Hiding Places Book Review

SUMMARY:  The Harrison Lodge is full of hiding places where young Kate can discover all the secrets no one wants her to know.
     Eleven-year-old Kate keeps her knowledge to herself - one sister's stash of marijuana, the other's petty cash pilfering, her grandfather's contraband candy bars.  She protects her mother and Gran, too, screening out critical comments from the hotel suggestion box.  But suddenly the stakes are raised, her grandfather's best friend is murdered the day after Kate heard the two men arguing.
     At the same time, far from the quiet mountain resort, a homeless man flees a robbery gone wrong . . . a gang member seeks revenge for the death of his son . . . and a boy chooses the worst time to wield spray paint on a store window.  In a strange and spiraling sequence of events, their disparate worlds collide at Harrison Lodge.
     Kate offers shelter to one of them, unaware of the terrible consequences to the family she loves.  But people can hide in all kinds of ways, sometimes even in plain sight . . . and some secrets are just waiting to be exposed.

REVIEW:  This book was difficult for me to read at times.  There are four different viewpoints going on simultaneously throughout this novel: at times independent, others overlapping, then all of them converge into one big story.  All of the switching back and forth confused me at times.  When they converged, sometimes it was even difficult to figure what was going on where and who all were involved.
     Kate and Pearl were my two favorite characters.  Kate, with her need to protect those she loved, and Pearl, trying to make the ones she loved feel useful and needed, made this story.  It was interesting how Pearl, after faking dementia for many, many years, took charge when the lodge was hijacked and everyone was taken hostage, moving along secret passages and moving about like a specter.  Kate loved everyone and seemed to see the best in them.  She also brings out the protectiveness in those around her.
     The massive majority of the books I read are Christian-based fiction.  This book, while it is published by a Christian publishing company, is not overtly Christian fiction.  Church is mentioned only once and reading the bible or a walk with Christ is never portrayed.  But, if you think about things, Christ-likeness shows up in the characters.  Kate shows faint Christ-like qualities in that she sees the best in everyone, even if they don't deserve it.  Pearl's father, and Pearl, both love the unlovable and those who have been hurt or wronged by those around them.  Mr. Harrison reached out to the Japanese population in the US being shunned and distrusted during the second World War.  Pearl reaches out to Charlie, who has been shunned and distrusted by society.
    I commend the author for having all those involved in criminal behavior pay for their mistakes.  Often times, writers will let everyone off the hook except for the really bad characters.  This time, everyone paid for their crimes, but some are also shown mercy by the family.
      This book was okay, in my opinion.  There were too many things happening that made it difficult at times for me to follow along. 

This book was provided by Fiction Guild and Thomas Nelson Publishers 

for review without compensation.

Erin Healy is the bestselling author of Burn and Kiss (with Ted Dekker) and an award-winning editor for numerous bestselling authors.  She has received wide acclaim for her novels Never Let You Go, The Promises She Keeps, The Baker's Wife, House of Mercy, Afloat, Stranger Things, and Motherless.  She and her family live in Colorado.