Nowhere To Hide

Rating:
Summary: Review of Nowhere to Hide
Review: Currently living in Canada, Ms. Hovey chose to set this novel in Evansdale, a small town in Maine and home to psychologist Ellen Morgan Harris. Counseling others on problems she knows all too well, Ellen battles her own childhood demons and a predisposition to alcoholism. These, she can handle. It is grief, often underestimated as a prime motivation, which brings her to the attention of both law and outlaw. First, the premature death of her husband knocks her off balance. Then the contemptuously brutal murder of her beloved little sister, her last bit of home and hearth, drives her into a hard-edged and relentless pursuit of her sister's killer. She and the killer seem to have little choice as they follow their respective fates: the prey turns predator and the predator can't stop, even when self-interest would dictate otherwise. Hovey's realistic and understated prose carries the reader along faster and faster to a conclusion that both relieves and saddens...so many lives and so many scars. Hovey's characters are so believable that the reader closes the book after the last chapter as though returning from a visit to Evansdale. Readers who find a restrained description of terrifying events all the more chilling may see Nowhere to Hide as more thriller than mystery. In any case, we have reason to exult over Ellen's triumph and mourn her losses, in equal measure.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting thriller
Review: In Nowhere to Hide, author Joan Hall Hovey has created a riveting thriller that will leave you breathless as psychologist Ellen Morgan puts her own life at risk, playing a dangerous cat and mouse game in order to ferret out the murderer of her younger sister. Hovey is a master of this genre- her fast-paced writing style escalates the tension, compelling the reader to keep turning pages. Her characters are multilayered- full of flaws and demons - the kind of people you have to care about. Ellen in particular is wonderfully developed. The tragic car crash that took her parents' lives, the premature death of her husband and then the horrendous murder of the young sister almost send her into a tailspin of depression. But this is a woman with great inner resources who finally decides to focus her energies into capturing the vicious serial killer - no matter what risks she has to take. Nowhere to Hide is a book I highly recommend to anyone who loves suspense. Just lock your doors and keep the lights on for this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Chiller for a hot night
Review: Joan Hall Hovey's Nowhere to Hide, is a fast moving suspense thriller, that will keep you up all night to finish it. Ellen Morgan, who is still recovering from the untimely death of her husband, is shattered when her younger sister is brutally murdered. Her pain soon turns to rage when she realizes that this man has killed before and will probably kill again and that the police seem unable to catch him. When the evening news wants to interview her about her work as a psychologist, she uses the opportunity to challenge the killer and sets into motion a series of events that will leave you turning all the lights on and locking your doors as you breathlessly await the outcome. Ellen and her sister grew up in an abusive home with alcoholic parents that ended with her sister living for a time in a local orphanage. Ellen senses that the answers she seeks my lie in the old orphanage but before she can really begin to look into her theory, the killer strikes again. As Ellen races to discover the identity of the killer, she finds that in order to live, she has to confront a past she has tried very hard to put behind her. Hovey has created a disturbing look into the mind of a serial killer that will send chills up your spine.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Turn Off All The Lights When You Go To Bed
Review: This book is right up there with the greats, in my opinion. While I think the author could have started off with more action, then perhaps after hooking the reader, gone back to the beginning, it still nonetheless is an excellent read. Once it heated up, I couldn't put it down. It was enthralling, captivating, and I was anxiously anticipating the ending. Ms. Hovey did such a remarkable job with the keeping the reader in suspense and caring about the lead character's fate. I recommend this story without hesitation. Ms. Hovey has a refreshing writing style, which I found to be clear and to the point, and as I stated previously, an absolutely marvelous ability to keep the suspense turned up high.

Synopsis: The story takes the reader into the world of orphanage girls and the depraved persons who either prey on them or allow others to. In this story, two sisters who survive life as orphans, grow up to become professionals. The oldest, a psychologist; the younger, a singer. Unbeknownst to them, the younger sister is being trailed by a sick person from their past. When she is murdered, the older sister, Ellen, finds solace in her best friend, who also happens to have spent some time in the same orphanage. As Ellen's life begins to spin out of control, she takes up the habit which killed her parents: drinking. Her best friend, Myra, who also doubles as her patient, on occasion, has been having weird dreams of which Ellen has been trying to help her figure out for the last year or so. However, after finding out about Ellen's sister's murder, the dreams come back with a rage. Myra is concerned about them, and even asks Ellen what they could mean, but Ellen is too caught up in her own nightmare to really concentrate and focus on their meaning. After Ellen challenges the murderer to come after her a police officer is assigned to protect her. She develops a great rapport with the officer, and when things seem to be less intimidating and the killer makes no further move to contact her, she convinces the officer of her safety and need for solitude. As if right on cue, all hell breaks lose and the reader is panting to keep up with the events in the story. Ms Hovey does an excellent job of fanning the flames of suspense and thrill, page after page until the very last word.

Rating:
Summary: "RIVETING FROM THE PROLOGUE TO THE HAIR-RAISING CONCLUSION!
Review: Very highly recommended

Wow! NOWHERE TO HIDE by Joan HallHovey held this reviewer riveted from the prologue to the hair-raising conclusion. A mesmerizing walk with evil, NOWHERE TO HIDE moves with grace, introducing motive, characters, and background information in a smooth fluid narrative seldom matched.

Willing to break all the rules, Ellen is ruthlessly determined to find her sister's murderer. Bonded by their survival of alcoholic and abusive parents, Ellen was remarkably close to her kid sister Gail. When their parents died in a car crash, Ellen had become like a mother to Gail. So when Gail's body is found, raped, beaten and strangled, Ellen will sacrifice her career and very life to find her sister's killer.

Evil is watching, even as it watched many years ago from its hidden place. Power courses in his veins when he takes a life, and he's thrilled to have an opponent as interesting as Ellen. Using her position as a psychologist, Ellen persuades a news station to give her a live interview. Breaking all the rules, Ellen challenges the murder to come after her, "Why don't you come after me? I'll be waiting for you."

Unable to resist, the evil serial killer takes the bait, leaving the following note on her windshield: "YOU'RE IT."

Hovey writes with a crispness that quickly becomes addictive, sweeping the reader into an engrossing narrative. With the subtle voice of a master, she reveals the weaknesses and strengths of her characters, making the reader a part of the suspense, and also making the reader care very much about the outcome. This reviewer heartily recommends NOWHERE TO HIDE.

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