Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

11 reviews

abbysingh's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infertility, Violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Dementia, Stalking, and Alcohol

shaleen64's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

A really well written horror/thriller that whilst initially was a little slow to get into once the pace picks up it’s captivating.

The pictures embedded into the book add to the creepiness and really bring the story together.

Whilst some of the smaller twists can be guessed that vast majority are so unexpected which is something that is difficult to achieve given the amount of horrors/thrillers published. A brilliant book I would absolutely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement and Infidelity

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

shanice93's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual content

rsagarin's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcohol

mal_reads_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

The story was gripping and suspenseful, full of red herrings that actually tricked and surprised me. I loved how the drawings were included so that I felt immersed in the story. Overall, it's one of the better thrillers I've read.

However, it gave me weird vibes at times.

The "male gaze" experiment at the beginning was weird and didn't relate to the rest of the story.

The anti-religious parents were stereotypical liberals who don't even say "bless you" or celebrate Christmas. They have discussions with the child about private parts and exposing oneself, even buying a graphic sex book for the child. The main character is Christian and saves the child from the parents

, who kidnapped the child and forced the child to change gender. The child transitions back to a girl and the main character goes "I knew [the child] was a girl all along."

. Reviewers have debated whether this book is transphobic. On a surface level, it may not seem so. Given this was published last year and alludes to right-wing views on the matter, I feel the author was making a statement supporting these ideas.

There were also fatphobic statements like "she ballooned to a size eight", which is not even fat. The main character criticized her mom for being fat and unhelpful, but all is well when she loses weight.

Other issues include one-dimensional stereotypical characters such the crazy right-wing neighbor and the main character's landscaper Latino friend, and how technology turns children into zombies.

To an extent, I enjoyed the book. I liked its originality with the drawings. Unfortunately, it got heavy-handed with the political and religious ideology, especially toward the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexual content

annahamburger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Racism, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Dementia

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

This had potential, and I was really genuinely enjoying it until about the last 100 pages or so. There's really not much I can say about what I didn't like about this book with this review remaining spoiler free, but I'll try to be as cryptic as possible. It really guts me that this was a 5 star prediction lol

First though, I do want to bring up its merits, because I think that it has some.

Things I liked: It's set in a small town based on a real town that not only is near to where I live but that I've been to several times and it mentions several landmarks that are familiar to me. I also liked the illustration elements and how they get spookier and spookier as the book goes on.

Things I didn't like: Pretty much everything else but especially the big plot twist at the end. Absolutely the stupidest thing in the world. Made half of the book absolutely pointless. This could've been edited down to just 200 pages and it would've been better and not as much of a waste of time.

I only add the half a star because I have a soft spot for the small town that the book is based on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Excrement, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Rape

annabulkowski's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, and Pregnancy