Hideaway

Written by Penelope Douglas, Hideaway is the second installment of the author’s Devil’s Night series, which consists of four primary novels (Corrupt, Hideaway, Kill Switch, and Nightfall), as well as two novellas (Conclave and Fire Night) that serve as interludes after the third and fourth novels, respectively. The series follows four characters (Michael, Kai, Damon, and Will) who form a group called the Four Horsemen, wearing masks and engaging in dangerous, criminal pranks every October 30, a night known as “Devil’s Night.” The series also follows their respective romantic partners, who become involved in the group’s activities. 

During the events of the first novel, Corrupt, Rika (Michael’s love interest) sneaks into the Horsemen’s traditionally debaucherous party, and when Michael catches her there, the two develop a flirtatious relationship. However, the Horsemen were later secretly filmed during Devil’s Night, and when the videos were posted online, they were caught. Kai, Damon, and Will were arrested and sent to prison. At the time, the men assumed that Rika was the one who filmed and posted the videos that exposed their activities. Upon the men’s release, they take it upon themselves to stalk, harass, and torment her as a form of vengeance. (Even in the midst of these activities, Rika and Michael advance their relationship, basing their sexual activities on a mutual taste for mingling fear and arousal; this problematic dynamic conforms to the conventions of the dark romance genre.) 

At the end of Corrupt, the men discover that Rika did not expose their crimes; the real culprit was Michael’s brother and enemy, Trevor, who is also Rika’s possessive ex-boyfriend. They also discover that Damon has been working with Trevor and plans to kill both Rika and Michael. At the waterfront, Trevor places Michael in an impossible situation, forcing him to choose whether to save Will’s life or Rika’s. When Michael balks, Trevor attempts to murder Will by drowning him. Michael kills Trevor. Michael, Will, and Rika escape the crisis unscathed. However, Damon escapes on a speedboat. Rika ultimately decides to join the four Horsemen and becomes fully invested in her relationship with Michael. Corrupt therefore sets the foundation for the events and relationships that shape Hideaway, the second installment in the series.

Hideaway frequently shifts between Kai and Banks’s perspectives, and the story also alternates between descriptions of present events and flashbacks to the characters’ deeply fraught pasts. Kai’s relationship with Banks serves as a contrast to Michael and Rika’s already-resolved story. For Damon and Kai in particular, the emotional and physical scars that they sustained in the first novel define the darker tone of Hideaway. Damon’s betrayal of the group and Kai’s desperate need to exact revenge also add to the emotional stakes driving the plot of Hideaway, and Kai expends much of his energy and focus in his attempts to find and punish Damon. As the novel unfolds, however, he will have to deal with the fact that Banks is Damon’s half-sister and is heavily influenced by Damon’s abusive and possessive control over her. Ultimately, Kai and Damon’s unresolved history drives much of the tension in the second book.