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Review
Hill's prose is always evocative, fresh and exact ... This dark and tense novel renders that experience of discovery and disillusionment with elegantly chilling skill. --TLS
Review
one of the finest novels written so far about this, our age of terror. Hill doesn't write about al-Qaida v America or Islam v the west, but about something altogether subtler and more profound - extremism itself.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hill's prose is unusual, striking and memorable - like poetry, some passages merit rereading. They convey with power and strong visual imagery- the feel and appearance of the landscapes of Greece. I also learned quite a few new words - did you know that "laniary" means canine and "ophidian" indicates "snake" - an apt description for one of the characters? Far from being dull, the inclusion of the anti-hero Ben's "notes for a thesis" are interesting and informative - reminding me of the Spartans' harsh, pragmatic approach to life, and evoking parallels with modern issues of fundamentalism, eugenics and the fanaticism of idealistic groups and cults. The experience of taking part in a dig is described well, again with some interesting insights, such as the fine line between the excitement of a valuable find, and the avaricious desire to possess and profit from it. Some of the dialogue is quite effective in capturing the personalities of the key characters, and their relationships.
On the downside, I agree with those who find the plot a little lacking. Certain critical events seem to happen abruptly, without the potential build up which increase both the tension and their plausibility. Ben seems to make sudden leaps of understanding on evidence which escaped me until then - although I quite enjoy being made "to work" as a reader, and not having everything spelt out too baldly. The final climax is not as shocking as other reviewers have led me to expect. The lack of inverted commas and "he said, she said" etc makes some of the dialogue hard to follow. Even after rereading some passages several times, I was unable to deduce who said what - and some observations seem very obscure. This is at times an unhelpful distraction.
Also, the characters are not developed very fully. and often seem two dimensional or unconvincing. I do not really care what happens to any of them. Some plot lines are left dangling as loose ends, in particular the time Ben spends working in an Athens restaurant, where the tensions built up between his work mates and the proprietor's son do not lead to any dramatic climax.
Overall the quality of the writing is excellent in parts, the story gripped me to the end, but more care over the portrayal of characters and the development of the plot would have made this the outstanding novel, which it falls short of being.
On the downside, I agree with those who find the plot a little lacking. Certain critical events seem to happen abruptly, without the potential build up which increase both the tension and their plausibility. Ben seems to make sudden leaps of understanding on evidence which escaped me until then - although I quite enjoy being made "to work" as a reader, and not having everything spelt out too baldly. The final climax is not as shocking as other reviewers have led me to expect. The lack of inverted commas and "he said, she said" etc makes some of the dialogue hard to follow. Even after rereading some passages several times, I was unable to deduce who said what - and some observations seem very obscure. This is at times an unhelpful distraction.
Also, the characters are not developed very fully. and often seem two dimensional or unconvincing. I do not really care what happens to any of them. Some plot lines are left dangling as loose ends, in particular the time Ben spends working in an Athens restaurant, where the tensions built up between his work mates and the proprietor's son do not lead to any dramatic climax.
Overall the quality of the writing is excellent in parts, the story gripped me to the end, but more care over the portrayal of characters and the development of the plot would have made this the outstanding novel, which it falls short of being.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ben Mercer, a young archaeologist fleeing his estranged family in Oxford, finds his way to Athens and thence to Sparta, Athens' nemesis in the 5th Century BC. Confused and lonely, he insinuates himself into a team digging the site of ancient Sparta, an austere and introverted society whose warrior elite practised a form of eugenics by exposing unwanted children and for three centuries managed to keep subdued huge numbers of local people through terror.
Ben desperately wants to feel he belongs somewhere, to be part of the multi-national group of archaeologists, but is the dig all that it seems? As he gradually melts their hostility towards him, and begins a relationship with one of the women on the dig, one is led to wonder whether there is something behind their apparent willingness to admit him to their number. Worryingly, ritual appears to be as important to the modern-day team as to the ancients...
My first encounter with Tobias Hill was his novel `Underground', a smart thriller with a strong sense of place. In his latest novel, Hill similarly ratchets up the tension as the reader tries to work out what is really going on. Aspects of the story, and particularly its dark tones and exploration of the tribal instinct, are reminiscent of Donna Tartt's `The Secret History'. But this is better.
For Tobias Hill is also a poet and what really sets this book apart are his beautiful descriptions of the mountainous landscapes and Greek winter, and the undercutting of any tourist's-eye view of Greece by reference to its troubled and unresolved recent political history. And if characterisation, admittedly of some pretty unpleasant people, sometimes loses out, the romantic moments are entirely convincing and the ending packs a satisfying punch.
Ben desperately wants to feel he belongs somewhere, to be part of the multi-national group of archaeologists, but is the dig all that it seems? As he gradually melts their hostility towards him, and begins a relationship with one of the women on the dig, one is led to wonder whether there is something behind their apparent willingness to admit him to their number. Worryingly, ritual appears to be as important to the modern-day team as to the ancients...
My first encounter with Tobias Hill was his novel `Underground', a smart thriller with a strong sense of place. In his latest novel, Hill similarly ratchets up the tension as the reader tries to work out what is really going on. Aspects of the story, and particularly its dark tones and exploration of the tribal instinct, are reminiscent of Donna Tartt's `The Secret History'. But this is better.
For Tobias Hill is also a poet and what really sets this book apart are his beautiful descriptions of the mountainous landscapes and Greek winter, and the undercutting of any tourist's-eye view of Greece by reference to its troubled and unresolved recent political history. And if characterisation, admittedly of some pretty unpleasant people, sometimes loses out, the romantic moments are entirely convincing and the ending packs a satisfying punch.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of those books for which the idea, the intellect, the quality of writing and the reviews are all more positive than the actual experience of reading it. The middle section drags, while the central character's 'big decision' doesn't appear until page 400 of a 470 page novel. Wants to be a thriller and a meditation (like 'The Magus') - but by the final page, it's fallen between two stools. Hill is a writer of considerable merit, but this isn't his best work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A slow burn of a novel, well-written and enjoyable
Superbly written, and in a poetic style : descriptions ( nature and other ) are truly exceptional.
The plot is relatively simple, and develops slowly, although the novel... Read more
The plot is relatively simple, and develops slowly, although the novel... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Opus_Seven
Compelling but not likeable.
Although I knew the author is also a poet, I had it in my head this was going to be more of a thriller than it actually was, from reading about it. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Bert
Hidden Virtues
'The Hidden' is a curious novel. Packaged as an 'age of terror' thriller, it manages to be both less and more than it appears. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by Quicksilver
The virtues of this book are hard to find
Ben Mercer had read Classics and Archaeology at Oxford. His marriage had broken up, and he went to Greece to get away for a while. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2010 by Ralph Blumenau
Menacing
Like Gil Adamson (The Outlander), here's another poet writing prose. And it shows. Not in a bad way, however. Read more
Published on 19 Nov 2009 by Boot-Boy
Evocative image of modern Sparta
Tobias Hill's "The Hidden" should be praised as an evocative image of modern Sparta. He really appreciates the magical landscape of Laconia. Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2009 by Olga Ladopoulou
Holiday reading
A few people have compared this to Secret History but I would say a closer comparison is Alex Garland's The Beach. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2009 by Damian Kelly
One of UK's best writers
Tobias Hill is one of the very few writers I support like a football team. He is among the best writers of his generation, I discovered him through his collections of poetry and... Read more
Published on 10 July 2009 by John Osborne
Beautiful, tense study of extremism
The Hidden matches and surpasses Hill's earlier novels. It brings the tension of Underground together with the subtle relationship drama of The Cryptographer. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2009 by A. Donaldson
A slow burning fuse.....
After an unsuccessful marriage and an uncompleted university thesis Ben Mercer travels to Greece. He settles in to working in a restaurant where he is very much the outsider -... Read more
Published on 15 May 2009 by Wynne Kelly
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