Mel Stenning has been a victim most of her life. Adopted by very conventional parents, she rebelled (but hated herself for doing it), getting into all sorts of situations and ultimately ending up in Australia, pregnant with no chance of having anything to do with her daughter Poppy's father. Returning to England she's a single mother, working for a living, finding it hard to cope, when she meets Simon. Never really convinced that Simon loves her, and constantly obsessed that he's remained involved with his last girlfriend Rosa, Mel is pregnant again. When Simon proposes, they marry and move to an old, derelict warehouse in Kent that Simon is sure they can renovate. Poppy finds it hard to adjust to the new area; the renovations lurch along out of control and mostly go nowhere; Mel obsesses over Simon's commitment to her; and Jo, when he arrives, is a difficult baby, colicky and fractious. Simon is increasingly absent from home working in London on jobs for desperately needed money.

In the meantime London police are investigating the violent stabbing death of prostitute found in her own flat, and then Rosa goes missing. The police are very interested in talking to Simon about Rosa, even more so when his credit cards are found in her house. Mel's even more convinced that Simon has been lying to her about Rosa, but when the police interest in him increases and Poppy suddenly goes missing, seemingly taken by Simon, Mel's life and faith in Simon spirals totally out of control.

Mel is the focus of HIDDEN. The story is told from her perspective, starting immediately with the circumstances around Poppy going missing and then back through events that got them to that place. Interspersed with Mel's life are chapters from the viewpoint of policeman Dave Gosforth, in charge of the murder investigation and then Rosa and Poppy's disappearances. The use of the first person perspective means that Mel's obsessions are stark and concentrated. This perspective gives the book a very claustrophobic, self-involved feeling, almost voyeuristic and definitely slightly creepy. Mel is quite exasperating - her victim mentality and her inability to make a positive change become really frustrating, but the pace of the book does pull you through the story. The final resolution is not hard to see coming, but the increasing tension by that stage means that you stay with Mel just to see if she'll actually develop some backbone and get herself out of this.

Despite, or possibly because, Mel is such a complicated character this was a unexpectedly involving book.

Karen Chisholm, Australia
October 2006