Filled with intertwining stories of women all tied together by a tragedy, this is a great suspense book that had me hooked! Great narration!
Thank you, Kim Hooper, Dreamscape & Netgalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

I never got the audio to download on netgalley and bought with my own money. I could not put it down. A very quick read; however, the story still haunts me! Lots of twists and turns. Great insight to repercussions that traumatic events can leave on active unwilling victims, and just how far the ripples extend outward!

Very dark…not a light and fluffy read…but then, a shooting and the following events are NEVER light and fluffy! IMO, a VERY good read with lots to think about afterwards! This is a great book for book club discussions.

Gun violence is unfortunately everywhere and therefore it seeming into and becoming center stage in our literature only makes sense as another way to call out the ugly truth that is plaguing our society in the here and now. Hooper does an eloquent job of creating a story that addresses this poignant and important issue and also providing a story that is hard to put down.

I really liked this book. I thought this was totally going in a different direction and never thought it was headed where it was. If you like a book that hints to a spouse sneaking around and then bam!! You find it to be a totally different reason then this book is for you.

A shooting takes place at a local bar. This book follows the people involved- the victims, families of the victims, and the mother of the shooter. It was a different viewpoint rom what we typically read which made it interesting, but it fell a little short. It wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put down or looked forward to reading.

This was a tragic tale. I listened to No Hiding in Boise by Kim Hooper on audiobook. The strange events at the beginning of the story kept me listening. A decent domestic thriller.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* really great read, would love to reread it again in the future too, loved the way the story came together

No Hiding in Boise is a brilliant, strong story. Sharing insight into several characters points of view as they navigate a shared tragedy Kim Hooper captivates each of their stories and perspectives which such an interesting and emotional view. I couldn't put it down and was fully invested in each character and story. This is my second book by the author and I think it's safe to say she's made her way to my auto purchase list.

Review posted to blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

I’m not sure I have the words. Stories of Mass Shootings break me. After all, I lived in the town bordering one of the worst ones in history, and know more about it than most, but I digress..

No Hiding in Boise is powerful, dynamic, heart-wrenching, character-driven fiction at its best. A mass shooting in a bar in Boise, Idaho. Five people are gunned down, and two people are injured, before the shooter turns the gun on himself. As I write those words, I have heart palpitations and tears in my eyes. For that, I will explain later.

The story centers around three main characters:

Angie, whose husband Cale, was at the bar that night, was shot and now lies in a coma;
Tessa, the bartender who survived the shooting; and
Joyce, mother of the shooter.

Three women whose lives are forever changed and who are forever intertwined.

Alternating between the past and the present we learn what brought Cale to the bar that night, and what exactly happened. Other points of view are introduced throughout, but it is Angie, Tessa, and Joyce who drive this story forward and who held my heart in their hands. It was Joyce for whom I felt the most sympathy, Joyce who tried to make sense of the loss, pain, and tragedy that evoked the most emotion out of me.

Everything about this novel is brilliantly done, the writing, the characterizations, the realism, the heartache, the devastation, all of it. I listened to the audiobook with Kaceey and we were both blown away by the narration. Huge props go to each narrator and of course to the author for writing such an incredible piece of fiction.

For me, however, this brought forth a whole host of emotions that I was ill-prepared for. I admit to not reading the synopsis or reviews before requesting this book. Had I actually known what this book was about, I’m not sure I would have grabbed it, as I lived in Connecticut for most of my life and during 2007-2015, I lived in the town bordering Sandy Hook and lived there during the Sandy Hook Shooting. Unfortunately, I know several families who suffered grave loss and due to my former career, have insight into that event that I wish I did not. It was therefore with a very heavy heart that I listened to this book, often having to take breaks due to feeling anxious, with tears often streaming down my face. Thankfully, I had Kaceey to lean on, while listening to this.

Although this novel absolutely wrecked me due to the content, it was phenomenal and I highly recommend it, with the disclaimer that this book may not be for everyone.

A buddy listen with Kaceey.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Kim Hooper for the alc.

Published on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram.

I really enjoyed how these three stories were woven together, each woman coping with the aftermath of the shooting in their own way with their own trauma. This novel does an incredible job at focusing on the aftermath of a shooting, the part where the public starts to look away. The whats left behind.

One of my favorite audios of the year!🤩

A mass shooting at a popular, local bar in Boise. That’s right, Idaho! Where violent crime isn’t supposed to be, and has never been, front and center. No sir. Not in my neighborhood! And without warning, there it was.

Cleverly told from multiple perspectives. Giving you a front-row seat, experiencing the impact of the event from all sides. The shooter, the victims and the devastated families left behind on both sides.

Can I just say it, WOW? Let me repeat…“WOW”!

The audio version was positively captivating. With separate narrators for every character. Each voice equally spectacular! (A rare treat.)

I absolutely devoured this audio in two sittings. So caught up in the storyline in fact, that the world went around me without notice for a total of 9 hours and 38 minutes. I think we can all agree that’s a good thing!

If you enjoy audio books with multiple narrators, then this is a must 🎧 for you.

A buddy read with Susanne.

Posted to: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend...

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media LLC.

Wow! What a terrific surprise this book was! An in-depth character study of the aftermath of a mass shooting in Boise, Idaho. I’m not usually one for character driven plots but the writing was spectacular and the plot execution was superb. This book focuses on how several lives were impacted by a shooter who enters a bar and kills several people. The shooter’s mother, a young bartender working at the bar that night and the wife of one of the surviving victims who is in a coma. The book alternates between these three perspectives to paint a vivid and tragic picture of what really happened that fateful night. A little bit mystery and a lot of literary fiction.

The audio performance was fantastic with different narrators representing the various characters. A well acted and vibrant performance.

A gracious thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book explores the aftermath of a senseless shooting by one of the “aggrieved men with guns” who seem to infest America. The shooting took place in a bar and left 2 people injured and 6 people dead, including the shooter Jed who committed suicide. The main characters are Jed’s mother Joyce, Tessa, one of the bartenders, and Angie, the wife of Cale who was seriously wounded. Each of the other victims is also introduced, but the treatment of them is so perfunctory that it would have been better to omit them entirely.

The subject was interesting and I thought that the grief, confusion, fear, anger and survivors’ guilt experienced by the characters felt realistic. Angie was kind of whiny and annoying, even before the shooting she was full of complaints, but she wasn’t completely unbearable. Although the only puzzles in the book were mild ones - what was Cale doing in the bar in the middle of the night and why did the shooter shoot - the book never bored me and I would read more by this author. The principal narrators of the audiobook did a fine job.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

I first fell in love with Kim Hooper’s first book. I randomly grabbed it at the library one day and devoured it in one sitting. While I enjoyed the premise book of this book and liked the different point of views, I found parts of it to be quite redundant. I thought it was interesting how all of it came together, but at times felt like she kept repeating herself just to fill the space. Overall, it was a good listen! Thank you!

A good novel about a mass shooting that doesn’t focus on gun rights or mental health but on the victims and shooter. It shows each of their lives and what brings them to the moment of the shooting. It explores where they are in their life and where those that survive end up. It is not melodramatic but realistic and concise. It makes you reflect on the good and bad of their situations and how each choice brings them to the bar at the precise time of the shooting. This includes the shooter and what brings him to be there with a gun and precisely shooting each of the victims.

This is an excellent novel. It is not designed to change your mind about gun rights, one way or the other. Instead, it makes you think about each person in the story and the randomness of events. The writing is excellent. The narrators work well together and are good individually.

This book is highly recommended.


I received an ARC from Dreamscape Media through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

It could happen anywhere.

It happened here in Cincinnati in 2017, at a nightclub known for their security with officers posted at the door. It has happened before then and since all over the country, at schools, in neighborhoods, banks, churches.

It happened at Sandy Hook in 2012. My students asked to help so we wrote letters to the grieving families.

In 2015 I sat with a different group of kids as President Obama announced his executive actions to reduce gun violence. They all wrote essays - beautifully honest and heartbreaking - about what that meant to them.

If this is a topic important to you, as it should be to all of us, I’d highly recommend No Hiding in Boise. This is a hard topic to talk about but in talking, we learn. (I hope.)

This book is very well done - honest yet not overly graphic. It is a heartbreaking look at gun violence; it also is a study of humanity, how we are all connected, and how life is rarely so simple.

I’ll definitely be reading more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the early listen. Loved the format of this story the multiple point of views. The narrators did a good job. Love when there are multiple narrators. Makes it easier to follow each character.

This book may not be the easiest for you to get through, especially if you have experienced trauma. It is a great story though and talks about an important and dangerous situation.

I was initially drawn in by the cover of No Hiding in Boise by Kim Hooper. Then, when I saw that the content was focusing on a mass shooting, I took a pause. It’s what we see all too often on the news and in our local media here in the US. Having listened to this book, which added to the experience with the three POVs coming through distinctly, I now want all my friends to read it. It’s a story about the individual and community costs of tragedy…about the wreckage and the healing.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Book Review: No Hiding in Boise by Kim Hooper

No Hiding in Boise is a literary fiction novel about a small group of people thrown together in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a Boise, Idaho bar.
This book is told in alternating POVs between the victims, Joyce Catcher (the gunman’s mother) and Angie (the wife of a survivor). Joyce is the shooter’s mother who had no idea of the dark path her son was on and is forced to mourn and bury him in the public eye. Angie is an advertising executive and mother of a toddler who is struggling with connecting to her husband Kale. She is woken by police who inform her that her husband is not safe in bed beside her but instead one of the surviving shooting victims at a bar and in a coma. And Tessa is a young bartender who survives only because Kale yells at her to hide when he sees the events unfold. All of these characters will converge over over the coming months in different ways to find answers, bond and heal.
This book explores common issues an audience can relate to beyond just the tragedy of a mass shooting. There are relationship struggles, family secrets and mental health problems. The audio book has multiple narrators which bring the different POVs to life. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy literary fiction about families and what it must be like to be associated with a public tragedy.
4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️