Hidden by Catherine McKenzie

This was a Kindle First book that I received for free.

The reader is drawn immediately into the lives of Jeff Manning, his wife Claire, and his co-worker and close friend, Tish. Jeff is tasked with firing a man who used to be his boss, and is stressing about it, so he calls Tish, who works in HR, for advice. He gets through the firing and decides to walk home rather than take his car. Bad move. Jeff is killed by a car on his way home, but he continues to narrate every third chapter of the book. Claire and Tish, the women he left behind, narrate the alternate chapters.

When each new chapter begins, it takes a minute to realize who is speaking, but usually by the second sentence it is clear. Claire and Tish both mourn Jeff, but we’re never really sure of the extent of Jeff and Tish’s relationship. Did they or didn’t they? Claire gradually finds out more and more of the connection between Jeff and Tish, and it soon begins to consume her. To further complicate matters, Claire was once engaged to Jeff’s brother, Tim. As we go along through the chapters, McKenzie weaves the lives of Jeff, Tish, Claire, Tim, and even their children into an intricate, but very human, story.

The book is very well written and has a compelling story that kept me turning the pages. The characters are believable, as is the story. The only thing that bothered me is that a dead person was narrating. This is the second book I have read in the last couple months with a dead guy telling the story. Maybe it’s just me. I did like the book very much though.