REVIEW: She Lies Hidden by C.M. Stephenson

She Lies Hidden by C.M. Stephenson

Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction

Read: 25th October 2018

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

★★★ 3.5 stars

After reading some of the reviews for SHE LIES HIDDEN I wasn't sure what to expect. I like to read others' reviews to see what they thought and to get a handle on general opinion despite the fact I always go into a book with a clear head and want to make my own mind up about it. In my opinion, it is an impressive debut despite a few indiscrepancies that niggled me a little.

Having said and done that, I have to say I really enjoyed this book! Surprisingly, because it is a little slow to begin with and identifying the characters in each chapter proves challenging at times as the author fails to title each with the corresponding character and time period. It does begin initially with the date for the first two chapters and then the reader must then try to recall the year as I often forgot it was primarily set in 2010 and kept mentally putting it at around 2017.

The other thing I found difficult was guessing which perspective it was going to be in with each chapter. It was easy enough when it mentioned the character's name, but for the times it merely referred to them as "he" or "her" or "I" it became a bit of a guessing game at times. I really think titling each chapter with which character's POV it is going to be in and the date (even if in the same period) can prove helpful to the reader. For me, it was this that did largely let the book down a little in my opinion.

It begins with a Prologue dated January 1973, when 18 year old Veronica Lightfoot fails to return home after a night out, leaving her grandmother worried, on the same night a young 15 year old Karen Albright disappeared from her family's isolated farm. Whilst Karen's disappearance is treated as a missing persons case, Veronica's is dismissed as a runaway. But as the years pass, there remains no sign of either girl. Until January 2010 when skeletal remains are uncovered on the moors, later identified to be those of Karen Albright. So is Karen's murder connected to the Veronica's disappearance?

When DS Thomasina Albright learns that the remains found were those of her long missing sister, she knows she must be the one to tell her mother - the only surviving member of her family besides herself. But will the knowledge be more than her mother can bear? After all, 37 years is a long time. Thom was only 8 at the time of Karen's disappearance but has lived in her shadow ever since, never quite living up to the memory of her missing sister.

Thom is taken off the case immediately upon identification and DCI Mel Phillips is put in charge. Though Thom does continue her own stealthy investigation in the background.

When a woman who appears to have multiple personalities (whose chapters I found a little confusing at first) is knocked down in a hit and run, it is not at all a shocking twist as to her identity. I think most readers will be able to identify her without the aid of DNA. But it's so much not the mystery of who she is; it's more of a mystery of what happened to her. Her chapters are a little distressing as the reader delves into her mind to unravel her past and make some sense of it all, but at the same time intriguing.

Then we have chapters devoted to those responsible for the disappearances of not just Karen and Veronica, but also a couple of others. Working out who exactly was responsible wasn't difficult despite the conflicting stories of evidence, and we basically know who it is from about halfway through.

However, I don't think it puts the reader off having this knowledge so early on as there is so much more to learn about the mystery of exactly what happened back in 1973, and even into the 80s. Apart from Karen and Veronica, I did work out the identity of the last teenage girl to go missing quite early on, long before DCI Phillips made the revelation.

There are several subplots running through this book with the main theme being on the two investigations into Karen's murder and Veronica's disappearance/reappearance/hit and run. I am not devulging any spoilers in saying Veronica is the hit and run victim as that much is made clear from the moment it occurs. It's what's to come afterwards that the reader must discover. As I mentioned before, it did get a little confusing with the different characters and their subplots but you soon begin to recognise them as the story unfolds as well as their role in the grand scheme of things.

SHE LIES HIDDEN does require a little concentration to begin with what with the various characters and their own stories and the slow build to its conclusion. So DON'T GIVE UP on it! Whilst each of them may seem unrelated it isn't long before their threads are woven together with the main tapestry that is this book.

An interesting debut, SHE LIES HIDDEN is not your usual mystery read. I wouldn't really call it a psychological thriller as there are no twists, and no edge of your seat thrill rides. What you see is what you get. And what you get is an enjoyable and relatively uncomplicated murder mystery.