"a character driven thriller"

Two years ago Kate Whitehead accompanied by her infant son, fled from her abusive husband powerful Senator Thomas Whitehead. Now in San Diego using the identity of Tricia Campbell she is happy with her life and loves her significant other fireman captain Scott McCall.

Kate reads in the paper that her best friend Leah Montgomery has vanished. Because Thomas knew both vanished females intimately, San Francisco Police Detectives Gregory and Stanton obtain a search warrant to look into the house, office, and cars. In a vehicle he owns they find blood. They soon arrest Thomas for the murder of his spouse. Kate ponders whether she should resurface to get her nasty husband off the hook or let him fry as he deserves. Either way she must reveal the truth about herself that she hid for two years from the man she loves.

Tara Taylor Quinn provides an electrifying clever morality drama in which the heroine must decide whether to re- emerge in order to save the life of an abusive person she believes deserves death yet is innocent when it comes to killing her. The story line switches perspective mostly between Thomas and Leah with the former plotting how to deal with intrusive cops and the latter wrestling with ethics. Fans will be pleased with HIDDEN, a character driven thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 21, 2005

Summary

San Francisco fashion designer Kate Whitehead finally realized she had to get away from her abusive husband, California state senator Thomas Whitehead, not only for her own safety but also for the sake of her unborn child. So one day Kate "disappeared," and shortly thereafter Tricia Campbell turned up in San Diego. With little money and no one to turn to, Tricia is desperate, but fortunately she meets firefighter Scott McCall, a man struggling with his own secret past. Asking no questions, Scott invites Tricia into his home and eventually into his life, and gradually the two of them, along with Tricia's young son, Taylor, become something of a family. When Tricia hears the news that her best friend, socialite-heiress Leah Montgomery, has mysteriously disappeared--and that Thomas is rumored to be involved in the matter--Tricia finds her carefully constructed life starting to unravel. Quinn's latest contemporary romance offers readers an irresistible combination of realistically complex characters and a riveting, nail-bitingly suspenseful plot. Powerful, passionate, and poignant, Hidden is deeply satisfying.