THE HIDING PLACE - Karen Harper
MIRA
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-2588-8
ISBN-10: 0-7783-2588-1
November 2008
Suspense

Colorado, 2007

Three years ago, Tara Kinsale operated Finders Keepers, an investigation agency that specialized in finding children abducted by non-custodial parents. She found where her best friend’s husband had taken their daughter Claire. Against Tara’s warnings, Alexis decided to confront her ex by herself. Tara followed, but was too late. Alexis’s husband nearly killed Tara. She woke from a coma eleven months later to learn he murdered Alexis that night and was serving a lifetime prison sentence. Tara was also told her husband, Laird Lohan, divorced her, remarried, and left the state while she lay in a coma. With Claire's grandmother's more recent death, Tara became Claire's guardian.

At her first physical since her injury, Tara learns she had a baby during those lost eleven months. Only with a second confirming examination does she begin to believe the possibility. She wants to discover the truth about her lost child and what happened. To top that disclosure, she believes someone is trying to harm her. Is the threat from one of the targets of a former investigation, or is it from the rich and powerful Lohan family, in whose clinic she spent her coma and recovery?

Nick MacMahon trains tracking dogs and has just returned home from a military consulting job in Afghanistan. He was there when his sister Alexis was murdered but couldn't leave. He is home now to take care of Claire, his only living relative. The Army recently offered him a job to train tracking dogs in North Carolina. He knows he owes Claire's temporary custodian big time, but later realizes a mother-daughter relationship has developed between Tara and Claire. How is he ever going to separate Claire from another mother? His worries increase when he uncovers evidence of someone spying on Tara and Claire.

THE HIDING PLACE offers a great story in a beautiful setting described so you all but smell the mountain air. You can only commiserate with Tara as she deals with her losses, particularly her grief over a child she never knew, and then admire her for the determination to find answers. Nick is resolved to help Tara, first from obligation and then because of his strong attraction. The cast of secondary characters creates a believable world where conflicting wants and desires make a predictable outcome impossible. Author Karen Harper examines what family means through the juxtaposition of the Lohans to the relationship that develops among Tara, Claire, and Nick. There is adventure, suspense, and an enthralling mystery to add to the romance. What more could you ask for?

Robin Lee