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One which you quickly become fully invested in until it reaches the utter triumph of a conclusion that leaves you reeling in shock but still deeply satisfied. I started off a bit complacent, feeling like I has a good idea where the story was going - even though I didn't remember the synopsis!

Andrea Mara is a crime novelist from Dublin, Ireland, where she lives with her husband and three young children. The amount of characters makes it difficult to do them all justice, and some ring truer than others. She expertly ratchets up the tension in this single-sitting read, a nerve-shredder that will have you guessing right until the final unexpected twist.

The little girl she believes she killed all those years ago looked so much like Lily, her name was Lila. The game of hide and seek is over, everyone has gone home, but little Lily Murphy hasn't been found. Given her job Joanna analyses and dissects everything down to their finer detail so it’s no wonder she becomes like a dog without a bone when she discovers the tragic past of her house.But when she finds out that it once belonged to the Murphy family who’s daughter Lily went missing when she was 3 years old, Joanna feels unsettled and upset that it wasn’t mentioned before. You won’t be at all disappointed and just want to read more and more from this wildly talented author. Lily was last seen during a summer-time game of, you’ve guessed it, Hide and Seek, and after wandering off onto a nearby building site, or being spooked by someone out for a scare, was never seen again. Very highly recommended to anyone who loves thrillers and who has or hasn't read Andrea's previous books. 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.

The characters in Hide and Seek are hiding so many secrets from each other that I learned to trust no one. So unfolds the tale of two timelines, interweaving the past, the present and the secrets of the residents of Rowanbrook.

The story revolves around the disappearance of 3 year old Lily Murphy and the connection it has to Joanna Stedman who now lives in her house. 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. To begin with, I did think there were a lot of characters in this book, but once I had figured out who was who, I allowed myself to be able to come fully absorbed into the book. I love a dual timeline; the 80’s irish suburb along with the attitudes of the time felt very familiar to me, but equally the modern day setting felt realistic too.

In 2018, Joanna loses her daughter in a game of hide and seek in the garden of her new suburban home. Just when you think Andrea Mara couldn’t possibly top her last book she goes and does it with this new story Hide and Seek.Her newest book, All Her Fault, will be published by Transworld | Penguin Random House in July 2021. Joanna feels compelled to find out more about the mystery of Lily’s disappearance - but as Joanna attempts to discover the truth from amongst her new community, it becomes clear that Joanna has plenty of her own secrets. There were also too many characters to keep track of and so they were not as well developed as I would have liked. Some of the characters are intriguing, they’re odd and eccentric and all play a part in unravelling the mystery of Lily Murphy and really add to creating a sense of community within the story. This had me hooked and with a twist and false lead at every other turn, it kept me binge reading until the very final reveal.