Shomi, $6.99, ISBN 978-0-505-52761-5
Sci-fi Romance, 2008
After reading Hidden, I’m convinced that there has to be some kind of fad at the moment to feature emo boys who prefer to sulk when the going gets tough. I’ve read way too many books, of which this one is just the latest, where we have a pretty strong heroine paired with some moping dweeb with a pout that must stretch at least a mile long. There must be a huge clamoring for these heroes, I’m sure. I’m missing something here. Why are these crybaby boys everywhere nowadays?
Hidden is closely related to Driven and I would recommend that you read that one first before you attempt this one. There are some fill-in-the-blanks fun here that will be more enjoyable if you have read the previous book and know the answers beforehand, trust me.
After the fallout of the events that happened in Driven, we have our heroine Tatiana on a mission to stem out the threat of a plague that will cause your body parts to rot and fall off. Naturally, Tatiana is a special person with abilities up to the wazoo that will facilitate the whole “I can see your soul and know you are the one for me!” thing that everyone loves to come across in paranormal romances nowadays. Oh, and she can also kick some butt, which is nice. What she doesn’t know – at first – is that during an encounter where she stumbles upon some locals carrying out a violent brand of vigilante justice, she has been sprayed by infected blood and is therefore now infected with the plague.
Our hero, Tristan, who encounters her during a “clean-up” routine after the cozy little vigilante justice session, knows that Tatiana is now infected and naturally, he makes it all about him. How could he tell her that she will die? Oh, he is so blue. He has to quarantine her without her knowing what he is up to. She is about to die, but he will spend most of the time acting as if he’s the one with the plague. Ugh.
Hidden manages to balance romance and action better than the previous book because the romance here feels more than mere lust in motion compared to that in the previous book. It’s also nice how the heroine manages to swing some knives and generally being very cool in the story without having to be weak or overly emotional in some way to compensate for her toughness. The pacing is fine and the plot turns out to be most interesting indeed. If the hero hadn’t been such a wet blanket with his constant attempt to mimic Eeyore the donkey, this one would have been a most enjoyable fast-paced futuristic romance.
