Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Hidden Pictures: A Novel by Jason Rekulak

55 reviews

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infertility

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

OMFG! This book is insane! Extremely good! Fast-paced and creative. I don't want to spoil it, but damn, this was a good read. I couldn't stop reading. The spirit stuff was creepy, and the drawings, omg, it's wild. The audiobook companion helped a lot. Wow! Jason, it would be amazing if you wrote more books, my man. Thank you for the ride❤️🔥 Mallory Quinn, the Maxwells,  Caroline, Ted, Teddy. The revelations were astonishing💕

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Murder, Torture, Gore, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

Wow what an intricate creepy book. Did not expect the plot twists at all and I love when I can look back and see the little clues. Really really good. The illustrations just added so much to it and made it feel real. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Child abuse, Death, and Stalking

Minor: Child death, Racism, Sexism, Car accident, Infertility, and Classism

monstersinspace's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

For the first half of this book I was bored and found Malory fairly annoying. The constant commenting on other people's weight and life style was completely unnecessary and real judgmental coming from someone who used to do heroin. Like we get it, you found jesus and started running again, do we really need several pages discussing the calories in the lunch you are eating. Also, if you're going to have a character lie all the time stop having them talk about how much they hate lying. It was so annoying for Malory to keep going on and on about how guilty she felt and how perfect the timing was to not lie but then keep doing it. Another thing that annoyed me was the SUPER Christian overtones, the family was evil because the kidnapped a kid not cause they didn't believe in god I even had to Google the author in the middle to figure out if I had accidentally borrowed a Christian novel. The whole part of the husband being in love with Malory and wanting them to run away made no sense because I felt like he was barely in the book. Two awkward interactions don't really lead to a lets runway together moment and having him watch her sleep just seems like a cop out. The ghost being a different ghost was kind of a cool point and I feel like the clues worked well to lead to both conclusion. keeping Teddy as a boy even after they left upstate New York and no one was suspicious was just weird and  unnecessary, and that coupled with the constant reference to JK rowling makes me a little more then suspicious of the author's intentions.  </Spoiler>

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Infertility, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Addiction, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Transphobia

akpursell's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Violence, and Child abuse

stephyreads1221's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Death, Gore, Murder, Racism, Addiction, and Drug abuse

bookswithbethx's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Death of parent, Drug use, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Death, and Dysphoria

tanyalazanya's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Drug use, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia

myriam_almonti's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Violence, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Drug use, Infidelity, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Xenophobia and Car accident

Minor: Miscarriage and Racism

coreyarch9'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

"'That [drawing's] not for Mommy or Daddy. Anya says she wants you to have it.'"

I loved the first half of this book! The entire time, it felt like I was waiting for something to jump out at me. My spidey senses were tingling and I was sure that when whatever it was finally jumped out at me, even knowing that it was coming, I was going to audibly shriek.

And then there were two twists... and they were GOOD twists.

But unlike other readers have experienced, the story that followed and played out was not as exciting as the first half for me.

I will say - I LOVED the character development, the pacing, the plot, the creativity of the story. The writing style was phenomenal and I'm already looking forward to reading other works by Rekulak. This book definitely deserves all they hype!! I read it in two sittings in less than a day.

A note for those who are curious - if, like me, you're a wimp when it comes to horror and nervous about whether you'll be able to sleep, this book is squarely on the thriller side of the line and wraps up nicely.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Car accident, Gun violence, and Child abuse