Hid from Our Eyes is an atmospheric, slow-moving mystery that leans, stylistically, into literary fiction.
The writing itself is captivating. I loved the rhythm of the words and the way the sentences were strung together. In that sense, this is an engaging read you can easily fall into.
That being said, the story lacks focus, falling victim to a scattershot of ideas and subplots. The main plot is a series of three identical murders, taking place decades apart. Because the story alternates between all three timelines with several narrators, this alone keeps us busy. But then we also have a subplot focused on town politics and the police force in crisis, another regarding Clare's difficulties battling addiction while adjusting to motherhood, another concerning a transgender woman, and yet another entire set of circumstances regarding a possible dirty cop and child custody issues. Each subplot brings us characters' backstories and all sorts of random offshoots that detract from, rather than enhance, the main plot.
The author brilliantly handles the three timelines, as far as bringing them all to life. Initially, though, the "Present Day" timeline tripped me up, because the years don't match up. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how the ages of the people involved could possibly fit what I was reading. Either I'm crazy or the timelines don't work as written. (I concede that it could be both.) We have "1952", "1972," and "Present Day." My math got me to 2006 as "Present Day." Keeping that in mind might prevent you from falling down the same mathematical rabbit hole I fell into.
While part of a series, in general this book works fine as a stand-alone. The abundance of backstories gives us more than we need to know about all the characters involved, and the major plot is resolved at the end. However, we're left with a major cliffhanger regarding one of the subplots, which irked me. But that's me. I don't like cliffhangers.
The writing itself is captivating. I loved the rhythm of the words and the way the sentences were strung together. In that sense, this is an engaging read you can easily fall into.
That being said, the story lacks focus, falling victim to a scattershot of ideas and subplots. The main plot is a series of three identical murders, taking place decades apart. Because the story alternates between all three timelines with several narrators, this alone keeps us busy. But then we also have a subplot focused on town politics and the police force in crisis, another regarding Clare's difficulties battling addiction while adjusting to motherhood, another concerning a transgender woman, and yet another entire set of circumstances regarding a possible dirty cop and child custody issues. Each subplot brings us characters' backstories and all sorts of random offshoots that detract from, rather than enhance, the main plot.
The author brilliantly handles the three timelines, as far as bringing them all to life. Initially, though, the "Present Day" timeline tripped me up, because the years don't match up. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how the ages of the people involved could possibly fit what I was reading. Either I'm crazy or the timelines don't work as written. (I concede that it could be both.) We have "1952", "1972," and "Present Day." My math got me to 2006 as "Present Day." Keeping that in mind might prevent you from falling down the same mathematical rabbit hole I fell into.
While part of a series, in general this book works fine as a stand-alone. The abundance of backstories gives us more than we need to know about all the characters involved, and the major plot is resolved at the end. However, we're left with a major cliffhanger regarding one of the subplots, which irked me. But that's me. I don't like cliffhangers.