The Secrets You Hide by Kate Helm was a fantastic read. I am eagerly awaiting her next novel. The story was really interesting and very different to any of the thrillers I have read before. The author clearly did a great deal of research for this story which was evident and I learnt a lot about a number of subjects. Whilst reading the book I woke up one morning from the most horrific dream and I couldn’t work out where it had come from. It was only when I continued reading that night that I realised my dream was based on one of the minor characters back story in this novel. This story really will get inside your head! My absolute favourite experience of reading this novel was when I reached 60% in and I had reached what seemed like the climax of the story and where most novels would end, however I still had the joy of reading another 40%. I didn’t want this story to end. I became invested in Georgia’s family history and her quest to find the truth. I loved the portrayal of the children in the novel, especially little Charlie. I enjoyed reading about Georgia’s court room sketches and her landscape paintings. I would 100% recommended this book, it is a brilliant thriller.

Georgia Sage has a gift: she can see evil in people. She works as a courtroom artist using her skills to help condemn those who commit terrible crimes. We learn what happened in Georgia's past and the reasons why she doubts her own sanity. The first part of the book covers a rape trial which is where we learn just what being a court artist entails. Georgia starts to see mysterious figures, the first being a young boy, that no one else can see. Then she gets caught in investigating a series of crimes miles from her home in the Forest of Dean.

The first chapter of this book grabs your attention and does not let up until the book is finished. I liked Georgia and the insight that we get into courtroom artists. The story is told from Georgia's point of view. This is quite a pacy read. It's hard reviewing this book as there are so many spoilers that I could unintentionally give away. It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel. It's well written and thought out.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bonnier Zaffre and the author Kate Helm for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fabulous read and I loved Georgia Sage and her 'gift'

She has had a traumatic experience and I think this sometimes clouded her judgement but the tale is fabulous and unique one.

A one sit read, it has a brilliant twist that I think every reader will gasp at. 

The tension builds brilliantly and I loved the slower pace. that a courtroom drama brings.

This was an excellent debut novel and I can't wait to read more - really unusual premise delivered skilfully and with a resolution which, unusually, took me by surprise.  Great read.

Looking forward to more from Kate Helm, this intriguing storyline has a distinct difference from other crime thrillers in as much as a look at life through the eyes of a courtroom artist. This takes you on a twisting journey of lies and deceit. Leading to a final culmination of the story. A great read.

There is a great deal of information to take in with this book.   There are plots on plots on plots, giving the book a great amount of depth and complexity. 

It took a while to get to grips with how things fitted together and it was all from Georgia's point of view. 

We have what happened in Georgia's past, her current work as a courtroom artist, the reasoning behind why she is doubting her own sanity, and a couple of cases that are told in depth. 

For most of the first half of the book we see the court proceedings of a big rape trial, which introduces us to just what a courtroom artist does, as well was Georgia's ex - Oli - and a very realistic if not traumatic telling of what happens at one of these trials. 

Having read previous books by Kate Harrison, Kate Helms, last author name, I knew she was able to write books that would grab me.  In this her crime book, she has found some new angles to the genre and told a complex story,. 

I was always a few steps behind Georgia in this, and never really had a concrete theory, but even while events are being explained and secrets are being told, its a book that will definitely keep your interest and you guessing.  

Thank you to Netgalley and Zaffre for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I found this book very interesting.  The story of a court artist's life made for an interesting insight into a pretty unknown area.  It was a different story and I enjoyed it.
Very unusual

The Secrets You Hide is an unusual and perceptive thriller. Georgia is a courtroom artist who sees behind the facades of the people she is asked to portray. But the trauma she suffered as a child impacts on her adult life and when she is commissioned to illustrate a book of notorious villains she has to return to that childhood event, a devastating fire and the hero who saved two children's lives. Georgia herself was once called Suzanne, the daughter of a murderer who spared her, and as the novel progresses all the secrets are revealed.

A fascinating read that explores Charles Bonnet Syndrome which took this thriller into a different league. Highly recommended and thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Not my usual genre but this book had me gripped throughout. Will be looking out for more of the same!

The Secrets You Gide is a gripping crime and thriller book and the debut novel from Kate Helm. 
As soon as I started reading I was hooked and I was eager to learn more about the characters and how the events which happened years ago, actually came to that . 

The whole story was written very well and the flow of the book was so easy to read. 
Kate Helm also brought into the book the struggles people have with Charles Bonnet syndrome. My late grandfather suffered with this, seeing Victorian people, and I was fascinated to learn more about it and actually understand what someone goes through with this. This part brought back memories and brought a tear but gave me a clearer look of the diagnosis.

Anyone wanting to read a book that you want to gripped with, make you think and be a detective, you’ll love this. And I wasn’t expecting that twist at the end. Well done Kate. 

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers 👌👌

This was a really good read too. Georgia is a courtroom artist who feels like she can see evil in people. She suffered a terrible trauma in her childhood and this has impacted her as an adult. She is forced to re-look at a conviction from early in her career and begins to question whether she might have helped put an innocent person in prison. The really fascinating thing about this thriller for me was the way it made me think about how I might look at a person and judge them. The novel really makes you question how often judgements are made when the person in question could be completely innocent. This is a thrilling novel that will keep you guessing right until the end, it’s such an engaging read and I recommend it!

She is not the person everyone thinks she is.

Georgia Sage is a professional court artist and attends prominent court cases to illustrate the hearings because cameras are banned.  The point of her work is to capture people as they really are – to reveal the secrets they thought they had hidden from view. Can sin write itself across a person’s face? If you have a vice, does it show itself in the lines of your mouth, the droop of your eyelids, the mouldings of your hand? Georgia is a very talented artist – in her portraits she builds up layers of the people, to reveal the secrets they hide even from themselves. Her pictures paint a thousand words.  Once she has made a man look guilty, there is no way back. 

She is commissioned to paint a portrait for a book that features artists in the criminal field. She must return to her first big case and paint a portrait, not of the villain who started the fire but of the hero who saved two children from a burning house –Jim Fielding. A portrait is not like a photo - it’s layered and every time you look at a painting you see something new about the person - their kindness, sense of humour, their sadness. Portrait sittings often take on the air of a confessional – is it only possible to be honest with a stranger? Is Jim the hero that everyone thinks he is? If you’ve been lying to yourself for years, you need a stranger to hear your confession.

But Georgia used to be Suzanne, her father murdered her mother and brother but spared her. Can you outrun madness when it runs in your family? Something shifts inside when you become a victim. You realise that the idea that we have any control over our lives is an illusion – you will never be the same. So, she has tried to protect herself and others from harm – turned her back on friendship and love, lived alone, lived a lie, obliterated all trace of the girl she once was - to get away from what her father was and what he did.

I thoroughly enjoyed the glimpse into the world of a court artist and the author very cleverly shows how many people are not what they seem on the outside.  Many of us hide secrets deep inside from everyone who knows us and even from ourselves. I also learnt something new about Charles Bonnet Syndrome and Best Disease and will be giving my grade 11 class a research project about them next year. This is a book that I highly recommend. 

Saphira

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

A very intense thriller with some wonderful suspense and world building. I was very intrigued by the story, and wanted to read on to find out what happened.

Warning-This book broke me in the nicest possible way. It was one of those 'go to bed reading, dream about, get up and read till it's done titles'.
Normally I can juggle a few titles and spend equal time with them, but not 'The Secrets You Hide', it demands your full attention!
This is the story of a haunting, forgiveness and reconciliation. Georgia Sage is a court appointed artists who renders those brought before judicial courts with a swift movement of her pencils. Employed by the BBC she is able to capture details that most others would ignore, to the annoyance of her nearest rival, Maureen, a horrible character who delights in the misery of others-especially Georgia.
Both women have been approached to contribute to an upcoming art book either by revisiting a case that has never really left them/made their names or updating a picture that resonates (either victim or criminal can be picked as long as they consent).
Georgia picks the father of a family whose house was set on fire by his teenage son-he was able to save his two children but not his pregnant wife.

As she struggles to handle the demands of a high profile court case as well as this commission, Georgia is inextricably drawn back to the events of her childhood , and begins to doubt her ability to differentiate between truth and justice. At the same time she begins to see the figure of a small child from the corner of her eye, a child who should not be there....
A wonderfully depicted novel of love, loss, guilt and survival of trauma with several skilfully handled mysteries at its heart, this is a book which deserves rave reviews and huge success. I hope I have been able to do it some justice here, will review more fully on my blog.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre Books for allowing me to read this in return for an honest review.

My thanks to Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read THE SECRETS YOU HIDE. 
Georgia Sage is a court artist with an unusual gift. She can see the evil in the people she paints. She uses her drawings to condemn those she thinks are guilty, many of whom have committed dreadful crimes. But Georgia is not an ordinary court artist. She has a bloody secret of her own.

When she is offered the chance to submit a painting of a trial she has covered in the past to be included in a book of court paintings she is taken back to a trial at the very beginning of her career, one she was convinced about at the time, but since realised not everything was as it seemed.

The Fielding family have thrown Georgia into torment, making her question her own experiences...and her sanity. Is it what happened when she was a girl haunting her, or is it something far more terrifying?!

This novel has a real quality about it. I loved the premise because I love art of all kinds and I thought Georgia Sage's background was very unique. Georgia is a loner because of what happened to her family, yet she seems strong, as though she has accepted who she is and gets on with it. Building her whole life on a lie finally catches up with her resulting in a story full of twists and turns which I love. I was intrigued by her visions, and the ending was a surprise. Kate Helm's writing hooked me from the get-go and I would definitely read more. Recommended *****

Georgia Sage can see evil.
 In her job' as a courtroom artist, she uses her artistic skills to reveal people's true natures.. I can't remember ever having read a book featuring a courtroom artist before and I learnt so much about this fascinating job. I loved the way it filtered down so that things were often described in terms of colour - for example, a bruised back is described as, 'Delft blue mottled with manganese violet.' 

When we first meet Georgia, she is a mess, on the verge of unravelling. Haunted by a past case, and struggling under the weight of survivor's guilt from the catastrophic traumatic event from her childhood that has coloured her whole life since, (which I won't spoil for future readers), She begins to see things - people that couldn't possibly be alive that no one else can see and the visions begin to take over her life until she thinks she is going mad. She fears the madness is hereditary. The pace of the book is unrelenting - one minute she is in a courtroom in Bristol covering a rape trial involving a footballer (which seemed topical and well researched), the next she is on the tail of a man involved in the aforementioned past case which drives many of her actions. I admit I did get a kind of reader's whiplash from hurtling through these events and I would have perhaps liked more reflection. I enjoyed the courtroom drama and the psychological aspects that drove the character but I was less convinced by the denouement. I didn't guess the twists and was constantly surprised by turns of events which I think is difficult to achieve in a thriller, but the effects of the horrific events that coloured Georgia's early life, which have made her the person she is, were very well portrayed and that is what will stay with me.

Georgia Sage is a court room artist who takes her job very seriously. She had a troubled childhood and events in her past make her passionate about ensuring that she can portray the guilty in the dock through her pictures to try and ensure justice is served. 

It’s rather ironic that Georgia considers she is able to separate the guilty from the innocent considering that everything about her is a lie. Her names not even really Georgia. She has built her adult life upon layers of lies and even those close to her don’t know the real truth. 

The story very much centres around Georgia and as a lead protagonist I found her very likeable. She has all the hallmarks of a character you want to get behind. She is broken, troubled and struggling to come to terms with past events. She is a character that you want to succeed and triumph in the end. The way the author develops Georgia’s character took me as the reader on Georgia’s personal journey of discovery alongside her. Georgia finishes the book as a very different character to the one she started out as. 

As with all thrillers, regardless of the specific genre of thriller you are reading, this book finishes with a last shock revelation which is brilliantly crafted throughout the book with tension building gradually as I read through. Whist I would primarily classify this book as a psychological thriller, there is also a large element of personal discovery which is the sort you would find in say, general fiction.

I very much enjoyed this debut thriller from the author and I think it’s the start of a promising career in this genre for her.

I was drawn to this book by the blurb and whilst it was a very good read I just didn’t find it exciting enough to give it that wow factor.  I felt the story dragged a bit in places 
But other parts were excellent .

What a stunning debut novel from Kate Helm.  Immediately I was hooked and fascinated with the array of characters and possible scenarios throughout the book.  I thought I had certain aspects figured out but that wasn’t the case and the whole story was so well written and a delight to read.  The author enabled me to become so invested in Georgia’s character, I found myself feeling genuinely emotional at parts of the story and I hope there is some way Kate Helm can continue Georgia’s story in a follow up novel. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Secrets You Hide is an impressive debut novel, it is packed full of twists and turns; and you never know who you can trust. Which includes our protagonist Georgia Sage. 

The novel opens in 1997, with a young girl Suzanne locked in her room, as her father commits an atrocious and traumatic crime. 
‘Dad has been acting strange for months’ 
What’s on the other side of the door? 

We then are introduced to Georgia in 2017, She is a freelance court room artist and has sat in on some horrific crimes in her career. As we meet her, she is on the morning of a awkward one night stand. We discover via her internal thoughts she is not as content with her career choice as she’d have others believe.
‘What kind of person paints pictures of the worst humanity has to offer?’ 

Georgia does take great pride in her work and believes that her courtroom sketches could ultimately impact the jury/public opinion. I wasn’t as sure about this, but I was intrigued by the way in which Georgia sold it to the reader…
‘I build up the layers, to reveal people as they really are, the secrets they hide even from themselves’ 

We become aware Georgia lives in a large property and has no financial concerns. I think this explains why she is content with a career choice that cannot earn her much money. We also become aware she is a lonely woman, with a troubled past. It is at this point she becomes an unreliable narrator, of her own story. 

‘The fear of life was stronger than the relief of death’ 

The case Georgia is currently in court sessions for is a he/she said rape trial. But Georgia is convinced of the man’s guilt. But that isn’t the case that the novel revolves around. It is a case from Georgia’s past. A case she has always been uncertain if justice truly was served…..

A complex twisty psychological thriller, with a shocking ending! 4*