The 2nd installment of Shojai’s dark, female-driven domestic thriller series featuring pet-centric plots:A mysterious contagion will shatter countless lives unless a service dog and his trainer find a missing cat . . . in 24 hours.A STALKER hides in plain sight. A VICTIM faces her worst fear. AND A DOG seeks the missing–and finds hope.Eight years ago, animal behaviorist September Day escaped a … behaviorist September Day escaped a sadistic captor who left her ashamed, terrified, and struggling with PTSD. She trusts no one–except her Maine Coon cat Macy and service dog Shadow.
Shadow also struggles with trust. A German Shepherd autism service dog who rescued his child partner only to lose his-boy forever, Shadow’s crippling fearof abandonment shakes his faith in humans.
HIDE AND SEEK continues the story begun in LOST AND FOUND. September must solve an epidemic of Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, evade a relentless sadist from her past, and protect her chosen family from the killer. September has only 24 hours to uncover the truth about Macy’s mysterious illness or pay the deadly consequences.
When September learns to trust again, and a good-dog takes a chance on love, together they find hope in the midst of despair–and discover what family really means.
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Hide And Seek (The September Day Series, #2), my second read from author Amy Shojai. A well-written story from a very good author. December seemed to be my month for new authors, January & February & then March continued the trend, and now April. “I received a free Author’s Direct audio copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.” The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I look forward to reading Show and Tell (September Day #3). (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
September Day escaped from a man who kept her captive eight years ago but it left her with internal scars. She doesn’t fully trust anyone other than Macy, her Maine Coon cat, and Shadow, her service dog. Now there’s an epidemic of an illness with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms affecting both animals and people. In addition, a sadist from her past is back in September’s life. Can she put the clues together in time to save others while trying to escape with her life?
I found this book a little harder to get through than the first one but it was successful. It was difficult for me to get through the first half but that was mainly due to my not wanting to read certain things. The second half of the book flew by for me. The book was well-written with well-rounded characters, some of whom you’ll like and others you won’t. I am looking forward to the next book in the series and do recommend this one. I suggest you read the two books in order for the most enjoyment and benefit of the series.
Hide and Seek is the second book in the September Day series. Unfortunately I had not read (or listened to) the first book, so it took me a little bit to figure out who some of the players were. There were definitely enough hints for me to figure out the general background, and it didn’t take away from this story. The suspense certainly hooked me and I didn’t want to put it down until I got to the end.
Amy Shojai is both the author and narrator for this book, and she did a great job with both! I really like how she incorporated the animals into the story and I especially loved when we were able to experience things from Shadow’s point of view.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.
Love Amy, love her characters.
This is second in a series of mystery books. September Day gets involved in another murder. The man was a local celebrity for a reality tv show. September’s old nemesis (a stalker) also comes back into the picture. There is a mysterious illness associated with the show which is aging people and animals and giving symptoms like Alzheimers. Her dog, Shadow is featured showing therapy and tracking skills. There is some profanity.
This is an exciting, suspenseful thriller that is told from multiple points of view, including an intriguing perspective by Shadow, September Day’s service dog. Animal behaviorist, September Day, escaped a sadistic captor eight years ago, but it left her struggling with PTSD and trusting no one except her German Shepherd service dog and her Main Coon cat, Macy. Now, her past is rearing its ugly head again and a mysterious illness is striking people and animals, including her beloved Macy. The narrator of the audio book did a great job, she gave individual voices to the characters and put tension and emotion in all the right places. This is a fast paced, suspenseful story that will have you on the edge of your seat and story and leave you wanting more of these great characters.
CAUTION: If you have been a victim of abuse, this story may not be for you. There are references to abuse that while not horribly explicit, could be disturbing.
Rating: M or PG 18-ish
(mature audiences due to references to abuse) I wouldn’t recommend it for middle schoolers, but the plot line is probably okay for high school.
Some strong language but no F-bombs. Thank you, Amy Shojai!
No sex, but references to it as part of the abuse.
Budding romance
Violence – the bad guys are ruthless, creepy.
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NO SPOILERS:
Content: The plot line is excellent and realistic. September, the main character, has successfully eluded her sociopathic stalker for years. Because of circumstances set into motion in the first book of the series, her stalker has found her again.
Meanwhile, people and animals are developing Alzheimer-like symptoms. The cause is unknown; that there is an external cause is unsuspected by most. The reader easily figures out WHO is causing this to happen, but exactly how is not immediately apparent.
September and her dog, Shadow, along with other well-developed characters pursue the villains. Figuring out who is a villain and who has been duped furthers the plot line.
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My reaction: As the two threads of the plot came ever closer together, I became more and more emotionally involved. It was my personal responsibility to keep reading in order to save the lives of the dog, the cat, September, her friends, and a large group of innocents including some children.
I truly enjoyed the chapters written from Shadow, the companion dog’s, point of view. This device is not used too often, and is done in a believable way.
If this is helpful for you, I would easily compare Amy Shojai’s ability to create suspense to that of Dean Koontz.
Additionally, because the author is a scientist, at the end of the book is a well done fact/fiction section where she explains about dog training, her speculations about dog thoughts, and a little chemistry.
Recommended!
Available on Amazon. I bought it for my Kindle.
WOULD have given 5 stars, but the ending is not complete making me feel I HAVE to buy book 3 to hopefully get some loose ends tied up.
BUT IT DID NOT. So that was a huge disappointment. While some questions about her stalker are revealed, never enough to feel the story is complete AND you get no insight into the family and seeing them come around, so that was very disappointing. I was not as impressed with this story as the first book. I found the opening chapter a bit confusing and reread it 3 times…too many characters bombarding you at once…
I found the story line to be unique, but I figured out the problem way too soon, like by chapter 6 or so, so that was another disappointment.
SPOILERS
People hating her what happened in the first book MADE NO SENSE as she was trying to save someone and did not cause any of the things that happened, so that was a pissy thing to have in the book and kind of did not make sense.
AGAIN…this woman knows more dead people in her very short life than I do at 65…so a bit much, the constant deaths around her.
There is no really good ending leaving you feeling exploited to by the 3rd book. LIKE HER FAMILY and her sister and her nephew/son and her life…just too many unanswered questions after 2 books.
and I have A VERY HARD TIME WITH AUTHORS THAT EXTORT ME TO BUY THE NEXT BOOK. It is a shame because an author should have enough faith in their writing and in their characters and stories to END IT and let me WANT TO BUY THE BOOK…not feel I have to because that is why I stop reading authors and move to another one – because they write a good book each book so I keep buying their works even when they start another series…because they respect ME, THE FAN, THE BUYER enough to give me a completely satisfying book.