The Hiding Place by John Burley *** BLOG TOUR ***

A chilling and twisted tale of cat and mouse – perfect for fans of Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben.

She can’t reach him … but he can get to her …

Dr Lise Shields works alongside some of the most dangerous criminals in America. 

As a psychiatrist she goes further than many, trying to work out what motivates these depraved and deadly individuals. 

When she gets close to one patient, Jason, she realises that his story isn’t black and white, and perhaps they’ve got the wrong man. But in letting Jason in, and believing his story, Lise soon realises she has put herself in terrible danger as she uncovers secrets, lies and unanswered questions. 

Is Lise living on borrowed time? And when she reaches the point of no return – where will she hide?

Welcome to my spot on the Blog Tour for The Hiding Place by John Burley.

The Hiding Place by John Burley is published by Avon Books in ebook on 30 July 2015 and paperback on 27 August 2015.  The Hiding Place is John Burley's second novel, his first; No Mercy was published in July 2014.

Dr Lise Shields is a psychiatrist in Menaker, a high-security hospital in America, she treats some of
the most dangerous patients in the country.
The story begins as Lise begins to work with new patient Jason Edwards. Lise is a little concerned that Jason has been admitted to Menaker with no paperwork and no details of why he has been admitted. Her superiors at the hospital do not seem too concerned about this lack of knowledge, but there is something about Jason's case that Lise feels uneasy about.

Jason begins to open up to Lise. He tells her about his childhood, and his sister who has always protected him, but she has been gone 'for around five years now'.

There is something unsettling about Lise, something about this story and the events that unfold that don't feel quite right to the reader. This could be frustrating, you could get annoyed and say 'hey, this is pants, this wouldn't happen', but you know, you don't.  Why? Well, for me, it was because the air of mystery and the feeling of unease that John Burley so cleverly portrays with his writing is just so engaging that you find yourself completely caught up with the story.

One of my favourite authors is Dennis Lehane, and from about a third of the way into The Hiding Place I got the feeling that I got when I was reading Shutter Island.  Sure, it could have been that both of the stories are set in a psychiatric hospital, but it's not just that. There is that real cold feeling of dread and anticipation running throughout the book that hooks the reader that both of these authors do so very well.

There are some pretty full-on action scenes, and at times Lise becomes something of a 'Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible' character.  But, then again, does she? Does she really? There are questions running throughout the story, the reader will have suspicions about every character. Who are they, are they who they say they are? What the hell is going on?

All I can really say is; read The Hiding Place. Read it and enjoy it and then sit back and consider how incredibly clever it is. How thrilling and totally mind-boggling is that plot?

I really enjoyed The Hiding Place. I had no idea what to expect from this author, and really took a chance when asked to be involved with the Blog Tour, but I'm so glad that I did. I've now bought his first novel and can't wait to read it.

The Hiding Place is most certainly on my 'highly recommended' list.

My thanks to Avon Books and Charlotte from LightBrigade PR who invited me on to the Blog Tour and sent my copy for review.

An extract from The Hiding Place

For most patients, treatment can occur in an outpatient setting— in an office or a clinic— and while it is true that short- term hospitalization is sometimes required, with proper medical management and compliance patients can be expected to function in the community and thereby approach some semblance of stability and normality. 

This is how it is for the majority— the lucky ones, whose illnesses have not claimed them completely— but it is not the case for the patients here. Too ill to be released into the public, or referred by the judicial system after being found either incompetent to stand trial or not responsible by reason of insanity, Menaker houses the intractably psychiatrically impaired. It is not a forgotten place, but it is a place for forgetting— the crimes committed by its patients settling into the dust like the gradual deterioration of the buildings themselves.

The word asylum has long since fallen into disfavor to describe institutions such as this. It conjures up images of patients (there was a time when they were once referred to as lunatics) shackled to concrete slabs in small dingy cells, straining at their chains and cackling madly into the darkness. To admit that we once treated those with mental illness in such a way makes all humanity cringe, and therefore one will no longer find “asylums” for such individuals, but rather “hospitals.” And yet, for places like Menaker, I’ve always preferred the original term. For although we attempt to treat the chronically impaired, much of what we offer here is protection— an asylum from the outside world.

Some of this, perhaps, is too bleak— too fatalistic. It discounts the aspirations and capabilities of modern medicine. But it is important to understand from the beginning what I am trying to say. There are individuals here who will never leave— who will never reside outside of these grounds. Their pathology runs too deep. They will never be restored to sanity, will never return to their former lives. And the danger, I am afraid— and the great tragedy for those who love them— is to cling to the hope that they will. 

John Burley attended medical school in Chicago and completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Centre’s Shock Trauma Centre in Baltimore. 

He currently serves as an emergency medicine physician in Northern California, where he lives with his wife and daughter, and their Great Dane and English bulldog.

Check out his website at www.john-burley.com
Find him on Facebook
Follow him on Twitter @JohnBurleyBooks






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