Hidden

By: Casey Hill

Narrated by: Caroline Lennon

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

When a young girl is discovered dead on an isolated Irish country road, it seems to be a simple hit and run. Then the cops see the tattoo on her back - a pair of beautifully wrought angel wings. Forensic investigator Reilly Steel is soon on the scene and she suspects that there is more to this case than a straightforward murder. Then the angel tattoo is traced to other children - both dead and alive - who are all similarly marked.…

©2013 Casey Hill (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"[A] well-paced out-and-out crime story, featuring an attractive and intelligent new heroine" ( Irish Independent)

Unstatisfying Conclusion to Story- Third in Series

I had never heard of "International Bestseller" Casey Hill so first I googled the author which wasn't a lot of help, then I had the brilliant idea of looking on the Amazon UK site. So here's the lowdown. Casey Hill is a husband and wife writing team Melissa Hill (who writes chick lit or modern romance according to which source I read) and her husband Kevin Hill. They live in Ireland and Melissa is Irish. There's nothing really about Kevin so I assume he isn't a California surfer dude or the publicity inform would have mentioned it

Anyway, this is the third book in the series. The first two are available on Audible in the UK but not here. Don't know whose decision that was but I probably would not have made it to the 3rd one if I had listened to (or read) the first one. Also I apologize for the review being so long. You can skip to the last paragraph for the take-away. Most of this is just complaining.

Let me though say I have no problem with the narration. Carolyn Lennon has a pleasant and agreeable voice and style I would be happy to listen to again.

Background. Reilly Steel, a California born, surfing, forensic scientist who ended up in Ireland because her disabled Irish born, recovering alcoholic firefighter dad, Mike Steel, returned to Ireland where his meager California firefighter's disability pension is eked out by Irish welfare. Wow, Irish welfare must be very generous considering the average California disability pension for firemen. Are you sensing a certain amount of stereotyping here? I can promise you that the character development (which done well can overcome stereotypes) doesn't help here.

A victim of a hit and run driver is found dead on a narrow Irish road. She is wearing a thin gown, no shoes and has wings tattooed on her back. No one claims the body so the first job is to identify the victim.

The cops in this case take Reilly along on investigation forays, but that's ok because she is also a FBI trained hostage negotiator. One of the two main investigators had a wife who may (or may not have cancer), the other, Chris, has a genetic disease that usually isn't serious but Reilly is upset with him because he hasn't told his superiors about it. -Chris and Reilly have an on and off friendship tending toward romantic relationship. And none of this is really interesting.

Also there is a red herring in the form of another character who appears and becomes a hook for the next book in the series. But by using this the way the authors do it robs this book of a satisfying ending. The solve the mystery which isn't much a mystery. There isn't even a whole lot of a crime when all is revealed, at least not in this book. All of the potentially intriguing stuff points to the next book, which I really doubt if I will bother reading in any form.

Couldn't Stick With It

What would have made Hidden better?

Plot should have moved along at a better rate or at the very least, there should have been ample character development during the first ten chapters (I quit the book at this point). There wasn't anything gripping, interesting, or provoking and the characters were so surface, the reader didn't relate to them or care about them.

Would you ever listen to anything by Casey Hill again?

no

Would you listen to another book narrated by Caroline Lennon?

yes

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom and annoyance