Survival horror in an abandoned amusement park? Sign me up!
Leveraging off modern day reality TV, Hide introduces a band of unsuspecting yet all too willing characters to a contest of hide and seek; the person who outlasts everyone in the daily challenges wins a cool 50k. With the game only playable in the super creepy rundown amusement park during daylight, contestants not only have to make themselves unseen but also protect themselves from the heat - not an easy feet in sweltering conditions.
While there's hints at future fame and stardom by the promotors, the actual premise of the contest and what opportunities it brings beyond prize money is kept deliberately vague - with good reason.
As the contest plays out and the number of contestants dwindle at days end, the horror slowly seeps in. Where are the 'found' contestants? Why is there no fanfare or update from the promoters? The contestants are kept in the dark, left to let their imagination run wild secure in their nightly compound.
That, is, until bloodshed reaches their 'oacis' and the innocent game turns violent and very real.
Hide is a lot of fun to read. The characters, far from being fodder for the horror, read 'real' with each bringing a little something to the story; refreshing for survival horror where character depth can sometime play second fiddle to them being little more than bags of blood waiting to be burst.
The steady build up to a nightmare crescendo is excellent; the omnipresent tension heightens the scare factor and keeps the paging turning at breakneck pace. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Hide and highly recommend it to horror enthusiasts.
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