The Hiding Season

by Ava Glass

In this page-turning, atmospheric thriller, a broken woman’s new beginning is upended when she becomes the only witness to a deadly crime . . . making her the next target.

After a painful divorce, Maya Landry is in desperate need of a fresh start, which she finds deep in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. Maya’s relieved when she’s hired as a summer keeper of billionaire-owned ski lodges left empty after snow season ends, and her new life of peace and isolation is going exactly as hoped . . . until she stumbles across a dead body on the living room floor of one of the lodges. There's no cell service on the resort, and by the time she’s able to find signal and call the police, the body is gone. In fact, there is no evidence that there ever was a body there at all.

The police think Maya is unstable, and she’s not convinced they are wrong. But then a stranger walks up to her later that night and tells her that someone knows she was up on the mountain that day—someone willing to kill to keep their secrets. She's not sure whether to believe him, until the killers come for her in the dead of night. Maya narrowly escapes, only to find that same mysterious man waiting to rush her away. But can she trust him? Can she trust anyone?

Only one thing is the people who committed the murder are coming for her. Maya is the only person alive who might reveal what happened up on the mountain. And they want her gone.

Genres: Mystery Thriller

368 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 17, 2026

About the author

AVA GLASS is a former crime reporter and civil servant. Her time working for the government introduced her to the world of spies, and she's been fascinated by them ever since. She lives in the south of England.

Reviews

[Lost Vegas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part thriller, part suspense, part romance, part explosive government reveal. That’s what sums it up as a book and unfortunately it is as fragmented as this.

Maya was a fairly interesting character to start, recovering from a divorce by working alone up in a ski resort. She witnesses a murder and from there this book drops all pretence of knowing where it was going. Car chases, witsec, unadvised romance and an ending that leaves you wondering what happened.

I think this is a quick read for those who don’t need a genre. Like a choose your own adventure.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Ballantine and Ava Glass for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Only 33% through and this book was not what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a cozy mysterious thriller with a woman in Montana.

I feel like there’s so many different tropes and loose ends that I’m trying to keep straight and I’m hoping get resolved at the end of this book.

The character isn’t well developed. There’s no character that’s actually developed and there’s no real depth to the story.

Now it’s a love story??? I’m getting whiplash from all the different tropes.

Okay, finished the book and I have thoughts. It seemed the book lacked depth and a gripping story line. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be based off of the description. The characters were not well developed. Overall, I would not recommend this book.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desperate for a new start, Maya takes a job as a caretaker at a posh private resort community in the snowy hills of Montana. The job appears to be the perfect match until she discovers a dead body in one of the lodges. She flees down the mountain to call the police, but when they return, the body is gone. And soon Maya will have to flee for her life. The Hiding Season, while not perfect, is an entertaining romp, but you’ll have to put the implausibilities aside or this one will drive you crazy, which is what this reader did, and I wound up enjoying this wild story - unbelievable plot, shady characters and head-shaking moments be damned! If you’re looking for a realistic damsel-in-distress novel, skip it. If you want to escape for a few hours, dig in!
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Allie Churchill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.75⭐️

Hmm I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It wasn’t bad it just didn’t really hook me in. The twists were predictable and it felt a little repetitive. But it’s a quick read thriller a little bit of romance.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not mind admitting that this book did not go where I was expecting at all. And totally not in a bad way. Having read the blurb I had a completely different story in my head but that was no matter. What I found in the pages of The Hiding Place is a fast paced, high tension thriller that was full of brilliant characters and more high stakes moments that I could ask for. This is the story of Maya. Ditched by her husband for his much younger assistant, and striking out on her own for the first time in over a decade, she seeks solace in Montana, a place she new from her college days. Desperate for work she takes a job as a kind of general caretaker for a very exclusive resort in the mountains, a decision she soon lives to regret.

Barely.

And so Maya becomes a woman on the run, aided by a man she doesn't know and has no reason to trust. Riley Maguire is a mystery to Ava but he seems intent on keeping her alive, and so begins the second new start of Maya's life, and the start of all the tension, action and intrigue for us readers. Whilst it is a relatively innocuous start to the story, even if personally I would have been very suspicious of the behaviour of Gina, the woman who hires Maya to look after the properties, that simple paces doesn't last for long. You can feel the isolation of the Montana setting, and that just adds to the edginess of the story as Maya sets about her daily duties in the lead up to that fateful day.

This is kind of a cat and mouse story. It is less about any overt violence directed against Maya, but the sense of threat is no less because of it. The implications of what she witnessed and how easy it is for the forces conspiring against her to find her when they need to allows the tension and sense of jeopardy to build, even if she manages to stay just a tiny step ahead of danger for most of the book. Just when you think things are settled, that Maya is on as even a keel as she could expect, something happens to remove the safety net and plunge her right back into the thick of it. The pacing in the book is pitched perfectly to drive the story, as well as allowing us to get to know Maya and to become invested in her story and those of the people around her.

I like the chemistry that the author has built up in the book between Riley and Maya. In spite of all the warnings signs, and there many, not just from other characters, but in actions taken, the development of their relationship, driven by the heat of two people out of their depth, really does just work. There is a kind of inevitability about that element of the story, but it makes the aloofness of Reily all the more acute, and brings the actions of certain characters into question in just the right way to add an element of apprehension to everything witnessed.

This is a tale or organised crime, corruption and misguided loyalties, with Maya, a truly innocent party, caught up in the middle. I was invested in her story, really wanting to see things work out alright in the end. I like the way in which AC Glass has framed the story, the narrative choices she made which become very clear by the end of the book. It works perfectly, and some of the choices made by certain characters make absolute sense the more we learn. Maya may come across as a weaker character, but it pays not to underestimate anyone in this book. It made me smile and, at a shade under 300 pages, I raced through this book in just a few hours.

A really enjoyable, addictive thriller with great characters I really grew to care about, and that more than delivered.

[Jennifer Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: The Hiding Season
Author: Ava Glass
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hired as a caretaker in the offseason for an exclusive living community in Montana, Maya is trying to start over her life after her husband cheated on her with his much younger assistant. One day she enters one of the homes and something felt off: the warm air, the scent of sweat, and then the discovery of a dead body. When she leaves to get a cell signal and contact the police, the body disappears. Then a stranger at a bar tells her that she’s next after what she witnessed that day, but she had to leave now because the big boss had his minions coming after her and she was no longer safe. What really happened that day in the house and who is behind it?

Takeaways:
1. This is not an Emma Makepeace book. Glass is very clear to let readers know that on her social media. I was excited to get this ARC as a fan of her EM series because her writing is electric and fast paced. Her writing style carries over to this book and keeps you hanging on.
2. Loved the tidbits of clues dropped throughout the book. Great supporting cast of characters. Everything comes together in the end.
3. Riley’s character is flawed but trying to make up for his shortcomings by playing the hero. How far does it take him?

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book will be published on March 17, 2026.

#arc #netgalley #bookstagram @avaglassbooks @ballantinebooks #thehidingseason

[Kaitlyn Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

In The Hiding Season, we follow protagonist Maya after she has been cheated on by her husband. Looking for a fresh start, she moves to Montana and takes a job as a housekeeper for private ski lodges owned by the wealthy. What she finds in one ski lodge will change the course of her life.

This is marketed as a thriller but, in my opinion, it doesn’t read like one. The mystery and action of the plot do not occur until the 50% mark. The lead up to that is just character building and setting up the story but at an agonizingly slow pace. When choosing a thriller to read, I want fast paced and action from the beginning, and unfortunately this missed the mark. I thought we were going to have a fun thriller in the mountains of Montana, and it quickly transitioned into a spy story with a random romance. The romance in this story felt out of place, unnecessary, and very insta-lovey.

For as much time spent on the character building, I found the dialogue to be unrealistic and the decisions of the characters to be confusing. I felt the story to be repetitive, and Maya spends a lot of time explaining every thought she has. I prefer to be able to read between the lines but there is no doing that when every thought and action is overly explained.

If you like a slower paced thriller with a romantic subplot, then I think you will enjoy this book.

[Hope Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hiding Season by Ava Glass started off strong and immediately pulled me in. The early pacing had the same nonstop action and tension that I loved in the Emma Makepiece series, and at first it felt like it was going to be another fast, sharp thriller I could not put down.

Unfortunately, as the story went on, it began to drag. The momentum slowed, and some of the characters started behaving in ways that felt out of character, which made it harder to stay fully invested. There were also a few geographical inaccuracies and language choices that repeatedly pulled me out of the story. The characters used words and expressions that an American simply would not use, and once I noticed it, it became hard to ignore.

That said, I did still enjoy parts of the book, especially the core concept and the initial setup. With tighter pacing, more consistent characterization, and stronger editing attention, this could have been a much more polished and immersive read.

Overall, The Hiding Season is an entertaining thriller with a promising start, but it falls short of its potential. I liked it, but it felt like it needed some editing help to truly shine.

[Doreen Montis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not wait to read “The Hiding Season” by Ava Glass. Her books grab my attention from the start and I cannot put them down. Sadly, that was not the case with this one.

The Hiding Season started out promising. Maya’s move to Montana, landing a job in a remote area for questionable clients and discovering a dead body while working that job, would surely be non stop excitement. It wasn’t. The story jumped from past to present time as Maya recounted the sequence of events that brought her to present day. The characters had very little development and were mostly one dimensional. Gina and Zoraida were made to believe they would have larger, interesting roles, I would have loved to have more answers about them, but their storylines were dropped quickly and only mentioned in the end. Riley and Ava’s encounters were repetitive and dragged.

The book had twists that were predictable. There were no surprises. It was a much slower read than I expected with an ending that was summarized and left this reader unsatisfied.
#NetGalley #ARC #TheHidiingSeason

[Ashley Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this Arc digital copy through Net galley to read and review. (Thank you for this).

I have read other books by the author and enjoyed those. This one was a little more of an action/suspense book, which I don’t typically read.

This book reads like an action movie and it had me invested. Normally I find these movies and books silly but I was sucked into this storyline.

A woman is starting over after her marriage falls apart. She takes a job in a luxury gated community taking care of vacation homes. One day she goes to do her routine cleaning and stumbles upon a dead body. When she goes to report it….the body is gone. This starts a tidal wave of action packed events.
This book is full of suspense and corruption at every turn. She also sprinkles in a little romance/ love interests as well which I enjoyed.

This is written with a really good pacing and you find yourself not sure who to trust up until the last page.

I liked it and will continue to read her books. Solid 4 star book in my opinion.

[Char Grell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley, Bantam and Ava Glass for the advanced readers copy.

After a painful divorce, Maya Landry is desperate for a clean slate. She takes a job as a summer keeper for a cluster of luxury ski lodges—isolated, quiet, and seemingly perfect for rebuilding her life.
Her solitude shatters when she discovers a dead body inside one of the lodges. By the time she reaches a place with cell service and returns with police, the body has vanished along with any trace it ever existed.

I have read all of this authors books (this is the 4th book under her pen name Ava Glass). I am a huge fan of her Emma Makepeace series, but this one was just okay. It was sort of predictable and a bit repetitive. I was looking forward to a mountain landscape mystery but that was only the first 1/3 of the book.

The writing is clear and easy to follow along.

I will likely read anything this author puts out though!

Thanks again to NetGalley, Bantam and Ava Glass - I appreciate the advanced copy.

[Nikkireads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really loved the atmosphere of this one the snowy Montana ski lodge setting had me instantly hooked. In the beginning, I was genuinely drawn in. We follow Maya, who moves to Montana for a fresh start and a new job… only to stumble across a dead body while working. The setup was strong, and I thought the story had a lot of potential.

But the execution didn’t land for me. The constant jumps between timelines made things feel disjointed and, honestly, a bit confusing. I also didn’t love the romance it felt unnecessary, with no real depth or growth, and I think the book would’ve been stronger without it. I wasn’t surprised by the ending, but I did like where the story ultimately wrapped up.

Overall, despite a great setting and a solid premise, this ended up being a 2-star read for me.

Thank you

[Kayleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down. I was really interested in the summary of this thriller novel. And that interest was short lived. I was interested in during the first part of this book, then got really bored during parts two and three. I felt like this could have been a short story instead of a full length novel. The romance in it seemed like it was just put in to say there was a romance involved. And while I partly guessed the ending, it was so drawn out that I just really didn’t care. The only part of the ending I enjoyed was the epilogue and even that I felt like was overly written and could have been a lot shorter.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

[Zoe Lipman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The witness of a murder at a billionaire's fancy ski lodge has to escape before she is also killed. And there is a mysterious (and suspicious) man helping her out.

I really liked the atmosphere and vibe of the beginning of this book, but it really flattened out when it changed. I wanted to stay in the ski lodge area, that had more ambiance to it.

I did find this to start getting confusing and jumbled when more and more elements were introduced. It just felt like there was too much going on, it didn't engage me, it just confused me. I had to many things to juggle when reading this as it went on. Especially with the romance. That was random and unnecessary in my eyes.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

[Sarah Harney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine, Bantam for an ARC of The Hiding Season.

I was super hooked during the first 20%ish of this book and I also enjoyed the last page of the epilogue, unfortunately the remaining 80% was extremely dull. While I did connect with the main character and root for her to survive, there was just not enough substance to the rest of the story to make it work for me. Overall, too much governmental agency conspiracy, not enough thriller.

2.5 stars

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like farfetched storylines, dig in!

Wasn't really my cup of tea, however it wasn't awful...so three stars.

[Saffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first novel I’ve read by the author and although at times the plot became predictable and ridiculous it was a pacy and enjoyable thriller. It started off reallly well as newly separated Maya relocates to Montana and starts work at a luxury gated ski resort. Something feels suspicious to Maya from the beginning but she’s also getting paid well and it’s the fresh start she needs. Soon however Maya is on the run, she becomes Lara and relocates to Texas, I won’t reveal anything else about the plot but much of what follows is fairly predictable and I found Riley to be a one dimensional character. I liked the character of Maya/Lara and I feel that her life in Austin could have been developed further. Although it’s a gripping read there is an absence of tension and it’s all wrapped up too quickly. 3.5 stars
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

[Kate Vidovich · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel started out well but then devolved into an unrealistic and convoluted mess. This was actually a DNF for me. Not entirely sure what went wrong during the writing process.

[Aaron Todd Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

A moody, snowless mountain resort in Montana, a heroine trying to outrun a painful divorce, and the classic “I saw a body, now I’m the target” setup.

For me, though, this landed in “good, not great” territory. I never felt fully connected to Maya or the mysterious man helping her…interesting on paper, but a little underdeveloped emotionally, especially given how intense their situation is.

That said, the atmosphere is good, the tension ramps up nicely toward the end, and the premise itself is fun if you enjoy remote, locked-in thrillers.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bantum Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

[Gohar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love The Hiding Season, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. It started out engaging and interesting and then turned into a weird pacing that dragged the point where it became hard to stay invested, and the tension never really built in a meaningful or exciting way.

Instead of feeling suspenseful, the story often felt repetitive and unfocused, and I kept waiting for the moment when everything would click, but it never really did. I do with the author stayed in the same location and built the story around the beauty and hunting feeling of being alone but not lonely


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.