Hidden

by Karen Wiesner

Sometimes what you don't know can hurt you...

Following a troubled childhood, Sybilla Nygard marries her much older entrepreneur partner, Tobias Ocampo. They've been inseparable since they started Offbeat Enterprises together. Their publishing house produces a book series focused on unusual homes.

After suffering memory loss about his past, Tobias inherits an elaborate, isolated estate at the top of Bloodmoon Mountain in Bloodmoon Cove. The reports and rumors swirling about the house, suggesting death and secrets hide within, make it all the more appealing to Syl as their next Offbeat Homes project. But her biggest motivation is discovering more about Tobias's beginnings. Although Syl and Tobias don't relish spending winter trapped in isolation, they bring along their closest family and friends to keep them company while they search out the mysteries of Howling Halls.

The nightmare Syl has been having as long as she can remember returns. The voice of a ghost urges, Find me, leading her to hidden spaces and the skeletons of a family desperate to escape its demons...all while monstrous things are waking up hungry.

371 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 11, 2021

About the author

Creating realistic, unforgettable characters one story at a time…

In addition to being a popular writing reference instructor and writer, professional blurbologist and freelance editor, Karen Wiesner is the accomplished author of 144 titles published in the past 25 years, which have been nominated/won 134 awards, with 19 more releases contracted for spanning many genres and formats.

Karen's multi-award-winning and bestselling Incognito Series (romantic action/adventure/suspenses) has been revised and reissued.

Karen’s first foray into her favorite genre, romantic science fiction, is available now with the Arrow of Time Chronicles, including IMMUTABLE, INEVITABLE, INDELIBLE, and INDOMITABLE.

Karen's award-winning Denim Blues Mysteries (Christian romantic mystery trilogy with a private investigator, police procedural and amateur sleuth installment) is available now.

Karen writes the multi-award-winning Falcon’s Bend Series (police procedural mysteries) with author Chris Spindler of Auenwald, Germany. Books 1-6 and three novellas collections are available now.

Karen’s multi-award-winning Family Heirlooms Series (Christian romances) is now available. Books 1-7 of the spin-off series, Friendship Heirlooms Series, are also available. All titles are set in Karen's fiction town of Peaceful, Wisconsin. Her Peaceful Pilgrim Series is set in Peaceful, a modern-day small community with old-fashioned values and friendly people you'll want to get to know and visit often. Available now are HOME, Book 1; DESTINY, Book 2; ONCE UPON A CLICHÉ, Book 3; and A PERFECT MATCH, Book 5. Look for four more books in the series with REKINDKLED, Book 6, 2022; HEARTS ABLAZE, Book 4, 2022; AFTER THE GLITTER FADES, Book 7, 2023; and EXILED HEARTS, Book 8, 2023.

Karen’s Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series focuses on ghosts and horror and is set in her fictional Erie County, Wisconsin. Books 1-6 are now available. Books 7-12 as well as the first novella collection will be published between 2022-2024.

Karen’s Wounded Warriors Series (women’s fiction) and Gypsy Road Series (contemporary romances) have been revised and reissued along with her Angelfire Trilogy (contemporary romances). The spin-off series, Angelfire II Quartet, is also available now including ONLY THE LONELY, MIDNIGHT ANGEL, SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT, and PROMISES IN THE DARK.

Karen's writing reference titles include the bestselling FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS as well as WRITING THE FICTION SERIES: The Guide for Novels and Novellas, BRING YOUR FICTION TO LIFE: Crafting Three-Dimensional Stories with Depth and Complexity, WRITING BLURBS THAT SIZZLE--AND SELL!. THE POWER OF PROMOTIONAL GROUPS, and COHESIVE STORY BUILDING. Her new writing reference is titled CPR FOR DEAD OR LIFELESS FICTION: A Writer's Guide to Deep and Multifaceted Development and Progression of Characters, Plots, and Relationships.

Karen’s book of poetry, Soul Bleeds The Poetry, Melodies, and Other Wanderings of Karen Wiesner (previously released as Soul Bleeds The Dark Poetry and Other Wanderings of K.S. Wiesner), is available now, reissued and expanded.

Karen also writes children's books including TAKING RESPONSIBILITY BUILDS TRUST (Making Good Choices Series, Book 1) has been reissued. TAKING CARE OF YOUR THINGS (Making Good Choices Series, Book 2) will be reissued TBA. KERI IS CUTE CUTE CUTE; I CAN TOUCH THE SKY; and CODY KNOWS with Linda Derkez are currently out of print.

From 2003 to 2014, Karen was the founding member of Jewels of the Quill, a popular promotional group of women authors that was featured in the September 2003 issue of RT Book Reviews. Jewels of the Quill produced two award-winning group anthologies per year from 2005-2011 (all currently out of print). Karen edited all 14 anthologies and designed the covers as well as contributing a novella to each. With the group anthologies, Karen started many new series’, which have been revised and reissued along with the single title novellas:

Reviews

[Margaret Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-crafted amnesia plot is always enthralling. Tobias has no memory of his family or early years. From his perspective, his life began in the midst of his military service. Now he and his wife, Sybilla, have an apparently ideal life in terms of both their intense mutual love and the material prosperity and fulfilling work they enjoy. They have close friends, including Wolf, his former Marine comrade. Tobias’s inheritance of Howling Halls, a house on a mountaintop in Bloodmoon Cove, from the parents he doesn’t remember changes everything. Tobias, Sybilla, and their companions plan to spend only a short time in the house unless they decide it’s suitable for a volume in their “Offbeat” book series. Of course, the reader knows complications will derail their plans. Sybilla’s unexpected pregnancy and Tobias’s limited mobility from a recent accident make the project risky from the start. The danger of their isolation at a site where weather can turn dangerous with little or no warning is heightened by the discovery that Howling Halls, although modern and luxurious, is haunted—maybe by one or more ghosts, but also by something more alien and lethal than a ghost. The detail of the elevator that won’t go up to the top floor is unusual and delightfully creepy. Tobias also finds out he had a sister who died young. The temptation to disregard the local ghost expert’s warning not to interact with spirits becomes almost impossible to resist. As any fan of haunted-house fiction would expect, forces both natural and supernatural conspire to keep the characters from leaving and, once they escape, impel them to return. The reader never feels like yelling, “You idiots, don’t do that,” because their behavior has consistently believable motivations. The connections between the enigmas of Tobias’s amnesia and the house itself are skillfully interwoven in the buildup to the terrifying revelation of how they fit together. Filipino folklore, obviously carefully researched, adds rich layers of supernatural mystery. The truth about Tobias’s past comes as an astonishing, horrific shock. Established fans of the series will recognize recurring characters among the residents of Bloodmoon Cove. As with most of these books, however, it’s in no way necessary to have read other novels to enjoy this one. Given the shattering facts about Tobias’s background, the happy ending he attains with Sybilla requires (for me, at least) some suspension of disbelief, but the characters are so engaging and have suffered so much that one welcomes and rejoices in their ultimate happiness.