Raises the bar ... elegantly written and compelling. A crime writer to watch

Excellent

Promises to be a fine series of detective novels

An unusual, interesting and enthralling read

A compelling protagonist

A delightful festive murder mystery

Far more than a whodunit...written with a novelist's flair, in that the characters, however fleeting, are carefully drawn and believable

A crime series that specialises in sidestepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect... These books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own

Susan Hill's Serrailler novels are a real treat

An excellent next instalment and an absorbing novel

Susan Hill is to be congratulated on her tour de force: a novel rather more serious than a superior page-turner, though it is that as well. All us all, a highly commendable performance, thoughtful, uncomfortable, and worthy of our undivided attention

What one is aware of throughout is Hill's keen intelligence, the range of her sympathy and her depth of moral concern...reading these novels which combine good plots with well-drawn characters and intelligent probing of the way we live now, is so enriching

It is when Hill descends to write about mere mortals...that one remembers she is among our finest novelists

Beautifully drawn characters

Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunning

A well-crafted crime novel… Hill writes so clearly, and the plot is so well put together, that you can't help gobbling it up

Pitch perfect, addictive, fast-paced – Hidden is the thinking man’s thriller!

A brilliant whodunit… The story is told through a number of voices but manages to unfold coherently with suspense and subtlety. As suspicion falls on different heads, Seemingly unconnected happenings eventually combine to form a chilling, dangerous and dramatic climax. It's a thrilling book, with believable and engaging and rounded characters in a well described setting… definitely a book to look out for.

Horrific and heart pounding, it will draw you straight into the story and that will be that… It is all so addictive, so elegantly constructed and once again I found myself deep deep into the emotion of it… Turns out if anything this was better than Falling – certainly if you love a psychological crime thriller that is mostly character driven, you’ll love this. The ending was pitch perfect and may surprise you. Don’t miss it whatever you do.

It's hard to know where to start with a book like this. It starts off brilliantly, with probably one of the best openings to a book I have read this year… Hidden is an extremely thought-provoking book… Emma was an author to watch after the release of Falling, but that is the case even more now with Hidden and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Everything about this book was tense. From the horrific opening via deep-rooted flashbacks that continue to resonate to the final so-quick-you-barely-have-time-to-catch-a-breath closing chapters, Hidden is a novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat through every word. Even the heatwave was palpable… Beyond the immediate gritty drama of the whodunnit driving the plot, this story also becomes about dealing with life or death situations and how they affect you. It’s a very clever, very well thought-out storyline, with plenty of red herrings acting as stumbling blocks on the reader’s quest to figure out the identity of the gunman before the characters do… Beginning at the end may usually be a sure-fire way of taking the thrill out of the story but here it just made the countdown all the more electrifying.

Hidden is plotted like the most addictive crime TV shows... The tense network of relationships between the characters, as well as the episodic plotting, really drive this book forward, and the author’s drip-feed of clues as to the shooter’s identity will keep you guessing about his identity, even as we see inside his head... a solid, tense read.

Emma Kavanagh tells this story with great verve, weaving the strands of her story expertly

An intelligent read

I loved Falling, Emma Kavanagh’s debut novel. With Hidden I feel she has taken it to the next level. Emma Kavanagh is bound to be a leading light in psychological thriller authors. This is gripping, compulsive read. If her next book is half as good as this one it will be a cracking read.

This book is a refreshing take on your traditional thriller. There is no lengthy police investigation after the event - instead, the entire book is devoted to events prior to the shooting. Less a 'who done it' than a 'who's going to do it?' And it works brilliantly, with Emma Kavanagh laying her bait cleverly. Just when you think you've worked everything out, she throws in a bit more information and you realise you're barking up quite the wrong tree. Hidden is a very well-written book, packed with detail yet remaining a book so easy to read that you could devour it in just a few greedy gulps. Dialogue is relevant and characterisation is excellent, making for a most enjoyable, and layered, read.

I think this is the first book I’ve read where the main police character is a Police Firearms Officer rather than a detective. This fresh angle really makes the story stand out, as does the rest of the brilliantly drawn characters and the complex relationships (and hidden secrets) they have with each other. It’s hard to go into detail about this book without giving away spoilers, but what I can say is that it’s a story that keeps you on your toes as a reader. I love books that keep me guessing and challenge me to work out who is responsible, and this story did just that. With several crimes taking place, multiple narrators giving glimpses into different elements of the story, and a super pacey non-linear timeline, the author cleverly ramps up the suspense and the mystery, and kept me guessing right to the end. This is a gritty, tense, twisty page-turner of a book – and a must read for crime and thriller fans.

A second novel is a tricky beast – can the author do it again? Can they build on the success of the first? Can it follow in the same genre without being too much the same?
Kavanagh has succeeded with Hidden when other authors have failed. Similarly to some series on television, the novel starts with the crime and then takes the reader back a stage, to the start of the action. Rather than peeling away the layers to get at ‘who dun it,’ Kavanagh builds up the layers, so that we get to the ‘why’ of ‘who dun it’. Clever stuff, with multiple viewpoints. Kavanagh uses her years of experience training police forces and military units on the psychology of life threatening incidents, to give credence to her work. The tension builds, and never lets up.
Let’s hope there’s another Kavanagh gem soon. Bravo.

The most cunning crime novels, like many of the greatest detectives, trick you into believing you’re smarter than them before pulling out the rug from under you. None more so than Hidden… Kavanagh is certainly deft, batting around the reader like a car with a caught mouse.

It’s clever, complicated and the characters are completely believable….Kavanagh is an original and interesting addition to the genre.