Joanna and family move into what she believes to be their forever home, only problem is its tainted by the disappearance of Lily Murphy, a toddler who went missing in the 80's during a game of hide and seek.

Unfortunately I wasnt a fan of this book, it was quite a slow burn and I personally felt like the last chapters after the 70% mark were all that were needed.

It threw in some unexpected twists but I felt that Joanna's whole obsession with her house and the missing little girl was a bit mundane at times.

I liked that it swapped between the present (2018) and the past (1985) but personally I preferred the 1985 chapters.

Hide and Seek - Andrea Mara

Andrea Mara is one of those authors who as soon as I hear she has a new book out I just have to drop everything and get stuck in.

I pre ordered this one months ago as soon as it was announced and so could not believe my luck when I was given the opportunity to read an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to the author Andrea Mara, publishers Bookouture and Netgalley.co.uk for the opportunity to read it prior to it's publication on August 4th 2022.

There is no denying Andrea Mara is the QUEEN of Irish Thriller Writers.

I have read every single one of her books and have never been left disappointed...I think this latest one could be her best yet!!!!

Where do I start on this one without giving too much away -
Set in a Dublin suburb using two different timeliness, the story of missing child Lily Murphy unfolds. The two timeliness flow seamlessly. It is so cleverly plotted with many characters whose lives overlap, though its written so well its easy to keep up. It's fast paced, full of twists and turns on every page and I just couldn't put it down. I'd think I had it all figured out then bam another twist and I was clueless again.
Not a bit predictable like some in this genre can be - this one has everything you could want in a thriller.

My only advice guys is only start it when you have a free day or a free few hours to devour it cos you won't wanna put this one down.

I raced through it in one sitting. What a glorious way to spend a rainy Sunday.

It's out August 4th guys so get pre ordering - it will make a super holiday read, even if it only lasts yas the first couple of days 😅

An unpredictable, twisty read from start to finish. Any fans of the thriller genre this is one you don't wanna miss!!!

An easy (and worthy) 5 Stars 🌟

#HideAndSeek #Netgalley #AndreaMara

Andrea....please tell me your next book isn't too long away, I already can't wait ❤️

OMG THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. There were so many times when reading that I actually felt nervous, creeped out and on edge. This was a fantastic thriller. It was clear there were going to be twists but they were so cleverly done and even right at the end I was still caught by surprise, I did not see that last one coming. I devoured this in 24 hours while managing to somehow put it down to work in between. I absolutely loved it.

In May 1985, three-year-old Lily Murphy was playing hide and seek with a group of friends near some wood in South County Dublin. She was with her friend Cora who was ten years old. On the fatal day Lily disappeared never to be seen again. Some say she drowned.
It’s now 2018 Joanna and her husband Mark and their 3 children move into a house on the outskirts of the wood. She is excited that she is starting a new chapter in her life. But when she finds out that the new house that she has moved into is the family home of Lily Murphy that disappeared all of them years ago and is angry with her husband as he lived in the area as a child and would have known of the previous residents. Joanna has also got secrets of her own that she doesn’t want to tell. One of which she thinks that she is the reason that Lily is dead.
Thank you, Random House Transworld, for ARC of Hide and Seek. This is another great page turner from Andrea Mara. Like her previous books that I have read she doesn’t disappoint. This is one of them muti layered story with twists and turns, that keeps you captivated until the very end to find out what really happened that day. 5 stars from me.

Joanna and her 3 year old daughter are playing hide and seek in their new garden, for a few minutes Sophie is missing as she's hidden in a neighbours garden. When she finds her she also meets the new neighbour who informs her that 30 years previously another 3 year old went missing from the same house.
Joanna is horrified especially as her husband was brought up in the area and had never mentioned it and soon it becomes all she can think about...........what happened to Lily Murphy?
Added to that the undertone that she herself may have had something to do with it.
The book passes from the past to the present very fluidly, and is written in such a way that the reader has the same suspicions as Joanna herself with no way of pre guessing what happened to Lily 30 years earlier.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House publishers for this advanced copy

I loved ''All Her Fault' so I was excited to read this, and it did not disappoint! Another gripping, exhilarating read, full of twists and red herrings, and the plot unfolds in a way you never guess.
The only thing I found slightly confusing was the amount of characters, a lot to remember and I had to keep reading back to check who was who!
Andrea Mara is an excellent and intelligent thriller writer and I can't wait for her next book.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Joanna moves into her new home with her 3 children and her husband. Joanna then discovers her new home is the exact same home where a child went missing decades before. The child, Lily, who went missing was never found, presumed drowned. Joanna can’t get the missing child out of her mind, and she thinks her own childhood is linked somehow, but everything seems blurred. Joanna starts digging, demanding answers, but not everyone wants to help her find the answers.

This was another excellent read from this author. It was intriguing, with an intricate plot line, with many sub storylines. There were many characters, and once they were all organised and I knew who was who, it was relatively easy to keep up with what was going on. The writing was really easy to read, and kept the story flowing nicely, meaning every page had something going on that changed the direction you thought you were going in, the characters were all incredibly well written and interesting. All of them were also relatable in some way. It was an excellent read, with many twists and turns. Highly recommended.

Hide and Seek by Andrea Mara

Andrea Mara writes twisty turny domestic thrillers like no other and her latest one, Hide and Seek, is out in August.

I pre-ordered it the minute it was announced and was fortunate to receive a digital ARC and a proof copy.

May 1985: Lily Murphy (age 3) goes missing playing hide and seek in the woods near her home in South County Dublin (‘SoCoDu’)

June 2018: Joanna Murphy (mother of 3) moves into a new house in the SoCoDu suburbs, only to learn that it was the home of Lily Murphy before she disappeared.

Joanna is curious, has some time on her hands, and draws somewhat tenuous links to her own childhood. So unfolds the tale of two timelines, interweaving the past, the present and the secrets of the residents of Rowanbrook.

It’s so clever with many characters whose lives overlap; it will keep you on your toes.

I don’t want to say too much; it’s killing me not to comment on some of my favourite parts of the story but it would give it away.

Definitely one to pre-order or pick up when it’s released, ideally when you have a day free to read it in one sitting.

The only problem now is I’ll have to wait for Mara’s next release but the good news is she’s signed a deal with Transworld for two more books!

Hide and Seek will be published by Transworld - an imprint of @penguinbooksireland - on 2 August 2022. I received an advance digital copy courtesy of the publishers.

#NetGalley #HideAndSeek #AndreaMara #NetGalleyShelfDestruction
#TiredMammyBookClub #NotJustForMammies #TiredMammy30minutes

Andrea Mara does it yet again. Kept me on the edge of my seat right until the very end. Definitely one of my favourite Andrea Mara books and one of the best books I've read this year. Thank you to net galley, Andrea Mara and the publishers for the digital ARC. Hide and Seek is available to preorder and now and the release date is 4/8/22.

Out August 4, lead character Joanna’s move into a new home should be perfect. Until she realises it was once Lily Murphy’s home, a young child who went missing close to a river many years before. She was never found, leaving her parents distraught and a close-knit Dublin suburb to trust no one but themselves. Decades on, Joanne’s got secrets of her own, ones she has no desire for anyone to discover. Most importantly, she’s sure of what happened to Lily but she’s not sure if anyone would believe it… or if she can make herself believe it. Should her secrets get out, she’s not sure if her loved ones would trust her again, or that she could find a way back. Andrea’s books have the ability to make a reader feel part of the story, as though they’re walking alongside Joanne and her family, socialising with people who she sort of already knows, peering behind curtains to separate the truths from untruths.

I was delighted to get approved to read hide and seek as I have just recently read "all her fault", which I genuinely thought was one of the best books I've read in the last few years. Very cleverly written, all loose ends tidied up.
Now, when I've read such a good book like that I have a sense of trepidation reading a different book by the same Author. Andrea has set the bar very high, I can't help it but I will compare it against her other books, thus hide and seek would have been at a disadvantage. It had very big shoes to fill...
Fear not, Andrea has yet again knocked it out of the park. It's very easy to read, a page turner and fast paced. Again, she ties everything up beautifully in the end. She has a gift for writing thriller/suspense. I can't get enough. A five star read

* Off out now buy all her other books

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In the world of Irish female thriller writers Andrea Mara is the queen. Her latest instalment hide and seek did not a disappoint. This is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. Set in the back drop of a Dublin suburb using two different timelines the story of missing Lily Murphy unfolds. Filled with twists and turns on every page every chapter left me thinking yes I have this figured out and then boom! There was another twist that left me picking my jaw up from the floor.

This is the 2022 novel that you don’t want to miss. An easy 5 stars.

4.5 rounded up

Do you enjoy a multi layered, slow burner psychological thriller where are you are so darned into it you can’t put it down? Where are you scratch your head trying to figure out the puzzle exercising every ounce of grey matter desperate to figure it out and coming up with all sorts of theories? When the answers come it is so not what you had in mind but it’s so well thought out in a cleverly executed executed plot? Look no further, Andrea Mara is the author for you.

In 2018 Joanna plays hide and seek with her youngest daughter Sophie, briefly losing her as she wanders into the garden next door. Hide and seek, a common enough game but in 1985 three year old Lily Murphy despite endless seeking is never found and most believe she has drowned. Coincidentally, Joanna now lives in the same house as Lily, Sophie is the same age and shockingly the two children have a similar appearance. Joanna is jolted, her thoughts tumble and turn, she’s freaked out, so spooked and thoi fearful she feels honour bound to investigate. The story is told in dual timelines with the 2018 by Joanna but how reliable narrator is she???

Wow. Yet another winner from Andrea Mara. You jog along going with the flow then the author chucks in some absolute bombs of information that you feel as if you’re hanging on the edge of a cliff. The two timelines flow seamlessly, the plot is fast-paced, never a dull moment and at times it’s a mind blower. You witness dynamics you can’t get a handle on, shocking dysfunction with monsters masquerading behind a glossy appearance and deceptive smiles. This wealthy suburb of Dublin has umpteen secrets plastered over with plausible lies, it’s a mission to uncover those and and the truth when it comes makes absolute sense. The ultimate end is a cracker, I smile as justice is served.

This is very hard to put down, it’s very smart and keeps you guessing to the end, the characterisation is masterful although there are a bunch of them to get your head around. Overall, an unpredictable, riveting read from start to finish.

Highly recommended .

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK/Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this great, twisty thriller.

Andrea Mara is now one of my 'must-read' authors. I was trying to think why.

Her plots are great; involving, puzzling, believable. Her characterisations are are always very 'real', as are their dialogue, motivations and interactions. We're dealing with the lives of real and believable people here.

I love the way we are shown the lives of the characters, then we go through the looking glass, and see what's really going on. Same scenes, same people, just a new camera angle, and a different emphasis. Beautifully done.

What happened to Lily Murphy is a puzzle right to the end, some people in the story know more than they're saying, and aren't who you think they are. Oh, and it also has a lovely coda right at the very end.

Read it, savour it, love it, tell your friends about this book ,and the author, she deserves to be on everyone's 'must-read' list.

“Close your eyes, count to ten, and when you open them, your child is gone”

I have loved all of Mara’s previous books, so much so that I placed a pre-order for Hide and Seek as soon as I could. Then when NetGalley advertised the ARC, I applied for that, so desperate was I was to read Mara’s latest offering. Imagine my delight when the publisher approved my request! And let me tell you, the book does not disappoint in any way.

Joanna, her husband, and kids have just moved into their beautiful ‘forever’ home in a leafy Dublin suburb. But then she finds out from a neighbour that this was Lily Murphy’s home, a three-year-old who disappeared in 1985 after playing a game of hide and seek nearby.

Joanna gets an uneasy feeling about this from the get-go, so she sets about some amateur sleuthing. After all, her in-laws have lived nearby for years, so they and many of her current neighbours knew the Murphy family. Some are more willing to chat openly than others, and some, Joanna feels, are outright holding back critical information.

Yet, what really is at the crux of Joanna’s search for knowledge is the thought that she may be more connected to Lily’s disappearance than she wants to reveal, that she may be directly involved, and, that disappearance aside, she has plenty more secrets burdening her conscience.

I was hooked from the start; Mara is a magician of psychological thrillers and deftly weaves plot twists and turns that keep the reader on the edge of their seats throughout. Fabulously creepy vibes with excellent character building and scene-setting over a duel timeline - Joanna’s current day snooping and the period in which Lily disappeared.

I finished this book in a day because I simply couldn’t put this fast paced, pageturner down. I highly recommend this, five 🌟

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this review copy.

I was delighted to see that Andrea Mara had written a new book, given that the other three of hers that I've read have all been bangers. I was even more delighted to be approved for an ARC from @NetGalley and got stuck in straight away.

Joanna Stedman and her family move into what they hope will be their forever home. Joanna quickly learns that it was once the home of Lily Murphy, a three year old girl who went missing during a neighbourhood game of hide and seek, some thirty years ago. Joanna is determined to get to the bottom of the little girl's disappearance but as she begins to snoop, it becomes apparent that she has some pretty dark secrets of her own.

Andrea Mara is the queen of suspense, twists and turns, of that there is no doubt. I couldn't put this down as I just HAD to know what had happened to both Lily and Joanna. I loved the duel timeline aspect and the pacing was such that we learnt about the lead up to Lily's disappearance and Joanna's childhood at the same time. All strings were tied up by the end but we're left to decide about one particular plot point, in a deliciously wicked way.

If you're looking for a brilliantly paced page turner, then look no further.

*Thanks to the author @andreamaraauthor, the publishers @randomhouse, @penguinrandomhouse, Bantam Press and TransWorld Publishers for the digital ARC via @netgalley. Hide and Seek will be published on 04/08/22 and is available to pre-order now*

An excellent book that had me gripped from the beginning. That statement at the start from Joanna that she thinks she killed her sister Lila is an attention grabber for sure. The book is filled with mystery and suspense, from the past and what really happened to little Lily Murphy and then to today and Joanna's secrets and possible involvement in it.
Fast paced and a definite page turner had me intrigued to find out the truth and to really hope for the best.

The only slight negative I had is the amount of characters in the book and the fact that the ones in present time are the same ones from the past. But it's trying to recall who they all are and whose kids belong to who and that does get distracting at times. Even right to the end I was still trying to remember who the child version of an adult was today.

Otherwise, a very good thrilling read. With thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

A very relatable book, that looks at every parent’s nightmare, a child disappearing. What did happen all those years ago? And where is the child now? Dead? Alive? Full of twists and unexpected connections the truth behind the disappearance is slowly brought to light, and the hits keep coming, right until the final page. This book drew me in but was more psychological than thriller. Clever and twisty but still simple and down to earth. Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

Fantastic read and the first of this author’s books I have read,I’ve since read a few more and throughly enjoyed them.
This is well written and keep'syou on the edge of your seat. Highly recommended read

HIDE AND SEEK - ANDREA MARA: MY REVIEW 💬

This woman can do no wrong! Read this book. That is all.
Ok,there's more of a review but I really could just leave that there...but,such is my admiration for Andrea's work and standard,I'll carry on.
I read this book over 2 days,and had it been already published and Audible available we would've been talking hours..because it was an inconvenience to put the thing down,and do 'life stuff'😁.
Joanna,her husband and 3 kids move to a lovely house in Dublin. As she's settling in she meets the neighbours,who inform her of one of the previous owners. Back in the 80s...this was the home of missing child Lily Murphy. Lily,3 at the time went missing from a game of hide & Seek never to be found. This is unsettling to Joanna who can't help but find out all she can from her neighbours at her house warming party.
Of course close knit communities are usually full of secrets and gossip and soon Joanna puts things together. In doing so she possibly unearths skeletons in her own past. With her mother holding her to account for the past anyway does it really matter, the outcome?
The characters in the book are very real and believable and I could picture what they looked like(for me anyway). There were very clever twists and one particular neighbour really shone for me as a character and played a very big part. As I said at the start,Andrea is at the top of her game and I could read a book a month from her! Terrific read.

BOOKWORMS RATING: 📕📕📕📕📕