This is the second book in author Lisa Gardner’s series based on Boston Police Detective D.D. Warren. D.D. is a very independent and capable female detective who is most known for her habit of wearing stiletto heels all the time. As in the first book, she works with Bobby Dodge, who has now been promoted to a Detective himself.

Hide begins with the discovery of an underground crypt containing six bodies on the grounds of the abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital. The bodies are determined to be all young girls. D.D. thinks this might be connected to a case that almost ruined Bobby’s career, so she calls him in. One of the victims has a necklace on that says “Annabelle.” They tie that name to Annabelle Granger, who seems to have disappeared along with her family at about the same time this body was interred in the crypt. However, they are startled to learn that Annabelle Granger is alive and well and living in Boston!

Annabelle’s life was spent on the run with her parents, but she never knew why. Every few months, they would move to a different city and change names while her father worked menial jobs to support them. This lifestyle took a toll on Annabelle’s mother, who died when Annabelle was still young. However, neither her mother nor her father ever told her exactly what they were running from. Annabelle just knew to be afraid of being discovered. When she hears her name on the news, she decides she wants to know the truth about why her necklace was found on the body and why her family was on the run.

It had been a while since I read a D.D. Warren book and I really enjoyed Hide. There were really two mysteries here. One was the murdered girls, and the other was why Annabelle’s family was on the run. I did not put things together at all, although I started thinking in the direction the story ended up going right before things started being revealed. It’s so well-written and so well-executed that I couldn’t wait to keep reading. I think I burned through the audiobook in two days.

There’s not much character development for D.D., but there’s a lot for Bobby Dodge. He is loaded with angst for various reasons, all of which are understandable. D.D. is trying to get him to move on from where he’s stuck, and hopes this is the case to do it. I liked his development as he felt quite badly for Annabelle, even though he knew that any attachment to her was a bad idea. He’s trying to protect her and hold back from being too involved, and struggles with all of that.

Annabelle is a very interesting character. Her family lived quite well in Massachusetts until suddenly they went on the run. The reason seems to be connected to the bodies found in the crypt, but maybe it isn’t. All she knows is there’s something out there that she needs to be so afraid of that she would hide her identity. The fact that she lives back in Massachusetts is telling in that she wants to learn the truth, even if it’s painful. At times, she does wish that she had stayed quiet when she heard her name on the television, preferring to live the life of anonymity under an assumed name. We are all curious about where we come from, though, and Annabelle is no different. There’s also some guilt attached to the discovery of the necklace that plays on her. I felt a lot of sympathy for her, and as she got older, her father should have been honest with her. I don’t know that I would have accepted the rules she had to live by for as long as she did.

The audiobook is read by Maggi-Meg Reed. She does a great job with the story, giving just enough emotion to the characters to create the necessary atmosphere without injecting too much into the story. Her voice is clear and easy to understand. I hope she reads the next book in the series as well.

Hide was a great mystery and thriller that kept me guessing. It’s well-paced with interesting characters. There may have been a few moments that I thought weren’t logical, but it wasn’t anything I stopped and said, “That could never happen.” I didn’t really have to suspend disbelief while reading it. I could feel the tension and pressure that Bobby and D.D. felt, and the confusion that Annabelle felt as she finally learned the truth about her life. Lisa Gardner put me right there with the characters, feeling what they feel and experiencing what they experience. I can’t ask for better than that.

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