Reviews with content warning for Murder - Hidden Pictures

Mallory Quinn, recovering addict, is hired as a nanny in an afluent New Jersey suburb by Ted and Caroline Maxwell. Their son, Teddy, is a shy boy who has a newfound love for drawing since moving into the families home. The drawings become more and more disturbing, and Mallory seeks out the help of neighbors to help decipher this paranormal mystery.

Rekulaks writes a lot of the mundane day to day of being a nanny, and personally, some of the repetition could have been avoided. I was also unimpressed by the portrayal of a narcotic addict. It felt very basic and unresearched. As a family member of addicts this very specific character flaw could have been investigated and portrayed in a more accurate and expanded way.

I did enjoy the mystery and was surprised by the foreshadowing that was sprinkled into the plot. The relationships felt organic, and overall I enjoyed the book.

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.5

Finished reading: October 29th 2024

"When you eliminate the impossible, all that remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

I had a fantastic time reading this author's debut back when I read it in 2017, and I've been looking forward to read more of his writing ever since. I'm still not sure why it took me over two years to finally get to his second book Hidden Pictures... The blurb made it sound like a fitting read for Halloween month, and it was the perfect excuse to finally pick it up. Things started out well enough and I was really enjoying my time with this book despite some red flags. Sadly, the plot made a drastic turn around the 70-80% mark that completely ruined the story for me. Not only were the twists absolutely ridiculous, but they also left me with a bad taste in my mouth and the main gender-related twist was borderline offensive. Transphobia, racism, discrimination against atheists, fatphobia... This story seemed to have a particular right-wing political agenda, and this not only made me dislike certain characters but also ruined the reading experience for me. It's such a shame, because the premise itself is fantastic and I can't deny that I was really enjoying myself during most of the book despite the previously mentioned red flags present throughout the story. I also loved the illustrations, which really complemented the plot... I gave Hidden Pictures an extra star for them, but the rest pretty much ended in a trainwreck. I do hope his newest story has less of a political angle, because I will probably have to give up his writing otherwise.

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shaleen64's review against another edition

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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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klpage's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This is such a good read for spooky season!

It’s tense, you’ve got the paranormal elements throughout, the pictures aswell just gave it that extra creepy factor too!

Thoroughly enjoyed it and I’d highly recommend.

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mirandaliana's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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cassidy_rain's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“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!

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