{"id":26135,"date":"2020-08-21T08:29:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T12:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=26135"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:58:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:58:58","slug":"review-hidden-by-laura-griffin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/21\/review-hidden-by-laura-griffin\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f Hidden by Laura Griffin"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-26135\" data-postid=\"26135\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-26135 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hidden-laura-griffin.jpg?w=640\" title=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f Hidden by Laura Griffin\" alt=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f Hidden by Laura Griffin\">\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify; color: #fff;\">When a woman is found brutally murdered on Austin\u2019s lakeside hike-and-bike trail, investigative reporter Bailey Rhoads turns up on the scene demanding access and answers. She tries to pry information out of the lead detective, Jacob Merritt. But this case is unlike any he\u2019s ever seen, and nothing adds up. With the pressure building, Jacob knows the last thing he needs is a romantic entanglement, but he can\u2019t convince himself to stay away from Bailey.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify; color: #fff;\">Bailey has a hunch that the victim wasn\u2019t who she claimed to be and believes this mugging-turned-murder could have been a targeted hit. When she digs deeper, the trail leads her to a high-tech fortress on the outskirts of Austin, where researchers are pushing the boundaries of a cutting-edge technology that could be deadly in the wrong hands.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify; color: #fff;\">As a ruthless hit man\u2019s mission becomes clear, Bailey and Jacob join together in a desperate search to locate the next target before the clock ticks down in this lethal game of hide-and-seek.<\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg?resize=146%2C44\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0Aug 25, 2020<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Texas Murder Files<br \/><\/em><strong>Book: <\/strong>1<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong>\u00a0Warm\/Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong>\u00a0$7.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Hidden<\/strong> is the first book in the new <em>Texas Murder Files<\/em> by <em><strong>Laura Griffin<\/strong><\/em>. The story is about <strong>Bailey<\/strong>, a crime beat reporter and <strong>Jacob<\/strong>, an Austin detective. These two are passionate about their jobs which would normally make them somewhat advisories. But mutual respect and attraction has them forming a bond as they work together on the death of a woman that was murdered on a jogging trail.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The murder mystery\u00a0 in this book was really entertaining for me. The fact that the woman they find on the trail, Dana Smith, doesn\u2019t appear to really exist sets off a really intriguing story. As a fan of true crime podcasts and investigative journalism, this story was right up my alley. A lot of these scenes reminded me of watching an episode of Law &amp; Order or listening to an episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I won\u2019t give away any of the details of the mystery, I\u2019ll only say Griffin handles these plot points very well. Doling out just enough information as the story went on to keep me interested til the last scene. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing which is pretty impressive since I pride myself in figuring out mysteries right away.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What didn\u2019t work for me was the relationship between Jacob and Bailey. I\u2019ve always been a fan of romantic suspense and I\u2019m happy to suspend reality to believe that a cop and reporter would end up together. But I didn\u2019t feel like I ever got enough in the head of either of these two to know why they were falling in love. The sex scenes were brief and a little tepid, and any emotional conversations seemed stunted.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since this is the first in a new series I am hoping that other characters in this novel, such as Jacob\u2019s partner will get a chance at a book. Even though I wasn\u2019t a huge fan of this love story I did enjoy the book overall and will be keeping up with this series for sure. Fans of a good detective book that is more centered on the investigation and less on the action will probably enjoy this offering. But if you\u2019re looking for high stakes and a lot of action you may want to check out this author\u2019s other series, Tracers.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Lindsey<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3iVgK8q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/hidden\/id1489857461?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/hidden-laura-griffin\/1135255099?ean=9780593197332\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/hidden-141\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Laura_Griffin_Hidden?id=YRnBDwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a woman is found brutally murdered on Austin\u2019s lakeside hike-and-bike trail, investigative reporter Bailey Rhoads turns up on the scene demanding access and answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,116,128,48],"tags":[148,217,423],"class_list":["post-26135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkley","category-lindsey","category-penguin-group","category-reviews","tag-3-5-stars","tag-contemporary-romance","tag-romantic-suspense"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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She tries to pry information out of the lead detective, Jacob Merritt. But this case is unlike any he\u2019s ever seen, and nothing adds up. With the pressure building, Jacob knows the last thing he needs is a romantic entanglement, but he can\u2019t convince himself to stay away from Bailey.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify; color: #fff;\">Bailey has a hunch that the victim wasn\u2019t who she claimed to be and believes this mugging-turned-murder could have been a targeted hit. When she digs deeper, the trail leads her to a high-tech fortress on the outskirts of Austin, where researchers are pushing the boundaries of a cutting-edge technology that could be deadly in the wrong hands.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify; color: #fff;\">As a ruthless hit man\u2019s mission becomes clear, Bailey and Jacob join together in a desperate search to locate the next target before the clock ticks down in this lethal game of hide-and-seek.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0Aug 25, 2020<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Texas Murder Files<br \/><\/em><strong>Book: <\/strong>1<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong>\u00a0Warm\/Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong>\u00a0$7.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Hidden<\/strong> is the first book in the new <em>Texas Murder Files<\/em> by <em><strong>Laura Griffin<\/strong><\/em>. The story is about <strong>Bailey<\/strong>, a crime beat reporter and <strong>Jacob<\/strong>, an Austin detective. These two are passionate about their jobs which would normally make them somewhat advisories. But mutual respect and attraction has them forming a bond as they work together on the death of a woman that was murdered on a jogging trail.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The murder mystery\u00a0 in this book was really entertaining for me. The fact that the woman they find on the trail, Dana Smith, doesn\u2019t appear to really exist sets off a really intriguing story. As a fan of true crime podcasts and investigative journalism, this story was right up my alley. A lot of these scenes reminded me of watching an episode of Law &amp; Order or listening to an episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I won\u2019t give away any of the details of the mystery, I\u2019ll only say Griffin handles these plot points very well. Doling out just enough information as the story went on to keep me interested til the last scene. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing which is pretty impressive since I pride myself in figuring out mysteries right away.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What didn\u2019t work for me was the relationship between Jacob and Bailey. I\u2019ve always been a fan of romantic suspense and I\u2019m happy to suspend reality to believe that a cop and reporter would end up together. But I didn\u2019t feel like I ever got enough in the head of either of these two to know why they were falling in love. The sex scenes were brief and a little tepid, and any emotional conversations seemed stunted.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since this is the first in a new series I am hoping that other characters in this novel, such as Jacob\u2019s partner will get a chance at a book. Even though I wasn\u2019t a huge fan of this love story I did enjoy the book overall and will be keeping up with this series for sure. Fans of a good detective book that is more centered on the investigation and less on the action will probably enjoy this offering. But if you\u2019re looking for high stakes and a lot of action you may want to check out this author\u2019s other series, Tracers.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Lindsey<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3iVgK8q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/hidden\/id1489857461?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/hidden-laura-griffin\/1135255099?ean=9780593197332\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/hidden-141\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Laura_Griffin_Hidden?id=YRnBDwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}