Kirsty Whitlock
- May 17, 2023
- 7 min read

The Ones Who Are Hidden by Kerry Wilkinson. Review

Book Description:

‘Your tattoo… it’s exactly like mine.’ She hesitates. ‘But – I’ve never noticed it before. I must have had it since I was little.’ The ink markings on both of them are delicate, barely visible. Interlinked triangles in the shape of a daisy. But how can two strangers have matching tattoos, they didn’t know they had?

With their parents gone and nobody left to ask, when Georgia and Oliver first come to amateur sleuth Millie Westlake for help with their daisy-shaped markings she thinks the tattoos are a joke. A funny, if unusual, link between two strangers. In the seaside town of Whitecliff, stranger things have happened – especially to Millie herself.

But then Millie finds an artist who remembers giving someone the same tattoo twenty years ago. Someone who spent years hiding in the isolated woods outside Whitecliff – the same place unidentified bodies were once found…

Even as Millie gets closer to answers, she witnesses a shocking robbery that changes everything. And as whispers of what happened in the woods decades ago become louder, how much danger will Millie, Georgia and Oliver put themselves in, to uncover the mystery of the daisy-shaped markings and the dark truth about their pasts?

This gripping and character-driven mystery read is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Ann Cleeves and LJ Ross.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Ones Who Are Hidden' by Kerry Wilkinson.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Kerry Wilkinson, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 10th May 2023.

This is the seventh book I have read by this author. It is also the fourth book in the 'Whitecliff Bay' series. I have previously read 'The Child Across The Street', 'The Party At Number 12' and 'The Child In The Photo', 'Truly, Madly Amy', 'The Boyfriend' and 'The One Who Fell' (First book in this series) which I would also recommend reading.

I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'This gripping and character-driven mystery read is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Ann Cleeves and LJ Ross'. I am a huge fan of both Faith Martin so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Kerry and if this is as good as 'The Child Across The Street', 'Truly, Madly, Amy', 'The Boyfriend', 'The Child In The Photo', 'The Party At Number 12 and 'The One Who Fell' it is sure to be an excellent read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of 45 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in Whitecliff, England, UK 🇬🇧. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makeshifts a it easier to picture. I have actually visited England on several occasions so am looking forward to seeing if I recognise anywhere that Kerry has based the book on.

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonist is Millie Westlake. The benefits of third person perspective with are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.

Well, well, well Wow!!! What another absolute cracker of a book by an extremely talented author!!! This book sucked me straight in from beginning to the explosive ending. It was very well written with excellent descriptions which put me straight into the storyline. The blog and the cover suited the book perfectly.

An absolutely perfect addition to an addictive and edplosive series!!!

This is yet another absolutely fantastic page turner by the extremely talented Kerry. Kerry's evocative writing skills really brings the story to life. I loved the seaside atmosphere of Whitecliff Bay where you can hear the waves crashing and feel the wind in your hair while turning the pages and I really enjoyed returning there in this book after reading the first book in this absolutely epic series!! I am gutted I haven't got round to reading the second and third book but they are on my list and I cannot wait to get stuck into them along with the future books in this fantastic series!! Kerry describes life in a small community perfectly with everyone knowing who is who and who did what or who they think did what, living in a small village myself I see this all the time.

In this brilliant book we see Millie returns to find out the truth about another mystery. This time it concerns an identical Daisy tattoo that is behind both Oliver and Daisys ears. Millie starts investigating the tattoos but ends up discovering much more than she could have ever bargained for!! This book is fascinating, action packed and multi layered with the Daisy investigation, Millie's Godfather and friend Guy having his own secrets along with Jack and Rishi and Millie ending up in a custody battle of her son Eric with her ex husband how is she going to cope and is she safe??? Well, you'll just have to grab your copy today to find out more won't you?!

The storyline is addictive and filled with suspense, tension, mystery and everything you could ask for in a fantastic page turner!! I loved all the twists and turns and throughout it kept me guessing what was going on and who was doing what. I would NEVER have guessed at the ending so a MASSIVE WELL DONE to Kerry . I have read many thrillers and it's getting harder and harder for me to be surprised so great job there. I loved the storyline and just loved everything about it. It was all done perfectly!! An absolutely addictive page turner that kept my heart in my throat on the edge of the seat and absolutely absorbed me. The fact there were so many different red herrings and so many possibilities that all would have worked perfectly I could not put this book down!!! I was so invested in the storyline that I was up until 2am!! I would LOVE to see this turned into a movie!!! I cannot wait to get stuck in to the previous and future books in this series!!!

WARNING ⚠ DO NOT START THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED YOUR SCHEDULES AS THIS BOOK IS ADDICTIVE!!!!

Although this is the fourth book in the series I had would have had absolutely no problems reading it without the others. Any details or events that have previously happened are mentioned in just the right amount of detail to let a new reader know what has happened and yet not too much to bore a previous reader. However, I would recommend you do read the books in order so you can get the backgrounds of the characters and cases she has solved previously especially with the fantastic cliffhangers Kerry ends his books on!!!

THE characters were fantastic, solid and completely believable and I absolutely loved meeting some of them again. The main protagonist is Millie who I really liked from the start. My heart went out to her with everything she was going through. enjoyed getting to know more about her and meeting her friends, ex husband (well not him to be honest as he is an @$$hat) and godfather and I am looking forward to getting to meet her again and learn more about her in the rest of this promising series. She is an intriguing and complex character and I have enjoyed meeting and getting to know her throughout the two books I have read but looking forward to going back and reading about the previous cases I missed also. There was a great eclectic mix of characters from good to bad which always helps to liven the storyline up. They all had such different and strong personalities and all suited the storyline perfectly.. There were such a mix of personalities and its hard really to say too much about any of them without giving too much away!!! Regardless of whether you liked, loved or disliked any of the characters they all work perfectly together to bring this story to life. I cannot wait to meet Millie and more characters in the next book in this series plus the second and third ones. A great cast of characters that come to life thanks to Kerry's extremely evocative writing talent!!

CONGRATULATIONS KERRY ON YET ANOTHER ABSOLUTELY ADDICTIVE PAGE TURNER!!!! AN ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC ADDITION TO A PAGE TURNING AND ADDICTIVE SERIES!! THIS IS EXACTLY WHY YOU ARE ONE OF MY TOP 5 MALE AUTHORS!!! HERE'S TO YOUR NEXT SUCCESS 🥂

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the first three chapters of Kerry's 'The Child In The Photo' which i just as addictive as this book and Kerry's previous books and I would highly recommend it!!

Overall a compelling, addictive, action packed and fantastic addition to an explosive page turning series!!

Genres covered in this novel include Murder Thriller, Psychological Suspense, Literature And Fiction, Murder Suspense, Teen & Young Adult, Suspense Thriller, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Lawyers & Criminals Humour, Murder, Amateur Sleuths, Psychological Thriller, Crime Thriller, English Crime, Noir Fiction and Psychological Fiction amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena, Faith Martin, Mary Burton, LJ Ross. 'The Girl on the Train', 'I Am Watching You', C. L Taylor, Ann Cleeves and anyone looking for a book with a twist they will never suspect!!!

346 pages

This book is £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon, free on kindle unlimited, £7.99 in paperback (at time of review) which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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Author Bio:

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.