I was a little worried going into this book because I keep seeing very polarizing reviews but I really enjoyed it! I definitely wouldn't consider this story to be adult, except for a few of the more graphic scenes. Kiersten White has been an auto-read author of mine for a few years so it was nice to read some of her writing again. The setting in this was super creepy but the deadly game storyline fell a little flat for me. It was cool that the author included normal every day things like going to the bathroom and menstration. I'm absolutely hoping to get a physical copy ASAP!

When I first heard that Kiersten White was not only writing a horror novel but an ADULT horror novel, I was like, “YES! I’m all in!” And you know what, I really enjoyed Hide! Right from the start, I was really into it. The book was just really well written, which should come as no surprise as Kiersten White is a great writer 😆 I was really loving the ambiance of the book. One of my favorite things about it was definitely the setting. I mean, you have a bunch of characters playing hide and seek in an abandoned amusement park where the winner gets $50k? Um, yes, please! I mean, it’s super weird, but I’m into it 😆

You know who else is into it? 14 competitors. Lol. So they have 7 days of hide and seek, and every day, competitors will be disqualified until the last remaining gets the money. Maybe. The competitors start disappearing, and not in the “disqualified” sort of way...

And it might have to do with the history of the park. Not long after the park first opened, a little girl went missing, and the park was soon shut down. And let me tell you, the history of the park? INSANE! The way everything unraveled and things came together was SO GOOD! Kiersten added this element to the story that I don’t want to give away, but it’s one of my favorite things to read about!

Greek mythology, guys. It had Greek mythology!! The freaking park is a maze and the reason behind why people are disappearing is the freaking minotaur!!! 😱 I was SO pleasantly surprised when I put the pieces together! First of all, 14 competitors, 7 men and 7 women, just like in the myth. AND I believe the name of the town is Asterion, which is the minotaur's name! Basically, there are a bunch of rich families that made a deal with a minotaur years ago, and in exchange for sacrifices, they get prosperity and protection for all the future generations. It was so fucked up... and I enjoyed every minute of it! 😆

The setting was great, and the story was compelling, but let me tell you, keeping all the characters straight was ROUGH 😅 To be fair, it didn’t matter too much because like I said, they started disappearing. But it was a large cast of characters. I liked quite a few of them though! And a lot of them had some pretty sad pasts.

But overall, I really enjoyed this book! It was a great adult debut from Kiersten White. I loved the concept and the setting in an abandoned amusement park—it was nice and spooky. It wasn’t very gory, in my opinion, or that scary, for that matter. But take this with a grain of salt because horror novels hardly ever scare me 😅 I liked the vibe though. GO KIERSTEN! We definitely need more adult stuff from her, of the horror variety preferably 😉

It won't be every horror readers' cup of tea, but I enjoyed Hide very much. There was a palpable sense of dread from page one. The book is a quick, easy read, with just enough gore to satisfy. This is my first book by Kiersten White, but I think I'll go look for some more.

Absolutely brutal from beginning to end! I really loved the exploration of different relationships in Hide! Kiersten did an excellent job of writing compelling characters and exploring the complexities of a large cast…before they're killed off. Very cinematic as well, especially as you get into the end game I could really picture the dramatic down-to-the-wire sequences.

Very interesting tie-in revealed as well, that fit so neatly with established clues but still managed to take me by surprise.

3.5 I really wanted to love this story but the further I got the more disappointed I was. This story follows Mack as she joins a hide and go seek completion that took place over a week in an abandoned amusement park. We follow Mack as she meets her 13 other contestants and deals with surprises and twists over the next week. I started out really enjoying this and liked being introduced to all the characters and the sense of dread that hung over the story. Once I got about half way through this story went completely of the rails there were twist that defies logic and the ending really just didn’t do it for me so that really dropped the score down . Overall if you don’t mind things that don’t seem logical you may enjoy this story as it was pretty entertaining. I feel like this story is not for me but others might enjoy. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this story for an honest review

I think I went into this one thinking that it was a slasher type of book but really was thrown for a loop, I just feel like this one was lacking some substance and action to keep the pace up.

I had to sit with this book a while after reading it, because it's the kind of book that punches you in the chest and steals your air for a while. It ends with an apology and an acknowledgement that's nearly darker than the book itself.

Hide starts off feeling very much like The Hunger Games - contestants from all around the country are locked in a park with supplies and instructions to stay alive, nothing more. But there are dark secrets in this park, and children have gone missing inside, most notably a 5 year old girl who left only a shoe behind. The Amazement Park, an amusement park long since left abandoned, sets the stage for an unusual survival game: Hide and Seek, in which every contestant has entered with more emotional baggage than the last, and all hiding from something in their lives.

This was a darker read than my usual, but enjoyable and startling, and a despairing social commentary. "Hide" sacrifices young people for the success of a few in power, and, distressingly, there have been multiple school shootings and politically handed down sacrifices made since its writing. It delivers a strong social commentary while creating a purely fictional monster story. 4.5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I went into this book with somewhat high expectations because the premise sounded right up my alley, and while it didn't necessarily live UP to my expectations it didn't really disappoint me either.
It honestly reminded me of two really great movies: The Village and Fear Street (I won't say which one specifically because *SPOILERS*)!
I think the best way I can summarize my thoughts about this book is by giving the pros and cons.

Pros:
- Sapphic "main" character -- (I put "main" in parentheses because each contestant felt like a main character)
- Fun, atmospheric setting -- who wouldn't be creeped out by an abandoned theme park?
- Wasn't drawn out, not too long -- it didn't feel like it slogged at any point. It was very GO GO GO
- I did enjoy the eventual "horror" aspect -- (again, not going into detail because *SPOILERS*)

Cons:
- Too many characters -- (not to mention the fact that two of them had the same name). It was extremely difficult for me to remember each character along with each character's individual story line. While each character felt unique because each one was introduced with a unique background, it was way too much to expect a reader to keep straight.
- We were told EXACTLY what was ACTUALLY going on way too soon -- This book would have benefited greatly if the reader was made to guess for longer, along with the contestants, what exactly they were at the amusement park for and for what exact purpose. My intrigue would've been kept for much longer if this had been the case.
- Not told in first person -- This kind of goes hand in hand with the "too many characters" point, but I think this book would've benefited from being told in a pure, first person narrative from Mack's point of view.
- Felt very YA -- I know this isn't necessarily a "con" but when a book is marketed as adult, it should read like an adult book.
- The ending -- I thought I was missing pages at the end. I had to go back and read it twice. Didn't pack the PUNCH that it was intending to, even though the point got across.

I loved the Elizabeth Frankenstein book by this author and this one was good too! I liked the Amusement park aspect to the story and the action. I was creeped out some times too which is great!

Unfortunately this one wasn't my favorite and fell flat for me. It had its moments but I just felt bored. There were too many characters to remember and just felt like it was too much with all of them. I definitely felt like a Hunger Games vibe though reading this one but not as good. The story moved around a lot and got kinda confusing. Was hoping for more out of this one but that was just my opinion. others might like it! You never know.

Great fun campy read!! This story reminded me so much of the horror movies that i grew up with in the 80s and I was definitely down for the ride. Enjoyed the story, even though it was a little predictable at times. Looking forward to reading more scary stories from Ms. White.

thank you's to net galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with an ARC of this story.

I absolutely ADORED this book. It was suspenseful, engaging, and such a unique story. I think I read it in two sittings.

A group of strangers is invited to play a game. The prize is a boatload of $$$ and assumed notoriety. All of the contestants come into the game thinking about what they will get out of it when they win - after all, how hard can a mega game of hide and seek be?

The twists, turns, and revelations in this novel are exciting and well thought out. The characters were all complex - some with more of a harrowed history than others.

LGBTQIA+ romance and found family are just a few of the elements you will encounter in this book, as well as the more grim aspects; murder, cults, PTSD, and more.

trigger warning: slight mention of child abuse.

I am so friggin behind on reviews! I am in a gap week between jobs and finally getting the chance to catch up on some of my ‘fun’ stuff so that’s cool.

Thank you to Netgalley, Kiersten, and Del Rey for an advance copy of Hide.

There is a competition – spend one week hiding in an abandoned amusement park. There is only one winner and the prize is a life-changing amount of money. This sounds simple. Almost too good to be true.

Mack’s family is dead but she’s alive because she hid so well, so this is a no-brainer of a contest for her to enter. Alliances are formed and plans are made but things start to go awry almost immediately turning this maybe reality show into a test of survival.

What a creative idea for a story, truly. If this were actually a reality show, I’d absolutely watch it. The plot was quick but it took about 100 pages for me to not want to put it down. The beginning of the book really builds the background and introduces us to all of our characters and the world, which isn’t dystopian in a true dictionary sense of the word, but definitely gives dystopian vibes. Really, there are a ton of different vibes that all weave pretty seamlessly – murder mystery, suspense, horror, etc.

There are a ton of characters, however it’s written so cleverly that it is not difficult to keep up with them. A nice variety of personalities, Mack and a couple of the others were so easy to root for…and a couple that were very easy to root against.

This was being marketed as Kiersten White’s intro to adult fiction and I would say that it still felt very YA to me. And I don’t mean that in a negative way, I read both YA and adult regularly. It just didn’t feel as adult as some of the other YA turned Adult writers have felt (Leigh Bardugo and Sarah J Maas for example). I am super excited to see if Kiersten returns to the horror genre, I think she did a great job and I’d love to read more.

The game is easy, play hide and seek in a creepy abandoned theme park, and you could win enough cash to be set for life! Unfortunately for Mack, most things in life that should be easy are definitely not.

With a fast paced story, and a queer main character, I definitely felt that this story stood out among the rest of the "many go in, few come out" troupe. I enjoyed most of the characters, and the hidden secrets that lay at the heart of this seemingly innocent competition.

3.7898/5

Many thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This copy was kindly provided to me by the publishers in that Galiffa review. All opinions are my own. I just gotta say I absolutely loved this book! I went into it looking for something spooky and while I think it was dark and spooky it wasn’t downright scary but it definitely was like the edge of your seat kind of book of what’s gonna happen next. I literally stayed up all night just to finish it. It’s not a big book it goes really fast it’s engaging and fun. It’s got like that feel of a horror slasher film kind of vibe. It’s a great commentary if you read the authors note or epilogue or whatever it is but reading that and then looking back at the story made it even more powerful than just a spooky paranormal read. So well done. Want more books like this in my life. The dedication, Kiersten white did fabulous on this one

I used to love hide and seek when I was a kid. Like, seriously love it. I think it was a cross between being an only child who had parents who would humor her, and being intensely competitive even at a young age. So books based on competitions are a trope I buy into.

Just the basic premise of this book really worked for me. I knew going into it that it was a horror novel and that there would probably be some twist to the game, but I wasn’t expecting it to be the kind of twist it was. It was like if the movies Godzilla and Get Out had a baby who loved ancient Greek myths. The lead up to the reveal of what was picking off the contestants one at a time had me at the edge of my seat.

The social commentary, unfortunately, was heavy handed.
Clearly, Kiersten White is not a fan of boomers. While all the contestants fell squarely in the Millennial or Gen Z camp, all the “bad guys” seemed to be over the age of 65. And they all didn’t care about the contestants because “young people these days”. Insert a little racism and classism and you’ve got a Jordan Peele movie without the finesse. It all felt heavy handed, and there didn’t seem to be any nuance. The worst part was that some of the contestants were all the stereotypes that the boomers were complaining about, so the message got a little confusing. Many of them were attached to their devices, or self centered, or both.

This could have been an easy 4 or 5 star book if these sections had been handled with a lighter touch, or if they hadn’t been handled at all. I’m not saying I necessarily disagree with a lot of what White was saying either…it just felt really out of place and made it very clear that she had a message she wanted to relay to the reader. As a reader, though, I just wanted more scares, more blood, more hide and seek.

I had a decent enough time listening to this, and didn't think too hard about the backstory. The story certainly takes a turn from the description on the jacket, and that means the right readers may not be gravitating to reading this title.

For some reason, I forgot this is NOT a YA book, but it was pretty obvious right away. When the bodies begin to drop, there is a looming horror that is palpable, the setting is creepy and the whole scenario of 14 stranger dropped in an abandoned park is sus from the beginning. There were parts that triggered me, but overall, this is a good Horror book, Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

Hide is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. THE thriller of 2022! The concept is high-stakes hide and seek competition at an abandoned amusement park. The prize for the winner is an astronomical amount of money. Only the stakes are higher than anyone expected when competitors begin disappearing and it becomes a race for survival. This was one exciting ride! The characters are well-developed for there being so many. Fans of Squid Game or anyone looking for a more horror The Hunger Games will be thrilled with Hide. Highly recommended!

Hide is an entertaining read about a Hunger Games style Hide and Seek contest set in a long abandoned, overgrown amusement park where 14 contestants compete for $50,000. The contestants are seemingly chosen randomly and all are desperate in some way and want to win the large scale contest. The story focuses on all 14 characters so it can be difficult to keep them straight, but they do have distinctly different backstories which helps. It starts off slowly, but really picks up speed once they're in the park and we slowly realize what is going on. I enjoyed this novel and it would make a perfect summer read as it moves quickly.

Thank you Random House / Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.