#Review - Hidden Pieces by Paula Stokes #YALit #Thriller #Suspense

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 448 pages
Release Date: August 28, 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Edelweiss
Genre: Young Adult / Thrillers & Suspense

The author of Liars, Inc. delivers a twisted psychological tale about Embry Woods, who is both praised as a town hero and haunted by the secrets she must hide to keep her loved ones alive.  

Embry Woods has many secrets, including the one she carries with her about what happened at the Sea Cliff Inn that night. The fire. The homeless guy. Everyone thinks Embry is a hero, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Embry thinks she’ll have to take the secret to her grave, until she receives an anonymous note—someone else knows the truth. Next comes a series of threatening messages asking Embry to make impossible choices, forcing her to put her loved ones at risk. Someone is playing a high stakes game where no one in Embry’s life is safe. And their last move…is murder.

Paula Stokes' Hidden Pieces is a twisted mystery surrounding protagonist Embry Woods and the events surrounding what happened on the day of December 11. On December 11, Embry and her boyfriend Holden Hassler accidentally start a fire at the Sea Cliff Inn. In order to avoid trouble, Holden leaves while Embry realizes that someone is still inside. Risking life and limb, she rescues a homeless man and is cheered on as a local hero. Only Embry and Holden know the real truth about what happened on that day.

It’s not that I’m fake—I don’t mislead people and I don’t lie (too often). But I keep a lot of secrets. I hold back parts of me so you can see the outline of the puzzle and make a guess about the picture, but that’s all it is—a guess. My inner pieces? I don’t show those to hardly anyone. 

And someone else. There's a mysterious figure involved in this story who forces Embry to make moral and ethical decisions. Should she play along or call his or her bluff? Every time her phone buzzes or a package is delivered, she braces herself. In a matter of hours, she could ruin the life of someone close to her. And either way, someone always loses. The drama is compelling. The blackmailer is a little twisted. The romance between Embry and Holden is intense. 

And the sleepy, coastal setting of Three Rocks, Oregon, where the population is around three hundred, is the perfect balance to this stormy plot. Stokes stays true to her dark, psychological stories, but adds a struggling single mom, a burning building, and a sex tape to the equation. And like Paula’s previous protagonists, Embry is destined to make and learn from mistakes. Hidden Pieces isn't just a thriller about a girl with a secret who's being stalked by a stranger. 

It's also a book about friendship and family dynamics, an exploration of how socioeconomic status can weigh on almost every aspect of a person's life, and a story of self discovery. There's no doubt that Embry is flawed, but she grows and changes throughout the story. Most of us won't ever be embroiled in a murder or blackmail mystery, but if we are, it's not like all the rest of the stuff going on in our lives is just going to magically shut off so we can investigate a crime. 

Embry's main concerns are figuring out who's blackmailing her and protecting the people she loves, but she doesn't just ignore her dog, her after-school job, her worries about the future, her thoughts about her absentee father, etc. The discouraging part of this story is the fact that Embryo, sorry, that's what she's called in the book, is a cheater. Her boyfriend is overseas and he has never once stopped loving her. Embry, on the other hand, is free to move on like nothing has happened. 

According to the author, the story is based heavily on the real life town of Oceanside, Oregon. You don't have to look very far to understand that Embry isn't a happy camper. She's in a very dark place and for very good reasons. She nearly lost her mother to cancer, her bio-dad isn't in the picture after bugging out when she was born, but has chosen to send her unwanted cards. She can't face her best friend and tell her that she's moved on from one boyfriend, to the boy that her BFF once liked. I don't think the cheating part is the central core to this story. It's tertiary, but does drive the actions of others.     

I love a good mystery. This wasn't a good mystery. It's more like a romance novel with a mystery involved. The author leaves a HUGE Easter Egg that the protagonist totally ignored, or missed, or wasn't paying attention to or whatever. I've also learned that the author has made subtle and not so subtle changes between the ARC and the finished copy. If you want to learn more, go to the authors web page.

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