Nowhere to Hide

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.

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.

Wow! NOWHERE TO HIDE by Joan Hall Hovey 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.Reviewed by Cindy Penn...Also recommended: Listen To the Shadows also by Joan Hall Hovey

Ellen Harris Morgan has had a lot of tragedy in her life. At 16 her mother and father were killed in a auto accident where they were both drinking. Even when they were alive Ellen was still the care giver for her younger sister... Then she lost her 36-year-old husband to a massive heart attack. All she had left after that was her little sister Gail Morgan, whom she had raised after her parents died. Ellen was so happy that in 5 days she would see Gail as she was flying from New York to spend the holiday season with Ellen in their hometown of Evansdale, Maine. Ellen was proud of Gail who was becoming a big time singer. When Ellen gets to the airport to pick up Gail, she finds out that Gail was not aboard her flight. Ellen senses that something is terribly wrong. She goes to use the phone and as she begins to dial, she sees in her peripheral vision a policeman walking towards her and walking with him is her best friend Myra. Ellen notices the look of anguish on Myra's face, and all at once feels a cold hand touch her heart and the blood drain from her body. Gail has been savagely beaten, raped and strangled. Ellen loses touch with reality at first and than she knows what she must do; go to New York and try and find the killer herself. Ellen goes on TV to try and draw out the killer but as she faces the camera, she knows she must challenge the killer to come after her. That's when things really get scary. At first Ellen gets a call from the killer. Then a note is slipped under the windshield wipers of her car that says in red letters YOU'RE IT. The hunter has become the hunted... I loved Joan Hall Hovey's first book LISTEN TO THE SHADOWS and I love NOWHERE TO HIDE even better. Ms. Hovey has created a serial killer who is truly a monster of all monsters, that is so terrifying you will make sure that all the lights are on and that all the doors are locked up. I actually checked mine twice while reading this book... This is definitely a 5 star read. Pam Stone

Extremely well structured, good plot, realistic and credible characters. It is the ordinariness of the actors in the play that make this book excellent. It's a type of puzzle with each story, seemingly unconnected to each other, falling into place at the end. An example is Myra (a friend of Ellen's) who, due to her affection for Ellen, is able to re-live extremely painful events that she had removed from her past. The latter will prove vital for the conclusion of the story. The serial killer is presented in the first chapter thirteen years before the events take place, a chapter fundamental as Ellen goes through pain, physical and emotional, to find the strength she needs to challenge her sister's killer. In conclusion one can say that Nowhere to hide is impossible to put down until the last page is reached.BASTULLI MYSTERY LIBRARY