An outstanding 5 star psychological thriller. Exceptional, amazing, jaw dropping, twisted……… Need I say more, other than, this is a must read, especially if you enjoy similar thrillers to me. Seven friends gather on Boxing Day to walk round their local nature reserve to view the birds. Little do they know when they set off that one of them is a killer and won’t stop until they finish what they set out to do. When all is quiet, a shot breaks the silence and one of them is dead. In an attempt to return to the visitors centre to get help, the remaining friends split up into two groups. The snow keeps falling, making their journey treacherous. Who will make it back? What secrets do they hold over each other? Who can they trust? Written from the point of view of all seven characters. This might sound like it’s hard to follow but it isn’t at all. As the chapters unfold the reader slowly gets to know and understand each character, just revealing snippets along the way. Then, boom! The pace suddenly goes from 0 to 60 as the race is on to get to safety. I’m still picking myself up off the floor after the final sentence! What an ending to a thriller full of so many secrets and lies. This is the first book I have read from Nell but it most certainly won’t be the last.

This was a taut, edge-of-your-seat thriller. I could only read it when my son was asleep because it was so absorbing.

This was a fab atmospheric thriller featuring seven acquaintances on a Boxing Day bird watching trip on a closed nature reserve. When one member is shot in one of the hides it leaves the other six full of suspicion of the others. The isolated location, inclement weather and the dynamics between the group members made this a great page turner and I enjoyed reading the story from each different perspective. The individual stories gradually unfolded really well and the end was chilling. 9/10

Hide By Nell Pattison It is always great to find new Authors to add too my shelf and Nell Pattison is one such author that I will add, Hide is a claustrophobic, whodunnit of the highest order. we follow 8 characters with the setting of the nature reserve being one of those 8 and this is what stood out for Me and made the book really work. Seven birdwatchers enter the reserve for a Boxing Day walk to watch the starling murmuration all 7 have secrets and when one killed the fear and paranoia and the struggle to survive the night is at the heart of this story. Pattison tells the story by giving over a chapter to each of the seven as we get events from there POV and as the night draws in and the snow storm begins to fall the reserve takes on a character of its own giving the reader a real sense of panic and fear as our characters start to give in to that fear and the prospect of being hunted whilst trapped in acres of dense snowy marshland. The writing is good and all the main cast has their own unique voice as we the reader try to work out whodunit. Emily who is deaf and has a hearing aid in the form of a Cochlear is so well writing that this only adds to the tension, when ever I found Myself with this one character My heart was going ten to the dozen as she stumbles and runs through the said reserve. The book is really held together by the writing and is very believable as each characters fear and own paranoia really ramps up the tension I also never worked out the killer or how it was done so I tip my hat to Nell Pattison. The book is also elevated by the very last few pages of the book which I never saw coming some may not like this but I found it just clever and great writing. This is a tight and thrilling whodunit and I loved it. Well worth your time and hard-earned cash. I would like to thank Netgally the Author and Avon Books UK for the ARC of Hide in return for an honest review.

Lauren worked at a nature reserve and really enjoyed her job. She had a sister, Emily, who she had only just reconnected with and they were slowly getting to know each other as Emily lived in London. Lauren belonged to a group that did nature walks and Emily joined them on the walks sometimes. Lauren had arranged special permission for them to go on Boxing day for a walk to watch the starling murmuration which was about four pm. It would be the first time the group had been on the reserve in the dark. Everyone had been looking forward to it until the little upset with Alec the week before when he was a bit drunk and said things he probably shouldn’t have. He hinted he knew secrets about everyone in the group and it made them all feel uneasy. On the day there was definitely a feeling of unease as the group met at the visitor center before setting off for their hike into the reserve, about four or five miles they were going. When they reach the big bird hide, Morna and Dan decide to go in there while the rest of the group go on. Alec takes the next small hide, Lauren is the next one to find a spot with Kai finding a spot soon after leaving Ben and Emily who find a hide but Ben ducks out with a lame excuse of going to sort out something with Alec and disappearing into the rapidly approaching darkness. Not long after the murmuration starts then sometime after that there is a gunshot and Alec is shot dead! Ben is found by the hide with a massive bump on his head and protesting his innocence which on the surface isn’t fully accepted. The remaining six break into two groups of three and go different routes back to the visitor center, certain that the killer is in one of the groups. But have they set their sights on the right person to be the killer? I just loved this story. It was a totally different setting to anything else that I have read. The descriptive writing was brilliant, I felt like I was there and the amount of research required must have been immense but the story was worth it. Highlights the problem encountered by the deaf community if their hearing implements fail.