Reviews with content warning for Child death - Hidden Pictures

“I can see her every night,” Teddy says. “She sleeps under my bed so I can hear her singing.”

Okay, I had some theories but I did NOT see that coming. What a perfect, spooky fall read! Hidden Pictures is a paranormal mystery. It follows Mallory, she’s working on getting her life back together and maintaining her sobriety when she has the opportunity to become a nanny for one child, Teddy, for the summer before he goes off to school. The family seems super empathic to her situation and she gets along great with Teddy so she’s hired right away. Things get interesting when Teddy starts mentioning his imaginary friend and drawing some strange and disturbing pictures. Is he just a child with a busy imagination or is something more sinister going on?

This story grabbed my attention from the first pages and I flew through it in nearly one sitting. The characters and storyline are so good! Mallory is flawed but I loved her as a character and was rooting for her so deeply. You can feel her frustration through the pages as she tries to uncover the mystery. I also adored Adrian and the fact that she has somebody on her side. Teddy is also a great character and the addition of his actual drawings is SO fun and immersive, like you’re helping solve the mystery. At first glance this feels kind of predictable; I thought I had everything figured out about the 50% mark and was sorely mistaken. There’s a lot of paranormal elements, which isn’t always my thing, but I think it’s done in a way that feels very realistic (rather than in a horror way). Highly recommend!

Content Warnings

czty27's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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amp18's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I’m not really sure how to rate this. I enjoyed it mostly. Some of the plot points are ridiculous but it all makes sense in the end. This would probably make a good movie. Some plot points made no sense and went nowhere.

Like Mallory’s religion, the dad being a creep, the sex ed books for a five year old. I read a review that said the book felt very us vs them and was reflective of liberals v conservatives and atheists v christians but I didn’t really get those vibes. Maybe bc of the sex ed books? Idk. I don’t think any of the characters were portrayed in a perfect light tbh.

Content Warnings

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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yinzer_barbie's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

brookey8888's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was good, but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. I didn’t find it creepy at all. which is a bummer. I really did like the art work included and thought that was a unique idea. I just don’t think the plot twist was well done because there’s no way you could have guessed a lot of that. Especially the Ted just being so absolutely in love with Mallory? Like that was stupid. Also I don’t know the trans situation just left a bad taste in my mouth. Also the ending? Idk I just didn’t love that. As for the ghost, I just wanted more.

Content Warnings

amyrobs's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

lost_between_the_pages's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I have decided to save my 5 stars for books that steal my heart and won't let go... This was a close one simply because I HAD NO IDEA what the end result was going to be until they spelled it out for me and WOW! I absolutely didn't expect it to be anything like it was and I'm thankful for it. It makes reading these books all the more fun when I haven't figured out the plot before I'm halfway into the story! I don't like going over what happens in the story at all because I don't want to accidentally give away anything but I do want to warn others that if addiction is a real trigger for you - then I would consider reading something else as there are a couple times that it gets very explicit in details. Otherwise I 10 out of 10 recommend reading if you like thriller/mystery books! I listened on Spotify but halfway through saw the book at Walmart and decided to get it because it actually shows the pictures that little Teddy is drawing and I would absolutely recommend getting the physical copy!

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