My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Workman Publishing Company for an advanced copy of this book on the hidden places that exist in buildings, the secrets that they contain, and the stories that surround them.

I am not a big social media user, but for some reason I am fascinated by people who post things about going into abandoned buildings and what they find there. Huge hallways, clean and lit in derelict buildings, tanks of rotting barrels under churches, entire abandoned neighborhoods in the midwest. To me, these reels are like a good Hitchcock film; I peak around the corners with the explorers, jump when something unexpected happens, and wonder at why these hidden areas were built. And what happened there. Human nature is to question and wonder, and be brave enough to look for answers. Probe for hidden doors, abandoned clubs and hideouts, even entire ballrooms buried beneath the Earth, never danced on or even seen by people at the time. The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them by Stefan Bachmann and April Genevieve Tucholke is a travel guide to the clandestine, the ignored, the forgotten or memento mori to these places, build for a variety of reasons, but of fascination to everyone today.

The book features 18 chapters mostly on one location, a few chapters dealing with a variety of places that are off the beaten path. Sometimes hidden by walls, doors that can't be opened, or even in some cases rooms without doors. Each chapter has a little fictional tale in the beginning a kind of you are there moment for the reader to set the mood. The rest of the book is a historical look at these places, why it was built, if known, how it was found, and how they were used. Also included are some really splendid pictures, or art from the time, that really give readers a strong sense to what these places are or were like. The places vary in use in meaning. Some are deep tunnels, to hide certain people from others who might mean them harm. Some build off existing tunnels, with an architecture that is amazing to see, along with the patience to build them. A few like the Winchester house are built on the blood and greed of families, a house with many doors, passages leading nowhere, rooms with no entrances, to protect a family from vengeful ghosts, killed in the taming of the West. A bar from prohibition, an apartment from the Second World War. And the saddest being Welbeck Abbey, owned by a lonely man, shunned by the one he loved, who built a ballroom that was never danced on, and rooms for art he alone gazed at, under his manor home.

A travel guide for those who like the odd, a touch of the eerie, and some history behind it. Complete with pictures. The tale at the beginning really set the mood. The chapters are not long, but very complete, and really give a good sense to why these secret areas came about, how they were lost and found. There is a lot of research and work here and it shows. Each place sounds fascinating, a few sad, and others down right horror movie terrifying, and best explored from the comfort of one's home.

Recommended for people who love to read about strange and mysterious places, and for people who plan trips around seeing these kind of sites. In addition this would be a great reference book for people who make or enjoy escape rooms, writers of fantasy and horror, and game designers, especially role players for cool places to send their adventuring parties. A really fun book.

This book is great for the person who loves spooky facts. I wish it was coming out before Halloween because I feel like it would get a lot more love. But I will make sure it is on display when it comes out for people to see.