Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Hiding in Sunshine Review

Today I have something a little different.  It isn't beauty related at all.  One of my other obsessions is reading so when I received notification that I was getting a book to review from Influenster as part of my Holiday VoxBox I was really excited.  I can often be found reading a book or curled up with my Kindle.  Since I paint my nails a lot, the Kindle is a little easier to manage with wet nails. 

Hiding in Sunshine by John Stuart & Caitlin Stuart

Now onto the book...Hiding in Sunshine by John and Caitlin Stuart was not typically a book I would have picked up.  I normally read science fiction and paranormal romances.  This book is soundly based in reality with not one otherworldly creature mentioned, which was actually quite refreshing.  Within the first 2 chapters I was immediately reminded of reading Dan Brown's Deception Point and Digital Fortress.  Both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.  They were thrilling, suspenseful, and kept me wondering what was going to happen next.  Hiding in Sunshine delivered the same.  The pace was a little slower than I'm used to but it fit the story.  A faster pace wouldn't have made sense for the plot or fit well with the development of the characters.

Here is a description of the book:

Living lives of quiet affluence in a historic, suburban Boston town, Gavin and Lisa Brinkley had no idea how quickly and decisively their lives, and those of their two young daughters, could be upended. A series of events - a mysterious break-in at their home, some menacing tailgating on the highway from Boston, a startling visit from an F.B.I. agent warning of an imminent kidnapping attempt - leads to the family's abrupt uprooting from its comfortable existence into a terrifying new existence on the run, under new identities. This taut thriller by a father-daughter team follows the eleven-year odyssey of an American family on the run, in hiding through the mountain states of the American west, where survival skills and living off the grid are paramount, but so are friendship, cooperation, and resilience. The enemy, always lurking just out of sight, is a foreign cyber-criminal enterprise that launches breathtaking assaults on the American banking system and physical infrastructure, but the Brinkleys also know that the threat is deeply personal, reaching ever closer to them from the shadows of the past. At the same time, Gavin and Lisa discover the perils of wandering too close to the edges of the dark side, in the murky world of cyber-security. A compelling story of suspense and treachery, HIDING IN SUNSHINE is also a celebration of a family's abiding love and courage -- and a young girl's faith in the triumph of the truth.

Here is my review:

This book kept me engaged the whole time.  I very much enjoyed it and couldn't wait to find out what happened next.  Every time I put it down I couldn't wait to pick it back up again.  I was invested in the Brinkley family and their journey through various identities as they struggle to keep their family safe and stay alive.  They make a huge transition from a wealthy family with not a care in the world to roughing it in Montana in the wilderness with made up identities to protect themselves.  At every turn something was challenging their safety, yet they kept up hope that someday they would get their lives back.  Then ending provided a twist that I didn't see coming.  I was surprised and thrilled to see how things ended.  I also appreciate reading a story with issues that are real.  Cyber security and identity theft are very real threats that we face today.  The authors didn't choose to write about pop fiction like vampires and werewolves, they chose to write about something that made me think "some of this could actually happen" and "how much of this is happening now and I don't know about it".  I think John and Caitlin Stuart did a wonderful job and they should be very proud of their book.  You can tell they really put a lot of themselves into it. 

You can check out Hiding in Sunshine on Amazon or Goodreads.  I would recommend this book and look forward to seeing what the Stuarts come up with next.

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