A review by lizdesole
The Hidden Girl by Louise Millar
2.0
The beginning of this book dragged so much with all these hints about past events. It was perfectly obvious what these things were after the second or even first hint, but the author kept going for about 100 pages before introducing the "mystery". The main plot concerns a couple who move out to the country form London to repair their marriage and start a family. Sounds doomed to fail, right?
Then introduce an outlandish set of events. There's too much suspension of disbelief going on here. For instance, it snows so hard for so many days that the husband is stuck in London. But then the very next day, they have the lawn mowed. After a 4 day blizzard?! Then, the husband grew up in the area the house is in. His cousin lives there still and no one seems to know any of the locals. In a small town. WHat? EVERYONE would know the locals.
What I found even more grating than the drawn-out introduction was how unbelievable I found the main character's dramatic change of personality. Having her husband claim to be confused by her personality change really isn't enough to explain it. The main character's prior work as a handler for dangerous missions for a non-profit makes no sense throughout the book until you get to the part where everything goes terribly wrong.
And the mystery's solution is so over-the-top.
And the happily ever after ending felt highly unlikely for this couple
Then introduce an outlandish set of events. There's too much suspension of disbelief going on here. For instance, it snows so hard for so many days that the husband is stuck in London. But then the very next day, they have the lawn mowed. After a 4 day blizzard?! Then, the husband grew up in the area the house is in. His cousin lives there still and no one seems to know any of the locals. In a small town. WHat? EVERYONE would know the locals.
What I found even more grating than the drawn-out introduction was how unbelievable I found the main character's dramatic change of personality. Having her husband claim to be confused by her personality change really isn't enough to explain it. The main character's prior work as a handler for dangerous missions for a non-profit makes no sense throughout the book until you get to the part where everything goes terribly wrong.
And the mystery's solution is so over-the-top.
And the happily ever after ending felt highly unlikely for this couple