Review: The Hidden, by Tobias Hill
- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial (October 13, 2009)
- ISBN-10: 0061768251
- Source: Publisher
Publisher’s Summary:
In southern Greece in 2004, a close-knit group of archaeologists searches for the buried traces of a formidable ancient power. A student running from a failed marriage and family, Ben Mercer is a latecomer to their ranks, drawn to the charisma of the group’s members—to the double-edged friendship of Jason, the unsettling beauty of Natsuko and Eleschen, and the menace of Max and Eberhard. But Ben is far too eager to join the excavation project, and there is more to the group’s dangerous games and dynamic than he understands. And there are things that should always remain hidden.
A novel of astonishing grace and power from award-winning author Tobias Hill, The Hidden brilliantly explores the secrets we keep, the ties that bind us, and the true cost of fulfilling our desires.
My review:
I really REALLY wanted to enjoy this book. Really, I did. But it just didn’t happen for me. It’s categorized as a thriller, one of my favorite genres, but I hardly found it to meet the criteria. Perhaps it should have been advertised as historic literary fiction instead?
I have to compliment the author on the amount of research that must have gone in to writing this. Throughout the book, there are numerous “flashbacks” to Sparta and Ancient Greece. Although, I couldn’t quite pinpoint how these “flashbacks” related to the rest of the story.
The formatting of the book was also difficult. The chapters are quite lengthy and other than a slight indent, the paragraphs aren’t broken up at all. Conversations are indicated by a hyphen (-) instead of quotes so it makes the entire book a bit difficult to read. This disjointedness prevented me from really connecting with the characters.
Ultimately, I determined that quite possibly I’m not the intended reader for this book. It is quite literary, and you really have to dig down through the surface to truly get the meat of the story. I am a fan of literary fiction and do read a great deal of it. Perhaps I didn’t dig deep enough? It’s possible. But how much effort must one put into a book to find the core of the story? How much effort should a reader put into a book before giving up? I read the book cover-to-cover. I put in a tremendous amount of effort to enjoying this book. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. 
Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book.
Tags: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
I don’t think your alone on this one – the reviews I’ve read have all been like yours. Now I know to skip it!
I agree. . .the blurb sounds awesome! Too bad it didn’t live up to the hype!
Twitter: nicolebo
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I think it really was questionably marketed but I think the writer also lost his way a little bit within the story, and ultimately wrote two different books. Even the mystery was a bit disappointing. If I were solely looking for a mystery I don’t know how I would have finished it, so god job.
I’m the lone dissenting voice on the tour, then, because I thought it was terrific. I read most of it on planes to and from NY one weekend and found it totally abosrbing.
I do think Hill’s publishers did him a great disservice by marketing this book as anything but literary fiction.
We’re of the same mind on this one. I think I voiced nearly the exact same complaints in my review. At least part of it was definitely a marketing problem, though, and not the author’s fault.
I am such a sucker for this type of book-but I hate it when formatting & editing gets in the way of a good book. I think I’ll skip this one…
Twitter: BethFishReads
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Sounds like the designer didn’t help any, since the formatting doesn’t seem very user friendly.
Sorry you didn’t like it, but thank you for sticking with it!
And thank you for being on the tour and writing a fair review!
Nice review Jenn… I agree with the points you brought up…. the cover is great. I don’t think you should have to “dig” for the story.
Twitter: skrishna
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I’ve heard similar things from other people about this book, which is disappointing – I have this one to review and had high hopes!