A Little Something To Hide by Craig Brown is a story like no other. The Briscola Coach Service is heading to Albuquerque and it’s filled with people, all with their own secrets to hide – or at least, that’s what they think. Each passenger on the bus has their own chapter, their own story to tell but every other chapter offers an intriguing insight into the bus journey itself and introduces each passenger as they board the bus. Some are escaping a terrible past, while others are heading for their dream lives. Some secrets are dark, and, despite their best efforts, no passenger has managed to truly hide theirs. Step aboard and enter the lives of each passenger. Learn their secrets and decide for yourself – can you really trust any of them?

A Little Something to Hide by Craig Brown is a refreshingly unique kind of story. The individual stories offer you an in-depth glimpse into each person’s life and the secret they think they have hidden. A word of warning here; some stories may contain triggers for people, including drug abuse, physical abuse, racism, and more. There are also descriptions of graphic violence. This is a story that will have you reaching deep inside yourself, maybe bringing your secrets to the fore, and it may even have you looking at every person you meet, everyone you see on the bus or train, differently. Eleven passengers, eleven stories, all introducing you to a diverse set of characters, uncovering the complexities of human nature, and allowing you to connect on a deeply personal level with each one. You’ll have to make your mind up about each person you meet. This is compelling storytelling and is one of the best novels I have read. I guarantee you will form a connection with each character, and it will have you thinking about your own life.

In A Little Something to Hide by Craig Brown, passengers on the Briscola Coach Service from San Francisco to Albuquerque, New Mexico have their reasons for making the arduous journey by bus rather than plane or car. All have something in common; they are all hiding secrets of one sort or another. Some of these secrets are life-changing, momentous, and dangerous but, regardless, everyone on that bus has a little something to hide. Readers will meet the unscrupulous owner of the Briscola Coach Service who will do whatever it takes to make a buck; employing illegal immigrants as drivers, paying well below the standard wage, and running his coaches into the ground. He cares little for his customers and even less for his employees. Meet Bobbie, a gay cabaret performer whose sexuality and career choice fell well short of his neurosurgeon father’s dreams of his son’s future. Jeannie, who joins the bus in Phoenix, was a carer at The Blazing Sun Residential Centre for the elderly. Jeannie’s secret was, perhaps, her ability to care too much for her charges. As the bus heads for Alberquerque, each secret will gradually unfold. 

A Little Something to Hide is a wonderful reminder that, as human beings, we all have some history that we would prefer to keep to ourselves. Craig Brown has penned a compelling journey that illustrates the uniqueness and similarities of this disparate group of individuals. I particularly appreciated that the author also chose to highlight the hidden secrets of both bus drivers and the owner of Briscola Coach Services. What makes this story work so well is that although some of the secrets of these travelers are quite horrific in their own right, each person’s angst and terror at the possibility that their hidden truth might be uncovered is readily identifiable. We all know things or have done things for which we would be mortified if they were discovered. Each person’s story is complete within itself and yet they are linked to each other by their journey. All the stories resonated with me but my favorite would have to be that of Felipe, the illegal immigrant bus driver who had spent most of his adult life in the United States and yet still lived every day in mortal fear of discovery and possible deportation to Colombia. This is a wonderful book I highly recommend.

Have you ever sat next to a perfect stranger for hours and wondered about their life? That’s what’s on offer in Craig Brown’s A Little Something to Hide. Everybody has something in common on this Briscola bus service from San Francisco, California, to Albuquerque, New Mexico. They’re all harboring a secret. All of them are running away from or to something. Sandra is taking her baby George to meet his unsuspecting father. Tim and Briony are heading to a swing-con event, Jeannie is off to establish her own aged care center, and Toby is returning home after his Hollywood dream becomes a nightmare. These are a fraction of the people on the bus. Are you ready to find out more about who they are? Buy your ticket, take your seat, and let the stories begin.

Long-distance bus travel is the domain of many interesting people. There’s a lot to love about A Little Something to Hide, but the standout is how Craig Brown has divided the book up. The reader is introduced to each of the primary passengers in their own chapter as they board the bus in their respective cities. He cleverly leaves a little of their story out, so the reader has to read to the end to determine if they achieve their goals. Speaking of the ending, it’s highly satisfying. This book will appeal to lovers of intrigue and people’s backstories. It’s more suitable for a mature audience as it contains swearing, graphic sex scenes, and sexist, homophobic, and racist slurs, which may trigger some readers.

A Little Something To Hide by Craig Brown follows passengers on a bus bound for Albuquerque, operated by the unscrupulous Anthony Briscola, offering cheap, uncomfortable travel, in a parallel to his own moral decay. Among the passengers are Felipe, a former cartel member terrified of retribution; Sandra, a paralegal juggling the pressures of career and motherhood; Michael, a basketball player questioning his decision to attend UNM; Bobbie, reflecting on his fractured relationship with his parents and self-discovery; Gracie, hiding a life of manipulation; Toby, escaping Hollywood and mounting debts, fearing his past is catching up with him; Simon, a priest whose faith is waning; Jimmy, who has extreme views; Rosa, a woman with a horrific past; Jeannie, traveling with baby George, who is outwardly admired for her warmth and kindness. Among others, all their secrets unfold during the journey, all heading toward an uncertain future on a bus.

In A Little Something to Hide, Craig Brown gives readers a wonderful compilation of passenger stories, who all have two things in common: they are hiding incredible secrets, and they are all slowly moving forward to the same endpoint—which is not as conclusive as it sounds. Brown uses a series of vignettes to give each character their due focus and we genuinely get to know them on a human level, even if we do not like them. The standout to me is story five, with Tim Bovary’s tentative journey into kink, and story eight, on Jeannie’s impressive maneuvering in the caregiving world and Brown's chilling commentary on ambition. Readers should know that even though this is a compilation, the stories do come together, so leap-frogging stories would be to the detriment of the fantastically shocking ending. The writing is tight and the prose sings. Given the way Brown delivers the plots as a whole, those who have enjoyed Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis and Cisneros' The House on Mango Street will find the same quality and style here. Very highly recommended.