This was my first Melanie Golding and it didn't disappoint, The Hidden was part folklore part twisty thriller and it was gripping from the first word. Golding did a wonderful job blending the selkie folklore into this mystery and I think it will be a winner with readers who want to open their imagination and escape reality for a few hours.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy. This is one I would recommend, 4 stars!

3.5
This is a unique kind of story, blending the mystery with folklore.
Ruby is a young woman who has distanced herself fom her family.. She spends lots of time alone, and has trouble sleeping... So in the early hours of the morning she watches the man in the building across from hers. He spends his time doing yoga, which ruby really likes to watch.. This man lives with a woman and their child.. When Ruby meets Gregor, Constance and Leonne she has no idea how this is going to change her life..
Constance is a selkie, and wants to leave gregor more than anything.. but he has hidden her coat.. and she can't go home without it. At first to Ruby Constance comes off as not being mentally stable, but the more she gets to know the family she realizes that regardless of whats going on with Constance, her and Leonne need to get away from Gregor as soon as they can.
This book switches POV mostly between Ruby and Joanna.. With some switches with gregor and constance, and switches between the past and present. Which can get a little confusing at first, but gets easier as the story progresses.. I really liked Ruby, she has made some mistakes in her life, but has a really good heart. Joanna is kind of the typical officer.. She negelects her home life and partner in order to do her job, but when her daughter ends up involved in the kidnapping of a little girl and the possible assult of the girls father, Joanna does her best to find her daughter first. She knows that she would never hurt anyone unless their was a darn good reason..
The blending of the mystery and folklore was done really well, and would be interested in reading this authors other book.

This is the first book by Melanie Golding that I've read although I have Little Darlings on my TBR. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book but it turned out to be quite different from what I anticipated. I felt like the author kept dropping bombshells that I was totally unprepared for, like the fact that Ruby is Joanna's daughter rather than her sister. I don't consider this a spoiler since it's mentioned in the blurb as well as in a lot of reviews but I read them a while ago and was taken aback when it came up. Then there was yoga man and his connection to the woman and child from the seaside. Sometimes it's an advantage when you don't remember what you've read previously! The story is told from different POVs and switches between "then" and "now" but I found it fairly easy to follow once I got used to it. I'll be honest though; more than once I had to go back and re-read some of the earlier narrative. I'm not sure if I wasn't paying attention when I read parts or what was going on but I'd suddenly find myself saying "Whaaat?!" and back I'd go. I enjoyed the story as a whole and I'd definitely recommend it. In case you're hesitant because of the folklore part of the story (I was at first), it really wasn't that outlandish and I enjoyed the excerpts from various poems and folktales at the beginning of some of the chapters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.

Publication Date: November 9, 2021

Interesting, it was a suspense, with a hint of mythical magical. The MC has issues, irritating and immature at times I had a hard time liking her. The bad person is so << shutter >> The flaws in the characters just didn’t fit well for this reader.

Ruby is estranged from her family. She avoids calls, seeing them, doesn’t even even them know where she lives. Then she isolates herself, taking time away from work, rarely has human interaction at all. One sleepless night she notices her neighbor, fit good looking practicing yoga she sneakily watches. After a while she gets stalkers and manipulates a meeting with him. Unfortunately for her, she’s way out of her league in this field.
Ruby has a sister, a cop. When Ruby gets in trouble her sister risked everything to try to protect her. yes, that is wonderful but she does it in such a way I wanted to scream. She’s a cop, she knows how not to get caught but she just does everything wrong. I slammed the book done more than once with a “Seriously ?!”
There is physical abuse, verbal abuse, child abuse, and more. The bad is really a nasty one, and a smart one. It was so easy to hate this person.
The magical touch was a bit outside the story for me. It was worked into the story but still felt outside of it. I felt like the story would have been better if more time was spent on it or if it was dropped completely.
I liked the story, but it felt like there was too much unbelievable, and stupid actions from characters.

Link to the review on website: writerlylifestyle.com/reviews/thehiddenmelaniegolding

Joanna Harper, detective from Golding’s first novel, Little Darlings, returns for more. It seems like Golding knew Detective Harper was a particularly compelling character and decided to devote more of the detective’s story to the page. Smart move. Harper’s character, already well rounded in Little Darlings, continues to come to life in The Hidden, a new novel from Melanie Golding coming early November 2021!

Synopsis from GoodReads: "One dark December night, in a small seaside town, a little girl is found abandoned. When her mother finally arrives, authorities release the pair, believing it to be an innocent case of a toddler running off.

Gregor, a seemingly single man, is found bludgeoned and left for dead in his apartment, but the discovery of children’s toys raises more questions than answers.

Every night, Ruby gazes into Gregor’s apartment, leading to the discovery of his secret family: his unusually silent daughter and his mentally unstable wife, Constance, who insists that she is descended from the mythological Selkies. She begs Ruby to aid in finding the sealskin that Gregor has hidden from her, making it impossible to return to her people.

DS Joanna Harper’s investigation into Gregor’s assault leads her to CCTV footage of the mother-daughter pair from town. Harper realizes she knows the woman almost as well as she knows herself: it’s her estranged daughter, Ruby. No matter the depth of Ruby’s involvement, she knows she will choose her daughter over her career."

With a pinch of folktale, Golding grinds the possibility of fantastical elements into the dark, gritty landscape of our real world. Characters do bad things. They make questionable decisions. At its core, it is a thriller. However, in this, her sophomore novel, Golding seems more comfortable flexing her particular writing style. With prose skills like a seasoned literary writer, Golding pinches moments between her fingers and inspects them, pins them to a board and lets them wriggle, dripping every detail into the story.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, drag-out, punch-in-the-throat thriller, this isn’t for you. There are moments where we linger inside the lives of these characters, getting to know them slowly, like a quiet friend. In this way, it’s certainly a slow burn. Golding has the writing chops to handle the literary slant in her thrillers. And it never felt overwritten. But it’s definitely for a particular type of thriller reader. Don’t expect intense action in every chapter. Do expect a well-rounded story with eerie, dark undertones that delivers on its promise.

Without a doubt, the initial questions (What happened to the unconscious man? Where is this little girl’s mother?) is compelling enough to hold the weight of the novel. What I love about her stories so far in her budding career is that there’s always a question: is there truth to these folktales or is it only in our minds? The story builds momentum, consistently picking up pace, culminating in a downhill run straight into icy waters. I couldn’t put it down and you won’t want to either.

The Hidden is a thriller with layers of deception, and this review is intentionally vague. Peeling back each of the layers was the best part.

It begins with two stories- a young girl lost in a beachside town, abandoned by her mother and a man floating in bathtub, near death. The two stories will eventually intersect as the story weaves together, resulting in a criminal investigation that tests the virtue of all involved. No one is quite who they seem to be, for better or worse.

Another element of the story that was incredibly compelling was the way the folklore is woven within the story in a way that makes the fantasy seem realistic. I loved this book. It was enjoyable start to finish. Check it out November 9, 2021!

This book was very immersive. I felt drawn into the mystery from the beginning. I was able follow the narrative very well, even switching from different perspectives/characters and the past and present.

I especially loved the characters of Ruby and Jo. Showing a very unique family set up was refreshing from all the nuclear families I see a lot of in literature.

I did figure out a bit of the plot ahead of time. But this didn’t set me back or make me less intrigued. I still wanted to see what happened to Ruby, Jo and baby Leonie.

Very well written, great characters and great folk lore surrounding selkies.

Honestly, all I needed to know about this novel was that it involves selkies...AKA seal people and I was 100% hooked! There's obviously much more to the story like the bond of mother and child and how far you'd go for someone you love, but the selkie stuff was what kept me fascinated.

I really loved the slow reveal of secrets and the way the history of seal folklore was incorporated in the story.

Would definitely recommend this one !

This mystery/thriller starts off with a young girl, seemingly abandoned, but the mother soon arrives and all is well again. Around the same time, a man is found almost dead in his apartment in a locked bathroom. Upon further investigation, there are children's toys found in the apartment, but no child. Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper leads the investigation and when the CCTV footage reveals her estranged daughter, Ruby, may be linked to the man's attack, Joanna is desperate to find Ruby first. Ruby has spent the past few months becoming friendly with a unique family where the mother, according to the father, is mentally ill and thinks she's a selkie - seals who can shed their skins and become human. Ruby initially believes what the father has told her, but the deeper she sinks into this other family, the more she questions what's a local legend and what is true.

TW/CW: domestic abuse, alcoholism

A very large theme in this story is motherhood, different types of mothers, different decisions mothers need to make, etc. I'm personally not a mother (and have no desire to ever be one) so I might have a different take away than some other readers, but I really liked the way that motherhood isn't shown as being some altruistic life calling. All of the mothers in this book (and there are 5) are complex and flawed because they're human and that complexity includes the mothering-aspects of their lives. I also liked now not all of them are biological mothers and there's an interesting discussion in the later parts of the book around what being a 'good' mother entails and if mothers should be self sacrificing or not for their children because as one character points out - if I sacrifice myself for my child, they will no longer have a mother so shouldn't I protect myself first so that I'm around longer to protect them. All that being said, this is still a very satisfying mystery/thriller read even if motherhood is something you're completely not interested in but I wanted to point out this one very prominent theme because I know mothers and motherhood can be sensitive topics for readers.

The characters and character relationships in this book were great. Golding does a fantastic job of giving us character details right upfront which helped ground me and feel like I really knew these characters. These character details come in such a seamless way that it never felt heavy handed or overly telling instead of showing. I also really enjoyed how those initial character details were deepened as the story progressed and we learned more layers to that detail. As a small, non-spoilery example, Ruby plays the violin semi-professionally and we see her practicing and composing at the beginning of the book. But then, later, we find out that her parents made her keep taking lessons as a child even when she wanted to quit. Throughout most of the book, we're hopping between the POVs of Ruby and Joanna and both women were equally interesting and well developed. As the plot progressed, we see both Ruby and Joanna growing as people and both start to figure out what is important to each of them. Their relationships with the side characters were also pretty well developed and those relationships were used to show some of the personal growth that they were both going through.

The narrative structure was really fun and I think really helped to keep the overall pacing engaging. The first scene in the book is the child being abandoned and then we start switching between Ruby and Joanna and different times within the last year and we see the lead up to how and why that child was abandoned. Most of Joanna's chapters were in the present where she is investigating the attack on the man in the apartment and most of Ruby's chapters are in the past where she's integrating herself into this other family. Obviously, the two plot lines are going to converge at some point and it is a fun journey to see how, exactly, that is going to be done. There's a third POV introduced about halfway through that really adds a great layer of tension into the plot. I've found in some books with similar timeline/POV jumps that it can get annoying when we're about to see a big reveal in one plot line but then switch at the last minute for a contrived 'cliffhanger' effect. I didn't find that to be the case with this book, in fact, it is almost the opposite where each chapter felt very complete and if there was a reveal, it was well integrated into the chapter so while we did want to know more, there wasn't a frustrating amount of cliffhangers to deal with. If anything, the reveals in one timeline just made me want to switch to the other timeline to see either the buildup or the fallout of that same plot point reveal.

The reveals were fantastic and were paced perfectly. Specifically, there were 3 reveals back to back to back within a certain 10% window of the book that I was just in awe of. Those three reveals completely changed the direction of the narrative as well as my perspective on multiple characters. I also felt the reveals were well hinted at ahead of time so nothing felt like it was coming completely out of left field. Instead, it felt like the puzzle pieces I was gathering finally all fell into place and I could start to see a part of the larger picture. This story was a great melding of domestic thriller, detective mystery, and a little bit of a third sub-genre that I think would be a spoiler if I mentioned it. The reveals and twists, as well, were well balanced between the typical reveals you'd expect in each of those different sub-genres.

Overall, I really loved this book - the characters, relationships, themes, pacing, and reveals were all dialed in perfectly for my reading tastes. I will be going back and reading Golding's debut novel from 2019 for sure.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for review

Expected publication date is November 9, 2021.

Not as good as Little Darlings unfortunately.

I find the stories by this author so odd, but fascinating. The myth imbedded here was quite interesting. I actually spent a decent amount of time going down the google rabbit hole on that.

Anyway, the pacing of this and alternating of time frames had me a bit confused at times. It definitely requires the suspension of disbelief. That’s ok though. It’s not your “traditional” thriller. I did need to finish it to see the outcome. I did enjoy it just but liked the first better. I will definitely look out for the next by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Crooked Lane Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

A thrilling read filled with Celtic folklore. A little girl is found abandoned in a small seaside town. A man that is found badly injured in a bathtub. DS Joanna Harper begins to investigate the crimes and realizes that the two crimes might be related. But, not everything is as it seems. . .

In this book Melanie Golding combines police work with a bit of folklore and observations about motherhood and what mothers will do for their child. Told in two timelines that eventually come together and from multiple viewpoints, it’s very well written and plotted carefully. The flow is excellent, it becomes ever harder to leave this world that has been created in such a believable way, and there’s plenty of tension as the story builds. An excellent read.

Melanie Golding doesn’t tell you a story… she plants the most beautiful images directly in your head. After tackling changelings, it’s the turn of selkies, those mysterious seals who turn human from Scottish folklore. Ruby meets her handsome neighbor, who lives with a woman and their child but they’re not together. Little by little, she gets close to them, but not so much to be with him but rather the little girl. The Mom, Constance, claims to be a selkie, but of course she’s off her rocker, right? In the present, DS Joanna Harper is trying to find out who attacked a man and left him for dead, and how a woman and a child may be linked to it. The story takes many twists and turns, upending my expectations continually. The characters are complicated, but very well drawn. Even Constance, who either is completely insane or a magical being, is strangely realistic under the circumstances. But it’s the way that the story engrossed me and sucked me into that world that made me love it so much. Normally, I like action and these so-called “atmospheric” novels bore me to tears. The Hidden uses the environment to propel the action and reading it is like being there.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/#Crooked Lane Books!

The Hidden by Melanie Golding is a thriller novel that has a touch of fantasy in the story. One of the characters in this one believes she’s a Selkie, which is a creature in Celtic and Norse mythology that can change form from a seal to human. I’d say really the book reads more like a thriller novel than fantasy coming from a fan of both genres. The book is also one that changes the point of view between characters and also has chapters that are in the past along with the current timeline.

One night in December police are called to two different locations for two very different reasons. At a store along the waterfront a young child is upset she can’t find her mother but soon a woman who claims to be the child’s mother arrives and says the girl ran off. At an apartment DS Joanna Harper is called in when a man is found beaten in a bathtub barely clinging to life. Soon Joanna finds evidence that the two cases may be related and that her estranged daughter may be involved.

I’m not sure how others will feel about this one but I loved how Melanie Golding took the mythology and wove it into a thrilling novel. For me the story flowed well as it changed between characters with each being distinctive along the way and also as it flashed back to show the reader how everything came to be that day. The story was definitely a compelling one as I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see how the investigation and the fantasy side turned out in the end.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

When I read the synopsis for this book, I really wanted to read it, despite there being a fantasy aspect. I’m not usually a fan of fantasy/mythology, but this book was so well-written, those parts didn’t bother me. It really encompasses so many genres - drama, suspense, crime, horror, thriller, mystery, fantasy - I imagine a pretty broad audience would like this novel.

One chilly evening by the seaside, a little girl was found alone. A woman runs up and claims to be her mother, and the police send them on their way. Is she really the girl’s mother, though? A man has been found, almost dead, and it seems that he may be connected to the young girl. But how? Joanna is the detective on the case, and what she discovers shocks and scares her. She has to go renegade to solve this case, and she’s prepared to take it to the end.

The book was slightly slow in parts, but it was also beautifully written. The fantasy parts didn’t seem as cheesy to me as they tend to be in other books - in fact, that was the most beautiful part about it! The story took awhile to get into, due to several characters that seemingly have no relation in the beginning. The ending wasn’t what I wanted, but it was still great. A solid four stars for this seaside drama.

(I’d like to thank Crooked Lane Books, Melanie Golding and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

Golding's signature blend of thriller and supernatural suspense always makes for a good read. The mythology here - selkies - is so interesting, and I don't think I've ever read about it before. I also love how her endings always leave the reader to decide what's really happened...

This book brings together folklore, the urban paranormal genre, and the hard-boiled copy story. It's just too much, and the method of telling it, moving back and forth through time, doesn't quite work here. There's selkies, captured selkie skins, a child, a serial killer, identity theft, women who were raised as sisters despite the older one actually being the younger's mother, oh, and the older one is the cop, who is the very stereotype of the policewoman who ruins her personal life because of her desire for work. The younger sister is a violinist and composer, but some of the music-related writing is rather dumbed down for readers, unnecessarily. The elements are all fine, mostly, but they way they're combined here is just a big mess. the book doesn't know what it wants to say or be.

I loved the blend of folklore and mystery. I think that the premise of this book is so unique that it is quite hard to put into words, beyond me saying it is something that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and highly recommend other read as well. I think that the whole idea of selkies was so cool, and the mixture of Roger and his questionable family dynamic truly made it a modern mystery with an old fable twist. I will say that at times the timeline took away a bit from the story as it was a little confusing or hard to catch up with where we were or what time period we were in, but I think that is a pretty minor complaint (if even a complaint at all) I thought that there were a lot of great questions asked, with most being wrapped up and nicely answered. All in all I thought that this was a very unique and enjoyable read, and I cannot say I have read anything like it.

The timeline was a little hard to follow at times but I did really enjoy this story and the focus on the mother/daughter relationship. I will say this is a very unique thriller and one that is set apart from anything else coming out this year!

This was an atmospheric suspense with lots of intrigue and a mystical, gothic feel. I found the plot to be fresh and original. Though it had magical elements, it was believable. The characters were well-drawn and sympathetic. Great for fans of Jennifer McMahon and Chris Bohjalian.