Hide in Place: A Novel

by Emilya Naymark

She left the NYPD in the firestorm of a high-profile case gone horribly wrong. Three years later, the ghosts of her past roar back to terrifying life.

When NYPD undercover cop Laney Bird's cover is blown in a racketeering case against the Russian mob, she flees the city with her troubled son, Alfie. Now, three years later, she's found the perfect haven in Sylvan, a charming town in upstate New York. But then the unthinkable happens: her boy vanishes.

Local law enforcement dismisses the thirteen-year-old as a runaway, but Laney knows better. Alfie would never abandon his special routines and the sanctuary of their home. Could he have been kidnapped--or worse? As a February snowstorm rips through the region, Laney is forced to launch her own investigation, using every trick she learned in her years undercover.

As she digs deeper into the disappearance, Laney learns that Alfie and a friend had been meeting with an older man who himself vanished, but not before leaving a corpse in his garage. With dawning horror, Laney discovers that the man was a confidential informant from a high-profile case she had handled in the past. Although he had never known her real identity, he knows it now. Which means several other enemies do, too. Time is running out, and as Laney's search for her son grows more desperate, everything depends on how good a detective she really is--badge or no.

• ISBN10: 1643856375
• ISBN13: 9781643856377
• Publish Date: 9 February 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crooked Lane Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781643856377

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.I had high expectations for this book. I jumped at the chance to read it after reading the synopsis. The story possessed enough to keep me entertained, but unfortunately it did not blow me away.

Hide in Place, book one in the Laney Bird series, introduced Laney Bird, a retired detective. She left the force after an undercover case she had been working went sideways and her husband abandoned her. She also wanted to spend more time with her son Alfie. Her son had serious behavioural issues, which had a negative impact on his ability to socialise with his peers. Then one day Alfie goes missing. The police, however, are not keen on looking for him. After all, this was not his first time missing. Laney, however, refused to accept this, and took it upon herself to investigate the situation on her own. In conducting her investigation, she discovered that one’s past has a funny way of returning to bite you on the butt.

The author narrated the story through Laney and Alfie’s’ POVs. This gave the reader the chance to experience Laney’s frantic attempts to locate her son. In addition, the reader got the chance to see Alfie’s actions throughout his experience with his kidnapper. The author portrayed the fears of both characters realistically.

Laney’s actions were typical of what would expect from a frantic mother. Alfie proved to be a brave soul. His ability to think on his feet proved to be his saving grace.

Laney loves her son, but it would appear she doesn’t understand him, placing a strain on how they relate to each other.

The majority of the story focused on Laney’s time as an undercover cop as it relates to the case, which played a role in hero resignation from the police force. She learned there was more to the case than she first realized, all of which were not good.

The author filled the kidnapping aspect of the story with tension, which had me on the edge of my seat. However, it did not possess the twists or surprises one would expect to find in a mystery.

Although not my favourite, Hide in Place proved entertaining enough for me to keep reading. Fans of police procedurals may want to add this this their shelves. This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading