Thank you Harper #partner, for the advanced copy of Hide and Seek in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Harper
Published: July 7, 2026
Summary:
The author of The Chestnut Man and creator of the hit television series The Killing returns with a twisty, breakneck psychological thriller that takes an innocent children’s game to its most terrifying and diabolical extreme.
Count to one, count to two . . .
A strange voice from inside the woods, repeating a child’s counting rhyme.
Count to four, count to five . . .
A body discovered in the water.
You’re trying to go home. Will you make it alive?
Thirty years later, a woman begins receiving a string of anonymous text messages, repeating that same rhyme.
Found you.
Then she disappears . . .
On Valentine’s Day, detectives Naia Thulin and Mark Hess are searching to find the missing woman. But when they uncover links to a decades-old cold case, their investigation takes a terrifying turn.
A violent killer is on the loose. Can Hess and Thulin catch them, before they strike again?
My thoughts:
As soon as I saw this was coming out, I immediately requested it. The Chestnut Man was one of my favorite books when it came out in 2019, despite it being an incredibly dark and gritty book…and this one is very much along the same vein.
A serial killer is toying with their victims through a twisted game of hide-and-seek, stalking them, sending photos and then striking.
Thulin and Hess are on the case, handling it as they do best. In addition to working the case, we see the development of their relationship…again what I love about reading series.
What I love about these books is just how atmospheric they are. And the author excels at building unease gradually rather than relying on constant shocks. This book is thick–coming in at just over 550 pages–and yet I was completely immersed in the story right from the start.
This is a slow-burn, but it delivers in the best way possible. With such a layered, complex case, it almost needed a slower pace so that you could keep track of the multiple storylines. One particular storyline that haunted me was that of the mother of one of the murdered victims. Her daughter’s case was not solved and she brought in an emotional depth to the story, while also reminding us that people remain behind the crime & their lives are forever changed.
A dark, atmospheric read that totally consumed me…I loved that it kept me guessing who was behind it all and how everything was connected.
Highly recommend!!
Books in this series:
- The Chestnut Man
- Hide and Seek
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