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The Hole They Dug for You: A Novel
Ellie Bauer has finally shaken off the shroud of despair that has surrounded her since her husband’s death a year ago. But she’ll soon find her reprieve cut short….
Tucked away on her forty acres of private land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Ellie, a prolific artist, has grown accustomed to the peacefulness inherent to the territory. But when she secretly witnesses a violent act of revenge in her own backyard, the term peaceful no longer applies.
After Ellie comes to the victim’s aid and learns his identity, she vows to help him put his life back together. To ensure his safety and avoid a target on her own back, she keeps her heroic actions and the man hidden from the authorities and everyone she knows—for now. Having endured a tumultuous childhood, Ellie is all too familiar with the uncomfortable practice of keeping secrets. But after a dramatic turn of events, lying is the least of her worries…. Ellie must battle for her own life while attempting to protect her loved ones. To make matters worse, her childhood fears resurface because of all the conflict, compromising her ability to behave rationally.
Can Ellie set things right before it’s too late? And will she emerge from the fallout unscathed?
Tucked away on her forty acres of private land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Ellie, a prolific artist, has grown accustomed to the peacefulness inherent to the territory. But when she secretly witnesses a violent act of revenge in her own backyard, the term peaceful no longer applies.
After Ellie comes to the victim’s aid and learns his identity, she vows to help him put his life back together. To ensure his safety and avoid a target on her own back, she keeps her heroic actions and the man hidden from the authorities and everyone she knows—for now. Having endured a tumultuous childhood, Ellie is all too familiar with the uncomfortable practice of keeping secrets. But after a dramatic turn of events, lying is the least of her worries…. Ellie must battle for her own life while attempting to protect her loved ones. To make matters worse, her childhood fears resurface because of all the conflict, compromising her ability to behave rationally.
Can Ellie set things right before it’s too late? And will she emerge from the fallout unscathed?
244 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2024
2 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 25, 2024
The Hole They Dug for You begins with a shocking moment. Recently widowed Ellie Bauer is out in the woods looking for her dog who has run away when she hears people shouting. Soon she is secretly spying on a volatile scene. A man is being held captive by a group of other men. They are accusing him of something he denies doing. Ellie finds it is all she can do not to reveal her presence when she suddenly watches the captive man be thrown into a hole the other men had dug. Next thing she knows, he is being shot and then buried. Ellie breathlessly sees it all.
After the killers leave, Ellie feels compelled to go to the grave and say a prayer for the man, only to hear him moaning. Suddenly, Ellie finds herself desperately trying to dig him out of the pit, figure out how to bring him home, and care for him.
Once she gets him home, Ellie realizes he is the teacher from New York, Evan Heyerdahl, who has been reported missing on the news. But what is he doing in the woods near her home in Upper Michigan, and who were those men who tried to kill him?
Evan doesn’t help matters, being largely unconscious at first and then belligerent toward Ellie once he wakes. Perhaps worst of all, Ellie lives half an hour from the nearest hospital and her cell phone has gone dead so she has to care for him herself rather than risk driving him to the hospital. Once Evan realizes Ellie is friend and not foe, he begs her not to call the authorities from fear his would-be murderers will be after him again.
Ellie wonders how long she will be able to hide Evan, and when he begins to express attraction for her, she also wonders if her heart is ready to love again after losing her husband.
And that is only the beginning of this wild ride of a story that will keep readers in suspense and guessing from the first to the last page. For a debut novel, The Hole They Dug You is masterfully plotted, holds the reader’s interest on every page, and includes the romance that keeps us deeply involved with the characters as they face life-threatening situations. I would put it on the shelf between Stephen King’s Dolores Clairborne and Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight thrillers set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Hinman’s characters are real people, and hints at their backstories help us understand their motives and the actions they take or fail to take. The plot twists are both intense and plausible. My only disappointment was that the book ended as quickly as it did. I wanted to find out more about what happened to the characters, but it is always a good thing to leave a reader wanting more.
I welcome Jodi M. Hinman as a new voice in the suspense genre, and I hope more books will soon spring from her pen.
After the killers leave, Ellie feels compelled to go to the grave and say a prayer for the man, only to hear him moaning. Suddenly, Ellie finds herself desperately trying to dig him out of the pit, figure out how to bring him home, and care for him.
Once she gets him home, Ellie realizes he is the teacher from New York, Evan Heyerdahl, who has been reported missing on the news. But what is he doing in the woods near her home in Upper Michigan, and who were those men who tried to kill him?
Evan doesn’t help matters, being largely unconscious at first and then belligerent toward Ellie once he wakes. Perhaps worst of all, Ellie lives half an hour from the nearest hospital and her cell phone has gone dead so she has to care for him herself rather than risk driving him to the hospital. Once Evan realizes Ellie is friend and not foe, he begs her not to call the authorities from fear his would-be murderers will be after him again.
Ellie wonders how long she will be able to hide Evan, and when he begins to express attraction for her, she also wonders if her heart is ready to love again after losing her husband.
And that is only the beginning of this wild ride of a story that will keep readers in suspense and guessing from the first to the last page. For a debut novel, The Hole They Dug You is masterfully plotted, holds the reader’s interest on every page, and includes the romance that keeps us deeply involved with the characters as they face life-threatening situations. I would put it on the shelf between Stephen King’s Dolores Clairborne and Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight thrillers set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Hinman’s characters are real people, and hints at their backstories help us understand their motives and the actions they take or fail to take. The plot twists are both intense and plausible. My only disappointment was that the book ended as quickly as it did. I wanted to find out more about what happened to the characters, but it is always a good thing to leave a reader wanting more.
I welcome Jodi M. Hinman as a new voice in the suspense genre, and I hope more books will soon spring from her pen.
Displaying 1 of 1 review