Hide

This is a moving and poignant piece of literature which melds beauty and tragedy in a stark allegory of power dynamics and marginalization. The labyrinth of a theme park in which the story is set represents a space for characters and readers alike to reflect and question, a space to mourn and hope, to love and hate as a system plagued by inequity and injustice is explored. Truly amazing work.

Struggled between a 3 and a 4 star rating. Was definitely a fun read, but I didn’t understand the ending. Maybe it was meant to be metaphorical? I don’t know. It was an interesting concept, but I also felt the story flowed a little weirdly. Also was confused sometimes and way too many minor characters that I couldn’t keep up with. Still a fun read though!

Would you play a game of hide and seek in an old deserted amusement park for a chance to win $50,000? I'm very skilled at seeming invisible. Like the main character of this story, I've spent a lot of my life attempting to disappear in a crowd. I absolutely detest being noticed for any reason. But I don't think I could handle what was being asked of the contestants in Hide.I had high hopes for this book. I know better than to judge a book by its cover but I think it's something we all do anyway. This cover is gorgeously creepy and inviting. It makes me want to see what kind of scary things hide within its pages.It started promising enough. The main character was believable and had an interesting backstory. I was very sympathetic toward her. We were then introduced to several supporting characters, some were very forgettable (which I think was intentional from the main character's point of view), some were fleshed out a little more and were more central to the storyline but they still fell a little flat in my opinion.The best part of the book, in my opinion is the world building. The park is dark, twisted, and very vivid. Everything came to life in my imagination and I could see the paths the characters walked on. This was a world built for some horrible things to take place.And they did. But the story fell short for my expectations based on the strong opening and the excellent scene setting. I feel there could have been room for so much more! I wish the "seeker(s)" in the story was/were revealed much sooner. I had my ideas about who/what it might be. I was right. I'm not giving it away here, but the story could have been so much darker if we learned a little more about the seeker(s)' actual origin. I also feel like there was a missed opportunity for so much more frightful suspense - holding your breath waiting to see what happens. There was a bit of that, but not as much as I was expecting.To wrap up my thoughts, Hide was a good book. I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it. But I feel there were some big missed opportunities to be so much more! It took a little thought, but it ended up getting 3 out of 5 stars from me.

“The challenge: Spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught. The prize: enough money to change everything.Even though everyone is desperate to win—to seize a dream future or escape a haunting past—Mack is sure she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.It’s the reason she’s alive and her family isn’t.But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes that this competition is even more sinister than she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide but nowhere to run.Come out, come out, wherever you are.”First book I have read by author Kiersten White. I loved it. Think of a cross between the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and movie, “The Hunger Games”with slow but steady suspense build up that reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock. I was worried at first that I wouldn’t keep the names straight of the 14 contestants but the character build up was gradual enough that it was not a problem. I love the supernatural twist to the plot and also the modern day social issues that it raised. I will definitely be reading more by Kiersten White!5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5-4)* Hide-and-Seek Competition* FMC is famously know for a dark past.* Takes place in an abandoned theme park in the middle of nowhere (closest thing for miles is a VERY small town)* Everyone has a story.First off, can we talk about this cover?! 😍I was so excited to read this one. I mean - a thriller that takes place in an abandoned theme park? Sign me up!IMO: The first 1/2 - 2/3 was amazing! (I’d say 4.5-5 ⭐️s good!) I was truly enjoying it and had no idea where the storyline was going. There’s all this mystery (everyone is acting suspicious) and it’s just creepy enough to have you in suspense/on the edge of your seat.But - and it pains me to write this - the last third just became so chaotic (like those memes where everyone is running around screaming, somethings on fire, and someone’s crying in the corner…it’s just a lot to absorb). When you finally realize what’s going on it felt a little out of left field. And then it just ends.That’s not to say it’s ‘bad’- the writing is done well and the storyline is unique. It may be more a ‘me’ issue in the last part than the book itself. I may pick this one back up later for a reread and see if it sits differently in my 🧠.Disclaimer Note: I finished this book towards the end of 2022 and wrote a short review, but I felt this one deserved a full review so here we are.

I really enjoyed most of the book. My only real issue with it was it felt like it just kinda ended. Like all of a sudden it was over.

Would you spend a week in an abandoned amusement park to win $50,000 dollars? That’s the challenge that Mack enters. She lives in a shelter and has nothing to lose, so she decides to enter the challenge along with thirteen other people. Each day the contestants must hide from the “seekers,” with two contestants being “out” each day. However, this is a much darker game than they predicted. They have to figure out how to hide so that they make it out alive.This was such a psychologically creepy story. There wasn’t anything actually scary on the page for most of the story, but the threat of some unknown seeker gave the story a spooky atmosphere.I wish there was more character development. There were three characters that had full backstories, but the other eleven contestants weren’t as well developed. It would have been helpful to even have a list of the contestants at the beginning so I could tell them apart. I had a higher opinion of this book when I read the acknowledgements at the end. Kiersten White tells her inspiration for writing this book, and it made me understand the terrifying atmosphere in this story.Hide is a creepy horror story!

Horror hide and seek in an abandoned amusement park – this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022. It definitely wasn’t perfect, but I think it is a good one to try as someone who is new to horror books. It reads like a YA and was more creepy than scary. The characters were well developed and interesting, and I enjoyed getting insight into their backstories and how they ended up in the park. It is a little predictable, but the gothic atmosphere and eerie abandoned setting was fun to read.

J’ai bien apprécié le moment ☺️

Wow - what a rollercoaster of a ride! Loved this book - exciting, plot driven and characters that you care about. Highly recommended!

I like the premise but i feel like it could have been more focused on the main relationships and character interactions