Hide and Seek, Chris Carter

Hide and Seek is Chris Carter’s first standalone novel. It leaves behind the brutal murders and graphic crime scenes that have become a hallmark of his Robert Hunter series, replacing them with psychological suspense. “People only see the decisions you made, not the choices you were given.” That line alone suggests that this time, the story will not revolve around another Robert Hunter investigation.

When the Nightmare Begins After the Sentence

Sam Stewart has managed to do something that for a long time seemed impossible — escape an abusive marriage. Her husband, Nelson, is brought to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Sam should finally be free. But before he is taken away, Nelson makes her a promise. He will come for her, no matter how long it takes.

Sam is given a new identity and becomes Mary Smith. She moves, tries to stay unnoticed, and attempts to build a new life while the man she fears most remains behind bars. But Sam knows Nelson well enough to understand that prison does not necessarily mean safety. And so the game of hide and seek begins.

Except the question gradually becomes more complicated than simply where Mary is hiding and when Nelson will find her. Because in this novel, almost nothing is quite what it seems.

A Story Carter Has Carried for 17 Years

On August 27, 2026, the Read and Buried podcast released a new conversation with Chris Carter about Hide and Seek. The episode itself is presented around the 17-year journey behind his latest novel, as well as readers’ reactions to such a dramatic change in direction.

That becomes particularly interesting when those seventeen years are placed in the context of Carter’s career. The first Robert Hunter novel, The Crucifix Killer, was published in 2009. In other words, the story behind Hide and Seek appears to reach back almost to the very beginning of Carter’s career as a novelist.

While Robert Hunter became the protagonist of a long-running series and Carter built his reputation around a very distinctive kind of crime thriller, this entirely different story seems to have remained somewhere in the background.

Waiting.

Back in 2024, Carter Warned Readers: The Next Book Would Be Very Different

The first clues actually appeared well before Hide and Seek was published. In a July 2024 interview, Carter revealed that he was already working on his fourteenth book  a novel outside the Robert Hunter series which, at the time, he described as something closer to a love story.

And he added one particularly revealing detail: There were no murders. For an author who built his literary reputation around some of the most brutal killings in the genre, Carter himself admitted that writing it felt strange. Two years later, we know what that project became. The love story evolved into a psychological thriller about domestic abuse, fear, pursuit, a new identity, and revenge.