Hidden Refuge by Miriam Sloan Book Review

About the Book:

Anna Voss witnessed a murder she was never supposed to see — and for fourteen months, the only thing standing between her and the men who want her silenced has been a stolen name and a four-year-old son she's determined to protect at any cost.

When the trail runs out and the network closes in, Anna arrives at Safe Harbor with nothing left but instinct and the alias that's kept her breathing. She expects a safe house. She doesn't expect Seth Calloway — former federal task force, head of security, and the first person in over a year who looks at her like she's a person instead of a problem to contain.

Seth has seen what happens when the system fails the women placed in his care. He won't let it happen again. But Anna's case is different. The threat following her doesn't stop at an abusive ex or a well-connected ex-husband. It reaches into the federal government itself. And the longer she stays, the more certain he becomes: the window is closing, and he's not working with the full picture yet.

She knows what it costs to trust someone with the truth. He knows what it costs not to.

My Review:

Sloan has a writing style I found very engaging. There is much more prose than dialogue or action in this novel. Usually I do not like that but Sloan's writing style is so different, I found it enjoyable. She details emotions and actions in a deliberate and detailed way other authors do not. She builds the understanding of characters and actions without action scenes. It is hard for me to explain the writing style because I have never read anything like it before. I would read another of her novels in a heartbeat.

The novel is a deep dive into the attempts by compassionate people to protect those in need. Here it is a woman who accidentally witnessed an exchange that would be damaging to powerful people. The threat of danger builds as her location may be compromised. Much of the novel centers around the private security fellow at Safe Harbor dedicated to her survival. A potential romance is hinted.

The only thing I did not like about this novel was the repetition. Characters go over the same information many times and I found myself ultimately skipping over some sections later in the novel. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more from Sloan.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Independently published, 193 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through BookSirens. My comments are an independent review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)