One of my all-time favorite tropes is a competition, so when I heard the synopsis for Kiersten White's Adult Debut, Hide, I instantly added it to my TBR. In this story we follow fourteen contestants competing in a Hide-and-Seek contest at an abandoned amusement park. Seemingly selected at random from some sort of need-based selection process, the fourteen individuals are complete strangers and come from locations scattered throughout the United States.

From the very start the contest is shrouded in mystery. The only things they really know are that it is hosted by a sporting goods company and the prize is $50,000. We follow multiple different perspectives as the contest begins and a Hunger Games-type vibe falls over the narrative. With two contestants getting caught and out of the game each day, the tension increasingly mounts. Additionally, it's not clear at all who, or what, the Seekers are.

The main individual we follow is a young woman named Mack, who has a very violent, traumatic past. As she sees it, her biggest gift is her ability to hide. She's been doing it her whole life. The things Mack observes as she hides chill her to the bone. This game may be more dangerous than anyone initially anticipated.

It's taken me a long time to come to grips with how I feel about this book. I liked some aspects and I really disliked some aspects. Therefore, it made sense to give this a 3-star rating; just slice it right down the middle. I'm disappointed, but I'm not mad.

The writing was a little wonky for me from the very start, but I was intrigued to see where it was going regardless. There were so many perspectives and characters. Additionally, it jumped around a lot, it was hard to engage with any of the characters or what they were feeling. Mack, who was the person whose perspective you read from the most, didn't do it for me. I hated being in her head.

Also, there was a plot device used to help explain the background of the contest which generally I like, but here, the execution of it, I just felt like it was too convenient. I didn't enjoy it.

Further, I promise this is it for complaints, the horror aspects were kept too obscure. I wanted more. I liked the build and tension initially. The not knowing was sort of like when you first started watching <i>Lost</i> and you knew something was in the jungle, but you could never tell what it is. I liked that, but eventually as you discover the truth behind the park, it could have gone deeper into those elements.

Overall, this is a good book and I know a lot of Readers will love it. I was expecting a bit more, but even though this was a slight miss for me, I will continue to pick up anything White writes. Thank you to the publisher, Del Rey Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity!

Hide is easily one of my most anticipated reads this year, and it did not disappoint. A sweltering hide-and-seek game in an abandoned theme park with a supernatural horror twist, it is the perfect thrill ride for the summer season.

Hide is a character-driven social horror with a large cast of characters. It was hard initially for me to keep up with all of the characters and I found it helpful to take notes. I appreciated the amount of detail given to each of the characters, even the ones that you can tell are less important, with enough information to learn about them but not so much that it slows down the novel. The narrative constantly shifts between characters, even mid-paragraph, which kept the pacing snappy. The plot is filled to the brim with commentary about privilege and wealth inequality, and while it was at times extremely heavy-handed, I appreciated it regardless.

It takes a while for the story to really start moving but the second half of the novel was just so imaginative and wild that I couldn’t get enough. The ending was killer, I loved it and I honestly laughed out loud reading the last line. This book feels like a summer blockbuster film, and although it is categorized as an adult novel I think it would be an easy bridge for YA readers.

Also notable is the official playlist for Hide, which is available on Spotify, the songs are great and fit the tone and feel of the novel perfectly.

Mack is without home, family, or hope. She's tricked into entering a hide-and-seek contest in an old amusement park. The rules are simple: 15 people spend 7 days hiding in the abandoned park, and the last to be found wins $50,000. None of the contestants know it, but they are all connected to the town, to each other, and to the thing they will be hiding from. And the prize isn't $50,000, but one of their lives. (I'm not considering that to be a spoiler because come on. Of course that's what's happening.)

I've never read a book with this many characters that did such a good job of distinguishing their names, voices, and backstories. You feel for almost everyone in this grown up Hunger Games, and you want them all to live. The town's secret is spectacular, and the way you slowly discover it is perfect. I would happily read a dozen prequels leading up to this story.

First i will like to thank #netgalley and #delray for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.75 stars

First i was really intrigued by the concept of the book as it sounded really spooky and right up my alley to be honest. Overall i did enjoy this book a lot as it sucked me right in and left me wanting more and more. There are some really Erie moments and times there things were not right at all.

I have to say something i personally felt that was lacking was the backstory of the whole concept because while i understood why everything was happening i wanted to know more and more and why some people, could see things and others couldn’t,

Other than that i really liked the book and found it to be a fun read suspense read overall!

I loved the premise of this book! I wanted to love the story, but it fell so short for me. I think the pacing was my main complaint. The opening grabs you but then the next quarter of the book just drags on and on. Once you get to the action, you've heard the same character backstories at least a dozen times each so it feels really bizarre to keep including them. Satisfying ending though!

I wanted to like Hide by Kiersten White, but this one was just not for me. There was way too many characters to keep straight or form a genuine connection with. They just blurred together. The main character also was not even remotely interesting. Additionally, the horror element was sorely missing. The description and cover promised something more terrifying than was delivered. What sounded like an interesting premise from an author I've liked in the past, turned out to be a rather dull book. I'd pass on this one.

4 stars. I want to start off by saying I enjoyed the book. However, the different sections not having the names of who we were following was a little disconcerting and took me out of the story a bit. I will definitely have to reread this because I know I missed some stuff with how hectic the book was.

A group of people enter an abandoned and presumably haunted amusement park for a chance to win 50k. Sounds great right? Unfortunately there were a lot of issues with this book that made it something I just did not enjoy. First of all, there were way too many characters that I couldn't keep them straight nor were any of them fleshed out enough for me to care about whether they made it or not. One thing that I just couldn't get over was that this book is written in 3rd person omniscient. There was so much head hopping, it made my head spin. Not only that but 3rd person present tense. I hate 3rd person present. It makes my brain hurt.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC, but this book was not for me.

I don't know what to say about this one. I was really looking forward to it. However, I just really didn't end up liking it. I think it's partly cause I thought this be a fun amusement park slasher. However, there was a lot more to this book then that. I wasn't expecting. I'm really bummed about this because the moment I heard about it I was super hyped. :(

Unfortunately this one was not for me. I found it too hard to get into and care - there are too many characters for me at first and they all ran together for me. I felt like the plot was on repeat: go hide, talk about wanting to pee, go back to camp, and oops there are 1-2 people missing. Over and over. I dunno. And the twist was not really one for me, either. As an adult debut it read to YA for me - which can be fine, I love YA. But that impacted the experience for me. Everything seemed surface level and I never connected or got pulled in to any plot point or rooted for any character (maybe Mack and her past experiences and how they get put to the test...). And I really think I just read/watched something that had similar themes, but I cannot place my finger on what it was.

A lot of my friends have enjoyed this, so go read their reviews if you need to be hyped up for it. I, sadly, can do no hyping this time.

"If it's a game, win," Ava says, her voice fierce. "And it it's not, survive."

Come out, come out, whereever you are!

Who doesn't like Hide and Seek? Who hasn't played it? Who will be the winner?

The fourteen contestants all want to win. There is a lot of money on the table, and they all are motivated to play, to win, and to change their lives. How hard can it be? Hide during the day and come back to camp at night.

Seven days. That is not a long time. You must be better than the others at hiding and maybe, just maybe, you could be the winner!

I've love Kiersten White for years since I read her Paranormalcy series way back when so I was super stoked to get an ARC of this book because horror is my real forte. This book read like a horror movie and it absolutely thrilled me because those are some of my favorite horror novels. The ones that feel like you're watching a horror movie play out on screen just waiting for the killer to make their next move and wondering which of the characters is going to survive until the end. For a YA horror novel I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone that loves an good horror book/movie.

This book was insane in all the right ways.
Took me on a wild ride, I highly enjoyed
reading this, from beginning to end.
Amazing world building and storytelling.
It has enough dark, grit, and twisted elements
that keeps you devouring the pages.
Loveeed it!!!

14 people are gathered together to compete in a week long hide and seek competition, with the goal of winning $50,000. All they have to do is hide from sun up to sun down...in an abandoned amusement park.

With multiple POVs you get an understanding of why so many of the characters were willing to enter the competition. You also get a sneak into the fact that something more sinister is afoot in the amusement park. Even after day one some of the other competitors aren't returning to their base camp and the others start to hear strange noises of something lurking through the park.

Overall I really enjoyed the book, it gave me Hunger Games vibes from the very beginning with a more realistic edge to it. The only thing I think was missing from the book was more of a creep factor I just wanted to be put on edge a bit more than I was.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4708773891

Como vocês já sabem, essa resenha é em parceria com a Random House Internacional, de quem recebemos esse eARC (Advance reading copy: algo como “uma cópia de leitura avançada, ou seja, o livro ainda pode sofrer alterações antes de ser publicado). Também lembrando que essa resenha terá um formato diferente: por ser um ARC, não haverão quotes, já como os livros podem sofrer mudanças em seu texto antes de serem comercializados. Gostaríamos de agradecer profundamente a Editora pela oportunidade de parceria.

Desde o minuto em que eu vi a sinopse de “Hide” eu sabia que teria que ler ele. Ele vem assim nessa sinopse já com toda uma vibe de que daria um ótimo filme de terror ruim e por isso mesmo eu não podia deixar passar.

Então, logo no início nós somos introduzidos a personagem principal do livro, que se chama Mack, o que nós sabemos sobre ela de cara no início é que ela é uma órfã, única sobrevivente de um massacre que aconteceu anos atrás e que ela “mora” em um abrigo que todas as noites recebe pessoas em situação de rua.

Quando somos apresentados a ela, ao mesmo tempo somos apresentados ao reality show para o qual dão a ideia para que ela se inscreva: meio que uma mistura entre “Jogos Vorazes” e aquelas brincadeiras de “escape room” tem esse reality show que está em fase de desenvolvimento e tudo que ela tem que fazer é participar de uma brincadeira de esconde-esconde: ela vai com esse grupo de pessoas para um acampamento e lá, sempre ao raiar do dia, ela tem que sair do acampamento e se esconder o melhor possível até o anoitecer por 7 dias. Quem for pego pelos “olheiros” perde o jogo, mas quem ficar até o final ganha milhões de dólares.

Então, assim como somos apresentados para Mack, vamos vendo tudo pelo ponto de vista dela até o momento em que ela conhece os outros participantes: sendo ao todo 14, nós somos introduzidos a eles e vemos pequenos pedaços da mente deles, o que nos mostra que, mesmo aqueles que logo saem do jogo, todos eles tem algum passado complexo, alguma coisa “a esconder” ou alguma coisa pela qual eles sofrem e querem estar ali porque só o dinheiro do prêmio poderia ajudar.

Apesar de ter os pontos de vista dos outros participantes também, não é nada absurdo demais cada ponto de vista a ponto de nos deixar confusos ou sem entender bem o que está rolando na história – acho que desde o princípio fica muito subentendido que tem muito mais rolando ali do que um mero reality show, que tem algo por trás de tudo que acontece.

Assim sendo, logo quando a primeira noite chega, depois de passarem o dia todo se escondendo, e duas pessoas não voltam porque já “perderam” o jogo, os outros jogadores vão começando a ficar mais atentos – e nem assim eles conseguiriam imaginar o que realmente acontece ali: mas isso nem eu posso contar para não tirar a graça de todo o mistério do livro.

Esse livro me deixou completamente presa do primeiro ao último minuto porque eu sentia que podia acabar arrancando meus cabelos se eu não descobrisse EXATAMENTE o que estava rolando. Muitas dicas são deixadas pelo livro, pequenos detalhes que aos poucos vão se encaixando, mas quando tudo enfim se encaixa de uma vez, a única reação que define é: “!!!!!!!” porque assim, você fica sem palavras.

É realmente uma mistura de Jogos Vorazes com vários filmes de terror classe b, e muitas pessoas que são fãs de filmes de terror provavelmente vão pegar as dicas no ar, mas de toda forma, a explicação toda é muito gostosa de se ler e satisfatória. Isso sem mencionar que, como eu disse, todos os personagens a quem somos apresentados, desde a nossa protagonista (que é uma ótima final girl, aliás, teve um momento em que eu pensei que iria odiar ela, mas graças a deus não!) até os “vilões” da história, todos são muito bem feitos e é divertido acompanhar a saga deles pelas páginas desse livro e assim, o livro tem uma grande representatividade e um casal que se forma no “reality” é sáfico! (Isso não é necessariamente um spoiler, porque já fica na cara desde o início que elas seriam um casal, pelo menos eu acho, porém não vou dar nomes aqui)

O livro deixa o final meio em aberto, imagino que propositalmente para você decidir qual o desfecho melhor para aquela história e aquilo tudo que acontece ali e eu sei bem qual o final que eu imagino que teve realmente.

Fica aqui essa indicação: se você gosta bastante de filmes de terror, se gosta de fantasia e de suspense e de ficar presa quase sem respirar direito de tanta curiosidade para saber o que as páginas seguintes te revelam: dê uma chance para “Hide” e depois vem me falar qual o final que você imagina pra história 😉

Thanks for the free book, Penguin Random House International.

This book in some ways gave me the same vibes as Cabin in the Woods, but it wasn't as good as Cabin in the Woods. Let me explain:

Characters: Most of the 14 characters that are put in this massive amusement park got a small section where we were following them. This led to us getting barebone knowledge of many of the characters. Only 2 or 3 of them are fleshed out at all besides their stereotypes. The 'villain' of the group of them could've been an interesting side antagonist to the main antagonists. If we had just followed one person, Kiersten could've gotten away with not fleshing the other characters out because then we'd only know what the one person knew. The main antagonists were very interesting, and I'd like to read more about them. The creature thing that's in the book is only seen maybe once or twice. I wish we hadn't seen it at all because that wasn't enough.

Atmosphere: The abandoned amusement park was such an amazing place to have a horror novel. I would've loved to have more descriptions of the park. The small town around the park was also fascinating, but I wanted more.

Writing: The writing was okay. It would've been better if it was 1 or 2 perspectives versus many.

Plot: I think that the set-up was interesting. It was giving me the same vibes as Cabin in the Woods, but it wasn't as clever as the Cabin in the Woods. I was expecting a massive showdown at the end, but it fell flat, and it ended very suddenly with no pay off whatsoever.

Intrigue: I was interested in the cult aspect of the novel and wish there was more of that. This book didn't flesh out any of the interesting bits, and when things got to be interesting, the book ended.

Logic: I mean cults are very real and very scary. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a cult like this out there in the world. It followed its own logic well.

Enjoyment: This was just kind of meh. The ending really ruined it for me to be honest. I needed more interesting characters who were fleshed out and more about this cult. Three stars.

This book was not at all what I expected it to be but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing?

I really love the omniscient writing in Hide, it was a perfect way to manage the large (yet shrinking) cast of characters that come to participate in the "competition." Mack's backstory was horrific, and while I knew this book was a "horror" novel I did not realize how genuinely scary it was going to be. I had a nightmare about this book one night after I had finished about half of it. Really incredible story telling, and while the book does go off the rails by the end, you are forced to hang on until the very last page.

I finished this book with feeling of disappointment. It was lackluster at best. I initially had such high hopes for this book. The premise was that a group of individuals must hide at an abandoned amusement park from an ominous being might hunt them down and kill them.

There were several reasons for my 2 star opinion regarding Hide. The first being that there were simply too many characters to keep track of in this Hunger Games trope of elimination. 7 men and 7 women are bused into an abandoned amusement park with the ominous dread of something hunting them down with two people getting eliminated every day. I never got attached to any of the characters. I wasn't driven to care about them. The author even wrote two of the women with the SAME name. We had beautiful Ava and "gay, other, Ava". (the author's adjectives, not mine).

In author 101 it must be noted that you should NEVEr have two characters with the same name or even the same, starting letter. It causes confusion with readers and lead to me writing out names of all 14 contestant with descriptions. The two Avas served no purpose for the dual naming.

Another reason for my 2 star opinion was that the book was over hyped in it's cover flap description and under performed. I was never scared of the monster. The book would've benefited strongly with a dual timeline with the reader getting a deeper explanation as to how the monster came to be and why the families did what they did. The author implies what happened but we could've been brought back 100 years and learned additional details. The opportunity was lost on this possibility which should've been a suggestion from the editor.

In areas where the specific plot is unknown by the readers we then need passages in between which are suspenseful and push our curiosity. I didn't get the feeling of wanting to turn the page to learn more. I felt no anticipation what-so-ever.

Other passages contained the POV from one character and then would shift mid-paragraph to another character's thoughts. I had to reread paragraphs several times to figure out who's thoughts I was reading.

The book also ended abruptly. Generally, I'm pleased when an author keeps a book at 300 pages or shorter. In this instance we could've benefitted with the additional development of two timelines and multiple points of view from one character in the past when the monster was created to the current timeline.

This was supposed to be an adult debut, but I was really disappointed to find that this novel was extremely young adult. Characters are flat and the story is just very juvenile.

I put off the review for this one for so long because I was just so utterly disappointed with the wasted potential and execution of Hide.

One of the reasons that I really enjoy White as an author is that she has the ability to really tap into unsettling and downright chilling atmospheres with her writing, and we definitely get some glimpses of that within this story. I also love that White wasn’t afraid of making the big bad an actual monstrous beast versus the magical realism that tends to happen in these types of thrilling novels. That being said, that’s really all this book had going for it.

I think far too much time was wasted on introducing the reader to a myriad of characters that do not end up adding at all to the plot since they are merely placeholders to fill out the numbers for this “competition”.

Another criticism is that White walks the line of trying to have some really great social justice teaching moments, but they end up just completely missing the mark so the book comes off as unnecessarily preachy.

The premise of this book is incredible, but the execution just completely fell flat. So much wasted potential.

This was an interesting book- an adult version of hide and seek, but at what end result. You knew something want right when people
In the abandoned theme park didn’t come back at night. But, you didn’t know just how wrong things were and how long this tradition had been going on.. I enjoyed the writing even if the story wasn’t my favorite..