Hide

 

Image credit: Goodreads

Taking chances and trying new things is fundamentally important to our growth as individuals. How do you know you don’t like something unless you try it? You know, that old chestnut. Now of course, this mantra is easily arguable; other influences can help to create a deterrent against trying a certain something e.g. hearing horrific stories of food poisoning caused by oysters can be enough to scare you are from popping one of those slippery suckers into your mouth. The point that I’m getting to – rather round-aboutly- is that our tastes are determined by what we try and don’t try, be it food, fashion, films, or books. 

Although my book club hasn’t had their first meeting to discuss our other book, Once There Were Wolves, the momentum of the group has certainly taken over and I have just closed the cover on our second book: Hide by Kiersten White. 

The books follows Mack, a traumatised young woman who is invited, along with thirteen other desperate and dispirited individuals, to compete in a grand game of Hide-and-Seek in an abandoned amusement park. The prize is $50,000 and there is but one rule, don’t be found. The odds are in Mack’s favour, as hiding is what kept her alive while the rest of her family died. At first it seems fine, except that the eliminated contestants seem to disappear without a trace. Or do they? As sinister scraps are found around the park, Mack begins to wonder what it is they’re hiding from and what happens once they’re found. 

I had never heard of Kiersten White before, but reading the author’s notes after finishing Hide, I discovered that this book is her first foray into the world of adult fiction. White is best known for her dark and twisted YA fiction, so to give credit where it’s due, Hide is a wobbly, but sound, step into the world of adult horror. However, I can’t say that it’s inspired me to read her other work. Sadly, it’s an example of when you try something new and decide it’s not for you. Of course, this might change some day, but right now, I have no desires to read anymore from White. 

The story of Hide is a rather predictable, almost clichéd, horror narrative: if you think Cabin in the Woods, The Wicker Man, or Get Out, you’ve got the vibe and a few key plot twists already figured out. A rage-scream at the state of the world, the book does feature some valid social commentary and an interesting and unique twist that breaks the monotony and predictability somewhat. But this is where the good stuff stops. 

Image credit: Goodreads

Hide is a relatively short book with the reader and characters thrown immediately into the central drama, and a whole cast of characters struggling to get noticed. White’s prose is frank, blunt, and everything is sort of dumped out unceremoniously, which makes it hard to care about any of the characters because they are –with the exception of Mack- all written about in a very nonchalant way and while White does try to flesh them all out (remember, there are over 15), she doesn’t do it in a particularly succinct or interesting way. The only person I felt any emotion toward was the token jerk, and I could not wait until he died. It almost reads as though White doesn’t care about the characters, therefore we don’t, and that, coupled with the predictability of the plot, is what drags everything down. 

While nothing in this book is particularly bad, I just found the whole thing rather boring, which you really don’t want in a horror novel. There was no anxiety or suspense felt, zero thrills, and no characters that I cared about. If the physical act of reading a book didn’t give me so much dopamine, I probably would have closed the cover early on. 

Author: Keirsten White, 2022 

Published: Del Rey, London, 2022