Undiscovered Scotland

 

We like to think our book reviews here on Undiscovered Scotland are objective. Just occasionally, achieving that becomes more challenging than usual. We should therefore start this review by declaring an interest. "Hide and Seek" is written by a member of the team here at Undiscovered Scotland. The potential conflict of interest goes even further than that, however, because the book is published by Arachnid Press Ltd, which is very closely related to Undiscovered Scotland.

So, with all that out in the open, if we'd simply stumbled across "Hide and Seek" by Ken Lussey, would we recommend it? Well, yes, obviously: or we'd not be involved in its publication. But then you'd expect us to say that, wouldn't you? Rather than seek to give opinions, we'll confine the rest of the review to a description drawn from the publisher's blurb.

"Hide and Seek" is a fast-paced thriller set in Stirling Castle and more widely across Scotland during World War Two. It's March 1943. It’s April 1943. Medical student Helen Erickson is followed from London to her aunt’s farm in Perthshire. What do her pursuers want?

Meanwhile Monique Dubois is attending a secret meeting at Stirling Castle when an old adversary is murdered in a chilling echo of a dark episode in the castle’s history. Bob Sutherland and the MI11 team are called in and discover that almost everyone who knew the victim had a motive. Helen disappears and it becomes clear that national security is at stake. Monique sets out to find the missing woman before anyone else does, even if it means killing to protect her. Can Monique find Helen? Can Bob track down the killer at Stirling Castle? And just how dangerous have things become for both of them?

"Hide and Seek" is available as a paperback from the publishers and as a Kindle edition from Amazon. It is a standalone novel and is the fifth of Ken’s thrillers set in Scotland and beyond during World War Two to feature the same central characters.