Ask a Bookseller: Hide

Now that we’ve arrived in the last month of 2022, lists of the year’s “best of’s” will start popping up in every category. This December, we’ll be getting a few of those top picks from booksellers around the country.

Sam Halter-Rainey at the Book Loft at German Village in Columbus, Ohio, knew right away what his book recommendation of the year was: the novel “Hide” by Kiersten White. Halter-Rainey says it’s a supernatural thriller with “Squid Game” or Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” vibes.

The novel follows a large-scale adult competition of hide-and-seek in an abandoned amusement park whose grand prize is a life-changing sum of money. Fourteen down-on-their-luck contestants enter the park with hopes of finally getting their big break at week’s end, but things quickly start to get eerie.

The seekers appear to be not quite human. We discover strange connections between the contestants and the park. White’s social commentary about generational wealth and the people who get left on the sidelines adds layers to the story.

Halter-Rainey listened to the book and found himself stopping the action so he could theorize what would happen next. He calls “Hide” an inventive, suspenseful read with twists that will leave readers in shock.

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