Hidden

Catherine McKenzie's Hidden puts a dilemma in front of the reader: how much do we really want to know? The novel kicks off with Jeff Manning being struck by a car, stressed out and not thinking about looking both ways before crossing the street after a bad day at work. The news of his demise devastates two different women: his wife Claire, and his colleague Tish. It's obvious quickly, from the depth of her grief, that Tish has a relationship with Jeff that's above and beyond just coworkers or even just friends, but what was actually there between them? Just some flirtation? Actual romantic feelings? Sex?The story is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Claire, Tish, and a pre-death Jeff himself to explain just what is going on here. Before Claire was Jeff's wife, she was his older brother Tim's girlfriend. Although he's aware of that (obviously) going in, even long after they've married and had a son together, Jeff never quite gets over his jealousy. When one of Tim's rare trips home results in him making a move on Claire during a low moment in their marriage, when she's vulnerable, all of Jeff's old suspicions that he's merely the consolation prize come roaring back and fault lines open up between them. And when he meets Tish, who drifted as aimlessly into her own marriage as she did into her job in HR, their attraction sparks something more. When Claire discovers a text message from Tish on Jeff's broken phone before it dies completely, she finds herself putting together little pieces of evidence, seeing a picture that she can't be quite sure is there.The whole point of the book seems to be whether or not Claire will find out what exactly there was between Jeff and Tish, a question for which the answer is held back from the reader as well until it's wound up in the epilogue. Which isn't really enough to sustain interest, honestly. McKenzie adds in a bunch of extra characters and situations to flesh it out, but at the end of the day, none of them contributes much to the actual story. I got bored with it and read quickly through the back half of the book so I could just be done with it already. Because once the level of Jeff and Tish's emotional entanglement becomes apparent, the question of whether it ever got physical was almost beside the point: they were cheating, whether or not they'd slept together. The book also suffered for McKenzie's failure to take advantage of the alternating narrators structure to create three different voices for the three people involved. They all sounded similar, Claire and Tish particularly so. And for this kind of story to actually resonate, all of the participants have to be sympathetic or at least interesting. But no one is all that interesting, and only Claire is remotely sympathetic. There's nothing especially rewarding to the reader to be found in Hidden: the writing is just decent, the plot drags, and the characters are one-note. It's not awful, it's just kind of a waste of time.

One of the things that’s compelling about McKenzie’s work is that each book is distinct from her others. They are all unique. What’s unique about this story isn’t simply that it alternates points of view between different characters—lots of novels do that—but that one of the narrators, Jeff, is killed in chapter one, yet he continues throughout the book to tell his part of the story. His point of view helps explain why it’s not just his wife, Claire, who is grieving, but a coworker who lives a few hours away, Tish.This book goes back and forth in time—the present in which Claire is planning and then attending the funeral, back to work events that happened a few days or weeks or a year prior to Jeff’s untimely death.The relationships between the characters are complex and nuanced. Claire begins to suspect that there may have been something more between Jeff and Tish than simply working for the same company, even if they worked at different branches. Claire has her 12-year-old son, Tish has a doctor husband and a precocious 11-year-old daughter. We, the readers, are also unclear throughout the book if Tish and Jeff simply enjoyed emailing each other and being together at work retreats, or if something more was going on—something that could destroy both their marriages.After the initial shock of Claire’s husband dying in a car accident and dealing with the funeral and the endless stream of people telling her how sorry they are for her loss, Claire becomes obsessed with finding out if the love she shared with Jeff was real, or was he also in love with another woman? She is dealing with her own grief and her complicated past with Jeff’s brother—who has largely been estranged and living in Australia for years but comes back for the funeral.This is a complex book about the choices we make with relationships, with love, with family, and with ourselves.

What can I say, I am a Catherine McKenzie fan. But not all her works are equal. Like any author you see her writing become better with each book. So Hidden is a mature story of the complexity of relationships and the repercussions of our personal choices.The story is narrated by three different voices, and I love this kind of narration because I know how hard it is to write this way. The story has a steady pace, and you are hooked on to know the answer which doesn’t come until the very last chapter.Catherine has done a great job at showing the complexities relationships. Every relationship, past and present makes us the people we are and the people we become. Our past experiences shape our future relationships with each other and others around us.I just loved some of the lines from this book:"But, of course, everyone has regrets. Loose ends. Things they could do if they had more time.""That I'd been letting life act itself out on me when I should have been directing it.""Everyone says that, but we all lie about things. Little things, big things. We all keep stuff hidden. And the longer you're with someone, the more stuff there is like that, I think. That doesn't mean he didn't love me, or wasn't good to me in other ways. So it made me think. Maybe honesty isn't always the best policy. Because him telling me about it was selfish. The only person it was going to make feel any better was him. So maybe if you make a mistake, you have to live with it by yourself, and that's how you fix it."

First book i’ve read by this author and I loved it. I loved the writing and also the characters, who felt like real people involved in believable situations. At one point I thought it was going to be a “revenge killing” novel, and was pleased that this wasn’t the case. For me there was sympathy towards both Claire and even Tish, faced with losing the man they loved and all the complications arising from his death. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

An unusual book in so much it's all written in the first person, so instead of being an onlooker on the plot, I felt very much involved in the whole story.Despite the unusual form in which its written, it is not at all confusing to understand from whose perspective the particular passage or chapter is narrating, it only takes a few sentences to realise who is the main character in that chapter.Unusual, and I will look out for this author to see if all her work is written this way.

I liked the premise of the book. The intrigue of the relationships between the characters. The different narrators. But I just didn't quite find it as exciting as others or as I imagined. I was slightly disappointed by the ending, personally.A good book but not quite hitting the mark for me.

I actually bought this by mistake as I was scrolling through but I'm so glad I did. Such a good compelling story, and I loved his it's written from 3 different perspectives and goes forward and back in time. Keeps you guessing right till the end. Brilliant!

I did read this book to the end. However I did find it rather hard going as it seemed very muddled and the events difficult to follow at times. Also found the actual wording difficult at times.

It's not until the end that you find out the answer to the question, did they or didn't they?Were they lovers or friends?If you want to know then you need to read the book!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book the characters are very good and so I is the story line so many people could of been hurt I thoroughly recommend this book

Surprised me throughout With everything life can throw at you this book has it all. Tissues recommended. And i truelly enjoyed every word. Got to be on your book list to read..

Although a bit overly long this was a good study Into the impact of a sudden death in a family and those closely affected, it kept me reading until the end with a couple of twists which I found a bit disappointing.

interesting concept of a man in love with 2 women. strangely he comes out as the nice guy just as well as he dies in the first few chapters. you are left guessing to the end which is always good and makes the novel all the more poignant. would recommend.

Once started I found this very hard to put down. McKenzie is an effective storyteller and I was engrossed from the start. She skilfully develops the characters until you care about all of them, even when you suspect that the main male character has been cheating on his wife. I would recommend this story and will be reading anything by this author in the future.

Good read. Had to concentrate a bit at the start of each new chapter because it was a different character from the previous chapter but overall it was very interesting.Would read some more written by this author.

A sensitive story that looks at love and loss and sacrifice on various levels. Told by the three main characters in chapters.

Really enjoyed reading this book, was a little disappointed with the ending but will definitely look for more by this author , the questions at the end were good , excellent talking point

A gripping book but made unnecessarily difficult to follow due to the story being told by 3 characters and varying timezones! Maybe I'm just getting too old to follow.... Nevertheless a good read.