Reviews with content warning for Blood - Hidden Pictures

I really enjoyed this one, it's a fun mystery horror that follows a trope I love: a female main character who gets a new job as a live-in nanny, when creepy shit starts going down. This combined with spooky drawings that acted as clues to piece together the mystery was a real win for me.

Our main character was a fun one to follow. At times she made some questionable decisions and was slightly frustrating to follow, but overall I found her really likeable and enjoyed hearing her backstory.

The setting was great: we love a secluded, supposedly haunted, cottage by woodland. I would have liked the horror elements to be a little more scary, but that's just a personal preference that would've made me love it even more. The mystery element was really fun, it was super engaging and quick to read and at times felt more like a thriller with its reveals.

If I'm being really picky, I wasn't a huge fan of the sentence 'I'm not surprised to learn that Caroline carries a weapon for self-defense. She's mentioned that many of her patients at the VA hospital have mental health issues'. And if I'm being really really picky, the phrase 'cognitive dissonance' was used in completely in the wrong context, but that's just me being pedantic.

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kelsoups's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

2.75

Quick and easy read, but predictable. Ending felt unsatisfying.

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evevallarta's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

muy entretenido, no lo podia dejar de leer, me gusto como integran todas las cosas del pasado para que “justifiques” o creas que sabes de que va la historia.
Al final cuando se revela la verdad, fue un poco random que su guest fuera cierto.

Las personas reales dan mas miedo que los fantasmas.</spoler>

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boba_n_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I thought this book was good before it hit the plot twist. But once we got there OH MAN did it reel me in!! Usually I can fairly accurately predict the end of thrillers, but this one kept me guessing.

At first, it reminded me of Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. There are some similarities such as the nanny/babysitter and supernatural elements, but Rekulak made this a story all his own. Once you meet Mallory, Teddy, Caroline, and Ted, you’ll want to finish their story to the bitter end.

When we found out Teddy was a girl who had been kidnapped, my mind was BLOWN. I knew there was some sort of ghost/spirit involved, but I never would have guessed it was the dead mother. And it just keeps getting crazier after that when you find out about Caroline and Ted’s abduction story. I also like that the supernatural element wasn’t proven wrong but just added to the story as “anya” helped to kill Caroline and protect Mallory and Teddy at the end.

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