The Shadows We Hide by Allen Eskens

Joe Talbert is back in this highly anticipated title The Shadows We Hide!!  We are really excited to bring you our reviews from this Traveling Sisters group read.  It is now available, so if you haven’t read it we highly recommend getting your hands on it.  

The Shadows We Hide by Allen Eskens

Brenda’s review

Allen Eskens is a favorite author of ours and I have read and loved all of his books.  I think we read most of his books in our group. I was very excited to see Allen Eskens brought back Joe from The Life We Bury and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Thank you to HBG Canada and Allen Eskens for Norma, Lindsay and my ARCs and the opportunity to read this intriguing and exciting story here with The Shadows We Hide. We all were left cheering after reading and discussing this title.

The Shadows We Hide is the sequel to The Life We Bury where we meet and get to know Joe Talbert and his family.  Allen Eskens drew us in right away with the well-developed characters. He has this way of bringing such emotion to the story through the dynamics between the characters making them very real for us.  

In The Shadows We Hide we learn who might be Joe’s father and that brings a mystery to the story when he is found dead. We are taken to a small town where secrets are hidden and Joe is determined to find answers. The gripping story slowly unfolds with well plotted and perfectly paced twists.  We were glued to our books, turning the pages as fast as we could to that satisfying outcome that had us guessing right to the end.  Norma was so glued to this story, she read it in 24 hours, waking up with the best book hangover ever. 

The ending left us all cheering with how it all wrapped up and we really enjoyed discussing the ending.   If you haven’t read The Life We Bury yet we strongly recommend reading it and following it up with The Shadows We Hide.  You are in for a real treat.

Norma’s review

Suspenseful, gripping & thrilling!

THE SHADOWS WE HIDE by ALLEN ESKENS is an engaging, interesting, fast-paced and excellent mystery novel that pulled me in right from the very first page and held my attention right to the very end.  I was totally immersed in this suspenseful storyline and thoroughly enjoyed the narrative, the mystery and the characters.

ALLEN ESKENS delivers a complex, well-written and well-plotted read here with memorable and realistic characters, a great mystery and some surprising twists and turns along the way.  I absolutely loved how this story played out and I did not guess the ending at all. And I am so happy that I didn’t because I absolutely love it and find it so satisfying when the pieces of the puzzle all fall into place as the story unfolds and we learn the reveals right along with the characters.  

Eskens’ ease of writing and his choice of words is so appealing and highly entertaining.  He has this perfect skill of immersing you totally into the emotional side of the characters making the mystery that much more thrilling.

I was absolutely thrilled and pretty excited to revisit much-loved characters from Eskens’ first book, THE LIFE WE BURY, which I absolutely loved too.  Even though this is a sequel I think it would also work out really well as a standalone.

Lindsay’s review

A thrilling and suspenseful follow up to The Life We Bury.

Joe Talbert Jr. has graduated from college and is a journalist at the Associated Press. He comes across an article about the murder of a man named Joe Talbert in a small town a few hours away.   Desperately curious to find out if this could be a link to the father he never knew, Joe finds himself digging up details and chasing answers to try to sort through the small town’s secrets.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel from start to finish.  The writing is solid and suspenseful. I was glued to the pages, trying to piece together how things would play out.  The heart-pounding intensity and shock-factor really kicked up a few notches near the end – wow! There were a few things left open in the end, but I was still very satisfied and felt that it was a great way to leave the story.   I hope the intention was to leave the door open for Book #3.

I highly recommend this novel!   If you haven’t read The Life We Bury, I strongly suggest starting with that one so you can get the full backstory on Joe.  He is a fantastic character that I love rooting for.

Norma’s Stats:

• Cover: Eye-catching, intriguing, and an excellent and fitting representation to the storyline.
• Title: Intriguing and an extremely fitting representation of the storyline.  I absolutely loved how the title played into the storyline.
• Writing/Prose: Well-written, catchy, suspenseful, and smooth.  Absolutely love Eskens’ writing style!
• Plot: Engrossing, suspenseful, interesting, fast-paced, and entertaining.
• Ending:  Surprising, gripping, and intensely satisfying.
• Overall:  A fantastic, highly entertaining, enjoyable and immersive read!  Would highly recommend!
  

Let’s Chat!

Have you read The Shadows We Hide?  Are you adding it to your want to read list?

Have you read any other books by Allen Eskens?  Drop us a comment!  We would love to hear from you!