The Ones Who Are Hidden (Whitecliff Bay mysteries #4) by Kerry Wilkinson
Genre: Cosy mystery
Read: 15th April 2023
Amazon
Audio Links
UK
US
Listen to Sample
Published: 15th May 2023
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
‘Your tattoo… it’s exactly like mine.’ She hesitates. ‘But – I’ve never noticed it before. I must have had it since I was little.’ The ink markings on both of them are delicate, barely visible. Interlinked triangles in the shape of a daisy. But how can two strangers have matching tattoos, they didn’t know they had?
With their parents gone and nobody left to ask, when Georgia and Oliver first come to amateur sleuth Millie Westlake for help with their daisy-shaped markings she thinks the tattoos are a joke. A funny, if unusual, link between two strangers. In the seaside town of Whitecliff, stranger things have happened – especially to Millie herself.
But then Millie finds an artist who remembers giving someone the same tattoo twenty years ago. Someone who spent years hiding in the isolated woods outside Whitecliff – the same place unidentified bodies were once found…
Even as Millie gets closer to answers, she witnesses a shocking robbery that changes everything. And as whispers of what happened in the woods decades ago become louder, how much danger will Millie, Georgia and Oliver put themselves in, to uncover the mystery of the daisy-shaped markings and the dark truth about their pasts?
This gripping and character-driven mystery read is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Ann Cleeves and LJ Ross.
MY THOUGHTS:
OK, THIS one is hands down my favourite of the Whitecliff Bay mystery series so far. I loved every minute of it! The mystery was so much more intense, there is more at risk, we are given a few answers and we are teased with yet even more to come. But I'm sad to say there is yet to be a book 5 so now I will have to wait...
Oliver calls upon Millie for help when he discovers a tattoo of sorts behind his ear. He's never had a tattoo, has never been drunk enough to recall even getting one and knows nothing about it. What's even weirder is that he has come across a woman in nearby Steeple's End who has the same tattoo behind her ear as well...also without any knowledge of having gotten it. Of course Millie loves a good mystery and sets about unravelling this one with relish.
She meets Oliver when picking up her son Eric from guitar lessons that her ex Alex has signed him up for. Eric shows no real interest in guitar, or any other activity Alex signed him up for, and Millie has to wonder why he signed him up for all these after school activities if he shows no interest in any of them. She can only think the same as she did when her parents did that same to her - because they wanted her out from under their feet. Which begs the next question...why fight Millie for custody if he doesn't really want the toy he's fought for in the first place? Because it's not about Eric - it's about Millie. He just doesn't want her having custody. A bit petty and not very adult when he is supposed to be setting an example. Eric would be better off with Millie but the question is, will she ever get custody?
So accompanying Oliver, he and Millie set out to meet Georgia who also has the tattoo. They in turn decide to question a tattooist which leads them to a grumpy old git and then an old market stall and then...a dead end. With no idea where to turn next, they are left with one option. Oliver must speak to his mother. But that is no easy feat. In fact, she claims ignorance and changes the subject but the very next day, she's off out of the house for the first time in years and Oliver is frantic with where she may have vanished to. Until he sees her coming out of the house a few doors down from where they used to live when he was a child. But when he tries to knock, the door is slammed in his face. What is the big secret? And why are they keeping it from him?
With no other avenue, Millie and Oliver turn to Guy whose filing system of four decades of newspapers leaves a little to be desired. But if there is something to be found, it will be there...somewhere. They just have to find it. And when they do...then what? Nothing will prepare them for the torrent that is about to be rained upon them.
Another winner from Kerry Wilkinson in this fantastic new series that just keeps getting better and better. So far I have read all four of the books back to back and each of them have gotten progressively better than the previous one. This one finishes on yet another cliffhanger...which ended at the bottom of the page and when I flipped it I was like "NOOOOOO! You can't end there!" Just when I thought we were getting the answers...
So much happened in this book, in more ways than one. With one mystery this time round which is the sole focus, and this time Guy takes a back seat with Millie and Oliver playing the main roles, the second mystery is a robbery in which Millie finds herself involved. But in this installment we also get a few answers for which we've been waiting...and are kept waiting with the others. Millie finally stands up to Alex and gives it to him both barrels, though she is firm she is also fair. Rachel, I'm pleased to say, featured very little. Thank goodness. The woman gives me a migraine.
There is one issue I had with the book though. This story takes place about five months after the previous one and in that time Isaac, the adopted little boy of Jack and Rishi, somehow gained an extra two years! In this book he is now six yet at Christmas five months previously he was four. Even if he had had a birthday in between, he still wouldn't have gotten that much older. And the age wasn't a misprint because it was mentioned that he was six several times in conversation between Millie and Jack.
That aside, THE ONES WHO ARE HIDDEN is the best book of the series yet! Ironically, the subject is one that is never a favourite topic of mine but the way in which it was written and presented was made all the more interesting. Rather than the luring of, we have Millie and Oliver seeking the answers to something which happened many years before. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for book 5 where I hope to gain some of those answers that were dangled in the closing paragraphs...
I would like to thank #KerryWilkinson, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheOnesWhoAreHidden in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kerry Wilkinson has had No.1 crime bestsellers in the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Singapore. He has also written two top-20 thrillers in the United States. His book, Ten Birthdays, won the RNA award for Young Adult Novel of the Year in 2018 and Close To You won the International Thriller Award for best ebook in 2020.
As well as his million-selling Jessica Daniel series, Kerry has written the Silver Blackthorn trilogy - a fantasy-adventure serial for young adults - a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter, plus numerous standalone novels. He has been published around the world in more than a dozen languages.
Originally from the county of Somerset, Kerry spent way too long living in the north of England, picking up words like 'barm' and 'ginnel'.
When he's short of ideas, he rides his bike, hikes up something, or bakes cakes. When he's not, he writes it all down.
Social Media links:
PUBLISHER:
Stay up to date with upcoming releases from Bookouture by following them on these social media accounts.
No comments:
Post a Comment