The Hiding Place: A Thriller Paperback – October 2, 2012

I really liked this book. I do not want to give out any info, but the story will keep you guessing. In the end, it made me cry thinking I hope my girls think of me the way Ashleigh thinks of her mom now.

This was the first book I have read by David Bell. Once I picked the book up, I had a hard time putting it down. It really drew me in and I really liked Janet, the main character. Janet's brother Justin dies when she is 7 years old. As an adult, with a daughter, Janet's father gets laid off from his job and Janet and her daughter Ashleigh move into with Janet's Dad to help him make ends meet. I didn't find all the characters in this book likeable and realistic. But most characters were people one can relate to. Towards the end of the book, they begin to understand what really happened to Justin and the book started to lose my interest. It's one of those cases where the end is almost wrapping up too soon, but there are still alot of pages left. So the reader is left to believe, they don't know the whole story yet, there has to be more about what happened to Justin. This is where I felt the story got dragged out and became a bit predicatable. But if my only complaint is dragging out the last 20 pages or so, not a bad book overall. I have just ordered Cememtery Girl by David Bell and will look forward to reading it.

This is a great book that I bought on the recommendation of a friend. The author is brilliant in the way the story is laid out, the characters are introduced, and the setting is laid out. Truly enjoyed reading this book and will be purchasing more from this author.

The Hiding Place is not as good as Cemetery Girl, but about half-way through, the pace picks up and it comes to a satisfying conclusion. The protagonist is a single mom supporting her out-of-work father and raising a precocious teenage daughter. Twenty-five years before, when she was just a child, her little brother was kidnapped and brutally murdered. Now evidence points to the possibility that her brother is still alive. In some respects, the book tells a typical buried-family-secrets tale, and the story unwinds at a leisurely pace seemingly mired in the mundane details of the protagonist's difficult life. Although I'm not particularly adept at guessing the culprit, I figured it out about 100 pages from the end, but it did not diminish my enjoyment of the final half of the book. The writing style is clean and minimalist--even when you're not enthralled with the story, it's very easy to read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's the best book I've read in a long time. The characters were likeable and interesting. The one thing I thought was a bit much was seven-year-old Janet's infatuation with Michael. Most seven-year-old girls aren't in the boyfriend-girlfriend mindset; that comes a few years later. It flowed well and was very hard to put down. I'm planning to see what else Mr. Bell has written.

I almost never read books that are dark or have to do with death. I sampled this one and was hooked by the author's style, so I purchased the whole book. This book is well written, there aren't so many characters to keep track of and it turns into a whodunit mystery. Clever, engaging, slightly creepy but a really great read. Just don't read it before going to bed!

Very easy read. Good for a winter vacation on the beach. You don't find out who really killed Justin until the end. One man in prison for 21 years for a crime he did not do. A Father who forgot how to love his only child. A mother and daughter struggling with their relationship. Lots of interesting lives taking place in each chapter.

This is another captivating, compelling thriller from David Bell - I was excited to read this after reading his last novel, Cemetery Girl, which I read in a weekend and could not put down. With The Hiding Place, once again I found myself reading late into the night until I could not physically hold my eyes open. Great plot, experienced from multiple characters' viewpoints, and it keeps you guessing from beginning to end - loved it and plowed through this one in just a few nights!

If you enjoy an exciting read, choose this book. The Hiding Place: a Thriller. The twists and turns makes it impossible for the reader to believe he/she is on the right track in determining the real killer. Scary...so believable...amazing writer...and a great technique used as in developing such possible and plausible scenes. A great read. 👍

Alles war ganz super und schnell! Service war sehr gut! Ich wurde diese Firma nochmals benutzen. Ich danke Ihnen nochmal.

Great read, kept me gripped, a little slow in parts, disappointed with the story's ending, but that's because I had planned a different ending, in my head to what the author wrote, loved the twist at the end.

Loved the theme, kept me guessing to the end. Well written. One of those I was sad to finish. Great.

kept me reading front to back