- Narrator: Nick J. Russo's performance leans into the menace that the Jaxon POV requires while keeping Myles's introverted vulnerability readable, a tough tonal balance he mostly sustains.
- Subjects: Surveillance and obsession, forced proximity, queer identity under pressure
- Tone: Dark and charged, morally murky throughout
- Bottom line: Silvercrest U's second entry is a sharper, more confident novel than many dark-romance second installments, though readers need a high tolerance for stalker-romance tropes to stay comfortable.
Jaxon's surveillance of Myles begins as an assignment and becomes something considerably more unsettling, and, in the logic of this audiobook, something that eventually turns protective. Hide and Seek by Willow Dixon, narrated by Nick J. Russo, is the second book in the Silvercrest U series, a dark romance set at an elite invite-only college where secret societies operate in the open and the line between watching and wanting is the entire point. This is a LGBTQ+ dark romance that makes no attempt to sand down its edges, and that clarity of intention is one of its genuine strengths.
At eleven hours and thirty-one minutes, this is a substantial listen. The length serves the slowburn because Dixon takes time with both POVs, Jaxon's calculated external confidence and Myles's internal resistance to what he realizes he wants. The audiobook works best when those two registers are in conflict, which is often. Dixon does not soften the moral landscape to make Jaxon more conventionally sympathetic, and that restraint gives the story an edge that conventional romance would blunt.
Jaxon's Surveillance of Myles Isn't Arbitrary or Glamorized
Dixon's handling of the stalker-to-lovers trajectory is more self-aware than many entries in this particular subgenre. Jaxon's opening situation, assigned to observe Myles, then becoming genuinely obsessed, is laid out without glamorizing the power differential in a way that pretends it is not there. The book knows what it is, and the author's website content warnings make clear that this is not an accidental tonal choice. That directness actually helps the audiobook work better than it might otherwise, because listeners who pick this up knowing what they are signing up for are unlikely to be blindsided by the primal play and CNC content the synopsis flags.
The Silvercrest U setting functions as more than backdrop. The not-so-secret society infrastructure gives the surveillance plot a structural logic that makes Jaxon's initial assignment feel less arbitrary than the standard stalker setup. Someone sent him to watch Myles, which raises questions about who, and why, and what Myles represents to the college's power structure, questions the narrative threads through the romance rather than leaving them as window dressing. That plot layer distinguishes this from simpler dark romance setups and gives the listener genuine narrative questions beyond the central relationship's trajectory.
Russo Keeps Jaxon's Menace and Myles's Resistance Distinct
Nick J. Russo's narration handles the dual-POV structure without flattening either voice into the other. Jaxon's sections carry a controlled menace that Russo delivers with restraint rather than melodrama, which is the right call for a character whose threat is in his patience rather than his volatility. Myles's sections ask for something different, an introverted man aware of his own desires and actively resisting them, and Russo navigates the internal tension credibly. The result is an audiobook where both POVs feel inhabited rather than performed.
Jaxon Chooses to Protect Instead of Just Observe
The stranger-to-lovers arc pays off more satisfyingly than the synopsis suggests because Dixon is interested in what changes in Jaxon once someone threatens Myles. The moment Jaxon steps in to protect rather than simply observe is the turning point the whole first half builds toward, and it earns its emotional weight. Listeners who invest in the slow accumulation of that dynamic will find the second half moves considerably faster and with considerably higher stakes. The shift from surveillance to protection is where Dixon's writing is most interesting, Jaxon did not expect to care, and his recognition of that fact comes with a specific kind of disorientation that the book takes seriously.
The LGBTQ+ framing is worth noting as a genuine element of Myles's characterization rather than simply a genre marketing label. Myles's reluctance to acknowledge what he wants is grounded in specific aspects of his identity and his history, and Dixon handles those specifics with more care than the genre sometimes brings to queer characters whose orientation is treated as flavor rather than substance. Myles's interiority is the most carefully constructed element of the book, and Russo's narration of those internal sections is where the audiobook's emotional investment pays off most clearly.
Myles the Hacker Hides Real Vulnerabilities
The most interesting tension to track is not between Jaxon and Myles but within Myles himself. His resistance to wanting what he wants is the engine of the middle section, and Russo voices that resistance with a slightly clipped quality that makes the eventual cracks land with real impact. The opposition between Myles's digital expertise and his emotional opacity is also worth attending to. A character described as a brilliant hacker who is emotionally guarded is a familiar type, but Dixon gives Myles specific vulnerabilities that make the type feel inhabited rather than archetypal.
The secret society elements pay off more in the later chapters, so listeners tempted to skim the setup sections should resist. The structural questions raised by Jaxon's assignment get answered in ways that reframe earlier scenes, which is worth the patience. The book rewards active listening over background listening for exactly this reason, the institutional detail is not decoration but architecture, and understanding why Myles was the specific target of Jaxon's observation changes how the romance's development reads.
Silvercrest Fans Ready for CNC and Public Scenes
Readers who enjoyed the first Silvercrest U entry and are comfortable with dark romance conventions will find this a satisfying continuation. This is explicitly adult content with mature themes including stalking, CNC, and public scenarios, so it is not appropriate for younger readers regardless of how it may be categorized. Listeners new to dark romance should start with a more accessible entry point and come back here with more context. Fans of stranger-to-lovers with genuine moral ambiguity on both sides, and LGBTQ+ romance that grounds its queer characters in specific interiority, will be well served by this one.
Before You Listen
Does this audiobook work as a standalone, or do you need to read Silvercrest U book one first?
The series is better read in order. The Silvercrest U world and its secret society dynamics are established in the first book, and while Hide and Seek introduces its central pair from scratch, the college's political infrastructure, which matters to the plot, has more weight if you have the prior context.
Is this audiobook appropriate for teens given the LGBTQ+ dark romance genre?
No. The content is explicitly adult: the book includes stalking dynamics, CNC, and other mature content that the author flags directly on her website. This is an adult dark romance novel that happens to feature a college setting. It is intended for adult readers who are specifically seeking out dark romance with those elements.
How does Nick J. Russo handle the dual male POV structure in this audiobook?
He keeps the two voices meaningfully distinct. Jaxon gets a controlled, predatory register that Russo delivers with restraint. Myles gets something quieter and more internal. The contrast between the two is where the narration earns its keep, because the POV shifts are where the dramatic irony of the central dynamic lives.
What content warnings apply to this audiobook?
The author's website hosts a complete list, and the synopsis flags stalking, strangers to lovers, forced proximity, primal play, mild CNC, outdoor and public scenarios, morally ambiguous protagonists, and not-so-secret societies. Listeners should consult those warnings before buying if any of those elements are potential concerns.
