HIDE: Reviews & Details

Both the Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild will pair Lisa with James Patterson's STEP ON A CRACK in their brochure.

"The tension here doesn't stem just from the sicko responsible for setting every Boston parent on edge, but from Dodge and his witness, whose relationship sizzles as the case careens to its twisted climax."

—People (4 stars)

"In bestseller Gardner's first-rate follow-up to ALONE (2005), Bobby Dodge, once a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police and now a police detective, gets called to a horrific crime scene in the middle of the night by fellow detective and ex-lover D.D. Warren. An underground chamber has been discovered on the property of a former Boston mental hospital containing six small naked mummified female bodies in clear garbage bags. A silver locket with one of the corpses, which may be decades old, bears the name Annabelle Granger. Later, a woman shows up at the Boston Homicide offices claiming to be Annabelle Granger. Her resemblance to Catherine Gagnon (whose life Bobby saved in ALONE) helps stoke a romance between her and Bobby both subtle and sizzling. The suspense builds as the police uncover links between patients at the hospital and long-ago criminal activities. Through expert use of red herrings, Gardner takes the reader on a nail-biting ride to the thrilling climax."

—Publisher's Weekly (starred review) (Feb.)

"Gardner fans look out: this one will take your breath away. Near the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital, a buried chamber is discovered. Inside are six bodies, one of which may be that of a girl who has been missing for two decades-the best friend of a woman, Annabelle, who has spent her childhood moving from city to city, from identity to identity, hiding from someone or something totally unknown to her. She's been safe for several years now, but a single act of bravery plunges her right back into a life of fear. This is a rich, complex tale that juggles a handful of mysteries at once. Who is the killer, and could it be someone connected with a notorious child murderer? Who or what was Annabelle's family running from? How did her father, a mathematician, know how to set up foolproof new identities? And why does an old sketch of a murder suspect look unsettlingly like Annabelle's father? Head and shoulders above anything else Gardner's written, this riveting novel represents the author at the height of her powers.

—David Pitt, Booklist (starred review)

"Few authors have Gardner 's gift for imbuing realistic and flawed characters with a strangely compelling humanity. Her stories are always densely plotted and completely captivating."

—Jill Smith, Romantic Times, 4 1/2 stars

"...gripping, the progatonists earn quick sympathy, and the pages turn with speed..."

— The Wall Street Journal

"An angsty, gripping psycho-killer saga..." 

—Entertainment Weekly

"Sometimes a series writer... rises above to produce a book that stands alone because it's that good. Indeed, Gardner continues with her lead character from ALONE, Massachusetts state police Det. Bobby Dodge, but in HIDE (Bantam, $25), she really brings her game."   

—NY Daily News

"A fast-paced work of suspense that grabs the reader with a stranglehold." 

—The Denver Post

Lisa Gardner has created an unusual and effective thriller about Annabelle Granger—a young woman whose childhood life involved running from place to place, hiding from she's-never-known-what—and a detective whose worst case is reopened when six small mummified female bodies turn up in an underground crypt, one of them wearing a locket that once belonged to Annabelle. Maggi-Meg Reed gives a fresh intelligent, and attentive performance that makes the listener feel that the story is happening as she speaks. Gardner delivers believable characters in harrowing circumstances, and Reed matches deft plotting with a sympathy and skill that creates nerve-pinging tension over people you care about. This is a superlative performance of a thoroughly absorbing entertainment.

—B.G., Audiofile

"When you run, you're never the person you should be. Annabelle Granger has been running for 25 years since she was a little girl. From who and what she never knew. Her parents just upped sticks and off they went, until it became a habit she couldn't break. Then six bodies turn up in the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital in Boston, and one of them bears her name. An intriguing start to an intriguing novel, where a case that has haunted Detective Bobby Dodge for years jumps up and bites him again. No matter how screwed up the main characters are, I really warmed to them - although I had no idea who to trust. A brilliant book not to be missed under any circumstances."  

—The Independent (UK)