ARC Review: Hide in Place by Emilya Naymark

Hide in Place
Author: Emilya Naymark
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (February 9, 2021)

Description: She left the NYPD in the firestorm of a high-profile case gone horribly wrong. Three years later, the ghosts of her past roar back to terrifying life.

When NYPD undercover cop Laney Bird's cover is blown in a racketeering case against the Russian mob, she flees the city with her troubled son, Alfie. Now, three years later, she's found the perfect haven in Sylvan, a charming town in upstate New York. But then the unthinkable happens: her boy vanishes.

Local law enforcement dismisses the thirteen-year-old as a runaway, but Laney knows better. Alfie would never abandon his special routines and the sanctuary of their home. Could he have been kidnapped--or worse? As a February snowstorm rips through the region, Laney is forced to launch her own investigation, using every trick she learned in her years undercover.

As she digs deeper into the disappearance, Laney learns that Alfie and a friend had been meeting with an older man who himself vanished, but not before leaving a corpse in his garage. With dawning horror, Laney discovers that the man was a confidential informant from a high-profile case she had handled in the past. Although he had never known her real identity, he knows it now. Which means several other enemies do, too. Time is running out, and as Laney's search for her son grows more desperate, everything depends on how good a detective she really is--badge or no.

My Thoughts: All Laney Bird ever wanted to do was become a cop. She was hired by the NYPD and has worked as a detective and an undercover officer. She spent a lot of her time with drug dealers trying to take down a Russian mob. At home was her husband Theo who was an artist and her son Alfie who had issues like uncontrollable temper tantrums and a major stutter. She thought everything was fine in her life...until it wasn't.

When her case blows up and her husband packs his bags after telling her that he's tired of her and Alfie holding him back and that he never loved her anyway, Laney resigns from the force and takes her son to upstate New York.

Three years have passed since their relocation. But one day Alfie goes missing. He's all she has left in her life and she's determined to find him. The local police aren't very worried. Alfie has run off before when stress got too much for him. The school isn't worried either. In fact, they might be relieved because Alfie isn't an easy student. Laney and the principal are on a first name basis after 54 visits to his office because of things Alfie did.

Laney is determined to find her son because she knows something is really wrong. Things get even more difficult when she learns that her former partner has recently died of a heroine overdose and the man who was wrongly convicted when the case against the Russian mob blew up is out of prison and has revenge on his mind. 

Laney conducts her own investigation using access to police databases she shouldn't have and social media to build a picture of what happened to Alfie and who might have taken him.

Alfie is also a point of view character in this story as he tells what is happening to him after his kidnapping. I really enjoyed seeing the world through Alfie's eyes and loved that he found his voice and his courage because of his kidnapping.

I liked Laney's determination. I felt bad for her because she felt that she was so alone but glad that she finally realized that she had friends who were willing to help her.

The story was fast-paced and filled with tension. The characters were well-rounded and engaging. I recommend this one to all fans of thrillers. 

Favorite Quote:

But world saving comes at a price. Harry used to call it shit-colored glasses: spend six months looking at people being their absolute worst to each other, and pretty soon even your nearest and dearest will acquire a craptastic gloss.

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