What an odd and interesting book. This book surprised me, but in a good way. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I first picked up this book but then it took a turn that I wasn't expecting and knocked me off my feet. Once things started fall in place and I could wrap my head around everything then I couldn't put the book down. I had to find out what was going to happen next.

This book was basically an escape room in book format and what better setting than a creepy, old, abandoned amusement park. When you factor in all of the Hunger Games vibes, family drama, and interesting characters I think the author has discovered the recipe for success. I haven't read many books by Kiersten White yet but I have a feeling she just may end up becoming a new favorite author.

Side note: I was not aware when I picked up this book that it was a modern twist on Greek mythology (the Minotaur to be exact). I found this kind of funny because the book I had just finished prior to picking this one up was Ariadne by Jennifer Saint which coincidently is another Minotaur retelling. I must say, I am a sucker for a good mythology retelling.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for letting me get my hands on this book.

This one was a heart-pounding and exciting ride! I found there to be too many conveniences and plot holes for this to be a new favorite, but it was a breeze to get through. I found the characters to be endearing and lovable in their own ways, which isn't something you find in horror often, and I enjoyed this aspect. The writing was a bit dense for my taste, but I think if you enjoy authors like Blake Crouch, this could be something you will enjoy.

I loved The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and adult horror is my current favorite category/genre. That plus a fantastic premise gave me high hopes for this book. Sadly, this story didn't quite live up to my hopes. I appreciate the concept and loved the main character's back story.

The parts that didn't work for me were:
1. The odd POV. It's in third person omniscient present tense...I think? It's such an unusual style that it was really jarring. I'm all for trying out different perspectives, but in this case it seemed more confusing than anything else. The constant switch between contestants' thoughts made it both difficult to attach myself to any of the characters and left me constantly confused. I had to go back and check whose POV we were in multiple times throughout.

2. The mystery. It unfolded in an odd way to me. Like, nothing for the first half and then BOOM everything is pretty much revealed halfway through and then the end part is just watching it play out and having a few more details explained. It wasn't compelling IMO.

3. The romance/relationships. They felt forced.

Sadly, I found the opening intriguing but wasn't compelled by the rest. Still willing to read future books by this author, though! This one just didn't work for me. Thank you Del Rey for an advanced galley of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the beautiful cover and description of this novel. An abandoned amusement park? A creepy game of hide and seek? I’m in.
The rules seem simple: survive a week in the park without leaving and getting caught, and you win enough money to change your life. Every day, two players are “out”, but it doesn’t take long before the players who remain start to notice that something much more sinister is going on. What is hunting them? And will anyone actually win this “contest”?
This novel was tense and intriguing, it kept me interested. I’m glad it was just about 250 pages, I think anything more would’ve felt drawn out. I liked the use of journal entries to explain the history of what was going on. It wasn’t as scary as I had hoped, but it did have some great suspenseful moments.

Orphaned and living in a shelter, Mack has nothing but a small bag of items to her name. She only wants to be invisible. Instead, she’s singled out and offered the chance of a lifetime: participate in a hide-and-seek competition for the chance to win $50k. The offer seems too good to be true, but what does Mack have to lose? It’s a question that comes back to haunt her when the competition begins to disappear rather than be eliminated.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I started this book, but I knew it was bound to be crazy. It was hard to follow at first because there’s such a large cast of characters and we only got to know Mack before the main plot gets rolling. It honestly took me a while before I realized I had mixed two of the characters up, and one was eliminated shortly after we met him and the guy I thought was him.

That said, once I got the characters down, it was easy to tell each person apart before their names were mentioned. Each of them are so different from one another and brought something different to the table, so I wish we got to know some of the characters before the competition started. That said, I think it’s an excellent book. We follow several different perspectives, and it truly pulls the whole story together. It was interesting to follow the story from so many perspectives, especially when we jumped to the people who knew what was going on.

I do wish the seeker was revealed completely through the people in the old, closed theme park because it was a little anticlimactic for the main reveal to be vague through a series of journal entries. However, it didn’t ruin the story for me. I just think that the journal entries should’ve come into play after we saw the seeker in all their glory. It was actually quite a fascinating and scary concept that left me very close to being on the edge of my seat.

All in all, I think this was a very good read. I have two of Kiersten White’s books on my to-read list, and now I’m excited to check them out because this was such a good story.

This was certainly a lot of fun; I read it in a busy 24 hours. There were some familiar horror tropes, but the palpable social anger that the characters (and author) shared was refreshing. This is on the tame side of horror, and would be a great fit for older teen readers and adults who enjoy twists, a relatively high body count (but very limited gore/on-screen violence), mystery, and social commentary. Even when it was occasionally predictable, the plot was relentless, the characters surprisingly sympathetic, and the ending mostly satisfying.

Hide is a story that will stick with me a long time. It has characters that I cared enough about that I was frightened for them. Each of the doomed characters had their own background story, their own doubts and hopes that made them more than just throw-away devices. The author weaves in some social commentary without preaching, without throwing it in our faces. Is the friendliest gas station attendant in Idaho disposable because he's poor? Is a veteran who had her leg blown up in Afghanistan now worthless to society? Basically, is it moral for the rich to sacrifice the poor and disabled to make themselves richer?

Like I said, it's not preaching, though. The setting is a decrepit fairgrounds wherein a monster lurks. Unfortunately, monsters are outside the amusement park, too, in families, in homeless shelters, online, and in society.

Nonstop scares, nonstop action, nonstop thrills. Good twists. A lot of stuff to think about disguised as a horror story. Hide is my favorite book so far in 2022. Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for allowing me the chance to read and review this eARC of Hide.

This book really reminded me of Monster, by Frank Peretti, that came out in the early 2000s. Both have the same general plot line, although Monster is tied more strongly to the supernatural than this story.

Mack is the protagonist of Hide, and she arrives in the story scarred and desperate. She's got a seriously gory past - her father hunted down her family members, including her sister while she hid in the closet (and took her sister's better hiding spot) - that's prevented her from making much headway financially as a young adult. So she jumps at the opportunity to earn $50,000 if she can spend a week in a creepy amusement park. She joins a dozen other contestants hoping to do the same thing, and all of them have their own backstories. One-by-one, the others are picked off by a mysterious foe that's gradually revealed. So is the foe's origin, once Mack and her friends escape to an overseer's house and learn the dark bargain that ancestors struck in exchange for safety and wealth.

White does a great job building suspense and drawing Mack's character, as well as gradually revealing the tragedy of Mack's past. However, the monster at the heart of the conflict is never fully explained and, lacking any set belief system to tie this demon to, it falls a little flat toward the end. Why did the townspeople have to make a bargain in the first place? What did the monster - or whatever was behind the monster - have to gain in making the bargain itself? Perhaps a more careful reader will find those answers in the text.

Full of twists and turns. A group of people are brought to a remote area to participate in a elaborate game of hide and seek. Yet as you keep reading things are definitely not as they appear. Could not put it down. Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This exploration of greed, depravity, and triumph is propelled by an incredibly fast-paced plot. Throw in compelling characters, and a delightfully mythical and gothic horror, and you have a unique and exciting thriller.

**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to review this novel in advance in exchange for a fair review. **

Hide by Kiersten White is a scary and potent allegory taking on topics like class, race, entitlement, and the status quo. Told with an impressive roster of characters and emotional depth, Hide takes the reader on a horrifying ride through the psyche of trauma and what lengths people will go to hold onto privilege and power. Highly recommended.

A desperate young woman is offered a chance to compete for a large cash prize. All she has to do is spend a week in an abandoned amusement park and win a game of hide and seek. Mack has been hiding for years. She believes that she can win. And she really has nowhere else to go at this point.

It was an interesting premise that quickly turned in the last direction I expected it to go. Mack's childhood memories are absolutely chilling, but what happens in the park is something horror fans are likely to have encountered before. The plot is fast paced and shifts abruptly back and forth between the fourteen competitors, more like cuts in a horror movie than transitions in a book. I never quite understood the rules of the game...as far as I can tell they'd pick a hiding spot each morning and wait to see if they were found, then go back in at night for dinner and a good night's sleep...but the story behind the whole thing was interesting when it was finally revealed.

“Hide” left a lasting impression and I was not ready for the escapade to end!

Intriguing setting, multi-narrative, with a bit of complexity to the storyline, this was one was I did not want to put down. My first Kiersten White book and it did not disappoint. I wait with bated breath for the storyline to be expanded on in the future.

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me a copy of “Hide” in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.

Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book early! Hide comes out in May and just look at that cover!
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Hide by Kiersten White is about an adult hide and seek competition in an abandoned amusement park. 14 contestants, 7 days, 1 winner. But they don't know who, or what they're hiding from. They assume it's a reality show but there's no cameras and no interviews. Then people start disappearing...
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I give this book ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
I liked that the author gave us just enough background on the contestants where we somewhat cared what happened to them. I of course loved Mack and Ava! The action, horror and descriptions of the park were well done. What knocked my rating down a bit was the old journal entries. They did provide the back story of the game which we needed but I was bored and ended up skimming through it a bit. Another thing was the ending seemed a bit abrupt. Without spoiling it, I'll say I wasn't mad about what happened but I wanted just a tiny bit more. One thing I can assume but I was left with a question as well (that detail I wish went differently). Overall, I enjoyed it and blasted right through it!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine/Del Ray for allowing me to read and review this title! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hide is a combination of The Cabin in the Woods, Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and Maze Runner vibes with horror and supernatural mixed in. I wasn't immediately gripped into the story as it had a pretty slow build up but the climax and ending are very rewarding to stick it through. We are introduced to fourteen adult individuals who are entered in a "hide-and-seek" game in an abandoned amusement park. The park was shut down years ago due to a missing young girl who died in the park, which left a bad taste in the people's mouth. Years later, a company creates a TV based game called Olly Olly Oxen Free Hide and Seek Tournament. The winner will receive the prize of $50,000.

Kiersten White has had some hits and misses with books but this one is definitely a hit. I really like the fact that this is a stand-alone story. It doesn't need a sequel. I think she did a fantastic job developing each of the 14 characters. Of course a few of them get more development than others like Mack who is our "main" character/pov. I was rooting for her quite a bit.

I enjoyed the satire-ness of it which reminded me of Cabin in the Woods. The horror aspect was done very well and I'm looking forward to reading more books from White in this genre.

4.5 stars

Kiersten White never misses. I uphold that I will read anything she writes, and that fully continues to her adult debut, 'Hide.' I was hooked from the beginning, though I did often have to pull my legs fully up onto my dorm bed, lofted from the floor, for fear there was something hiding underneath it. I often crawled under the covers with a warm drink as well, to comfort myself from how deeply unnerving and frightening this book is from the get go. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for early access to this title. It was AMAZING.

*I was provided an advanced copy by Netgalley and the publisher for my honest review.*

This booked drew me in quickly and held me until the end. There were a lot of characters to take in at the beginning - but I was able to keep them straight. If you are into the Squid Games - this book is for you. I would recommend this book!

ARC provided by NetGalley / Cópia antecipada do livro proporcionada pelo NetGalley (review in portuguese and english).

Esse livro não sai da minha cabeça. Não foi perfeito, mas eu também não consigo parar de pensar nele e na ambientação criada na minha cabeça. Tive um pouco de dificuldade de me conectar no começo, porque a escrita da Kiersten parece estar um pouco mais simplória comparado a outros livros que já li dela. Os personagens também não foram o ponto forte da história: são um pouco caricatos e estereotipados. O livro também é vendido como adulto, mas é definitivamente YA.

Entretanto, a história brilha quando chegamos ao parque de diversões e toda essa "competição". Esses elementos de: trancados em um lugar sem celular, precisarem assinar contratos, um parque abandonado no meio do nada e a tensão de precisar se esconder e depender apenas de barulhos e pequenas espiadas, criam uma tensão e uma vibe sinistra e bizarra. A aventura no geral é muito boa e te mantém engajado na história - principalmente quando somos introduzidos aos elementos sobrenaturais do livro. Você quer MUITO saber pra onde estão indo as pessoas que desaparecem, qual é o grande mistério por trás, quem são os criadores desse jogo e qual é o propósito de tudo. O livro não chega ser de terror, mas tem momentos arrepiantes.

Foi ficando melhor e melhor à medida que fui lendo. Mais pro fim, comecei até a me importar com os personagens, que de fato são a parte mais fraca da história. O livro encerra deixando uma cena desesperadora como despedida e você se pega pensando no que aconteceu depois (não a ponto de ser um gancho para um segundo livro, fiquem tranquilos). É meio corrido, um pouquinho controverso, mas deu pra passar um pano, simplesmente porque é MUITO maneiro. Agora, alguns dias após a leitura, ainda me pego reimaginando esse parque, alguns acontecimentos, e gostando mais a cada dia que passa.

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I can't stop thinking about this book. It wasn't perfect, by all means - I had a little trouble connecting at first, because Kiersten's writing seems to be a little simpler compared to other books I've read by her. The characters weren't the story's strong point either: they're a little cartoonish and stereotyped. The book is also sold as an adult fiction, but it's definitely YA.

However, the story shines when we arrive at the amusement park and all this "competition" starts. These elements of: being locked in a place with no cellphone, having to sign contracts and NDAs, an abandoned park in the middle of nowhere and the tension of having to hide and relying only on noises and small peeks, create a tension and a sinister and bizarre vibe. The adventure in general is very good and keeps you engaged in the story - especially when we are introduced to the supernatural elements of the book. You REALLY want to know where the people who disappear are going, what's the big mystery behind it, who the creators of this game are and what the purpose of it all is. The book is not scary, but it does have chilling moments.

It just got better and better as I read on. Towards the end, I even started to care about the characters, which remained definitely the weakest part of the story. The book ends with a nerve-racking scene and you find yourself thinking about what happened next (not to the point of it being a hook for a second book, don't worry). It's a little rushed, a little controversial, but I don't care, simply because it's VERY cool. Now, a few days after reading it, I still find myself reimagining this park, some events, and enjoying it more with each passing day.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in an exchange for an honest review.

I loved this.

Mack scarred by a heartbreaking past accepts an offer for a game, a challenge. Hide in an amusement park and win 50,000 dollars. She only has to outlast 13 competitors for seven days. For Mack hiding is as normal as breathing. Her goal is to never be seen so this should be easy for her. But things that seem too good to be true often are.

The rules
1.No bathroom break, no second chances from dawn to dusk you belong to your hiding spot. If you’re caught you’re out.
2. Two are out a day.
3. 30 minutes each day to hide.

It doesn’t take long for the feeling of wrongness to settle over the contestants. Everyone shoves it off. They all have a reason to be there and an overactive imagination won’t stop them. Denial at its best until the bloody remains are too much to dispute. And once you know it’s far too late to do a thing about it… or is there?

Knowing you’re being hunted is only step one and trying not to die is all other nine.

14 souls lured out like lambs to the slaughter. Unknowingly
walking right into a plot decades into the making. Who will survive? We are taught that monsters stalk at night but this one? This one hunts in bright of day.

Olly Olly oxen free,
I hope where you’re hiding you will never be seen.
Come out, come out wherever you are,
Just so you can be torn apart.

I liked this book so much I did a little poem for it. I definitely recommend this book and I’m so glad I got approved for it. It’s unique and enjoyable.

this book was a wild ride! for a while, i wasn’t even sure what to expect! but i was fully invested because an abandoned amusement park and a hide-and-seek competition is the next reality tv show i wanna watch.
we were given a little breadcrumb trail of information, learning more about each contestant’s background.
as the story progressed, the social constructs reared their ugly heads, ya know, as they do.

a group of competitors sign up to spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park. the rule of the game is not to get caught. and the last one standing wins a cash prize.
mack has a traumatic past and is sure she win. she’s an expert at hiding. she's been hiding from the world for years, and in plain sight.
as the game progresses and competitors are eliminated, mack starts to believe there’s something more ominous about this game.

for fans of: the hunger games, saw, lost, squid game