The Hiding Place

By: David Bell

Narrated by: Fred Lehne

Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sometimes it’s easier to believe a lie.

Twenty-five-years ago, the disappearance of four-year-old Justin Manning rocked the small town of Dove Point, Ohio. After his body was found in a shallow grave in the woods two months later, the repercussions were felt for years.…

Janet Manning has been haunted by the murder since the day she lost sight of her brother in the park. Now, with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Justin’s death looming, a detective and a newspaper reporter have started to ask questions, opening old wounds and raising new suspicions. Could the man convicted of the murder - who spent more than two decades in prison - really be innocent? Janet’s childhood friend and high school crush, who was in the park with her that day, has returned to Dove Point, where he is wrestling with his own conflicted memories of the events. And a strange man appears at Janet’s door in the middle of the night, claiming to know the truth.

Soon, years of deceit will be swept away, and the truth about what happened to Janet’s brother will be revealed. And the answers that Janet has sought may be found much closer to home than she ever could have imagined.

©2012 David Bell (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks

Suspense That Keeps You in the Car

The Hiding Place is the story of two adults that come to terms with a murder of a child that occurred twenty-five years ago when they were seven. Michael, a close, childhood friend of the murdered boy’s sister, Janet, returns to the small, western Ohio town where he was raised. Janet and he, along with Janet’s teenage daughter and the detective who investigated the murder originally, piece together the events that actually took place that fateful day.

The author, David Bell, interleaves the present and past with a deft hand, gradually revealing the story as it is reconstructed. The reconstruction takes several surprising twists, which provide page-turning suspense.

Bell’s characters are attractive and well developed, and the narrator, Fred Lehne, does a great job maintaining the suspense that infuses the novel. I look forward to listening to other books by Bell.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great Mystery!!

What did you love best about The Hiding Place?

Kept you on your seat. Just when I thought I figured it out, whoops another twist.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. Didn't quite know when one would find what that "hiding place" was for.

Which scene was your favorite?

When granddaughter and grandfather became as should be.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

FIRST FOR ME WITH THIS AUTHOR AND NARATOR

What did you love best about The Hiding Place?

KEPT ME GUESSING UNTIL ALMOST THE VERY END

What does Fred Lehne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

GOOD JOB OF VOICES AND INFLECTION

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

NOT IN THE BEGINNING BUT THE 2ND HALF YES

Any additional comments?

MOSTLY A SAD STORY

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Great story!

I enjoyed this story very much. There were several twists and turns and there could have been lots of different outcomes. This is the first time I have listened to a book by this author and this narrator. I will definitely try them again.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent overall

loved the story, loved the narrator (the best I've heard) , performance was great ...touching ...just right for the story

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Avoids all the mystery novel cliches

What made the experience of listening to The Hiding Place the most enjoyable?

This is a great mystery/thriller primarily because it avoids all of the well-worn grooves that most mystery writers fall into. I feel that, in a mystery novel, it's important that the conclusion be plausible, but even more so that the events leading to it are independently plausible and not transparently constructed just to lead to that conclusion. This novel satisfied my plausibility appetite more than most, and the dialog was genuine. I can sometimes live with a mediocre plot if the dialog is right, but never the other way around.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

It was okay

Would you try another book from David Bell and/or Fred Lehne?

Yes, I would read another one.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was relatively clever.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was fine.

Could you see The Hiding Place being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Maybe

Any additional comments?

It was entertaining.

Yawn, another missing child. Why wait 25 years?

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, better than watching the garbage on television.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Hiding Place?

The visit with Sam Coleman while he is in jail.

Which character – as performed by Fred Lehne – was your favorite?

Kevin

Could you see The Hiding Place being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I think that this story or several similar ones have already been made into movies. Ms. Berry is starring in one this fall.

Any additional comments?

Good narration. The story seemed very long and purposefully drawn out. This strategy did not make it suspenseful, just boring.

Interesting

I found the story to have a nice little twist at the end which was great. Otherwise it's just another story of someone being wrongly accused.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Not worth the time

Not a single character I cared about -- all of them completely self-involved, especially the teenager. I had the who-dun-it figured out with his first appearance -- oh, he must be the real killer! The performance was fine, considering the material.

1 of 3 people found this review helpful