As unnerving as it is mesmerizing, Hidden is an evocative, emotionally charged domestic drama -- a willful and traumatized woman's painful search for the truth about the man who assaulted her one summer night.
Six years after the attack, Maggie Wilson receives a call from the prosecutor who helped put her husband in jail after Maggie identified him as the man who nearly killed her. Told that another inmate has confessed to the crime and that her ex-husband will be freed, the shock plunges Maggie into memories of her stormy marriage to Nate Duke, the ambitious heir to a real estate company. Secluded in an old farmhouse that was her marital home, Maggie relives her marriage to Nate and his abusive treatment of her. But in her present, a very different man is haunting her -- the born-again convict who has confessed to the crime. As his story competes with hers, Maggie pores through trial transcripts, old journals, and photo albums, trying fruitlessly to remember exactly what happened.
Written in spare, elegant prose, Paul Jaskunas's novel reads like a waking dream as Maggie is torn by the question -- was it Nate? Or was it this stranger who seems to know intimate details? And what will it cost her to discover the truth? A work of searing suspense written in the heroine's brave voice, Hidden is ultimately about a woman confronting the betrayal of her body and the ambiguity of her mind.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Six years after the attack, Maggie Wilson receives a call from the prosecutor who helped put her husband in jail after Maggie identified him as the man who nearly killed her. Told that another inmate has confessed to the crime and that her ex-husband will be freed, the shock plunges Maggie into memories of her stormy marriage to Nate Duke, the ambitious heir to a real estate company. Secluded in an old farmhouse that was her marital home, Maggie relives her marriage to Nate and his abusive treatment of her. But in her present, a very different man is haunting her -- the born-again convict who has confessed to the crime. As his story competes with hers, Maggie pores through trial transcripts, old journals, and photo albums, trying fruitlessly to remember exactly what happened.
Written in spare, elegant prose, Paul Jaskunas's novel reads like a waking dream as Maggie is torn by the question -- was it Nate? Or was it this stranger who seems to know intimate details? And what will it cost her to discover the truth? A work of searing suspense written in the heroine's brave voice, Hidden is ultimately about a woman confronting the betrayal of her body and the ambiguity of her mind.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Hidden is a page-turner: poignant and powerful. I was transfixed by the tale Paul Jaskunas has written, and haunted by Maggie Wilson, the wondrous heroine he has given us." - Chris Bohjalian
"This remarkable debut novel from a fine young writer deals on a high level with issues of memory, love, and guilt." - Alison Lurie
"Hidden is a joy to read: the prose, line by line, is breathtaking, the characters come alive in all their complexity, the plot drives to a conclusion both shocking and inevitable. Hidden is a truly wonderful debut." - Dan McCall
"'All a lie needs is telling,' Paul Jaskunas writes, and his thoughtful narrator, Maggie Wilson, is living proof. She peels away the layers surrounding her own near-murder and resurrection so calmly it gives you chills. Hidden is a shifty, low-key thriller, half Spellbound, half Daphne du Maurier." - Stewart O'Nan
"One of the most intriguing things about Hidden is that it's not really like anything you've read before.... It's no small feat for a male novelist to write in the first person voice of a female protagonist, but Jaskunas has it down completely, no hint of a stutter or misstep.... And while this is ostensibly a book about a crime, it is really about the universal mystery of identity." - Anna Quindlen
"Hidden is a beautifully written and intriguing novel, one that takes us into the world of a woman traumatized, a woman fighting quietly for her life." - Kim Wozencraft
"This remarkable debut novel from a fine young writer deals on a high level with issues of memory, love, and guilt." - Alison Lurie
"Hidden is a joy to read: the prose, line by line, is breathtaking, the characters come alive in all their complexity, the plot drives to a conclusion both shocking and inevitable. Hidden is a truly wonderful debut." - Dan McCall
"'All a lie needs is telling,' Paul Jaskunas writes, and his thoughtful narrator, Maggie Wilson, is living proof. She peels away the layers surrounding her own near-murder and resurrection so calmly it gives you chills. Hidden is a shifty, low-key thriller, half Spellbound, half Daphne du Maurier." - Stewart O'Nan
"One of the most intriguing things about Hidden is that it's not really like anything you've read before.... It's no small feat for a male novelist to write in the first person voice of a female protagonist, but Jaskunas has it down completely, no hint of a stutter or misstep.... And while this is ostensibly a book about a crime, it is really about the universal mystery of identity." - Anna Quindlen
"Hidden is a beautifully written and intriguing novel, one that takes us into the world of a woman traumatized, a woman fighting quietly for her life." - Kim Wozencraft
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