Hidden Place

“With its exploration of racism, American jingoism, dysfunctional families, and lost love, this work is moving, suspenseful, funny, thoughtful, and sad. It will appeal to a wide range of readers . . .” —Library Journal

“Intriguing and absorbing. Shiflett has a powerful eye for characters and how the stubbornness, vanity, and fears of ordinary people can precipitate a descent into hell . . . Story-telling of the highest order.” —Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting

Hidden Place is Shiflett’s suspenseful and provocative literary debut, set in Chicago and Puerto Escondido, a small Mexican beach town 150 miles south of Acapulco. Told in a strong vernacular voice, the story focuses on six major characters, all of them highly flawed and uncomfortably real. The narrator, Roman Pearson, and his girlfriend, Mila Popovic, take a vacation together to Escondido in the hopes of patching up their deteriorating relationship.

In Escondido they become involved in a cultural conflict between the local Indians and the baby-boomer hippies from the US who have overrun the town. One violent act of retribution between the two cultural groups leads to another, and eventually a little girl is accidentally killed. Roman is torn between trying to save his relationship with Mila and turning in the main instigator of the conflict—another gringo from Oklahoma by the name of Jay—to the authorities. To complicate matters, Mila is drawn to Jay and has an affair with him. The story is about Roman’s struggle to find the courage to do the right thing and promote a more respectful coexistence between two divergent communities. It is also about the ever-increasing conflict between the hedonistic “haves” of the first world, and the opportunistic “have nots” of the third world.