Hidden Refuge by Miriam Sloan

Hidden Refuge by Miriam Sloan
Series: Safe Harbor Files, Book 1
Publisher: Miriam Sloan on April 27, 2026

REVIEW BY STACI TROILO

I’m always looking for new Christian suspense authors, so when I came across Miriam Sloan’s name, I decided to try Hidden Refuge (Safe Harbor Files, Book 1). This book had a different feel than many in the same genre.

It was intense.

This is a story about a woman who witnessed something she shouldn’t have and has been on the run with her four-year-old son for fourteen months. The few times she’s trusted someone, they’ve ended up dead. Now—probably since the beginning—she’s barely ahead of those chasing her. She ends up at a safe house where she hopes to find shelter for at least a little while, but her enemy has eyes everywhere and a long reach.

Given the premise, I expected a lot of chase scenes, a lot of near-misses, maybe some fighting or off-page violence. Instead, it was pretty cerebral. Much of the novel is conveyed through either internalization or memories, and it often feels like readers are being told the story instead of letting them experience it through POV characters. I’ll be honest—I can’t decide if that added to the tension (making it feel like she was telling her story to me the way she’s told it to countless people who’ve tried to help her) or kept me at arm’s length because I didn’t get to be inside the narrative. Sometimes it bothered me. Other times I felt it worked in the story’s favor. 

Even if I’m puzzled about how the story was relayed, I’m certain it kept me on edge. I was constantly waiting for the aforementioned fights or chases, especially as the enemy closed in. I’m still waiting. The climax wasn’t a bang but a fizzle. It’s possible that’s because the author wanted realism rather than sensationalism, but this wasn’t so much subverting my expectations as it was denying them. It also felt rather rushed. The heroine spent fourteen months in a state of paranoia and dread, then it was just… over.

There is a strong faith element in the book. Diane—who manages Safe Harbor—is quite devout. A model Christian who prays unceasingly and accepts anything the Lord gives, good or bad. The heroine and hero, because of the horrors they’ve experienced, haven’t prayed since their troubles began, but their interactions with Diane and their experiences together are slowly turning them back to God. It feels like there’s a lot of divine intervention and many answered prayers, but the different faith journeys all feel authentic.

Lord, he thought. She’s going to need something I don’t know how to give her. I’m asking You to give it instead.


and


God, he thought, and the word landed differently than it had in years — not like something he was trying on but like something that had always been there, waiting for him to stop walking past it.

Miriam Sloan, Hidden Refuge

While this story violates certain genre norms and breaks certain “rules” of fiction, I’m trying to be unbiased and evaluate it on its merit rather than my expectations. It’s difficult to find that line. Because the tension was palpable but the climax a letdown, I’m going to give it 4 out of 5 fish.

_{I read Hidden Refuge through Kindle Unlimited.}