What an original, unique, and overall fun story! While a bit chilling and maybe even scary at times, it was also absolutely unputdownable, fast paced, and just FUN to read! Well written, with fantastic character development, made sure to keep me glued to the pages, flipping like a mad woman! Couldn’t wait to her to that last page, but dreaded it ending, which means it’s WOW!! Cannot recommend enough!

An unexpected gem of a book. Reality television meets a Jordan Peele-esque story line meets a creepy horror movie.

This book was an unraveling, from start to end.

Hide is about a high stakes game of hide and seek. Fourteen contestants are sent into an abandoned amusement park, and if they can stay hidden for seven full days, they win $50,000.

But of course something more sinister is at play here.

I really enjoyed this one! It was very 'Midsommar' meets Lord of the Flies meets 'Escape Room' (2019). The plot had me holding my breath until the very last page, and I loved and rooted for every single one of the contestants - except Jaden. Fuck Jaden. I liked that, because of the way White wrote this from a sort of third-person omniscient point of view, we see pieces of everyone's backgrounds and perspectives. I also found the premise to be super unique, and I think it would make a great movie adaptation!

Content warnings include: graphic death, child abuse, domestic abuse, and suicide.

This was a fun, fast-paced read - ultimately forgettable, but I'm not sad that I read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for providing me an e-book copy of HIDE by Kiersten White to review.

So, I really enjoyed HIDE for about the first 70 percent of the book. The premise is amazing, the first chapter was brilliant, but things began to fall apart in the third act.

I think part of the problem was the cast of characters was too large. There were 14 participants and that was about 5 too many. For some of the characters we received very small snippets of their backstory.

We find out all the connections of the contestants to the game and why they were chosen, but I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. Perhaps there will be a sequel and the ending was setting up for that?

I kept waiting for a good explanation of why Mack's father did what he did - I was waiting for certain connections to the goal of the game to be made to Mack's father.

The end was hard to understand and it became preachy.

With all that being said, I think this is a fantastic premise and I am glad I read it.

I rate HIDE three out of five stars.

A competition: One game of Hide-and-seek, fourteen competitors, seven days, and the last one standing guest enough prize money to change their life. Set in an abandoned amusement park, something is amiss, as more competitors who get caught go missing and strange things are happening, soon the competitors realize that they aren’t alone in the park with each other and there is something else in there... hunting them down... and that this game just got deadly. Told from various POVs this story was an interesting concept. Each of the characters has their own motivation for wanting to win the money and their own stories, but our main character out of the them that we get to read the most from would be Mack. Mack is a survivor of a horrible family incident and just needs money to finally get out and change her life. If Mack and her friends want to get out of this alive they’ll have to team up and outsmart the monster and discover what is truly going on with this competition. What they find is a town filled with a dark secret, a monster that consumes everything, and the strength to make it out alive. The story was a bit all over the place, the pacing was off and the constant switching of character POVs without indication was difficult to follow ( hopefully the final format makes it easier to read but since this is an arc that is my experience). The overall payoff of the mystery kind of makes this feel like a teen supernatural thriller movie. Overall interesting concept, but poor execution. Sadly though this didn’t work out for me definitely give it a go, it is a pretty fast and easy read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I want to say that I absolutely LOVE Kiersten White and I was so excited about this book. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it was for me. There were times when I would be pulled in only to be shoved right back out with a plot point or phrasing that felt jarring in a bad way. The plot felt a bit forced and overinflated. To me, this isn't my typical read because it felt less morally grey and more stuffed with forceable direction.

You might like this if you are a big contemporary thriller reader, with the occasional fondness for fantastical elements, like a story that shifts quickly and without lead up, and can handle some seriously dark moments that feel haunted and others that feel questionable.

The concept of the books drew me in and the fact that it is horror, even better. Basically, there are fourteen contestants that are brought to an abandoned theme park, where they are challenged to play the ultimate game of hide and seek. The winner gets fifty thousand dollars, but as the game progresses some sort of supernatural creature is "removing" players. Although I enjoyed this book and the fact that it was based on Greek mythology, I didn't really find it scary. I still liked it though!

I'm going to admit that when it comes to horror I am a bit of a scaredy cat like it is very easy to spook me. But there's something soooo creepy about abandoned amusement parks (abandoned anything, really), so I was definitely spooked by this, the author's first adult horror novel.

I can only give a somewhat vague synopsis because I think anything beyond that spoils some of the fun, although I will say that if you have even a passing knowledge of Greek mythology then you could probably figure out where things were headed, but there were still a few unexpected and devastating moments. Mack is the main character. She lives in a shelter after her family was murdered by her own father in a murder-suicide, and is offered the opportunity to win $50,000 in what is purportedly a week long hide-and-seek competition with 13 other competitors. Only one will win at the end of the seven days, whoever is left unfound. The location? A creepy, old abandoned amusement park that was closed after a five-year-old girl disappeared (allegedly murdered). And of course, because this is a horror, the competitors start to realize something is horribly wrong when the competitors disappear two-by-two.

I loved it. The characters were interesting, and once the reader finds out what is going on, it is rage-inducing. There are so many allegories here, and again I can't go into much detail without spoiling anything, but the undercurrent of this novel is privilege, survival, and in particular the normalization of all the horrors in the world. The things we tell ourselves to avoid looking at the ugly reality of things, and how that can make us complicit in the end.

This is a big miss for me, for so many reasons. And I don't want this to turn into a massive rant, so I will try to keep my disappointments brief.

- The direction the plot eventually goes in doesn't fit the tone the novel begins with
- Too many characters causing shallow backstories
- The constant and abrupt third person POV shifts disrupt the narrative
- The world-building and atmosphere is pretty weak
- Such slow pacing

But I will say this - the opening prologue is a perfect first chapter. Absolute perfection. So it's really too bad the rest of the book falls so short of it.

All in all, not for me. Maybe hard core horror fans might enjoy this, but I was not impressed.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

~~~

Picture this: you are a struggling young person, and someone approaches you with this unusual offer: compete in a one week long hide-and-seek competition for the chance to win $50,000. Not many would pass up an opportunity like that, and unfortunately, our protagonist, Mack, can't afford to either. Among the 14 contestants, alliances are made and friendships are forged, but it doesn't take long before the competitors begin to notice that the game isn't playing out quite as described...

~~~

The opening chapter of this book effortlessly pulled me in, and it only got better from there. You have a sense early on that things aren't what they appear, and the author very skillfully builds the tension as the story progresses. I read this book in huge chunks at a time because the mystery sucked me in and I <b>needed</b> to know what was going on ASAP!

Though some of the characters felt a bit cliche, there were a few good ones that I really connected with throughout the story, especially once the backstory reveals started kicking in. So stressful to want to see so many of them succeed, but knowing only one can be the winner.

While I did really enjoy this read, there were some ham-fisted reveals later in the story that I wished had been handled better. It felt like the author didn't think the readers would be able to pick up what she was laying down. It was heavy handed to the point that I rolled my eyes multiple times, and that's ultimately when I decided to take a star off. (Others may not mind the author holding their hand and leading them along as much as I do, but...)

Despite the hiccups at the end, I thought this was a great read and look forward to reading more books by this author.

Hide by Kiersten White was unusual, different, but also familiar. I devoured the entire book in a matter of hours, needing to reach the finish line, needing to know what happened next. The alternating storytelling propelled the race once I grew accustomed to it, another style wouldn't have worked as well. My only complaint is it needed an epilogue to round it out and make it feel finished.

The premise of Hide immediately intrigued me: fourteen contestants brought to an abandoned theme park to play the ultimate game of hide-and-seek for a chance to win fifty thousand dollars, but something unexpected is removing players from the game. Who, if anyone, will win?

While I did enjoy the story as a whole, the characters fell a little flat. You spend time getting bits and pieces of information of all fourteen contestants, and for me it sort of took away from the impact Mack could have had as a character. I loved getting to know more about her backstory and how it shaped her into her current state, but I would have enjoyed knowing even more. There were a couple of other characters I would have loved more backstory for, but I won't include their names to avoid spoilers.

However, there is a lot of backstory in general going on to explain what is attacking the contestants and how everything started. I wish there had been even more journal entries, and that the entire story had been longer. I would have loved to know what else was in the different books mentioned in Hide, and to know the outcomes of even more seasons in the game.

All in all, the plot is solid and while it's far from terrifying, I appreciated the supernatural elements and the obscure setting. I quickly found my favorite contestants to route for, and wasn't quite expecting how everything came together in the end.

Hide by Kiersten White is an interesting thriller/horror book. I read this as an eARC so I'm not sure if th final copy will be different. I liked the characters and the premise of the story. It was a different and interesting concept, and I think the author did a good job with these. Something I found frustrating was the abrupt change in character, so it was often frustrating reading and seeing that the story changed from one character pov to the next or to descriptive information without some type of indication. There were times when the inner thoughts of characters were lengthy almost to the level of rambling. Other readers may enjoy this, but it felt like useless jargon and fluff to me. Overall, I enjoyed the story and it was a nice change in what I usually read.


I read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

Anything hide and seek related makes me think of the movie of the same name, so I always get excited for that premise. Story was done well and for her first adult book, I liked it! I wish there was a bit more background but for what it is, will definitely recommend this title.

Hide was a really fun book that felt like it could be a movie (I hope they make it a movie!). Abandoned amusement parks will always be creepy but this one was extra - some parts were legit pretty scary. I'll be handing this one to my horror fans.

I walked into this book with only the back cover copy to try and guide me and it took me on an absolute journey.

It's equally the tale of Mack trying to find a way forward, and dealing with the trauma she survived as a child, and a super fucked up game that is being held in an old amusement park. One where all you have to do is survive a game of hide and seek, except that it is so much more than that.

I loved the way that the author blended multiple stories into one tapestry of characters, all of whom were in it for themselves in one way or another.

I also love that this is actually a story of human sacrifice, and a labyrinth, complete with its very own fucked up minotaur. I caught the nod early on with the town being named Asterion but I was fully willing to lean in, and was never disappointed by the story that Kiersten delivered.

When you have a face (cover) like this one, you are sure to grab some attention!

Hide, even the title will pull you right in. What are they hiding? I had to request the book to find out. Kiersten White, you are a literary genius and I am so glad Netgalley introduced us. This is the start of our budding book relationship. I have been instantly captivated by you and your writing style...

14 strangers, 1 abandoned amusement park, and a cash prize for the last man standing.....

What could go wrong?

This plot was incredibly unique that I formed instant chemistry with. This is a book like no other and I was completely engrossed in the originality. 14 characters can be hard to keep up with right? WRONG. This book was so well written that I had no issue following along.

This is a book that will keep you on your toes, filled with twists and turns at every corner, this is not one you want to miss out on. I also can see this being made into a movie/series. Five stars, without a doubt .

I thought this book was going to be confusing at first, due to the large cast of characters, but it wasn't. I was quickly pulled in and loved this book.

There's just something about an abandoned amusement park that makes it the perfect backdrop for a horror novel, & Kiersten White truly hit it out of the park with Hide!

The initial setup does require a little bit of patience - there's a pretty large cast of characters (14 competitors alone including Mack, the MC), & while I was initially worried about keeping track of them all, White did a really fantastic job of making sure each had their own, distinct personalities. There was some great character development for such a big cast & a shorter book, you really came to care about (& loathe) a handful of them by the end - Mack, Ava, LeGrand & Brandon (my favorite) were truly the stars of the show. This isn't the type of book that grants you answers right away - you're kept in the dark as to what's going on for a majority of the time & there aren't any actual reveals as to what's really happening until you're over halfway in, but I found that to be incredibly effective. Trust me when I say it's worth the amount of times you'll be asking yourself "what the hell is going on?" & while this does go into full-blown horror territory, I wouldn't say this is too scary by any means for those who're hesitant to pick up the genre - there is some gore though, so fair warning! I would've liked just a little bit more out of the ending, but all in all I was really satisfied with how everything wrapped up.

This was highly original & I just had so much fun reading it from start to finish - I've really got to make it a priority to dive into White's backlist, & I can't wait to see what she comes up with next! Thank you so much Kiersten White, NetGalley, & Del Rey Books for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review!