The Hideaway

Author: Nicole Lundrigan
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Canadian
Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 320
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Viking Books
First Published: July 9, 2019
Opening Lines: "I could tell by her face.  She knew what I'd done."

Book Description from GoodReads: Gloria Janes appears to be a doting suburban mother and loving wife. But beyond her canary-yellow door, Gloria controls her husband, Telly, as well as seven-year-old Maisy and her older brother Rowan, through a disorienting cycle of adoration and banishment.

When Telly leaves, Gloria turns on Rowan. He runs away, finding unlikely refuge with a homeless man named Carl, with whom he forms the kind of bond he has never found with his parents. After they are menaced by strangers, Rowan follows Carl to an isolated cottage, where he accidentally sets off a burst of heightened paranoia in Carl, and their adventure takes a dark turn.

Gloria is publicly desperate for the safe return of her son while privately plotting ever wilder ways to lure Telly home for good. Her behaviour grows more erratic and her manipulation of Maisy begins to seem dedicated toward an outcome that only she can see. The two storylines drive relentlessly toward a climax that is both shocking and emotionally riveting.

Suspenseful, unsettling, and masterful, Hideaway explores the secrets of a troubled family and illuminates an unlikely hero and a source of unexpected strength.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

My Review: To say that I enjoyed this book makes me feel a little yucky because its subject matter isn't for the faint of heart - a dysfunctional family that is impacted by mental health issues and the abuse and neglect of two children at the hands of their parents.

Lundrigan, a new-to-me Canadian author, depicts a family in turmoil and takes her readers behind a mother's façade of pasted on smiles and kind words to neighbours and into their real family life. The Janes family is rife with dysfunctional relationships with mom Gloria's destructive and paranoid actions consistently manipulate events to suit her own self-absorbed desires and father Telly runs away to put his head in the sand. To the two children, Maisy and Rowan, this is the only family life they've ever known so they've learned to live in constant turmoil, hopelessness and, sadly, acceptance of the abuse, neglect and erratic behaviour of their parents. That is the saddest part of this book for this mom of three.

The Hideaway is a suspenseful and disturbing story that goes much darker than I'm typically feel comfortable reading. But I appreciate that Lundrigan doesn't hold back as she describes the sometimes obsessive, dark side of 'love' and the repercussions of undiagnosed mental health issues.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Viking Books for sending me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.