ARC Review: The Buried Hours by R. S. Grant

The Buried Hours
Author: R. S. Grant
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (December 5, 2023)

Description: Is she following a path of redemption or an enemy’s revenge? A crime reporter’s traumatic past comes back to haunt her in a twisting novel of lies, betrayals, and killer secrets.

Investigative crime journalist Signe Gates’s life became a nightmare the day she was kidnapped and drugged. After forty-eight missing hours, she woke to a blur of unsettling memories and a warning from her unknown abductors: tell anyone what happened and they’ll die. They’ve already proved they will deliver on that threat.

For two years, Signe has been haunted by what she knows she did and terrified of what else could be buried in her memories.

Then an informant tells her two men recently found dead in Yosemite are connected to her missing hours, and more answers await her in the park’s backwoods. But she must hurry. Desperate to know who targeted her and why, she has no choice but to embark on the dangerous journey.

With a seasoned hiker acting as her guide, Signe ventures into the wilderness to solve a crime, get justice for the crimes committed against her, and overcome her demons. If only she could trust the man leading her into the backwoods…

Because with each new suspicion, deliverance is starting to look more and more like a trap.

My Thoughts: This thriller stars investigative journalist Signe Gates who is trying to rebuild her life after she was kidnapped, drugged, raped and tortured. Besides her self-confidence and sense of security, her ordeal cost her the husband refused to believe what had happened to her and who divorced her and accused her of cheating on him.

Signe has been living in fear because her abusers convinced her that they were watching her closely enough that any attempt to go to the FBI would result in the death of someone she loved. She is also living with guilt because she gave up some of her confidential sources while she was drugged and at least two of them were murdered as a result. 

When she gets a text from a source she's named DiscoFever telling her that two deaths in Yosemite were somehow related to her kidnapping, she needs to go there and find out what she can if she ever wants to reclaim her life. But to go, she needs a guide and calls her ex Leo for help in finding one. 

Cole Banner is an archaeologist who is slated to be the face of Leo's new video series is drafted to be her guide to Yosemite. But Cole has an agenda of his own and is determined to use Signe to accomplish it. 

Signe doesn't know who she can trust. As she investigates the deaths in Yosemite while undertaking a grueling hike to get to the rendezvous deep in the wilderness of Yosemite, she comes to trust Cole and comes to love him. But there are betrayals and more betrayals as she investigates and the course of her new life takes some major twists and turns, 

This story deals with human trafficking and is an intense thriller. If you are triggered by stories of rape which is described in brutal detail, this isn't a story for you. If you are interested in characters who overcome great damage and struggle to rebuild their lives, this one was excellent. 

Favorite Quote:

He didn't say it had all been her imagination, and she was glad for that.

Truth was, she wasn't certain she hadn't imagined it. Her brain was ripe for creating horrors where there were none.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.