REVIEW : The Hidden People by Alison Littlewood

The Hidden People - Alison Littlewood
Publisher : Jo Fletcher Books
Release Date : October 6th 2016
Genres : Historical Fiction, Horror
Pages : 384
Rating : DNF

Pretty Lizzie Higgs is gone, burned to death on her own hearth - but was she really a changeling, as her husband insists? Albie Mirralls met his cousin only once, in 1851, within the grand glass arches of the Crystal Palace, but unable to countenance the rumours that surround her murder, he leaves his young wife in London and travels to Halfoak, a village steeped in superstition. 

Albie begins to look into Lizzie's death, but in this place where the old tales hold sway and the 'Hidden People' supposedly roam, answers are slippery and further tragedy is just a step away . . . 

 *I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

 
The Hidden People had the potential to be a great book. The story begins with the first meeting of Albert and her innocent and sweet cousin Lizzie. Ten years later, he learns that she was murdered by her husband. He decides to look into her death and moves in a village full with people influenced by superstitions.

I was excited to read it but as soon as I read the first chapter, I knew the writing would be a huge issue for me. It is so slow. The pace never increased. Every page was a struggle and I started to look at the page number every two minutes with the feeling I wasn't reading anything. Hours passed but the story didn't move forward. The same things were said over and over again and at some point I forced myself to keep reading. I didn't want not to finish it. I genuinely wanted to read it all hoping it'd have an ending worth reading like We Were Liars. But in the end, I couldn't.

I wanted to shake the main character to do something useful instead of whining about the fact that his so sweet cousin was dead. I didn't understand his obsession, either. He met her once. I couldn't be invested in this case because I didn't care about Lizzie at all. I wanted flashbacks or something to make me feel something for her but even though the author gives us a little something, it wasn't enough.

Albert annoyed me a lot. I didn't like the way he was with his wife and having only his lackluster perspective bored me.

384 pages is way too long for a story like this. Lots of scenes could have been removed and it would have made it easier to read, in my opinion.