The Hiding is the first book in the gothic urban fantasy series The Seer of York, which represents the debut of Alethea Lyons, and which has been published by Brigid Gates Press. In an alternative York where the mist makes the veil between worlds thin, the archivist Harper de Santo has a vision of how a ghostwalker is brutally killed; a foretold that becomes true, in a way that terrorizes the whole of York.

Harper knows she can find the killer, but that will require her to use her powers, which she has kept hidden due to her fear of being discovered as a witch (especially by the secular Queen's Guard) and hanged. As the body count starts rising, she will have to work together with her foster sister, the demonhunter Grace, and together with a forensic scientist, to stop the creature that is terrorising York.

A story that is also woven together with the past of Harper, a lack of memories that are hiding her from her true nature, and which might be useful to discover the truth behind the visions Harper is experiencing; while I feel this point is not developed enough, lacking some potential, it adds a layer of complexity to the story, which is useful also at propelling the plot at points when it might start stalling.

The most enjoyable aspect of this book is how particularly accurate the setting based on York is; you can actually walk the same streets and visit some of the places our characters go, something that allows you to greatly immerse into the story, while still keeping those eerie/magical elements that make the story a fantastical one.
Pacing is a bit irregular, especially in some parts where the story might have needed to be a bit faster, but it can be understandable as a consequence of some character development that is added.

The Hiding is a great urban fantasy novel, a solid debut by Alethea Lyons, who has totally nailed the York setting; I'm particularly curious to see how the next instalments in the series will go, especially if they continue going deeper into Harper's past.