Customer Reviews

A Hidden Affair: A Novel

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"A Hidden Affair" describes how strong a woman's love can be for the man who promised to marry her, and how enduring that love can be.

Jordan Weiss is on a mission. She has resigned from the U.S. Dept. of Intelligence and is searching for her college boyfriend, Jared Short, in Monaco.

Jordan has an old address and when she finds it, she observes a young woman, who she learns is Nicole Short. Nicole is entering the same building that Jordan is watching and when she follows Nicole and asks her if she knows Jared, Nicole is evasive. When Jordan returns to ask more questions, Nicole has fled.

Jordan meets and Israeli named Aaron who is also following Nicole. He suggests that Jordan and he join forces. They do so and eventually develop a romantic attachment for one another while maintaining a professional mistrust.

Interestingly, we learn of wine making in the area and that wine was used as currency during WWII. There is a good description of events as the Nazis demanded the best wine and the locals attempting to deny the Nazis' of this treasure. What happens to the true vintage of wine becomes part of the mystery.

Jordan Weiss is a strong character and a good match for Aaton but she continues her search of Jared even though events prove that he didn't deserve her devotion.

Pam Janoff writes an interesting story that is well worth reading. With some of the action in places like Monaco, I would have enjoyed more description of the setting.

The historical premise of the novel is riveting and even the minor characters are completely realized.

I remember reading Almost Home, the prequel to A Hidden Affair, when it came out, and as soon as I was done, I emailed the author to find out if there would be a sequel. Almost Home was well-written, suspenseful, and a great story. A Hidden Affair did not disappoint. I do wish I had re-read Almost Home first to refresh my memory, but the author did a pretty good job of repeating the key facts. It was a very quick read and I enjoyed the closure of the ending. The book also made a part of WWII history that I was completely unaware of before a key plot point (I can't say more without giving it away. Now I want to know more about that as well!

At Cambridge University Jared Short and Jordan Weiss were lovers until he accidentally drowned. At least that is what Jordan thought. When the U.S. Foreign Service diplomat learns the truth that her grief for years was for a sham, she needs to know why he faked his death. She leaves the State department to pursue the truth while someone wants her to be silenced on this matter.

Jordon follows leads that take her to Nicole Short who apparently knows Jared and where to find him, but conceals everything. She follows Nicole, which takes her to widower Ari Bruck, whom Jordon believes is an undercover Mossad field operative also interested in Jared though not revealing why. Distrusting each other in spite of their attraction, they agree to team up in search of the elusive Jared as clues taken them all over France from the Riviera to the wine country and onto the rest of the continent.

A Hidden Affair is an intriguing romantic espionage starring a brave female who seeks the truth about the only man she thought she loved until her attraction with Ari. The pair shares in common grief; hers is for her college lover who allegedly drowned in the Cam and his for his late wife and daughter. Filled with twists, fans will want to know what happened to Jared. With a tie to vanished rare wine lost in WWII that enhances the exciting story line, A Hidden Affair is a super thriller.

Harriet Klausner

"Hidden Affair" is the sequel to Jenoff's "Almost Home." While I enjoyed "Hidden Affair" the book started off rather slow and it took some time to engage me in the plot. "Hidden Affair" starts where "Almost Home" ended with Jordan Weiss having left the State Department to search for a boyfriend, who up until just a week before, she had thought was dead. Her journey takes her to Monaco, then Austria, down the coast of Italy and to Greece in search of what seems more like a ghost, if anything. Along the way, she meets a handsome agent who is looking for answers to an age-old mystery that has remained unsolved since WWII. Together they set off to find their answers, which are more interconnected than they first realized, and almost get killed in the process.

I found "Almost Home" to be so incredibly suspenseful, almost from the very start, that I was hoping "Hidden Affair" would keep this momentum. However, it slows down as Jordan begins her journey in Monaco, and takes a few strange tangents that delay the momentum of the plot a bit. Jenoff wraps it up rather nicely and brings it all together in the end, but throughout the book, the story becomes disjointed in places and is sometimes hard to follow. Several times I thought of putting the book down, but I'm really glad I kept reading, the ending is definitely worth it!

I love the style of author Pam Jenoff. Her writing has a flow of continuity that makes for an easy understanding of the story which also makes you not want to put the book down. I've also read the other three books by Ms. Jenoff. The Diplomats Wife is the sequel to The Kommandant's Girl. Excellent books. A Hidden Affair is the sequel to Almost Home. Again, very excellent books. Every story left me on the edge of my chair. I felt like I was in the book, literally. That's because her writing is that good. Once you start reading anything by Pam Jenoff, it's like you are there. Very, very exciting. Cannot wait for Pam's next book. No other author captivates the reader like her.

Jordan Weiss' world fell apart when Jared, her college boyfriend, drowns in the River Cam. Now, ten years later, Jordan is an intelligant officer for the U.S. State Department, and recently asked to be moved to the embassy in London. There, she can help take care of her ailing friend, but Jared's best friend Chris begins questioning Jared's death and soon Jordan receives new information that Jared has faked his death. She quits her job and begins her search - she needs answers. Why did he fake his death? Why did he not contact her and let her know he was alive? She is still grieving for him..

When photographs lead her to a blonde woman called Nicole, Jordan queries about Jared but she denies it. Then when she goes back to try again, Nicole is gone. A Israeli called Aaron is also chasing Nicole, and soon Jordan and Aaron team up to find Nicole and essentially Jared. But along their journey, they begin to have feelings for one another, even though Jordan fights her feelings for Jared. There quest takes them to answers and half way across the world, but also to danger. Is finding the answers to her questions worth her life? Will Jordan survive to decide the winner of her heart?

A Hidden Affair is a thrilling romantic suspense novel that will leave you on the edge-of-your-seat. Author Pam Jenoff's writing draws you into her world of unique and complex characters, with a page-turning plot and a dark and suspenseful mystery. There is many action sequences that will keep you hooked to the pages and the ending is heart-thumping. Definitely recommended reading to any romantic suspense fan!

This is the first book that I have read by this author and I am quite confident that it will be the last. First of all, the idea of the storyline is a very interesting one. A woman who was torn apart by the death of her boyfriend who is not really dead and therefore decides to chase after him all over Europe. It all sounds great in theory.

The story revolves around Jordan Weiss, a federal agent who has left her post in order to track down a college boyfriend who was thought to have died 10 years ago. One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book and that pulled me into it was all of the places that Jordan goes in order to look for Jared, her thought to be dead beau. She basically travels all over Europe, starting in Monaco. Jordan goes chasing after a blond woman, Nicole, who is connected to Jared and finds out later that she is in fact Jared's current wife. She discovers this while teaming up with a mysterious man, Ari, who is also searching for Nicole. There are many secrets that are kept between them as well as a certain chemistry which does evolve into a physical attraction. There's some historical interest in terms of trying to find a coveted bottle of wine with a background story connected to World War II. Like I said, the storyline is great.

However, what killed this book for me were the characters. Without good characters, the storyline really falls apart; many of the characters simply did not seem believable. For me, Jordan Weiss comes across as a bumbling school girl. I can complete understand that there must be millions of emotions that would be going through a woman who has just found out a great love is not dead, however, Jordan just left a federal agent post. It seems as though the minute that she left that post, all of her training suddenly went out the window. She becomes completely dependent on Ari and his connections and expertise which is shady due to the fact that she can't seem to find out anything about him for a good period of time. If I were a federal agent, gongs would be going off in my head and I would stay far away from that!

One thing that made me shake my head was during a scene in which Jordan and Ari are on a yacht headed toward a suspected location of Nicole and Jared. One day they sail right into a storm. The storm is a pretty bad one considering the fact that Ari is knocked over on deck by a wave and says that he knows when they pull into port they will have to get the boat repaired. WHILE THE STORM IS STILL GOING ON Ari and Jordan have sex. Umm... really? I'm sorry, during a storm that could potentially kill me this is just not something that I would remotely be thinking about doing.

I think that Pam Jenoff would have a really great book if she had developed the characters a little more realistically. There is really no hint in this book, from the way that Jordan acts, that she was ever a federal agent and furthermore the details surrounding some of the points of the book can be a little foggy or hard to follow. I finished the book mostly because I was interested in the different locations they traveled to. However, Pam Jenoff is not an author that I would think of reading again.

After reading Jenoff's debut novel for a book group, I have now followed her career and read all four of her novels. She is developing into a favorite author. I enjoy having an author who writes stand-alone novels, but also produces follow-up books. Not only is this an entertaining story, but it also provides an interesting view of Cambridge and rowing. Be sure to read the rest of Jordan Weiss's story in "Almost Home."

Jenoff writes in the afterward of this book that the story started in "Almost Home" was to have ended with that first book. Later, she felt the rest of the story needed to be told. Hence, "A Hidden Affair." She puts a little romance, a little mystery, a few secrets and surprises along the way.

Ex-state department intelligence officer Jordan Weiss is on the trail of a college boyfriend, Jared Short, who supposedly died ten years previous. She has discovered he has faked his death and close friends have lied and betrayed her. Tracking Jared to an address in Monaco, she first meets a mysterious woman named Nicole who has a connection to Jared. She promptly disappears. Next she meets Aaron Bruck, an Israeli with his own reasons for finding Nicole. Together, Jordan and Aaron travel Europe, following leads and becoming romantically involved. But what secrets will both uncover about Nicole and Jared and how will Jordan solve the problem of her attraction to Aaron as opposed to her still lingering feelings for Jared?

Jenoff provides a little background from the first book and I appreciated that information. The first person narrative was also a nice change because I enjoyed the perspective from one character and how she sees the other people and the world around her. This book has the requisite romantic scenes along with the emotional self doubt. This was a very nice read.

Reviewed by Stephen Brayton, author of "Beta" for Suspense Magazine

A Hidden Affair is the sequel to Pam Jenoff's earlier novel Almost Home, although it's tough to see that right away. When one cracks open the novel, there's a feeling that Jenoff's character Jordan has done things before - that there have been experiences and plots that the reader has yet to see, and Jenoff certainly writes in a style that enhances that relationship between reader and character.

It is, however, not as easy to penetrate Jordan's world without knowing about her first story. Jenoff drops little tidbits of information and assumes that the reader will know what she's talking about; there are hints of Jordan's previous experiences and references to people we don't really know, like Sebastian and his treachery. It's not a bad thing, but it also feels a bit offputting to new readers in the series. There's a difference between referencing the prior novel and expecting the reader to have read it, and Jenoff sometimes oversteps the boundary.

A Hidden Affair sounds more Harlequin romance-esque than it is. The overarching plot deals with Jordan, a government agent, attempting to find her college sweetheart Jared after she learns that he's not dead; the story expands from there by incorporating a black market wine sale that draws a Mosaad agent named Ari into the mix and threatens Jordan's life.

For the most part, A Hidden Affair is a bland wild goose chase with romantic elements interspersed throughout. Jordan's search takes her to various European countries, and along the way she's thrown off the scent by Jared's new wife Nicole. From there, she meets Ari, falls in love with him while still harboring feelings for the married-with-children Jared, and eventually seeks closure from him by confronting him about why he left.

The most intriguing part of this whole affair is the wine hunt, which finally brings a bit of action to the plot by adding a bunch of Italian thugs. But the entire wine search is hastily thrown together, and it feels like Jenoff includes it exclusively to both a) provide some interesting twists for the reader and b) give Jordan a real reason to wonder if Jared will take her back.

This is the real problem I had with A Hidden Affair - the fact that Jordan pursues Jared over so much territory and through all the danger for a chance at closure with him. It's just not very believable, especially after she learns that Jared has a wife and child that he loves. Let him be! my senses were screaming. Jordan's motivations are weak, and the questioning she does about why she's chasing after Jared shows how conflicted Jenoff is with her character. There's no clear reason at the end of the novel just what Jordon got out of finding Jared besides a bit of closure and a feeling in her heart that she still could love this dude, and I'm not convinced there ever is closure in this situation.

The writing is good, though, and Jenoff clearly has talent writing imagery and well-drawn metaphor. Her prose is concise, intelligent, and very readable. It's her characters that need a bit of work; Ari feels underwhelming even after the intimate times we spend with him, and the same with Jared, who still feels like a ghost even after we meet him.

A strongly written novel about a rather boring subject, A Hidden Affair focuses too much on the chase, one that is not believable enough to hold the reader's attention. Jenoff is unable to give Jordan a genuine reason for her search besides closure, and the lack of character motivation results in a novel that feels like it's hiding something from the reader - a pulse. And even at the final conclusion, the realism of the novel fades into explosions of ridiculous proportion that sink the boat.