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  • Published: 23 April 2015
  • ISBN: 9781448184576
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

Hidden




A gripping psychological thriller by a former police psychologist. Perfect for fans of Nicci French, Tana French and S. J. Watson.

A gripping psychological thriller by a former police psychologist. Perfect for fans of Nicci French, Tana French and S. J. Watson.

HE'S WATCHING
A gunman is stalking the wards of a local hospital. He's unidentified and dangerous, and has to be located. Urgently.

Police Firearms Officer Aden McCarthy is tasked with tracking him down. Still troubled by the shooting of a schoolboy, Aden is determined to make amends by finding the gunman - before it's too late.

SHE'S WAITING
To psychologist Imogen, hospital should be a place of healing and safety - both for her, and her young niece who's been recently admitted. She's heard about the gunman, but he has little to do with her. Or has he?

As time ticks down, no one knows who the gunman's next target will be. But he's there. Hiding in plain sight. Far closer than anyone thinks...

  • Published: 23 April 2015
  • ISBN: 9781448184576
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

About the author

Emma Kavanagh

Emma Kavanagh was born and raised in South Wales. After graduating with a PhD in psychology from Cardiff University, she spent many years working as a police and military psychologist, training firearms officers, command staff and military personnel throughout the UK and Europe. She lives in South Wales with her husband and young sons.

Also by Emma Kavanagh

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Praise for Hidden

A fast paced and gripping novel.

Beauty Balm

A distinctive, quirky writing style sets this author’s books apart from the crime fiction crowds… I recommend Hidden to fans of twisty plots and well developed characters.

Tracy Book Lover

This is a gritty, tense, twisty page-turner of a book – and a must read for crime and thriller fans.

Crime Thriller Girl

The strength of this book lies in the way the author uses her psychological background to create believable scenarios and a fascinating array of characters. A clever and dramatic insight into the spree killer

Northern Girl

A plethora of complex characters and a distinctive writing style really make this novel stand out. The author's extensive work experience is evident on every page, in the gritty detailing and the psychological insights… a real page turner

Claire Loves to Read

Very well put together… enjoyable read

I Love Reading

This cleverly-structured story never lets up ... very tense indeed. Hard hitting, and with real heart ... this is a fantastic thriller.

Sunday Mirror

A gripping psychological thriller… an accomplished novel that keeps you guessing until the end.

Adventures in Crime Fiction Land

Hidden is a brilliant psychological thriller that hooked me from the first page and I highly recommend it to anyone loving a truly absorbing read.

Relax and Read Book Reviews

Hidden is Emma’s second novel and it follows an excellent debut, Falling. I enjoyed Falling very much indeed but I think Hidden is even better. It’s tense, tight and disturbing (in a good way) and clearly written by an author who knows what she’s writing about. Its structure is particularly clever and the author is to be congratulated on controlling it so well. There are a fair few psychological thrillers out there at the moment but this one most definitely deserves your attention.

For Winter Nights

Kavanagh’s training as a psychologist really shines… a solid, tense read. Hidden is another highlight among an already strong batch of psychological fiction by British authors this year.

Crime Fiction Lover

Kavanagh is quickly establishing herself as an authority on suspense novels. She sketches a picture so vivid of every single scene that you can almost touch and smell it.

Bookspoppy's Blog

Hidden's first chapter hooked me from the outset with its fast-paced writing and dramatic scene… This is an excellent well-written character-led psychological thriller.

Off the Shelf

Pitch perfect, addictive, fast-paced – Hidden is the thinking man’s thriller!

Fiction Books

A brilliant whodunit… The story is told through a number of voices but manages to unfold coherently with suspense and subtlety. As suspicion falls on different heads, Seemingly unconnected happenings eventually combine to form a chilling, dangerous and dramatic climax. It's a thrilling book, with believable and engaging and rounded characters in a well described setting… definitely a book to look out for.

Magic Armchair Traveller

Horrific and heart pounding, it will draw you straight into the story and that will be that… It is all so addictive, so elegantly constructed and once again I found myself deep deep into the emotion of it… Turns out if anything this was better than Falling – certainly if you love a psychological crime thriller that is mostly character driven, you’ll love this. The ending was pitch perfect and may surprise you. Don’t miss it whatever you do.

Liz Loves Books

It's hard to know where to start with a book like this. It starts off brilliantly, with probably one of the best openings to a book I have read this year… Hidden is an extremely thought-provoking book… Emma was an author to watch after the release of Falling, but that is the case even more now with Hidden and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Book Addict Shaun

Everything about this book was tense. From the horrific opening via deep-rooted flashbacks that continue to resonate to the final so-quick-you-barely-have-time-to-catch-a-breath closing chapters, Hidden is a novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat through every word. Even the heatwave was palpable… Beyond the immediate gritty drama of the whodunnit driving the plot, this story also becomes about dealing with life or death situations and how they affect you. It’s a very clever, very well thought-out storyline, with plenty of red herrings acting as stumbling blocks on the reader’s quest to figure out the identity of the gunman before the characters do… Beginning at the end may usually be a sure-fire way of taking the thrill out of the story but here it just made the countdown all the more electrifying.

Culture Fly

Very dark. Very tense.

Bella Magazine

A clever, fast-paced whodunnit that had me guessing right up to its thrilling climax.

Woman and Home

Hidden is plotted like the most addictive crime TV shows... The tense network of relationships between the characters, as well as the episodic plotting, really drive this book forward, and the author’s drip-feed of clues as to the shooter’s identity will keep you guessing about his identity, even as we see inside his head... a solid, tense read.

Crime Fiction Lover

Emma Kavanagh tells this story with great verve, weaving the strands of her story expertly

I Read Novels

A classic and very exciting countdown-to-disaster story ... Kavanagh expertly weaves these narratives together to make a comprehensive whole ... skilful.

Daily Mail

An intelligent read

Eurocrime

I loved Falling, Emma Kavanagh’s debut novel. With Hidden I feel she has taken it to the next level. Emma Kavanagh is bound to be a leading light in psychological thriller authors. This is gripping, compulsive read. If her next book is half as good as this one it will be a cracking read.

From First Page To Last

This book is a refreshing take on your traditional thriller. There is no lengthy police investigation after the event - instead, the entire book is devoted to events prior to the shooting. Less a 'who done it' than a 'who's going to do it?' And it works brilliantly, with Emma Kavanagh laying her bait cleverly. Just when you think you've worked everything out, she throws in a bit more information and you realise you're barking up quite the wrong tree. Hidden is a very well-written book, packed with detail yet remaining a book so easy to read that you could devour it in just a few greedy gulps. Dialogue is relevant and characterisation is excellent, making for a most enjoyable, and layered, read.

The Bookbag

I think this is the first book I’ve read where the main police character is a Police Firearms Officer rather than a detective. This fresh angle really makes the story stand out, as does the rest of the brilliantly drawn characters and the complex relationships (and hidden secrets) they have with each other. It’s hard to go into detail about this book without giving away spoilers, but what I can say is that it’s a story that keeps you on your toes as a reader. I love books that keep me guessing and challenge me to work out who is responsible, and this story did just that. With several crimes taking place, multiple narrators giving glimpses into different elements of the story, and a super pacey non-linear timeline, the author cleverly ramps up the suspense and the mystery, and kept me guessing right to the end. This is a gritty, tense, twisty page-turner of a book – and a must read for crime and thriller fans.

Crime Thriller Girl

A second novel is a tricky beast – can the author do it again? Can they build on the success of the first? Can it follow in the same genre without being too much the same? Kavanagh has succeeded with Hidden when other authors have failed. Similarly to some series on television, the novel starts with the crime and then takes the reader back a stage, to the start of the action. Rather than peeling away the layers to get at ‘who dun it,’ Kavanagh builds up the layers, so that we get to the ‘why’ of ‘who dun it’. Clever stuff, with multiple viewpoints. Kavanagh uses her years of experience training police forces and military units on the psychology of life threatening incidents, to give credence to her work. The tension builds, and never lets up. Let’s hope there’s another Kavanagh gem soon. Bravo.

Frost Magazine

The most cunning crime novels, like many of the greatest detectives, trick you into believing you’re smarter than them before pulling out the rug from under you. None more so than Hidden… Kavanagh is certainly deft, batting around the reader like a car with a caught mouse.

Crime Scene

It’s clever, complicated and the characters are completely believable….Kavanagh is an original and interesting addition to the genre.

Crime Review