Review: The Hiding Place by Simon Lelic

Synopsis: Four Friends. One Murder. A Game They Can't Escape.

'It was only a game.' ~ Until a boy went missing.
'No one was meant to get hurt.' ~ But a body has been found.
'Just some innocent fun.' ~ Except one of them is a killer.
Ready or not, here I come.  It's time to play hide and seek again.

I actually read this in one sitting in December 2021 - so obviously I was held fast in its grip. The Hiding Place follows on strongly from The Search Party, though this can be read as a stand-alone.

A dying boy prays to God that no-one will find him - but they did - 22 years later. Can Fleet and Collins solve this cold case, thrust upon them with no anticipation of it ever being solved. But solve it they do, bringing the secrets of a posh school out in the open as they seek redemption for the child.

Brilliant narrative, alternating between the current investigation and the boy's last days.  Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which at first seem to fit but then don't as they will be found to fit somewhere else.

Lelic's tenth book and my second from him - both being fabulous reads.