It's 1879, and Lenox is convalescing from the violent events of his last investigation. But a desperate letter from an old servant forces him to pick up the trail of a cold case: the murder of an apothecary seven years before, whose only clue is an odd emblem carved into the doorway of the building where the man was killed. When Lenox finds a similar mark at the site of another murder, he begins to piece together a hidden pattern which leads him into the corridors of Parliament, the slums of East London, and ultimately the very heart of the British upper class.
At the same time, Lenox must contend with the complexities of his personal life: a surprising tension with his steadfast wife, Lady Jane, over her public support of the early movement for women's suffrage; the arrival of Angela Lenox, a mysterious young cousin from India, with an unexpected companion; the dizzying ascent of his brother, Sir Edmund Lenox, to one of the highest political posts in the land; the growing family of his young partners in detection, Polly and Dallington; and the return of the problems that have long bedeviled one of his closest friends, the dashing Scottish physician Thomas McConnell.
The Hidden City by Charles Finch left me with a strong sense of disconnection. This is very clearly not a standalone novel, and while that alone can create some distance for a new reader, the issues here go beyond not having read the previous books in the series. The narrative itself feels scattered, as if it cannot decide what story it actually wants to tell.
The focus shifts repeatedly: there is the shadow of Charles’s now-deceased cousin, concern for the cousin’s daughter and her beloved friend, a cold case that never fully anchors the plot, and then Charles’s own illness enters the picture. Each thread could be compelling on its own, but none are developed deeply enough to feel satisfying. Instead of weaving together into a cohesive whole, these elements compete for attention, leaving the novel feeling unfocused.
As a result, the book reads more like a transitional installment than a fully realized story. Important emotional beats are introduced and then set aside, and the mystery lacks the urgency needed to pull everything together. Overall, The Hidden City feels like a filler novel—one that exists to move pieces into place for future books rather than to stand on its own or deliver a truly engaging experience.
Overall, I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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