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The Hidden Room
Life is good for Laurie and Martha. They have three great kids, a much-loved home in the countryside, and after years of struggle, Laurie's career as an architect is taking off at last. Everything's perfect. Except, it isn't. Someone is about to walk into their happy family and tear it apart. Laurie has been hiding from him for years. The question is, now that he's found her, can she keep her family safe? And just how far will she go to protect them?
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
14 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Stella Duffy
65 books185 followersStella Duffy was born in London and grew up in New Zealand. She has lived and worked in London since the mid-1980s. She has written seventeen novels, over seventy short stories, and devised and/or written fourteen plays. The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness were both longlisted for the Orange Prize, and she has twice won Stonewall Writer of the Year. She has twice won the CWA Short Story Dagger. Stella is the co-founder of the Fun Palaces campaign for cultural democracy. Her latest novel is Lullaby Beach (Virago).
She is also a yoga teacher, teaching workshops in yoga for writing, and a trainee Existential Psychotherapist, her ongoing doctoral research is in the embodied experience of being postmenopausal.
She is also a yoga teacher, teaching workshops in yoga for writing, and a trainee Existential Psychotherapist, her ongoing doctoral research is in the embodied experience of being postmenopausal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
January 3, 2019
this was slow paced but wasn't my style of thriller though
July 15, 2018
The Hidden Room I found to be a slow paced and intriguing read.
The story itself flicks between past and present. We get a glimpse of Laurie's life growing up with life in a cult as a child and to life now with her partner Martha and their three children.
Cult's are something that has always fascinated me and how the leaders can brain wash their followers. What hope does a child have when they are so impressionable as it is? I found Laurie's background a very interesting one and seeing the person she had become today.
Hope is Laurie and Martha's eldest child. She plays an important part in the story and through Hope, you really get the sense of what it's like as a parent with all the stress and worries that come with parenthood.
Admittedly it did take me a while to settle into the story as with this sort of genre, I am used to a steady to fast paced reading experience. I think being slower paced though it actually allows you to delve into Laurie's background and the characters lives more. The story line covers quite a few topics and offers more in that respect than a normal crime book.
If you love a slower paced read packed full of suspense and intrigue, then would definitely recommend giving The Hidden Room a go. The story certainly builds up to a satisfying finale with an outcome I wasn't expecting.
My thanks to NGAIOS for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.
The story itself flicks between past and present. We get a glimpse of Laurie's life growing up with life in a cult as a child and to life now with her partner Martha and their three children.
Cult's are something that has always fascinated me and how the leaders can brain wash their followers. What hope does a child have when they are so impressionable as it is? I found Laurie's background a very interesting one and seeing the person she had become today.
Hope is Laurie and Martha's eldest child. She plays an important part in the story and through Hope, you really get the sense of what it's like as a parent with all the stress and worries that come with parenthood.
Admittedly it did take me a while to settle into the story as with this sort of genre, I am used to a steady to fast paced reading experience. I think being slower paced though it actually allows you to delve into Laurie's background and the characters lives more. The story line covers quite a few topics and offers more in that respect than a normal crime book.
If you love a slower paced read packed full of suspense and intrigue, then would definitely recommend giving The Hidden Room a go. The story certainly builds up to a satisfying finale with an outcome I wasn't expecting.
My thanks to NGAIOS for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.
October 16, 2019
This was a surprising book, not what I thought it was going to be. Starts off as a "cosy" read about two women and their kids and the problems they are starting to have in their marriage as one of the Mums gets an award for design and becomes increasingly too busy to help with raising the kids.
In the backstory we learn that one of the Mums was raised in a cult which she broke away from and does not discuss with her family, though they do know where she was raised but not what happened.
The eldest daughter develops an interest in dance and increases her studio time from a few days a week to almost every day including weekends (in the meantime she is struggling a bit with school-work and with her ever increasing weight loss).
Martha- the other Mum picks her daughter up from dance and starts to talk to the instructor, who confides that he is training to be a life-coach and could he "practice" on her. She of course, tells him all her fears and problems but does not tell her wife that she is receiving counseling. This man is so charismatic he has Martha and Hope (the daughter) under his spell.
Then it gets worse.
In the backstory we learn that one of the Mums was raised in a cult which she broke away from and does not discuss with her family, though they do know where she was raised but not what happened.
The eldest daughter develops an interest in dance and increases her studio time from a few days a week to almost every day including weekends (in the meantime she is struggling a bit with school-work and with her ever increasing weight loss).
Martha- the other Mum picks her daughter up from dance and starts to talk to the instructor, who confides that he is training to be a life-coach and could he "practice" on her. She of course, tells him all her fears and problems but does not tell her wife that she is receiving counseling. This man is so charismatic he has Martha and Hope (the daughter) under his spell.
Then it gets worse.
January 10, 2019
First Stella Duffy book and totally loved it! What a great writer, am so glad this book was given to me. Definitely a pager turner, I couldn't stop thinking about reading it. Great twists and turns and the ending - by golly. I'm a fan, need more.
June 11, 2017
No matter what 'genre' she's writing in, Stella Duffy sure knows how to tell a cracking good story. She lures readers into worlds of well-realised characters, tweaks our curiosity and fears, and takes us on a tense journey as the pages effortlessly flow by.
Duffy's return to the crime scene, after a decade plus away, is an adroit take on the 'domestic noir' craze that's taken hold of crime fiction in recent years. She elevates herself among a crowded field with the quality of her storytelling, rich characters, and the way she laces a deliciously suspenseful tale with layers of varying, all-too-human issues. The secrets and doubts that puncture our souls.
How much of our personalities, and our pasts, do we truly, fully share with our loved ones? How much should we share? Do we need hidden rooms, physically or metaphorically, for ourselves alone?
Is it better or worse to keep parts of ourself hidden away? Sanity, health, balance... it's a tightrope.
Laurie and Martha, and their family, find themselves facing those questions and more in The Hidden Room. Ramped up a few notches, thanks to Laurie's unusual childhood. She was born in China, adopted to the United States, but spent many of her younger years growing up in the desert, in a cult.
Years later, Laurie lives in the British countryside with her wife Martha and their three children. Life isn't completely stress-free: pressures of work and family impinge, devouring time and energy. But there are strong veins of happiness flowing through Laurie and Martha's life together. They've found their place in the world, together, even if they want to renovate it now and then.
That equilibrium starts fraying when Laurie's casts a growing shadow on her present.
This is a very fine psychological thriller. Duffy's writing flows wonderfully, drawing us into Laurie and Martha's world. The narrative switches between present-day Britain and Laurie's past in the American desert, but those jumps never jar. Rather, the twin narratives build on each other, threads plaiting a rope, pulling us along. While reading The Hidden Room, I had a wee feel of some of those old school horror movies, the ones from earlier decades which were about the lurking shadows, the fears of what might happen, rather than in-your-face action and blood slashed across the screen.
There's a looming sense of 'uh-oh, what's going to happen here?' throughout The Hidden Room. A deliciously slow build in a fast, flowing read. At the same time, I was fascinated by Duffy's insights into domestic and family relationships, and all the pressures, secrets, pain, and challenges that can attach themselves to even those that seem very functional and happy overall. The pressures of work, of feeling valued, of family and parenthood. The way our own minds can be our worst enemies.
The Hidden Room is a very good read that delivers on multiple levels. Whether you devour it in one sitting (like me), or savour it over a few more bites, it's the type of tale that clutches at your attention to the very end, and stays with you in the days afterwards. Recommended.
Duffy's return to the crime scene, after a decade plus away, is an adroit take on the 'domestic noir' craze that's taken hold of crime fiction in recent years. She elevates herself among a crowded field with the quality of her storytelling, rich characters, and the way she laces a deliciously suspenseful tale with layers of varying, all-too-human issues. The secrets and doubts that puncture our souls.
How much of our personalities, and our pasts, do we truly, fully share with our loved ones? How much should we share? Do we need hidden rooms, physically or metaphorically, for ourselves alone?
Is it better or worse to keep parts of ourself hidden away? Sanity, health, balance... it's a tightrope.
Laurie and Martha, and their family, find themselves facing those questions and more in The Hidden Room. Ramped up a few notches, thanks to Laurie's unusual childhood. She was born in China, adopted to the United States, but spent many of her younger years growing up in the desert, in a cult.
Years later, Laurie lives in the British countryside with her wife Martha and their three children. Life isn't completely stress-free: pressures of work and family impinge, devouring time and energy. But there are strong veins of happiness flowing through Laurie and Martha's life together. They've found their place in the world, together, even if they want to renovate it now and then.
That equilibrium starts fraying when Laurie's casts a growing shadow on her present.
This is a very fine psychological thriller. Duffy's writing flows wonderfully, drawing us into Laurie and Martha's world. The narrative switches between present-day Britain and Laurie's past in the American desert, but those jumps never jar. Rather, the twin narratives build on each other, threads plaiting a rope, pulling us along. While reading The Hidden Room, I had a wee feel of some of those old school horror movies, the ones from earlier decades which were about the lurking shadows, the fears of what might happen, rather than in-your-face action and blood slashed across the screen.
There's a looming sense of 'uh-oh, what's going to happen here?' throughout The Hidden Room. A deliciously slow build in a fast, flowing read. At the same time, I was fascinated by Duffy's insights into domestic and family relationships, and all the pressures, secrets, pain, and challenges that can attach themselves to even those that seem very functional and happy overall. The pressures of work, of feeling valued, of family and parenthood. The way our own minds can be our worst enemies.
The Hidden Room is a very good read that delivers on multiple levels. Whether you devour it in one sitting (like me), or savour it over a few more bites, it's the type of tale that clutches at your attention to the very end, and stays with you in the days afterwards. Recommended.
October 29, 2019
I absolutely loved this book. So much so, that after finishing it before going to bed, I couldn’t get off to sleep.
The ending is such a good twist that you don’t see it coming.
Laurie and Martha are a married couple with twins Ana and Jack and an older girl called Hope.
Martha is an only child who grew up on a farm in England which she was due to inherit and Laurie grew up in a cult in America until she was taken by the authorities and fostered to Dot and Henry.
Each mom, mum have their own jobs, with Lauries’ becoming more demanding and busy after winning an award for her architecture and work ethic for charities.
This leaves Martha, the web designer to take the twins to swimming practise and competitions and Hope to dance classes, as well as various day to day running of the house.
What dark secrets does Laurie hold back and who is the mysterious dance teacher that arrives into their village and has caught the attention of Martha with his life skills counselling and is Hopes dance teacher?
Why does Laurie need a secret room in the attic? A room that she thinks nobody else in the house knows about, or do they?
This book starts off slowly telling the story from every bodies perspective and then builds up to such a fast paced page turner that you just want to finish it to see how everybody becomes connected and the final end.
I found The Hidden Room at the bottom of the shelf in my local library, but I will be recommending that they move it to the Want to Read shelf.
The ending is such a good twist that you don’t see it coming.
Laurie and Martha are a married couple with twins Ana and Jack and an older girl called Hope.
Martha is an only child who grew up on a farm in England which she was due to inherit and Laurie grew up in a cult in America until she was taken by the authorities and fostered to Dot and Henry.
Each mom, mum have their own jobs, with Lauries’ becoming more demanding and busy after winning an award for her architecture and work ethic for charities.
This leaves Martha, the web designer to take the twins to swimming practise and competitions and Hope to dance classes, as well as various day to day running of the house.
What dark secrets does Laurie hold back and who is the mysterious dance teacher that arrives into their village and has caught the attention of Martha with his life skills counselling and is Hopes dance teacher?
Why does Laurie need a secret room in the attic? A room that she thinks nobody else in the house knows about, or do they?
This book starts off slowly telling the story from every bodies perspective and then builds up to such a fast paced page turner that you just want to finish it to see how everybody becomes connected and the final end.
I found The Hidden Room at the bottom of the shelf in my local library, but I will be recommending that they move it to the Want to Read shelf.
December 11, 2020
This was a terrible book. That fact that it has barely any ratings and that there are so many negative ratings should've been a giveaway. However the synopsis was still intriguing enough for me to give it a try.
The writing and the story both weren't great. I tend to enjoy the fast paced, action and suspense filled mystery thrillers. The pacing was far too slow for me and there was no suspense at all. The mystery didn't even do it for me as I guessed the twist very early on.
As for the characters, they were rather forgettable. I was excited to see a f/f relationship but that was about it. I was super annoyed that Laurie and Martha were both keeping secrets and I wished they'd just talk to each other!
At this point I was bored and considered DNFing but I still wanted to see how things would turn out. I made it to page 129 before I couldn't anymore and skimmed the rest of the book. If there had been a spoiler review I would've just read that instead and not even bothered skimming.
To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement. The ending was stupid (for lack of a better word) and made me wonder what the point of the entire book was.
This sounded so intriguing and promising but the execution was ultimately a major let down.
The writing and the story both weren't great. I tend to enjoy the fast paced, action and suspense filled mystery thrillers. The pacing was far too slow for me and there was no suspense at all. The mystery didn't even do it for me as I guessed the twist very early on.
As for the characters, they were rather forgettable. I was excited to see a f/f relationship but that was about it. I was super annoyed that Laurie and Martha were both keeping secrets and I wished they'd just talk to each other!
At this point I was bored and considered DNFing but I still wanted to see how things would turn out. I made it to page 129 before I couldn't anymore and skimmed the rest of the book. If there had been a spoiler review I would've just read that instead and not even bothered skimming.
To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement. The ending was stupid (for lack of a better word) and made me wonder what the point of the entire book was.
This sounded so intriguing and promising but the execution was ultimately a major let down.
August 20, 2017
I started this book with great anticipation because of the enthusiastic blurbs; I was expecting it to be a very good thriller, in other words, fast-paced, with lots of twists and turns. Sadly, I was disappointed. I found it to be perfectly readable, just not really compelling - easy to put down. Although the exploration of cult mentality was interesting, the pace generally was a bit slow, and not all the characters were convincing. Without saying too much, in case of spoilers, the 'dance', which was central to the plot, was risible, and reminded me of the slosh ( remember that?). It certainly wasn't creepy. The final plot twist was good though - so don't give up.
April 11, 2017
This is a rather tense thriller about a couple who live out in the English fens, with their three children, now teenagers. Laurie was born in China but grew up in a sinister cult in America, out in the desert. She was rescued from the cult aged 9, but she's still keeping secrets from her British wife, Martha. The hidden room of the title is both a physical and metaphorical - Laurie has a secret room in the house no one else has discovered, where she sometimes goes to be alone. Now a man from her past, Samuel, who was also a member of the cult, has reappeared in her life. He's enthralled her and Martha's eldest daughter, 17-year-old Hope, through his dance classes, and has secretly been giving Martha therapy sessions. This is rather an addictive read, as you want to see if Samuel can worm his way into Laurie's world, and you also want to find out what happened in the past.
SPOILER ALERT!
I very much enjoyed this novel, but I wanted to know more - about the cult and its origins, and how the charisma of Samuel worked. I didn't really understand why everyone seemed to fall for him, he wasn't a particularly charming character. I also didn't understand why Laurie returned to the cult as a teenager - it seemed unlikely. I'm not saying that it wouldn't happen in real life, but it wasn't really explained. Other than that, though, I did think that this was an unusual take on the psychological thriller, and enjoyable.
SPOILER ALERT!
I very much enjoyed this novel, but I wanted to know more - about the cult and its origins, and how the charisma of Samuel worked. I didn't really understand why everyone seemed to fall for him, he wasn't a particularly charming character. I also didn't understand why Laurie returned to the cult as a teenager - it seemed unlikely. I'm not saying that it wouldn't happen in real life, but it wasn't really explained. Other than that, though, I did think that this was an unusual take on the psychological thriller, and enjoyable.
May 7, 2024
Laurie and Martha have a stately home in the countryside, three wonderful teenagers, and a marriage that remains passionate. But Laurie’s newfound success as an architect has left Martha with less time for her own work and interests, and more than her fair share of parenting. It also attracts unwanted attention. Laurie escaped from a cult and left the US to build a totally new life — but the Community doesn’t want to let her go.
The Hidden Room is a jaw-dropping thriller with a dual timeline. In the present day Laurie, Martha, and their daughter Hope all have their lives turned upside down by Samuel — Hope’s charismatic new dance teacher, who instils discipline and collective focus in his pupils. And in the past, memories triggered by Samuel, Laurie walks the tightrope of Community life.
The cult is led by Abraham, whose magnetism and beatnik vision for a commune are reminiscent of Charles Manson. The cult has echoes of Children of God, with widespread abuse and Special Ones sent out to seduce new members. And the chapters set around the Community have a terrible, electric tension to them as it becomes clear how far everyone will go to win Abraham’s approval.
This book’s narrative is split between the three women, and their ways of seeing the world are so distinctive. Laurie is a loving mother, but she’s also secretive and cynical as a result of her past trauma. While Martha is experiencing a mid-life crisis, Duffy treats her anxieties with dignity and positions her solidity as the foundation of their family. And Hope, as Martha observes, is very 17 — achingly believable. The dynamics between Duffy’s characters make it impossible to look away from this story.
One thing I particularly love — The Hidden Room deals with an established lesbian family, something that very rarely manifests in fiction. It’s not the book’s chief concern, though how family is defined is a recurring theme. And Duffy deals with it beautifully.
The Hidden Room is a jaw-dropping thriller with a dual timeline. In the present day Laurie, Martha, and their daughter Hope all have their lives turned upside down by Samuel — Hope’s charismatic new dance teacher, who instils discipline and collective focus in his pupils. And in the past, memories triggered by Samuel, Laurie walks the tightrope of Community life.
The cult is led by Abraham, whose magnetism and beatnik vision for a commune are reminiscent of Charles Manson. The cult has echoes of Children of God, with widespread abuse and Special Ones sent out to seduce new members. And the chapters set around the Community have a terrible, electric tension to them as it becomes clear how far everyone will go to win Abraham’s approval.
This book’s narrative is split between the three women, and their ways of seeing the world are so distinctive. Laurie is a loving mother, but she’s also secretive and cynical as a result of her past trauma. While Martha is experiencing a mid-life crisis, Duffy treats her anxieties with dignity and positions her solidity as the foundation of their family. And Hope, as Martha observes, is very 17 — achingly believable. The dynamics between Duffy’s characters make it impossible to look away from this story.
One thing I particularly love — The Hidden Room deals with an established lesbian family, something that very rarely manifests in fiction. It’s not the book’s chief concern, though how family is defined is a recurring theme. And Duffy deals with it beautifully.
September 17, 2017
Boring!
October 5, 2017
Was so slow and boring ...thought about giving up reading many times but I don't like to not finish a book
March 14, 2019
Stella Duffy was absent from the crime writing scene for a long time until THE HIDDEN ROOM was released in 2017. The book then made the shortlist for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards, because, in a nutshell, Duffy knows how to develop strong, realistic characters, and weave them into a plot that's clever, well paced and intriguing.
Classified as "domestic noir", this is a story about things very close to home. In this case Laurie (born in China / adopted by a US family) spent her childhood in the American desert, her family members of a secretive cult. Years later, she and her wife Martha, and their three teenage children, are happily living in the British countryside in a rundown old house, with all the pressures that you expect with modern families these days - balancing work and family commitments, busy lifestyles, the demands of a house that needs constant work, and all the small stuff that everybody battles with these days.
Hidden away in the house is a special little room, literally the place from the title of the novel, a private, hidden spot that only Laurie knows about and uses as an escape. The figurative interpretation of the title is more internal - there are aspects of Laurie's past that are also hidden away, locked in her memory, that start to be revealed as that past bursts into the present.
The striking thing about THE HIDDEN ROOM is the way that the obsession with the minutia of day to day life is almost soporific, until it's not. The switching timeline between Laurie's past and the current is seamlessly delivered, never interfering with the gentle ramping up of a number of elements - threat and thriller, psychological drama and fear, against a backdrop of day to day life, and past and present clashing, as Laurie wrestles with internal and external struggles.
Cleverly constructed, THE HIDDEN ROOM works on multiple levels, ramping up the threat, wrong-footing the reader about motivations and likely outcomes, and always with a sort of low level dread of the unknown, the lurking, a presence, something hidden - somewhere.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
Classified as "domestic noir", this is a story about things very close to home. In this case Laurie (born in China / adopted by a US family) spent her childhood in the American desert, her family members of a secretive cult. Years later, she and her wife Martha, and their three teenage children, are happily living in the British countryside in a rundown old house, with all the pressures that you expect with modern families these days - balancing work and family commitments, busy lifestyles, the demands of a house that needs constant work, and all the small stuff that everybody battles with these days.
Hidden away in the house is a special little room, literally the place from the title of the novel, a private, hidden spot that only Laurie knows about and uses as an escape. The figurative interpretation of the title is more internal - there are aspects of Laurie's past that are also hidden away, locked in her memory, that start to be revealed as that past bursts into the present.
The striking thing about THE HIDDEN ROOM is the way that the obsession with the minutia of day to day life is almost soporific, until it's not. The switching timeline between Laurie's past and the current is seamlessly delivered, never interfering with the gentle ramping up of a number of elements - threat and thriller, psychological drama and fear, against a backdrop of day to day life, and past and present clashing, as Laurie wrestles with internal and external struggles.
Cleverly constructed, THE HIDDEN ROOM works on multiple levels, ramping up the threat, wrong-footing the reader about motivations and likely outcomes, and always with a sort of low level dread of the unknown, the lurking, a presence, something hidden - somewhere.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
November 11, 2022
Life is good for Laurie and Martha. They have three great kids, a much-loved home in the countryside, and Laurie's career as an architect is finally taking off. Everything's perfect.
Except it isn't.
Someone is about to walk into their happy family and tear it apart.
Laurie has been hiding from him for years. The question is, now that he's found her, can she keep her family safe? And just how far will she go to protect them?
Review~
This I must admit was a bit of a strange book. There was a lot to keep up with all at once. We are first introduced to Laurie and her wife Martha who have three children. Their oldest is Hope and they have twins Anna and Jack. The chapters switch between past and present as we learn about Hope and her new dance teacher, who is also doing life coaching sessions with Martha, and Laurie's childhood. We soon find quite a few links between the two and it slowly begins to spiral out of control. I found that there were quite a few plot holes within this book, for one the whole entire ending was a plot hole that I don't think we will ever find the answer to. There are also some unanswered questions about Laurie's childhood which to be honest I found the most interesting part of the whole book and wanted to learn more about but unfortunately it just felt like maybe the writer had a word limit and wasn't able to actually finish the book, who knows. Overall, I would recommend this book.
Except it isn't.
Someone is about to walk into their happy family and tear it apart.
Laurie has been hiding from him for years. The question is, now that he's found her, can she keep her family safe? And just how far will she go to protect them?
Review~
This I must admit was a bit of a strange book. There was a lot to keep up with all at once. We are first introduced to Laurie and her wife Martha who have three children. Their oldest is Hope and they have twins Anna and Jack. The chapters switch between past and present as we learn about Hope and her new dance teacher, who is also doing life coaching sessions with Martha, and Laurie's childhood. We soon find quite a few links between the two and it slowly begins to spiral out of control. I found that there were quite a few plot holes within this book, for one the whole entire ending was a plot hole that I don't think we will ever find the answer to. There are also some unanswered questions about Laurie's childhood which to be honest I found the most interesting part of the whole book and wanted to learn more about but unfortunately it just felt like maybe the writer had a word limit and wasn't able to actually finish the book, who knows. Overall, I would recommend this book.
September 28, 2020
Sadly not a very good story at all.
First of Stella Duffy's books I have read & opened it with an anticipation of being captivated from the first page. This definitely did not happen & sadly, it didn't happen at all throughout any of the book.
The story is slow paced & seemingly haphazard in many places.
I found the story line switching too much from the present/past in places where in the end, it really wasn't needed for the outcome of the novels finale.
Also, it is very hard to grasp the real Protagonist in this story until at least half way through, Duffy keeps the characters in the book to a pretty good minimal standard, however, I still was unsure who was meant to exhibit the protagonist.
Some parts did thrill me which made me read the whole book. But I really wouldn't recommend this particular Duffy novel to anybody who wants a fast paced, page turning thriller.
Maybe I will give Stella another chance & read one of her many highly rated books in the future, but on this occasion, it was just a bad read for me.
First of Stella Duffy's books I have read & opened it with an anticipation of being captivated from the first page. This definitely did not happen & sadly, it didn't happen at all throughout any of the book.
The story is slow paced & seemingly haphazard in many places.
I found the story line switching too much from the present/past in places where in the end, it really wasn't needed for the outcome of the novels finale.
Also, it is very hard to grasp the real Protagonist in this story until at least half way through, Duffy keeps the characters in the book to a pretty good minimal standard, however, I still was unsure who was meant to exhibit the protagonist.
Some parts did thrill me which made me read the whole book. But I really wouldn't recommend this particular Duffy novel to anybody who wants a fast paced, page turning thriller.
Maybe I will give Stella another chance & read one of her many highly rated books in the future, but on this occasion, it was just a bad read for me.
July 4, 2018
I read Stella Duffy's Saz Martin mysteries a few years back and my memory says they were pretty good (later I'll go and check what I actually said at the time, there are often discontinuities between my memory and reality) but I don't think I've read any of her other books since. This jumped off the library shelf into my hands and engaged me so much I read it in about 24 hours which is something I used to do all the time but rarely get to do any more (mostly I blame me and my life for that rather than the books). The story's about a woman, now grown up with children in the UK, who was adopted into a cult in America as a baby, and about how the past comes back to haunt her. In places it was a little predictable maybe but in the kind of "oh no, this is all going to go horribly wrong, can I read it with my eyes closed?" probably intentional sort of way. A good read for sure.
February 5, 2022
This book took me ages to read despite not being very long because it is just so. Dang. Slow. It does not really pick up at all until way over half way, at which point it only took me a few days to finish because there was finally some action. However, I found the story and build up interesting, and the ending (aka the action) was good with some good twists and turns - however I feel like it could have been bigger and more exciting considering how long it took to get there - and it all finishes/resolves itself within abt one page. Overall I enjoyed it though and this would make a great film/BBC series. 3.5 stars
March 1, 2025
The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy was a deeply disappointing experience—I’m giving it just 1 star. I found the character Hope utterly infuriating; honestly, is she for real? And Laurie? I couldn’t understand what she was even trying to do throughout the book. The connection between the hidden room in her office and her life felt forced and nonsensical. The portrayal of the community was equally off-putting, and the ending—where Hope somehow ends up as part of that same sick community—was just too much to swallow. Overall, this book was a below-average read that left me with nothing but frustration.
May 5, 2018
Laurie spent part of her childhood in a cult in America, she was rescued when nine but returned later. She now lives in the fens with her wife Martha and their three children. Their life brings to become problematic when their eldest daughter becomes obsessed with dancing and her new dance teacher. This was really intriguing at the start with good characterisations, great descriptions of family life with the story moving between present day and Laurie's experiences in the cult. I also liked the final page.
November 13, 2023
This book was so hard to enjoy. As it was very slow paced.
If you enjoy the slow paced thriller then this book is good for you.
The story itself flicks from the present to the past, following the life of Martha and Laurie. Together they have 3 children, and live in an entirely remote area off the beaten track.
Laurie was brought up in a cult as a child and you get a small glimpse into that life.
This book has a good story line, but it’s a matter of personal taste.
I stuck with the book but found it to be too slow to really enjoy the book. I personally prefer a steady or fast paced book.
If you enjoy the slow paced thriller then this book is good for you.
The story itself flicks from the present to the past, following the life of Martha and Laurie. Together they have 3 children, and live in an entirely remote area off the beaten track.
Laurie was brought up in a cult as a child and you get a small glimpse into that life.
This book has a good story line, but it’s a matter of personal taste.
I stuck with the book but found it to be too slow to really enjoy the book. I personally prefer a steady or fast paced book.
March 7, 2018
This was a new book I found in the library and not an author I knew. This book was very gripping. The way that book swung between Lauries former life in a commune, and then the present held your attention. The characters were strong and the descriptions of life in the commune and then her new life with her own family very believable and you wanted to know what would happen and how the story would end. A great read different from the usual spate of thrillers one I would highly recommend
November 12, 2019
This is not the kind of book I would generally read but it did turn out to be very interesting. I like how Duffy makes smooth transitions into different time periods throughout the story. This makes the story all the more intriguing while not revealing too much of the story too soon. I also like the characters: in particular, Laurie and Hope. Overall, despite not being a fan of psychological thrillers, I did enjoy The Hidden Room.
June 30, 2022
Not my sort of book, but I read it for a Book Club.
Apart from not really liking the psychological thriller genre, my main problem with it is that I didn’t believe in it. The cult didn’t seem attractive enough to hold people. I also didn’t believe in the secrecies kept by the main characters. In a relationship of 20 years or so, I think some of the things held back would have been shared. Then there would have been no story.
Apart from not really liking the psychological thriller genre, my main problem with it is that I didn’t believe in it. The cult didn’t seem attractive enough to hold people. I also didn’t believe in the secrecies kept by the main characters. In a relationship of 20 years or so, I think some of the things held back would have been shared. Then there would have been no story.
November 20, 2018
Interesting account of life in a cult and gives a good idea why people brought up in abuse are often drawn back to it. I liked the idea of hidden rooms (there are actually 3 of them in the book) standing for repressed memories which must be kept secret. Well worth reading, as are all of Stella Duffy's books that I've come across.
February 1, 2022
Laurie and Martha are a same-sex couple with three teenage children, a seemingly normal family, although each member has secrets - nothing unusual about that. Except that Laurie had a far from normal upbringing. And a figure from her past intrudes on her new family, threatening to tear them apart.
June 24, 2022
Meh.
I’ve never read any Stella Duffy before,this was a book group choice. Well enough written, but it didn’t grab me. The narrator’s voice was just too…. detached, it didn’t encourage me to care about any of the characters.
Some interesting points about psychological manipulation and how people can be made to believe black is white, given the right conditions.
I’ve never read any Stella Duffy before,this was a book group choice. Well enough written, but it didn’t grab me. The narrator’s voice was just too…. detached, it didn’t encourage me to care about any of the characters.
Some interesting points about psychological manipulation and how people can be made to believe black is white, given the right conditions.
March 8, 2018
Enjoyable thriller about a woman haunted by her early life within a religious cult. Her attempts to have a happy family life come under threat because of the past and the secrets that she, her wife and their daughter keep from each other; building up suspense to a dramatic finale.
August 22, 2021
A reasonable story but I just found reading this rather frustrating. Can't put my finger on it but as a result I couldn't honestly rate it higher. Others will no doubt think I'm harsh others generous which I guess sums things up nicely
January 9, 2022
Thought this would be a thriller - both in terms of storyline and pace, but I would it a bit slower. More of a drama based storyline. Overall it’s not bad, and makes for a good holiday, by the beach read.
July 20, 2022
Yet another gripping yarn from Stella Duffy. What I like about this author is that every story is completely different, she doesn't stick to one formula or genre. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's spectacular.
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