Review: Hidden by Catherine McKenzie

Hidden by Catherine McKenzie is a good, but not great, women’s fiction novel that deals with marriage, grief, and infidelity.   Hidden is a Kindle First pick for Amazon Prime members for the month of March. 

While walking home from work one evening, Jeff Manning is struck by a car and killed. Two women fall to pieces at the news: his wife, Claire, and his co-worker Tish. Reeling from her loss, Claire must comfort her grieving son as well as contend with funeral arrangements, well-meaning family members, and the arrival of Jeff’s estranged brother, who was her ex-boyfriend. Tish volunteers to attend the funeral on her company’s behalf, but only she knows the true risk of inserting herself into the wreckage of Jeff’s life.

Told through the three voices of Jeff, Tish, and Claire, Hidden explores the complexity of relationships, the repercussions of our personal choices, and the responsibilities we have to the ones we love.

@Goodreads

Hidden is told in the first-person narrative of three characters – Jeff, the deceased, in the past, along with Claire, his wife, and Tish, his lover, both in the present.  The novel begins with Jeff’s untimely demise, and the first half of the novel tells the story of the first few days following his death, along with a look at Jeff’s past. 

We know going in to the novel that Jeff was cheating on his wife with a coworker at the time of his death, and it is slowly revealed how his adulterous relationship came to be throughout the course of the novel. 

Like most novels that start with a huge opening such as this one, Hidden was easy enough to become interested in.  The characters were satisfactory, but not great; Tish and Claire didn’t really stand out from one another, but Jeff had his own unique voice.  The writing is decent, but again, not great; unfortunately, when a novel deals with a topic that is written about a lot like this one is, it has to be fantastic to stand out.  This novel fell a bit short of fantastic.  However, if you haven’t read any books with a plot like this in the past, you may feel differently.  For me, though, nothing about this book was especially unique.

The big reveal at the end was not much of a reveal at all.  I was hoping to like all of the characters despite their obvious flaws (adultery sucks, but it happens to the best of us, after all; no one is perfect), but sadly, at the end, I was left thinking that two of the three characters were assholes.  Also, Jeff’s reason for cheating wasn’t a good reason at all, in my opinion.  Sorry, Jeff, you’re one of the assholes.

Available now for Amazon Prime members.

Expected publication date for non-Prime members: April 1, 2014

Don't forget to check out this month's giveaway:  A hardcover edition of The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski!  Click here for more details.

Rave: Kindle First, March edition

Kindle First March picks:

While walking home from work one evening, Jeff Manning is struck by a car and killed.

Two women fall to pieces at the news: his wife, Claire, and his co-worker Tish. Reeling from her loss, Claire must comfort her grieving son as well as contend with funeral arrangements, well-meaning family members, and the arrival of Jeff’s estranged brother, who was her ex-boyfriend. Tish volunteers to attend the funeral on her company’s behalf, but only she knows the true risk of inserting herself into the wreckage of Jeff’s life.
Told through the three voices of Jeff, Tish, and Claire, Hidden explores the complexity of relationships, the repercussions of our personal choices, and the responsibilities we have to the ones we love.
                                     @Goodreads - @Amazon

As a child growing up on the Connecticut coast, I was always drawn to mysteries set near the sea (Agatha Christie and Iris Murdoch spoiled me rotten). The Seventh Child caught my attention when it won the 2012 Glass Key award for best Scandinavian crime novel, and I was hooked from the first recital of its eerie refrain—“All the best homes are by the water”—which echoes through the salty caverns of this masterful puzzle mystery.

Author Erik Valeur, a Danish journalist, started life in an orphanage, where he remained until his birth mother returned to retrieve him two years later. His investigation into his infancy drove Erik to write this novel, breathing life into the scarce facts he found in his research.

Thanks perhaps to Erik’s personal perspective, I found myself believing in each of the quirky and lovable characters in the book, seeing their traits as reflections of the author’s vulnerabilities. Over and again, I felt betrayed when secrets were revealed, and with each twist I somehow found myself landing on both sides of life’s most petrifying questions. What makes killers different from the rest of us? Are the seeds of murder planted just as we’re born? How do we move forward in the face of unimaginable circumstances?

The Seventh Child is a probing quest for truth, rich with unreliable narrators, shocking disclosures, and twisting trails down the rocky beach in search of not only the killer, but also the underlying motives that drive people to murder. I urge you to read on and discover for yourself—and I dare you to stay warm through all its chills.         @Goodreads - @Amazon

Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or something—has other plans.

Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House…a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time.                                                                       @Goodreads - @Amazon

Former Wall Street whiz and current convict Mickey Steinberg is nearing the end of his three-year sentence at Yankton—the cushy country club prison where he’s enjoyed celebrity status—and he’s ready to get out and get back on top. He doesn’t have the resources he once did, but he’s already hatched a new plan to sell a forgery of a stolen Van Gogh painting through the shady underground art market. He and his new partner, the smooth-talking Paul Reece, have a mark in mind: the sleazy con-man art dealer who swooped in on Mickey’s beloved ex-wife after he was locked up. But with his old partner, Jack Grass, hell-bent on revenge and his pre-prison life closed to him, it won’t be easy.

As their plan becomes ever more complex, Mickey realizes he just wants to make good and make it out alive. A madcap heist with a shrewd insider’s eye on the high-rollers and lowlifes that run New York City—a place where no man is too big to fail.  @Goodreads - @Amazon

 Usually I am only ever interested (and usually only very slightly interested) in one pick, but this month, I wanted two.  I wasn't even able to get through my picks for December and February, and January was not great at all.  This time, I was torn between The Bird Eater and Hidden.  I finally decided to go with Hidden, but I wish I would have checked Goodreads first.

Kindle First is a program launched late last year that allows Amazon Prime members the opportunity to download a Kindle book for free each month, one month before the book is scheduled to be published.  Haven't heard of it?  Check it out here!

Which did you pick?