An absolutely buck wild ride from start to finish. It had everything I love: cults, death games, amusement parks, eldritch beings, queer women, true crime... And every element was touched on just the right amount, which left a healthy amount of intrigue into each of the 14 characters.

The latest offering from Kiersten White is an exploration of the horror that we are willing to subject ourselves and our families to in order to keep us ‘safe’. As an allegory of life in the gun obsessed culture of 21st century America, the book succeeds, telling a story that is honest and horrific.

The story centers around a group of 14 young people who are a cross section of modern day life. They have been invited to participate in a week long game of hide and seek at an abandoned amusement park. They will spend the night at a base camp, and then spend the day hidden while someone or something looks for them. At the end of the week, the last one found will receive a cash prize.

Of course things are not what they seem and the truth is slowly revealed as their numbers begin to dwindle.

My feelings about the book are mixed. At times I felt that not enough information was being shared with the reader and I felt confused. At other times I felt that too much information was being shared and the pace slowed. There were also a few details that seemed far fetched, such as weights being carried, distances (one time it very long and at other times its a short walk) that pulled me out of the story when I read them.

However the overall pacing was very good and had not problem getting engaged with the characters and the plot and being pulled along to the end.

I would recommend this book to fans of The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner Series.

This is one of those books where I immediately went, what in the world did I just read?

And I mean that in the best way. Hide isn't for the faint of heart, not at first. It's spooky enough to keep you from wanting to read this too late at night, but also so damn addictive that you can't put it down, so you end up giving yourself abandoned theme park nightmares.

Honestly though, any fan of horror/weird fiction will likely really enjoy this. Kiersten White's really stepped out of her usual genre for this one, and I really hope she keeps writing in this genre, cuz WOW. Give me all the horror, please and thank you.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to read an electronic ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have not read much of Kierstan White's other work, this being only my second book I've read by her. That being said, it is clear that she is a talented writer with a knack for writing interesting characters with dark pasts and/or backgrounds.

Following a young woman who is the sole survivor of the slaughter of her family by her father, this story begins as the shelter where she lives pushes her to take part in a hide and seek tournament. The reason? They want her out from under their roof, and the tournament promises $50K to the winner. That would be enough to get her on her feet again. The catch? Hide and seek is the game her father was playing while he slaughtered her family as she watched in horror from her hiding spot. You could say she's been prepared for this competition since that day.

What she isn't prepared for, is how strange the compeition is. Set in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, her and the other 13 contestants are dropped off at a derelict amusement park. The 7 day competition will be fierce, and only one of them can win. But is something more at stake than the grand prize? Some of the contestants have dark secrets to hide, and the sponsors of the competition are hiding things too.

"Ready or not...here I come"...and so it begins.

4.5 stars
I cannot wait for this to come out so i can discuss it with everyone!! It’s really hard to summarize or even review what I loved about this book without giving spoilers, as this one is really best going into blind. The pitch I’ll give you: a thrilling hide-and-seek based Hunger Games/Squid Game set in an abandoned amusement park with a bit of fantastical horror thrown in. It’s a bit abstract, a bit ambiguous, but if those are things you enjoy in a book, PLEASE get your hands on White’s adult debut.

For those of you with Squid Game withdrawal symptoms, I highly recommend Hide, Kiersten White’s adult debut. Fourteen seemingly-random people are invited to take part in a large-scale hide and seek competition in an abandoned theme park. All the competitors have to do is successfully evade their unknown captor for seven days, and the winner gets $50,000. Does that seem too good to be true? Well, let’s just say not all terms and conditions are disclosed upfront, and as competitors begin to disappear, the horrifying truth behind the contest is revealed.

This book is gruesome, disturbing, violent, and so much freaking fun. The narrative switches between characters, which gives readers a truly holistic view of events, but our main protagonist is Mack, a survivor of a deadly family trauma, with a real knack for finding good hiding places. The alliances she forms with some of her fellow competitors give the story a real warmth.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the history behind the contest is really interesting, and says a lot about how holding on to tradition isn’t always a good thing. The character of the center of organizing this bonkers contest, Linda, is particularly insidious, and a lot of fun to read.

In terms of fun, exciting, and well-written horror, Ride is the book to beat this year. I was determined to avoid theme park-related imagery, but this truly is a roller coaster of a novel. Put on your seatbelts, we’re headed for the belly of the beast.

This book was so good! A thrilling and page-turning debut Adult novel from Kiersten White. I am so picky with thrillers which is usually due to the lack of agency and depth of the characters and the novel not playing fair with it's readers. Hide was filled with characters, almost too many to keep track of in the beginning, but they all felt fully fleshed out and interesting and on top of that had actual agency in the events of the story. A great story to close 2021 with.

Hide follows fourteen women and men as they compete in a week-long game of hide and seek in an abandoned theme park with a dark history. The pacing was spot on. The opening of the story gave enough details about Mack's competition and the details of the game to get me invested in the characters and outcome, and once the contest begins there's a nice combination of action and tension. More importantly, Hide delivers relevant social commentary that has been lacking in recent horror novels I've read.

Absolutely excellent. A highly recommended purchase, particularly for collections where horror is already popular.

<i>ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review</i>
This book was immediately intriguing to me. A bunch of random people hiding out in an abandoned amusement park in a game of hide and seek sounds like a recipe for disaster. They know they are essentially being hunted, but what happens when they are found and what will it be that even finds them? The book was high in intensity and even knowing many of the characters wouldn’t make it, I found it hard not to root for a few.
I did struggle with the setup of the book and this could entirely be because I’m reading an arc and not the final published copy. However, the disjointed POVs and lack of transitions made it super hard at times to know which character you were even reading about. There are also not chapter breaks aside from the 6 days everyone arrives at the park. It made it very hard to find reasonable places to pause while reading 🥸 The overall plot wasn’t all that unique but the addition of the amusement park and the paranormal theme together certainly was. Made for a good read.

QUICK TAKE: this book was AWESOME. Part Fantasticland, part Hunger Games, part creature feature. It takes a little bit to get into, but once the world and mythology are established, this is a propulsive, super fun thriller. Can't wait to discuss this one with more people!

Holy point of views! I couldn't keep track of so many characters and all their thoughts. This would have been better with a more centralized POV character and definitely better organization so everything wasn't thrown at me at once.

This book felt like the inside of a Netflix horror film! I loved the beginning and was totally hooked.... but then I lost interest. This book started so strong and was super creepy and thrilling. I think plot became a little to "fantasy like" for my taste.

I was so exited for this one! Other reviews compared it to a creepy escape room type theme and I 100% agree. But, I'm disappointed that I was disappointed in this read. I would recommend to other horror lovers, but it just wasn't for me!

Kiersten White is one of my favorite authors, and I was so excited (and a little nervous) to see what she had written for adults. Her YA can be pretty gruesome and gut wrenching (I'm looking at you The Dark Decent of Elizabeth Frankenstein), so I so excited to get an eARC from NetGalley.

This book did not disappoint! 14 people are chosen for a reality television style hide and seek competition in an abandoned amusement park. We get to see into each of their heads and stories, but as the competition continues contestants are disappearing. Is something darker happening than anyone was lead to believe?
Weaving suspense, horror, and grief with a commentary on privilege, class, and race this was a great thriller that has something important to say.

It was an abandoned Amusement Park, closed after a five year old girl vanished within, her patent leather shoe caught on the branches of a topiary. "Slowly what didn't crumble rusted and what didn't rust leaned. All the walkways were lined with impassable shrubbery, undergrowth turned into overgrowth, wild plant life was riddled with thorns."

In an undisclosed location, Linda the game hostess, welcomed fourteen contestants to a seven day competition, the Olly Olly Oxen Free Hide-and-Seek Tournament with the chance to win $50,000. The contestants chosen were unemployed or underemployed and in their twenties. Mack was a shelter resident who hid daily from the other shelter occupants. Her backpack, left unattended on the bed, was stolen. Since she now only owned the clothes on her back, entering the contest seemed like a good idea.

A false sense of security was created by Linda, the hostess, when she sprang for an elaborate breakfast at the Star Diner where the fourteen contestants were feted and given contest documents to sign. On to the spa, to be pampered. Off to the Amusement Park. Entering through the wrought iron gate, they then proceeded to the base camp pavilion, a cement floor under a corrugated roof...neat cots...food and water provided...no cell phone signal.

The Rules
-30 minute hiding window given at the start of each day
-the game is active from dawn to dusk
-no allowance for medical, bathroom emergencies or food runs
-a beacon will shine in the sky at dusk calling the contestants back to camp
-2 contestants will be eliminated each day

Should the contestants hide individually? Form alliances? Something sinister was definitely occurring. Heavy footsteps at a slow deliberate pace...the distant scream of rusted metal...

"Hide" by Kiersten White is horror at its best. Off to a slow start, I could not imagine the grip the novel would have on my emotions. The tension and building suspense, the twists and turns and many pitfalls truly challenged and terrified the well developed cast of characters. Who would be victorious? What a chilling, unsettling, page turner filled with dark secrets, sacrifice and camaraderie! Highly recommended.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine/Del Rey and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC of HIDE, by Kiersten White. In this case, it was the author that brought me in. I love her YA books (especially THE DARK DESCENT OF ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN). While this is the author's debut "Adult" novel, much of it still seemed YA to me.

The premise was fun, if predictable. 14 contestants must hide in an abandoned amusement part. There can only be one winner. While they are all thinking of the glory of Reality TV, and each needs to get a boost in their individual careers, it was obvious from the start, that the real intentions were much more sinister in nature. From the too-chirpy, yet enigmatic, tour "guide", to the town people themselves, I was rather disappointed that nobody "voiced" what they were clearly all thinking.

Something is definitely not right here.

For the positives, there were many characters that I loved to watch develop, and others that I just loved to watch. The interludes between the town's past and now seem convenient, yet filled in the space just as they were intended.

Overall, 3.5 starts, and I would love to see more of this author's "adult" novels.

Recommended.

This book was gothic, and creepy , a maze runner sort of vibe. A hide & seek for a cash reward to the person who is last to be found BUT that is not what it's really about. just the story that is told to the 14 people who are Chosen to compete. It jumps around between the contestants pov so it's a bit all over but you know just a bit about each players personality. It was pretty decent storyline and I liked it particularly Brandon, Legrange, and Mack. They were the ones I was rooting for but there can only be one winner. I did unfortunately have to take off one star because towards the end (where it's literally thrown in) regarding white privilege, I don't care for it when an author feels like they need to add some racial comments when it's not part of the actual story and has no purpose in it. It just came out of nowhere and most of it didn't fit the context here in this story.
I was given this arc by Netgalley and this review is my opinion on the book.

I have been a fan of White's books for years and was so excited to read Hide. It was a fast-paced book and though it was long it didn't really feel that way. I was interested to know what would happen though I didn't overly connect to any of the characters. Perhaps because I read the e-arc the story seemed to jump to character to character with no real indication so it through me off. Something about the writing felt awkward but it could just be the formatting wasn't how it will be in the finished book. Overall, the twist wasn't that twisty to me, and I saw it coming. The conclusion left things pretty open ended, and I wasn't completely satisfied. This one was really a mixed bag for me. I was interested while reading but I didn't love the characters or the plot line once everything was revealed.

Okay the cover got me, guilty. so moving on from that… I did not enjoy this writing style. I thought the obvious way to write about 14 people and what they were up to would be to swap perspectives. Nay. It’s told through a omnipresent 3rd person POV and would swap people POV multiple times in a single paragraph. I knew with 14 in a contest we wouldn’t get to know or care about all of them, but I didn’t get to know or care about the ones that lasted the longest. Most of them are typical stereotypes as well.

Another thing I did not jive with was that EVERYTHING was told to us. Possibly directly related to the POV but there was no show, all tell, from a writing standpoint. . I don’t like to be told what’s happening, I want to experience it and feel it. That was in short supply. Around halfway they find out what’s up and why and it’s literally spelled out for them. Told exactly.

Mack being a family homicide survivor played very little in the story besides being a hider and a cool backstory. I thought there would be more there. I thought there would be more in general with the characters with this not being a YA book.

I had to look up the author to see if this was their first book, but they’ve written 10+
So Overall super intriguing idea but a fail on the execution.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was the cover that first pulled me in, but I found Kiersten White's adult debut HIDE impossible to put down. Part gothic fable, part teeth-grinding thriller, this story will stay with you long after you close the book. White has done the impossible and made a cast of fifteen characters both nuanced and memorable, all while pumping out action and keeping the reader immersed in the strange and terrifying Amazement Park. A mind-bending must-read novel.