Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Dreamscape Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the follow-up book to Little Darlings, the debut novel of Melanie Golding. 4.5 stars rounded up!

Leonie, not quite 2 year old, is found abandoned at a seaside storefront. When Ruby (Mamma B) shows up after authorities are called, they chalk it up to a one-time accident and don't investigate further. Meanwhile, Gregor Franks, is found bludgeoned and barely alive in his apartment. As we get glimpses into the past, Ruby gazes from her apartment window into Gregor's apartment, watching him do yoga in the early morning hours. She soon meets him and his family, Constance and Leonie, and becomes entangled in their lives. Constance believes she is a Selkie, a mythological seal creature, who needs to get back to the sea. This book also features Detective Joanna Harper, featured in Little Darlings, who has a complicated history with Ruby.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the mythical elements involved, including the quotes at the beginnings of the chapters. Add that to the wonderful writing of Melanie Golding and you have another winner! There are multiple points of view as well as the different timelines, so that the reader learns the backstories of the characters. The theme of motherhood interlaced with the mythology is really intriguing - what is a mother and what lengths will mothers go to for their children? This is a book that will keep you glued to the pages to find out how it will all end. I hope there are more stories featuring Detective Harper and Ruby in our future!

Thank you to the author, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book - selkies and Celtic folklore, mixed with a murder investigation - had me hooked, not to mention the gorgeous cover. I found the story a bit difficult to get into, as there were various strands and relationships that obviously had a history (I have not yet read the author's first book, but plan to remedy this ASAP) and it was not always easy to sort out who belonged where. However, as the story developed, and twists and turns became apparent, the chilling aspects of this atmospheric thriller really grew on me and it was almost impossible to put the book down.

An intriguing detective story with varying POV that suggests unreliable narration amongst some characters. Appreciated the backstories of Gregor and Ruby, but was confused by the fantasy subtext within Constance’s background. Overall, an entertaining story.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

This book is based upon an old folklore story of the roane or selkie people, people who are seals but can be human upon the shore. It was an interesting version of the story with a few twists and turns.

This tale is told in three different points of view. the first point of view is DS Joanna Harper, who was introduced to us in "Little Darlings"; in this story she is called to the home of a man suspected to be deceased but then discovers he is not dead, but deeply injured and not expected to recover. As she tries to solve the attempted murder and the crime ties into a missing woman and child, she discovers she may know one of the suspects all too well. The second point of view, is Ruby Harper, who lives alone and has few friends, she watches the man in the building across the way every day and eventually she bumps into him and they start a friendship, she discovers he has a little girl, Leonie and Leonie's mother living with him who is an agoraphobic. As Ruby gets pulled further into Gregor's life, she knows someone is lying to her, but not who. The third point of view is from the injured man as he lay in his hospital bed.

This story was good but at times I felt the story dragged a little. I felt the charcters were well developed and enjoyable to read about. Ruby had been hurt before and you could almost feel the tension and nervousness she felt. The story had a few twists I did not expect and all in all a good read.

Will definitely watch for books by this author and I hope they involve DS Joanna Harper.

5of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2021/11/02/the-hidden-by-melanie-golding/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Even better than the first

So, Little Darlings was (I think) Melanie Golding’s debut and it absolutely caught my imagination with it’s compelling and strange blend of mystery and dark magical realism. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the writing was excellent, the story was tense and creepy, and Golding excels at relationships and mental anguish. As you might imagine when I saw that Golding’s next novel took inspiration from selkie mythology to say I was bouncing up and down with excitement is something of an understatement. I had a serious case of ‘grabby hands’ for this book and I can start this review by saying not only did this exceed my expectations but it also wowed me even more than the first. I can’t wait to see what this author comes up with next.

The Hidden is a wonderful collection of threads that come together in quite possibly the most satisfying way I’ve read for a while. We begin the story with a little girl lost, or abandoned, in a small seaside village. We have a man found in his flat, suspected dead. Meanwhile, we read of a woman who seems to abandon life by running out into the sea and yet another woman who races against time to an unknown destination. Now, all these events take place fairly early on in the story but at this point I don’t want to give anything more of the plot away. Instead, I will talk about the characters, the writing and the overall feel of the book.

Funnily enough we have a character making a return appearance in this book. DS Joanna Harper is looking into the investigation involving the man left for dead in the bath of his flat. I would point out for readers that you don’t need to read the first book in order to read this one – although I did like the character and was very happy to read more about her (and I would certainly encourage you to pick up Little Darlings). The man in the bath is called Gregor who appears to be a serious young businessman who keeps himself to himself, however, DS Harper’s investigation soon begins to uncover things that indicate that Gregor did not live alone but had a wife and daughter, both now missing. Finally, we have a young woman, estranged from her family, lonely and isolated and desperate for friendship. (I can’t help wondering whether Joanna will make further appearances. in a series of thrillers that take inspiration from the supernatural – please let it be so).

I confess that having started this review with no wish to give away spoilers I find myself in the difficult position of not wanting to delve too deeply into the characters. What I will say instead is this book contains strong family themes as well as domestic violence (both physical and mental – not gratuitous at all) . It takes a look at possible mental illness and delusion. We have a seriously nasty character among the pages here who is an intensely plausible sociopath of despicable proportions who has no compunction about taking the life of others. Okay, I will say no more about the characters. My lips are sealed.

The writing. I just loved it. Golding has the ability to create both atmosphere and tension to such an extent that I found myself sitting bolt upright on the chair at certain points. I was literally gripped as she delivered the kind of fear that compels you to shout at the characters as you fear for their safety. On top of this she’s taken an ancient myth and created a contemporary thriller that is not only satisfying in terms of the mystery and police elements but at the same time delivers a real sense of authenticity in terms of the original stories. She treads a fine line between ‘did that really happen or did I imagine it’ that I think will appeal to readers of both crime and fantasy. I hesitate to say this (because I don’t love comparisons as a rule) but in some respects her style is reminiscent of a strange cross between DuMaurier and King because of her ability to conjure credible characters and heart pounding fear. (To be clear, I’m not comparing this to any of the above mentioned authors’ works – just a certain flair here and there that really caught me by surprise in the most satisfying way and brought them to mind).

Put simply, this was an excellent read that grabbed my attention from the first few pages and from there kept me glued to the book into the early hours of the morning. I’m not sure I can really do this justice, all I can hope is that I’ve given you a brief teaser of what’s contained within, enough to convince you to give it a shot.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

This was enjoyable, but I don't think it was quite as good as Little Darlings. I struggled a bit to get through this in some places, perhaps because there's a bit less tension in this book compared to Little Darlings where you're trying to decide if the characters are crazy or telling the truth. There's some of that again here with figuring out if Constance is actually a selkie, but I felt like there was less ambiguity here with this.

We do have several mysteries here - what happened to Constance, why did she leave her baby, where's Ruby, and what happened to this man who was injured. Even more mysteries come up, and I found some of them compelling, though I don't think everything was necessarily as fully explored as I might have liked. I did really enjoy having selkies as a topic here! I'm still somewhat conflicted about what I would have preferred in terms of them being real or not.

This book is told with multiple timelines and points of view. I did get confused a few times with the timelines, but this mostly worked alright for telling the story. The characters were decent overall as well. Ruby certainly has a complicated family history, and I felt bad for her because it's some rough things to deal with. I really enjoyed her realizations over the book which are helped (in part at least) because of her involvement with Constance and Leonie. I also liked how she tries to help them out and puts herself in danger to save Leonie.

We also have Joanna, a police officer related to Ruby. She's alright overall, and I did like how her perspective lets us see the lengths people will go to in order to protect family. Constance is rather complicated - does she have mental health issues or is she telling the truth? I felt very bad for her because certain events don't go as planned, and she definitely ends up in some terrible situations.

Overall, I liked this (though not quite as much as Little Darlings). I'd recommend it, especially if you want to explore selkies in a thriller setting!

My video review can be seen on my booktube channel (around minutes 5:15-8:06 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-apmhzTwm_Q

On a cold winter day, a man is found bludgeoned and half-dead in his apartment with children’s toys but no child. Meanwhile, a toddler is found abandoned at a store by the seashore, and as the investigation on both incidents progresses, DS Joanna Harper suspects both crimes might be related.

The Hidden by Melanie Golding combines an interesting blend of Celtic folklore, domestic thriller, and crime procedural. However, beneath it all, first and foremost, this is a story about the relationship between mothers and daughters.

The story alternates between two storylines: the past and the present. Gradually, we find out what drove the child’s missing mother to leave her child, and as we read on, the story gets more and more disturbing and I found myself fully invested in the characters.

All in all, this book is a gripping and unnerving modern fairytale that’s not quite like anything I’ve ever read.

Melanie Golding does a wonderful job of blending domestic drama and suspense with folk lore. I always enjoy her books and find the way she weaves it all together to be fascinating. I was first introduced to her work with Little Darlings. So, when the opportunity to read and review the Hidden presented itself, I jumped at it.

In this novel, DS Joanne Harper is back on the case. This time around, it appears selkies may be involved. This is a myth that I've always found intriguing. Even though it's included in the story in small increments, it has a large impact on the way everything plays out.

The story takes several twists and turns as it progresses. We're introduced to Ruby, a young woman who is a troubled musician. She finds herself falling into a strange friendship with a man and his "unusual" family. This relationship leaves her feeling confused and frightened at some points.

Meanwhile, her DS Joanne Harper is working on a tough case. They have an injured man, a missing woman and child. She's trying to make the connections and figure out what truly happened. All the while, her personal life is going off the rails.

The story is told with flashbacks that help introduce information into the plot. In addition, it is told from several viewpoints which helps give different perspectives. However, it can sometimes be confusing to some readers. I, personally, didn't find it to be an issue though. Another writing mechanism that I liked was that the author would put snippets from selkie folk lore at the beginning of some chapters. It lent to the overall atmosphere of the story.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I also was fortunate enough to receive an audiobook for review. The narration was spot on exactly what I expected for this book. It truly made the story feel even more real and enjoyable. Also, I think that listening to this in audio makes the intense moments that much more extreme. (4 stars)

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC . I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This frightened the life out of me. It’s a strange story - it starts with an abandoned child, then we get into the story, a selkie mother, a few failed relationships, it’s not your normal thriller…

I read this book in 24 hours, just couldn’t put it down, it’s exciting, terrifying, twists and turns…it keeps you on the edge!

My thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

This is Melanie Golding’s second book and The Hidden is another atmospheric thriller. This suspenseful tale begins: a young child is left on the footpath outside a shop; a woman eating a sandwich gets red water falling on her from an overflowing bath with a man in it; and another woman is running late for a meeting. Then Detective Joanna Harper is introduced as the team leader investigating the assault of a man unconscious in hospital. As the story unfolds all these separate events converge to reveal an enthralling four-star whodunnit. With thanks to Crooked Lane Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and are made without fear or favour.

I didn’t have any clue about the term Selkies until I came across one here in this book.
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Selkies /seal folks are the other kind of mermaids who have the power to shed their skin and become humans. They also have a magical power to lure a man.
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Melanie Golding ‘s new release The hidden is a fantasy/ thriller, and I am sure just as much as I loved reading about the selkies you would love it too.

A toddler was found in front of a store abandoned. A woman name Ruby comes and claims that the toddler is her daughter's name, Leonie. On the other side, we find a man name Gregor in his apartment badly injured (almost dead). What made the police more curious was that there were toys in the room, yet the child is missing. No one has ever seen the child or the mother in the apartment or in the neighborhood. No one knew they existed.
Ruby his only neighbor' in the apartment became friends with Gregor and faces a dark secret. Gregor always assured Ruby that his wife is unstable and never comes out of the house. Soon she finds out the secret of his wife and toddler and how they are prisoners in their own house.

The chapters are written from various characters' points of view with the time period making it easy to understand what had happened in the past and what is happening in the present. If you are a thriller and a fantasy love this book is a must.
I loved the chapters where Constance (Gregor’s wife) tried her best to explain that she is from a different place and she is looking for her coat yet she was in constant fear of being stalked by Gregor in the hidden cameras at home.
I loved how beautiful the Selkie mythology has been transformed into a thriller. Selkies generally long for the sea and they can leave their family behind and go back to sea whenever possible.

Thank You #netgalley ,author and #crookedlanebooks for the review copy. Enjoyed every bit of it.

Enthralling!

A Selkie, a mysterious man, and an abandoned child are connected in an enchanting yet disturbing mystery revolving around mythical beings and motherhood.

The Hidden begins with almost 2-year-old Leonie found alone on a cold December night by shops in a seaside town crying for her mother. At the same time, a man is discovered near death in his apartment. When DS Joanna Harper discovers a personal connection to both cases, she risks her career to save the one she loves the most.

The timeline switches between December in the present and December one year ago. The reader is introduced to all of the main characters early on: Ruby, DS Joanna Harper, Constance, Gregor, and Leonie, but how they are all connected and how Leonie winds up on her own is slowly unraveled in the past timeline. Ruby and Joanna are the primary narrators. Both characters are sympathetic and easy to root for. Leonie stole my heart.

This was my first book by Melanie Golding, and I loved her writing style. She adds a layer of originality with the Selkies. This element could have felt over-the-top and ridiculous, but she seamlessly weaves the mythical creatures into the storyline. The atmosphere is dark, tense, and menacing.

On the surface, The Hidden seems to be a procedural/mystery/suspense novel, but it is much more. It is about fact vs. myth, the turbulent relationships between mothers and daughters, and the power of the invisible.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

DS Jo Harper has a real problem on her hands. Two of them actually. Told in two time frames a year apart, this is as much a story of mothers and daughters as it is a procedural that incorporates the Celtic myth of the selkie. Young Leonie is found wandering, Gregor is found bludgeoned in his bath tub. You might figure out early on how things are connected but you might also be wrong. No spoilers from me. Jo's daughter Ruby looms large and she's faced with difficult ethical and legal questions. I'm a fan of Jo, who is well crafted and believable. While this is the second in a series (or what I hope will be a continuing series), it will be fine as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Great read.

This took a bit to get into but eventually turned out to be a story about mothers and daughters, and the mystery between fact and fiction.

A child is left on the street. A man is found in a bathtub, clinging to life. A detective needs to piece the two cases together while struggling with her own relationship with her daughter.

This is a well written book, but did move a little too slow for me. There's a lot of back and forth, between the past and present, between various characters. I might have enjoyed this at a different time - maybe I should have waited to read this? I'll try another time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is my first book by the author and it definitely won't be the last. I really enjoyed most aspects of it.

First of all, we got dual timelines. This is often where many get it wrong, but I do feel like the author really managed to do it in a smart way. The amount of information we got, and the moments when we got them, worked really well for me. I was trying to piece everything together, and that little "game" was a lot more fun thanks to the structure and the pace of the book.

The characters were fantastic as well. The connection with all of them was automatic, which helps with the enjoyment a lot for me personally.

Overall, a great book that I couldn't put down.

This book starts out as a police procedural about detectives searching for the person who assaulted a man in his own home and locate two missing women and a missing toddler. The lead detective, who appears from Golding’s prior book, returns and is surprised to find out she has a personal tie to the investigation. Early on in the book, it becomes apparent that this realistic procedural has a strong mix of folklore in the story as one of the missing women, though flashbacks, claims to be a Selkie, a shapeshifter who is a seal in the water and human on land. The author is purposely ambiguous when describing the supernatural elements of the story and readers can make their own assumptions.
The book started out very strong for me, even though two of the main characters continually make bad decisions while trying to do the right thing. However, the book slows as the investigation goes in circle and more chapters told from the villain’s point of view are included. To me, there were some things about the story that didn’t add up, and I’m not talking about the mythological parts of the story. The author’s prior book, Little Darlings, also blended realism with the supernatural, but I enjoyed it more than The Hidden. I would rate this book 3/3.5 stars, but I think some people will love it. I think it would appeal to fans of Cecelia Ahern. The story has a very original premise, but wasn’t as suspenseful as I had hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ebook. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

After reading Little Darlings by Melanie Golding, I couldn't wait to see what she would come up with next.

The author intricately wove together a story with Celtic Mythology that was filled with interesting characters who came to life on the pages. She did it with alternating timelines that filled in details from the past and also startled me with information about one of the people in book. The book also delves into what it means to be a family--especially when it comes to mothers and daughters.

I loved the extra bits about Selkies: mythological beings who change from seals to human by shedding their skins--in this book called coats.

This is an intriguing book and well worth 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the ARC of this book. This was a super interesting mystery book. This is because unlike most mysteries it also has folklore in it which I love. It was folklore about Selkies, which I knew nothing about so it was so interesting to read about them in this book. The story had the perfect mix of folklore and the mystery of figuring out what is going on throughout the story.

Going into the book, initially I really was not sure if I will like it. The reference to folklore in the summary of the story didn't interest me either. Still, I opted to read this story only because I wanted to try more new authors and wanted to give this style of mystery-thriller, which contain some fantasy elements, a chance. To say I am glad I did it, will be an understatement.

This story is in most ways a regular mystery- thriller with some psychological elements thrown in. But the fantastical element of the selkies intertwined in the story makes it that much more interesting and intriguing. Added to all this, the manner in which the author has explored the concept of motherhood, makes for a refreshing read.

When I first started reading, I was not as much into the story. But once I got into the minds of each of the characters, which the author has done brilliantly by the way, I just flew through the pages and the story was always in my mind eve when I had to step away from the book for some time. As a reader, what we get, is a book which is intriguing, thrilling, fast-paced, interesting, compelling and emotional, all at the same time. It is a solid 5 stars book for me and I think I might check out more books by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author Melanie Golding for this ARC, which I got in exchange for providing a honest review about this book.

TW: domestic abuse

If you’ve seen my review on Little Darlings, you will know I absolutely love seeing the definitions of motherhood be questioned. This novel does the same thing and continues with the creepy folklore/magical realism vibes that I enjoyed in Little Darlings; this time, we have selkies! Both stories have the same inspector but they are both standalones. I was reading this book with bated breath, filled with anxiety over the situation between Ruby and Constance. Again, the police procedural elements were not the strongest, and I wasn’t as drawn to Joanna’s character and storyline. Regardless, I read this in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely. I can’t wait to read more by this author!