Review of Hidden by Lucy Flood

Lucy Flood was born in Melbourne, Australia and Hidden is her first novel.

Set in Australia and Bali, Hidden is the story of Kate Ryan, a woman who has spent years hiding from her psychopathic first husband, and whose second husband has recently died in mysterious circumstances.  The book opens with two violent chapters, in which first of all an unknown man awakes from a beating only to find himself tied up and entombed and then Kate is subject to horrific attack which leaves her with appalling and life threatening injuries.  Whilst hooked, I was a little perturbed as I found the author’s style initially a little clunky and I thought I was going to be in for a difficult read.

It took me a long while to really start feeling any empathy for Kate which disappointed me as I felt that because of everything that she had been through, I should have been with her from the word go and I think this book would have been much better and gripping if written in first person rather than third. There are also a few typos and undeniable issues with grammar and tense: Sometimes the author switches mid scene between past and present and the book definitely needs a thorough edit.

That said, much as the flaws bugged me I was intrigued enough by the plot and the story line to continue reading. There are plenty of hooks and there is a big twist near the end that I really didn’t see coming.  I was also pleasantly surprised because although I hadn’t gone for the most obvious suspect, I was totally wrong in my assumption as to who the baddie really was and much as I struggled to connect with Kate at the beginning, by the end I was completely on her side and wishing her well.

Lucy Flood clearly has story telling ability and is a good novelist in the making, I would simply urge her to ensure that her future works are fully edited so that any glitches can be ironed out prior to publication.

Hidden is available by clicking the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-ebook/dp/B00EK7QMC4