But telling it may save her life.
Arabella Lane, senior executive at a children's publisher, is found dead in the Thames on a frosty winter's morning after the office Christmas party. No one is sure whether she jumped or was pushed. The one person who may know the truth is the newest employee at Parker & Lane - the office temp, Eleanor.
Eleanor has travelled to London to escape the repercussions of her traumatic childhood in outback Australia, but now tragedy seems to follow her wherever she goes. To her horror, she has no memory of the crucial hours leading up to Arabella's death - memory that will either incriminate or absolve her.
As Eleanor desperately tries to remember her missing hours and uncover the events of that fateful night, her own extended family is dragged further into the dark, terrifying terrain of blame, suspicion and guilt.
Caught in a crossfire of accusations, Eleanor fears she can't even trust herself, let alone the people around her. And soon, she'll find herself in a race against time to find out just what happened that night - and discover just how deadly some secrets can be.
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Tim Willis collects the manila folder and sees his last client of the day is Eleanor Brennan. PROLOGUE
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(@Legend_Times, 2 November 2020, 316 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 17 November, #Legend100)
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I've read other books by the author and been very impressed so I was looking forward to The Hidden Hours. This has been my favourite or her books so far. The author uses some narrative devices I love and find very effective; flashbacks and unreliable narration. The fact Eleanor cannot clearly remember events the night Arabella died leaves her wide open to become a suspect and brings everything she says or thinks into question. Can we trust anything she says? Is she telling the truth or a liar? Was she there when Arabella died? What really happened that night? As Eleanor struggles to recover her memories and prove her innocence, the lives of everyone connected to Arabella fall apart as her affairs and volatile marriage and behaviour are revealed. There are also flashbacks to traumatic events from Eleanor's past which have left her emotionally scarred. These events are not really linked to Arabella but given interesting insight into Eleanor's backstory and personality. I loved the misdirection and all the twists and turns. The Hidden Hours is a corker.
