I presented you with a lot and YES! It all happens in the beginning.
We find out more about each of these characters, including a connection with the “selkies” (a cult connected to seals and the ritual connection with sealskin coats). In this case a mother who is letting her child go in order to have a better life. (It seems so shocking that a mot
Then there is the additional story of mother/daughter relationships.

Starts out Wow slows downs and then Wow pops up again!!!

There is a lot going on this story; definitely more complex than my typical psychological thriller with twists and turns.
I am definitely looking forward to DS Harper’s next adventure.

I always enjoy reading the ‘Author’s Notes’.
In this Melanie Golding talks about her research and that the “Selkies” folklore does exist in Ireland, England, Scotland, as well as many other Scandinavian countries.
The Folktales are told in different versions in all different parts of the world!

Oh I would love to participate in an “Interview with[author: Melanie Golding”!

Let me know if you hear of one!!!


Want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for professional review purposes.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 9, 2021

This is a brilliantly written thriller and I could not put this book down. Plenty of twists, turns and mix in fantasy and folklore. I really enjoyed her writing style and it was easy to follow. I will definitely be reading more of the author's work. This book is such a brilliant read.

The Hidden is a dark and twisty mystery with a hint of folklore that sucks the reader in. Ruby, a loner type individual with family issues, meets a man from the building across the street. At first glance all seems normal, but below the surface something just isn’t right. Throw in a man found left for dead, a missing child and a detective, you get The Hidden.

Told from multiple perspectives, The Hidden was a quick read that quickly captured my attention. The careful unfolding of each character had me guessing who everyone truly was. The beginning of the book had me questioning what was happening but it came together in the end. The addition of folklore to the story added a nice touch of mystery and suspense. Melanie did a wonderful job telling the story from multiple perspectives and creating a well thought out story

I loved Little Darlings and now The Hidden. Melanie Golding has such a beautiful way of writing and her stories are so unique. I'm not generally a fantasy reader, but her flavor of folklore and fantasy is so grounded and believable. The complementing timelines of a little girl left in front of a shop, and then ending with a suspenseful cat and mouse chase, this book had me flipping pages to find out how it all merged together.

Monsters are everywhere. And some of them are really good at hiding.

A wonderful mash-up of Nordic folklore and modern-day suspense, The Hidden is a masterpiece of time and mood. The story begins with a mother abandoning her daughter on a cold, city street and then disappears into the ocean. And so the story begins, unfolding across flashbacks that tell of the events that led to that moment, and present-day narrations that follow the on-going investigation into the child’s subsequent abduction.

What I Liked
Melanie Golding is a master story weaver. With several characters and lots of breaks in timeline, this book could have been a disaster, but it was brilliantly written and I couldn’t put it down. I empathized with the characters from the start, was entirely creeped out by the antagonist, and was on the edge of my seat as the final pages brought it all to a satisfying end. This is a fantastic psychological thriller…the addition of folklore and a bit of magical mystery is just icing on the cake.

What I Wish Had Been Different
While I thoroughly enjoyed the conflict and the building tension, there were moments when I had a hard time believing that Ruby, the main protagonist, didn’t catch on sooner. I think the author did an amazing job painting her as vulnerable and naïve, but there were a few moments when I struggled to understand how she didn’t just cut bait and run.

For it’s carefully constructed timelines, interesting characters, and satisfying ending, this book earns 4 stars.

Melanie Golding’s The Hidden takes a heart-wrenching tale from selkie folklore and transforms it into a gripping modern mystery, grounded in reality, seeped with genuine emotion and compelling twists.

The story begins with a haunting and enthralling setup. Leonie, a toddler, is left alone on a sidewalk on a cold winter day, calling for her ‘mamma’ who she thought was near, only her handbag remaining on the ground in her absence. A scattered pile of clothes, an outfit in total, are scattered across the sands of a nearby beach, the tide inching closer to snatch them and pull them out to sea. A man’s body floats in a bathtub, overflowing with blood-stained water, breaking through the apartment’s ceiling below.

How these eerie vignettes all tie together is at the heart of The Hidden, and the mystery starts to unfold when a young woman named Ruby Harper shows up to claim Leonie as her own from the police, which a local shopkeeper called. Yet, Ruby is not her mother. It was an arranged handoff between her and Leonie’s birth mother, Constance. But where is Constance?

On the other side of the city, responding to a call regarding the leaking ceiling is Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper. After breaking down the door to the apartment in question, Joanna and her partner Constable Steve Atkinson find the caretaker of the complex, Gregor Franks, hanging on to life by a thread in the bathtub. And, no, Joanna’s surname is not a coincidence; she is the sister of impersonating mother to Leonie, Ruby.

From here, the story sees-saws backward and forewords in time as the pieces to the puzzle slowly come together. Golding’s mystery is driven by complex and heartfelt characters in difficult situations. Oh, and did I mention this is a selkie story? The author’s story’s most intriguing and commendable element is how seamless and believably she weaves this into her narrative. The results are nerve-wracking, touching, and wholly memorable.

Deftly balancing an active police investigation, a complex family drama, and selkie mythology, Golding’s The Hidden is one of the best books of 2021.

The Hidden is the second book written by Melanie Golding that I've read. Part mystery/thriller part fantasy, her stories are etched from tales about mothers and creatures with dark histories. Just crossing a line that I can relate to, not so much that it's a world of unknown. The hook is the eerie sense of reality that lurks beneath the surface, calling readers like a mermaid's siren. Could this really happen today?

Told in a few POVs and time periods, we learn what happened THEN and what's happening NOW. Our police investigator has a familial connection to one of the women who apparently is involved or connected with the recent attempted murder of a man in an apartment building. As the story unfolds we learn Gregor wasn't exactly whom he claimed to be... and his hold over Constance can be quite alarming. Ruby wants to protect the couple's little girl, but she's got her own family issues keeping her from accepting her own lot in life. How are these people all connected? And what is the seal creature coming out of the sea?

On the plus side, the story is beautiful, ephemeral, almost effervescent. The words sing to readers like Ruby's violin or the seal creature's sirens. It flows at a great pace, drawing you in to guess the hidden meanings. On the forehead-wrinkling side, the tale of the seals and the woman who comes from a faraway land is too murky for me to really sink my teeth into as much as I'd like. It's strong, but I wanted more to overwhelm me. Instead, Constance came across as a bit too needy, and she made some poor decisions. Had I understand what she went through in her prior days, I might've been more forgiving and accepting. The good far outweighed any concerns, tho.

Enjoyed the book. Glad to have read it. Will look for more from Golding in future releases.

I was drawn to this book as I enjoy a thriller. A small child is lost, Ruby collects her and finds her own mother, the investigating detective Jo. A great start to the plot, however, as the storyline unravels and introduces mythology and there’s more back and forth, I felt lost, which was frustrating.
This book is readable and will be enjoyed by fans of this author.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed this one and read it in one day. Look forward to much more by this author.

Thrilling mystery where an abandoned little girl is somehow linked to a man found bloody in an overflowing bathtub.

This book introduced me to Detective Jo Harper, who comes from an unconventional family with an uncomfortable past.

This book is well-paced and perfect for lovers of mysterious crimes, bittersweet endings, and people who believe in folklore.

I look forward to reading more of Detective Jo Harper in Golding's other books.

3.5 Stars

Folklore blended into a mystery involving sea creatures that transform into human form.

A remote island, a woman from the sea, an onlooker and assumed explanations for what happens next.

DS Joanna Harper returns from the author's first novel Little Darlings and is on a new case. A child has been abandoned at a small seaside town. There are questions about why the child was allowed to leave with a mysterious woman claiming to be her mother.

Many other aspects to the story are taking place - A man in yoga pants performing in front of his window, a woman who watches him regularly (she refers to him as "Yoga Man"), a murder investigation and a strange, glassy eyed woman.

I was entertained throughout reading this, but was also confused by the bouncing timeline and it took some time to come together. Lots of moving parts, questions about motherhood and tough decisions that mothers are faced with.

Recommend if you are looking for a unique read and enjoy some legend weaved into mysteries of the sea. This one will capture your attention.

Mystery with a side of folklore woven through. A slow burn with character and world building continuing the intrigue and mystery. Fabulous. Just my kind of book

This book is absolutely luminous! I love the way the author handles multi POVs, the rich characterization, and the prose. The addition of folklore in literary thriller was well done, a lovely surprise. Thank you to Melanie Golding, Crooked lane books, and netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Tangled roots can't stay hidden.

While DS Joanna Harper deals with a man filling his bathtub with blood, a toddler wanders the seaside, looking for her mummy. Ruby swoops in to take the girl, but she is not her mother. The real mother has jumped into the sea, abandoning her daughter. What could have made her take such a drastic action and who is the man in the tub? Why doesn't the child make a sound when she cries?

This fuzzy picture becomes clearer, though never fully transparent. Constance, the little girl's mother, claims to be of the Roane people — a selkie — and needs to return to the sea. Is this the truth? If so, what is she doing holed up in a strange, controlling man's apartment with a little girl? Why does Ruby entangle herself with these strange people? Why is Gregor the way he is? Some questions are answered, some aren't.

The pacing snowballs, and by the last third, it's an unputdownable read that is complex, layered, subtle, and steeped in history. Everything in this entire book is so carefully intertwined — almost too intertwined to be believable. But that's folklore for you.

The Hidden is that spot in the venn diagram where mythology, domestic thriller, magical realism, and mystery intersects... and it's pure magic.

CW: abuse