Hidden

Hiddenby Catherine McKenzie

When a married man suffers a sudden fatal accident, two women are shattered—his wife and someone else's—and past secrets, desires and regrets are brought to lightWhile walking home from work one evening, Jeff Manning is struck by a car and killed. Not one but two women fall to pieces at the news: his wife, Claire, and his co-worker Tish. Reeling from her loss, Claire must comfort her grieving son and contend with funeral arrangements, well-meaning family members and the arrival of Jeff’s estranged brother—her ex-boyfriend—Tim.With Tish’s co-workers in the dark about her connection to Jeff outside the workplace, she volunteers to attend the funeral on the company’s behalf, but only she knows the true risk of inserting herself into the wreckage of Jeff’s life. Told through the three voices of Jeff, Tish and Claire, Hidden explores the complexity of relationships, our personal choices and the responsibilities we have to the ones we love. (goodreads.com)

I have professed my love for Catherine McKenzie's novels many times on this blog. (Spin; Arranged; Forgotten - with Spin being my all time favourite!)  I was surprised - and disappointed in myself for not knowing about this - that her new novel was released this summer. Hidden hit the stores in July and although I happened to physically be in a store when the book should have been on the shelf, it wasn't there. Don't you just hate that?Imagine my delight when I received an email from HarperCollins Canada about an actual, honest to goodness BOOK EVENT in Montreal. In Montreal! Yay! The event was for the Summer Escapes event which featured many great summer reads, two of which were written by Montreal authors - Catherine herself and Isabelle Laflèche (J'Adore Paris). I was excited for many reasons - we were finally having a pretty decent book event in Montreal, I would get to meet Catherine McKenzie in person (finally) and I would get to meet Shannon from HCC and The Savvy Reader who has been such a great person to get to know as I have been blogging.

Left: Shannon & I // Right: Catherine & I

Now! About Hidden!

Told from three points of view - some in the present and some in the past, this book is the story of a man who is killed in a car accident and leaves behind two grieving women - his wife and his (married) girlfriend. I am not a huge fan of cheating stories, but I was compelled to read this one only because it brought up a question that I always wondered about. Ever since those miners were trapped in a mine in... Spain (?) and one man's wife and girlfriend found out about each other while he was trapped (lucky him, probably safer that way)... I have always thought, "Wow, it must be insane to find something like that out in the middle of a trauma. Who would do such a thing!?"

Obviously Catherine McKenzie wondered this too, because she wrote a book about it. ;)

I couldn't tell you what character I liked throughout the story. I didn't think much of Jeff - I'm just not someone who can justify or tolerate cheating. I didn't much care for Tish, the girlfriend, either. She just didn't click with me. Not that Claire, the wife, was all that great of a person either. Hmm, if I am being honest, I didn't really connect with ANY of the characters but oddly, I didn't dislike the story.

I know! It does happen occasionally where I'm not all that into the characters but I enjoy the story. Sometimes a good story doesn't need you to want to be BFFs with the people in it. It can happen. Trust me. ;)

There is something about Catherine McKenzie's writing that connects with me though. Deeply. It's almost as if she writes the way I talk to myself. (OK, that sounds odd but I don't know how else to explain it!) Her words are...familiar? Comfortable? Her writing makes me happy - regardless of the subject matter and the sense of humour in the books seems to be similar to mine.

ANYHOW... Hidden is yet another wonderful novel from Catherine McKenzie and although probably the most dark and emotional of her novels, it still managed to tug at my heart-strings and make me think about things. (Like, if I ever find out my husband has a girlfriend if something happens to him, I will be VERY, VERY cross with him. *glare*)