Colleen Coble's What We Hide Book Review

About What We Hide:

Running from a past tragedy, Savannah Webb's only concern is winning the tenure for professor of history at Tupelo Grove University – the university her family has maintained for generations.

Not only does Hez, her estranged husband, appear at her door, seeking a second chance, but Savannah stumbles upon forged provenance documents alluding to the illegal selling of the university's artifacts, catapulting her into a high-stakes game of smuggling.

Her search for the culprit just begins when she uncovers a murdered body, and she has no choice but to turn to Hez's skill as an attorney. Can they forgive the past hurts and move on? Or will the murder charge be the death not only to their relationship, but to her very life?

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University artifacts? Provenance papers? The originality in setting instantly set this book off from the usual suspense novels as I was deciding on a Colleen Coble book to try. I think the second would be the relationship status: a mature married couple, albeit who have problems to work out, instead of a moon-struck man and woman meeting for the first time and going crazy because of how much a hottie the other is...

Sorry, it gets old, really quickly. And it's just plain childish.

What We Hide was refreshing and an encouragement that there yet remains good writing on the current market. I had begun to fear that there were no longer any good authors like those I grew up reading, the modern standard being too shallow and formulaic, with romance trumping an intricate mystery plot.

The addition of Rick Acker, the Supervising Deputy Attorney General in California, as a co-author supplied an authenticity, excelling even Perry Mason with the courtroom scenes and legal jargon, while it is likely safe to assume also providing realistic character traits in Hez and his work as an attorney.

Small interludes written in the first-person POV from the eyes of a nameless villain were woven in between Savannah and Hez's stories, prompting the question: which one of the people Savannah is encountering might be the stalking criminal?

While elements of faith appeared in the story, and Savannah prayed and sought God's guidance, I feel the authors could have afforded to dive deeper. It wasn’t clear whether Hez was a believer or not, though I’m not going to form a final opinion from that seeing as this is the first book in a series. His faith journey might be more directly addressed in the subsequent books.

The most applaudable feature has to be the brutal twist at the end, where the veil is jerked back and your eyes bulge like saucers as you blurt Oh, wow! It succeeded in procuring my interest in the rest of the series, because I just gotta know what will happen next!

What We Hide was well-written, portraying relatable and likable protagonists, with a satisfying ending. A significant point for me is supporting characters that ground a fictional world in realism, and this book made the grade with the protagonists’ colleagues, friends, and family. And while I don't have anything negative to say about it, on the whole, the story did not resonate with me, resulting in slightly less than five stars. Nevertheless, it is a quality read, and I would recommend suspense fans giving it a try.

Not only will I be looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the series, but the novel has proven Colleen Coble to be an author I will be returning to.

Now on to the next suspense author on my reading list! And here's hoping I will be equally as satisfied!

Have you read What We Hide? What did you think about it or other Colleen Coble books?

~ Alissa