Tobias Hill (1970–2023)

This novel was very entertaining, and often beautifully written. There was a particular poignancy in reading about an entirely new medium of currency and the sudden global loss of confidence in it while we are in the midst of the current economic downturn, especially as so much of the media clamours for revenge against a few individual scapegoats
As a former tax inspector myself I found the depictions of Inland Revenue investigations rather implausible (I certainly wish that we had had access show more to even a fraction of the information channels available to Anna Moore!) However, the awkward relations between the various Revenue colleagues did seem all too uncomfortably familiar.
The novel hovers effortlessly between genres - part science fiction, part thriller and part love story, and frequently reminded me of William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition": it has that same background of unfocused melancholy, partially evoked by the marvellous descriptions of London's skylines.
I just wish that there could have been a bit more about cryptography itself. show less

Perhaps some of my comments I made as I was reading this book will best show what I thought of it as I was reading it -

"Wow, now here's an unlikeable protagonist." The main character is not a very likable kind of guy. He's just gone through a messy divorce and he's a bit gloomy. As we find out in the story, everyone else is fairly similar to Ben in the sense that they are, as a group, very unlikeable. No one really likes Ben and we find that no one has ever really liked Ben. Then again, show more these people that do not like Ben aren't really likable themselves.

I should probably mention the plot at this point - Oxford scholar goes off to Athens to find himself and escape his ex-wife and he ends up on an archaeological dig with a few people that really don't like him and who seem to have something to hide.

"This book is rather strange. And the main character is a bit. . .disturbing. Just reading it I feel drugged in some way, it has a heavy, distorted feel to it." There is a bit of a dreamy quality to this work. The author manages to keep things hidden and it was this aspect of the book that I liked.

"I think the only reason I keep reading this is to find out what's hidden." Then again, with so many unlikeable people that I finally thought to myself - I hope they kill each other off at the end, the only reason I made it to the end was because there really is a mystery here. Something is hidden. Is it literal? Figurative? Ever going to come to light?

The writing is very good, but there are no heroes here. show less

Following the relationships between families that live in tenements on Columbia Road in Bethnal Green, the story starts in 1948 amid the bomb sites left behind after the Second World War. The outlooks for the families are contrasted, with some content to earn enough to keep their families together, while others are more ambitious. Their backgrounds are also very varied, including refugees from Nazi Europe, recent immigrants from the Commonwealth and locals of many years standing. Hill’s show more writing captures their struggles to provide and to attain their aims, but at differing costs to the families. Then a life-changing event leads to a jump forward to 1968 and an exploration of how this event affected the families. Hill explores in a moving and sympathetic novel, the price that people may pay for pursuing their dreams while ignoring their family and friends. show less

A truly absorbing and immensely enjoyable read (despite the fact that the 'will I love it?' 'thingy' on LT said there is a very small chance of me loving it - and which also makes me feel very lucky for having won it in the first place).

Ben Mercer, fleeing the wreckage of his marriage, joins a group of young archeologists on the outskirts of Sparta and, although he is quickly accepted as a co-worker, there is something not-quite-right about the other workers and their passion for the past. show more Soon, Ben finds he is falling for Natsuko, one of the diggers, and longs to be accepted into the group, but his need for acceptance soon begins drawing him into a strange and obbsessive life, based on the beliefs of the ancients Spartans.

Not only is this a wonderful book to take on a visit to Greece - the varied loactions around Athens and the Peloponnese are skillfully and accurately drawn, evoking in a few brushstrokes the essence of each distinct setting - but it is a gripping tale of intrigue and passion.

Other reviewers have compared The Hidden to both John Fowles's The Magus and Donna Tartt's The Secret History and the comparisons are justified. The ancient secrets, the close-knit group of obsessives and, perhaps most importantly, the unmistakeable sense of place that runs through all these books makes them a 'holy trinity' of essential reading for lovers of Greece - not to mention lovers of a gripping story, brilliantly told. Each one of them made my heart beat faster. show less