These Things Hidden [Kindle Edition]

This is the only book by this author I have read, though if what the back cover declares "Fans of Jodi Picoult will love this" were true I should in theory be awarding this 5 stars. Sadly though, this book didn't really work for me for a few reasons.

The novel has an interesting premise, Allison, a young woman is released from prison following a terrible crime she has committed, having spent 5 years in prison being the model inmate she is to go to a halfway house, where she can come to terms with her feelings and start to make a new life. In the town we also meet Claire and Jonathan who have struggled with their own infertility but now devote themselves to their adopted son Joshua, and Charm and her fractured family who lives with Gus who is slowly dying of lung cancer, and Allison's sister Brynn who is haunted by the night that lead to her sister's imprisonment. If the plot seems heavy with difficult topics, it is, as the book progresses we will find out what connects what seem to be a set of disparate characters.

The difficulty of the subject matter was not what I struggled with in terms of liking this book. Though it was well written, for some reason I never really warmed to the characters even when it felt like I should have done. Something about them, but more importantly about the suspension of belief required to make the plot work just didn't cut it for me and I didn't find the ending very satisfactory either. I didn't really ever fully believe in the setting and it's not a book that will stay with me or that I will read again I don't think. Slightly disappointing.

The curse of the Kindle sample strikes again and I am suckered into buying a book on the strength of the first few pages - only to find the writing goes downhill from there. As another reviewer mentioned the whole premise of the book is flawed and myself I doubt in the circumstances Alison would have done any jail time at all - but I told myself that perhaps things are different in the US and I was interested in how she would handle her release from prison and rekindle relations with her parents and sister.

Unfortunately the book hardly deals with that at all - she is released to a halfway house full of unconvincing stereotypes and her parents/sister cut her out of their lives. She starts working for Claire, bookshop owner who has a young son - clearly this is in some way related to her past life in ways we can only guess (none of my guesses were as ridiculous as the reality though). I found it hard enough to swallow the coincidence that brought them together let alone the fact that Claire - having been the victim of violent robbery decides to employ an ex-con who has just gotten out of prison - because it is cheaper ??? (Personally if I was employing a girl who had just gotten out of prison and was going to spend time with my precious son I wouldn't be satisfied by knowing she had committed a 'serious' crime I would want to know exactly what she did!).

As the novel progresses, the plot developments become increasingly hard to swallow as is the cold uncaring behaviour of Alison's parents and Charm's awful mother.

Brynn, Alison's sister is the best character in the novel and I wish the author had focused more on the relationship between the two sisters and the secret they shared, rather than continually introducing more sensational plot twists (the last one I predicted even from reading the Kindle sample).

By the end I had lost interest especially as the ending seemed so predictable. I wish the author had just stuck to the original idea and focused on developing the characters - virtually everyone but Alison/Brynn and Josh is a cardboard cutout - instead of adding a completely implausible twist (the whole Josh storyline) - I was already struggling to accept the hefty prison sentence without being clobbered with even more twists which made the whole thing just seem implausible and silly.

For me, this beat HG's debut novel hands down... And I really enjoyed that one!
Narrated by all the central characters in turn (a style I love as it often lends itself to superb characterisation), this is a tale of murder, guilt, relationships and, ultimately, secrets...
Allison is released from prison following an horrendous crime commited when she was just 17 and is desperate to make amends with the family that abandoned her following her conviction. A twisty, fast paced read, I was hooked from the first chapter and read it in two days!
HG writes with flair and grace while at the same time remaining utterly human in her observations. 'These Things Hidden' (and there's a fair few surprises...) comes highly recommended. For me, HG is certainly riding high amongst this genre...