Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

84 reviews

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Ugh, this was so much fun.

The illustrations helped move this book right along - a few startled the hell out of me. 

A twisty turny plot that I -thought- I had figured out, and even though I was close, the delivery and total brutality still blindsided me.

A phenomenal, entertaining, super spooky haunting story that I already wish I could read again for the first time.

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Content Warnings

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

voidcrawler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

0.5

littered with right wing propaganda, primarily in the form of transphobia. sprinkle in some casual fatphobia, racism, and religious bigotry, and you have this book.

i’m now convinced booktok, especially the horror side of it, either don’t read the books they promote or they severely lack reading comprehension skills. everyone’s more obsessed with how “wOw fUcKed uP!!! 🥴” something is in terms of gore and jump-scares over the actual problematic shit in this book. bonkers, really, since so many horrortok creators are left-leaning and lgbtq+.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

sharebear431's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

lenarthoe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

hannanni41's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

It had a lot of promise but just had too many plot contrivances and required too much suspension of disbelief for me. The pictures were a lot of fun though

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Transphobia, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility and Racism

honeywine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity and Alcohol

madanxiety's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

Wow. This was a thrill! Especially for keeping me awake on a long drive.

The twist was crazy! I had my suspicions that the ghost was really the previous nanny, but I never would've guessed it was Teddy's real mother, and that Teddy was a girl.

At first, I thought the pacing was quite slow, which I actually didn't mind. I described it to my roommate as a "slow burn supernatural mystery." However, by the end, it really ramped up, and it was interesting seeing all the pieces come together, like any mystery, I suppose. Definitely important to go into this book blind! 

But man, I wished the audiobook narrator had done her due diligence to pronounce some of the Spanish words. It was absolutely pitiful, especially given how easy/consistent Spanish pronunciation is. It didn't have to be perfect, but all she would've had to do is Google a pronunciation to get it halfway decent. It was such a minor detail but I cringed every time 😂. Adrian's family dialogue did kinda strike me as "Latinos / Spanglish written by a gringo" tho lol. Idek if that's true but it felt a little forced. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility

annabanana714's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infertility

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

While the mystery kept me guessing! Which is good but it just wasn't as enjoyable as I'd hoped it would be. I got annoyed with the MC a lot. She was too impulsive and way too trusting for someone who'd lived that type of life. But it was still a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

zosiablue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I just...😬. I don't know! This was a fun thriller with the added bonus of beautiful drawings interspersed. But the twists were so improbable, the characters so cringily stereotyped, and it didn't land. If the author had leaned into the genre instead of trying to elevate it, I think he would've been more successful. Instead, it's kind of a ghost story, psycho-thriller, addict's redemption tale, and class commentary mushed into an admittedly interesting framework. But it just all felt...off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol