I must start by quoting the back cover:

"Something to Hide is the fourth of Nicholas Monsarrat's series of short novels SIGNS OF THE TIMES in which he comments with perceptive insight on the problems attendant to this day and age. The first three books in the series dealing respectively with nuclear holocaust, treason in the Cold War, and 'Wildcat' strikes are already PAN BOOKS."

Well, it seems Mr. Monsarrat's subject matter is continuing to slide downhill. Perhaps he should have saved nuclear holocaust or treason for last and started with 'Wildcat' (love the quotation marks) strikes or perhaps with this novel. Because apparently the next problem "attendant to this day and age" is a middle-aged man picking up a pregnant teen-age hitchhiker who proceeds to manipulate him with various threats to his perceived position in the community, then leaves him with a little problem on his hands. In another back cover quote, the Times Literary Supplement compares it to a Greek tragedy, which, while still a bit overblown, is at least more accurate. This is the second book of Monsarrat's that I have read (and reviewed on LibraryThing) and in both cases the writing itself is better than the underlying story. But Something to Hide errs in the direction of having too much story whereas Smith and Jones had too little.

Having said all that, I don't want to imply that this book isn't a pretty good read. After all, the back covers of most of the books I read tend to be wildly inaccurate (any Gold Medal novel from the 1950s for instance). This book is very much in the tradition of those noir novels, in fact. Watching the protagonist struggle through his predicament is not quite as painful as observing John D. MacDonald's subject in Clemmie, but you have the same inclination to reach out and slap some sense into him. Of course, he may have his own reasons for how he acts....

Monsarrat tries to do a little too much with the story, and the climax, or more accurately, the after-climax is something you'll guess pretty early on. Still, this is a relatively worthwhile way to spend your time, and to his great credit, Monsarrat doesn't drag the story out any longer than it needs to be in order to reach its conclusion. ( )