The Hidden by Melanie Golding, Narrated by Penelope Rawlins

DS Joanna Harper is a favorite character of mine, now that I've enjoyed two books where she makes an appearance. She played a smaller part in Little Darlings but in this book she is one of the main characters. I love being in her head because it's a funny, cynical place to be. I hope she shows up in future books by Melanie Golding.

Harper is investigating what appears to be an attempted homicide. As she digs deeper, this case could also involve a missing mother and her toddler. Harper goes from career driven cop mode to protective mother who will do anything to protect her child mode when she sees CCTV footage of her estranged daughter carrying the toddler.

I was entranced by the audiobook of The Hidden even though I had to set aside my overly critical thinking and just go with the flow. The child's mother insists that she is descended from the mythological Selkies. The adversary in this story seems to be all powerful and all knowing. And both Harper and her daughter, Ruby, make some extremely questionable decisions. But still, the story had me hooked and I did like Harper, Ruby, and little Leonie so much that I had to see exactly what was going on and how things would end. I so hope we see Harper again.

The narration of the audiobook was very good. Not everyone can do the voice of a toddler very well but I loved hearing Leonie voiced in this story. I wanted to reach out and hug that little girl, she seemed so real and so adorable.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

Ruby, Constance, Joanna, Leonie, Sam & Gregor.

I loved this story!

The story begins in December-Present. Toddler Leonie is abandoned. Then you’re taken back a year to another timeline when most of the above characters first meet.

The timelines ping pong back & forth closing the gap to explaining why Leonie was left on her own outside a small town store.

Ruby & Joanna have a very complicated family history.

Constance & Leonie might be in imminent danger.

Gregor & Sam are the love interests or NOT love interests of the story. This isn’t a romance it’s a thriller!

There’s some predictability but maybe that was just me & didn’t bother me in the least. It was addictive, at times brutal, heart warming. I was on the edge of my seat & the villain is … villainous!

Super fun read! I really liked Ruby! I’d like a second book with Ruby & Joanna.

I plan on checking out the previous book by this author & this one is on my Amazon Book Wishlist now! What a cover!!! This book is available 11/9/2021. Thank you NetGalley & Dreamscape Media LLC! I loved this story!

3.5 stars

The blend of fantasy and thriller made this story a unique read for me. It was told using alternating perspectives and timelines. One involves detective Joanna working on the case of an attempted murder in present time. The other involves her sister/daughter Ruby getting involved with a couple and their young daughter in the past. The two timelines eventually merge.

This was an entertaining audiobook. The narrator’s voices were superb. The story itself was slow to start but picked up as it went along. The author did a good job of building suspense. The ending was a tad predictable but I enjoyed it. Overall a well told mystery that was engaging. It won’t win any awards but was entertaining and successfully weaved in the magical realism.

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

I want to say thank you so much to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

3.5 ⭐️

This book blended fantasy/folklore with mystery/thriller and I am so intrigued! I haven’t read a book like that before and I quite enjoyed it!

The twists at the end are everything you ever wanted in a thriller.

This is my first book by Melanie Golding and I am a fan! I look forward to checking out more of her work!

The Hidden is truly that! There are many moving parts in this book that are "hidden" and you don't get a clue from reading the book description. This is a good strategy because it adds to the unexpected value of the story.
Ruby is a quirky woman that is caring and helpful to many others in her life. She has some secrets that come out and make her loveable and endearing.
Gregor starts off in the book as (Yoga Man), Ruby watches him from her apartment window and then meets him and so much is uncovered in his character! WOW!
Jo anna is a police investigator and also part of the twist in the storyline and part of Ruby's family.
The book begins with a lost child...Leoni is the almost 2 year old daughter of Constance. There are many twists and layers in their story which includes intriguing folklore. This adds a lot of mystery and suspense to the plot.
This is a hard review to write without giving anything away, but you will be glad that you read it going in with little information. The authors writing flows very well and before you realize it you are sucked into the story and finding those "hidden" gems within the storyline.
I listened to the audio version and it was very well narrated with a full cast...thoroughly enjoyable!
Thank you #NetGalley, #MelanieGolding, #CrookedLaneBooks for this audio version. This is my own true feelings about this book.

4/5 stars and recommended!

In Melanie Goldings new book we get a great mix of a little fantasy, whole lot of mystery, and police produral . I thought the balance was done so well. I grew to love Ruby, Constance, and Naomie and the bond that they develop during their situation. I had a lot of suspicions about one character but couldn't put my finger on it! I was sucked in as it all came out, and wanting to see if some parts of Constance story were real.
The last have of the book was intense as Jo races to find answers about her sister and what she really involved in and If she really did what they think.
The audio was fantastic, great accents with playing different parts. kept me engaged.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for my advanced copy for review.

This is my second book written by Melanie Golding. I absolutely loved her debut novel Little Darlings so I was super excited to read a copy of her latest.

The Hidden begins with a small girl named Leonie who seems to have been abandoned in a seaside town. Shortly after, a woman named Ruby shows up and claims that Leonie is indeed her daughter and that the child had simply run off from her. The police believe Ruby and they give Leonie over to her.
At the same time, a man named Gregor is found almost dead in his bathtub. Someone had seriously harmed him and left him for dead.
It is left up to Detective DS Joanna Harper(who readers first met in Little Darlings) to solve this terrible crime and soon after, she discovers how these two situations are related.

This story is told from multiple points of view with alternating timelines. I listened to the audiobook version of The Hidden. It was narrated by Penelope Rawlings and she did a fantastic job reading this one.

I am a huge fan of Norse Mythology so I love how Melanie incorporates that and local folklore into her novels. Little Darlings focused on the mythology of changelings but The Hidden centers around selkies. According to Norse Mythology, the selkies are beings who are capable of changing from a seal to a human.

The beginning is pretty slow-paced so it took a bit longer for me to get invested in the story. But the second half is filled with fast-paced action and the conclusion ends the story perfectly. I enjoyed all of the characters in this one but I loved the fact that Melanie brought back Joana Harper into her second novel. I loved her character in Little Darlings so it was wonderful to learn more about her.

The Hidden is an eerie, atmospheric, and suspenseful novel that centers around a mystery. Overall I enjoyed this audiobook and I would highly recommend this one. I believe that readers who loved Little Darlings will enjoy The Hidden as well.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the way the author blended a procedural crime novel and the selkie mythology. This book also resonated with me as a survivor of domestic abuse, and the strength of the main characters to find a way to a better life. I loved the ending, as sad as it was it was tied up nicely.

The Hidden starts with little Leonie being abandoned at a shop and a woman named Ruby claiming to be Leonie's mother. Together the pair hits the road to run away from something. The story then unfolds as the connection between Ruby, Leonie and Leonie's parents is revealed.

The Hidden is a mystery/thriller with elements of folklore One thing I really liked was the strange but heartwarming relationship between Leonie, Ruby and Constance and how it contrasted with the relationship between Ruby, her mother and "sister". The story manages to explore motherhood and how that bond goes beyond just blood ties.

Melanie Golding created a great blend of folklore and thriller that is both captivating and eery that leaves you wanting to know more.

A young girl goes missing in a seaside shop. She is picked up by someone who is not her mother and from there the story becomes utterly entertaining and thrilling. The narrator made the characters come alive.

I received an advanced review audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review

Definitely different from what I expected and what I usually enjoy, Golding is able to turn the Selkie trope into a layered take on motherhood, both horrific and mystical. If you like Selkies, you'll love this

I enjoyed listening to The Hidden. It has a wonderful twist and the characters are well thought out. The story has a group of characters at the center that move the story forward as they interact. The story skips around in time giving us the background of the characters little by little. We learn about Ruby, Constance and Gregor as their secrets are slowly released showing that each of them are hiding things from their past.

I didn’t finish this book. I listened to the audio version and didn’t like the narrator’s voice or her style for the book. I also couldn’t get into the story itself, I felt like there was too much going on. I’m sure others will love this book, it just wasn’t for me.

I read Melanie Golding's Little Darlings earlier this year, and while I thought it was good, I found that I liked her sophomore novel much better.

Set in the same world as Little Darlings, The Hidden combines elements of folklore and mystery/thriller into a story of complicated families. Some characters from Little Darlings show up such as Amy and Thrupp, but you don't have to read that book to follow this story. Mainly The Hidden follows (returning character) DS Jo Harper as she investigates the attempted murder of the wealthy and handsome Gregor. Jo finds that her estranged daughter, Ruby also has some connection to the case.

To be honest, I had no idea what was happening for the first like 10% of this book. The story kept rapidly switching POVs, and I had a hard time following what was going on. It might have been due to only having the audiobook, but I felt like giving up at first. I'm glad I didn't because in the end I really liked this book much better than Little Darlings. I'd say if given the choice between the two, pick up this one.

Penelope Rawlings was a great narrator. Her elderly voices were awesome and I loved the way she sang the selkie song. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC.

A child found alone in the cold is soon reclaimed by her mother. Nearby, a man is found murdered in his bathtub. The two events seem unconnected but they are. Ruby has been watching the odd little family across the way, the strange man, his mentally disturbed wife and their young daughter. The mother believes she is a selkie and asks Ruby to help her find the sealskin her husband has hidden from her. In exchange, Ruby will be able to raise the little girl as her own. But when police investigating the death of the man in the bathtub uncover CCTV footage of a woman with a little girl, the detective in charge is shocked to see the woman is her own daughter, Ruby. Will DS Harper put her daughter before the law? Rawlins’ narration is spot on, her selkie song sent chills down my spine

I couldn't finish this audio book. I'm still interested in the story but the voice the narrator used for the child was irritating. I had to give up on the audio.