Reviews with content warning for Murder - Hidden Pictures: A Novel

This book had me on the edge of my seat. It was so hard to put down and I couldn’t wait to get back to reading whenever I had the chance. It was insanely twisty and always had me wondering what would happen next. The characters grow on you and I found myself cheering them on.

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kates_cupcakes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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kathywoo10's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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tanacef's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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betsysbubble's review against another edition

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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

3.75

I'm not entirely what to make of this book. The illustrations were genuinely creepy and freaked me out quite a bit which definitely added to the overall atmosphere of the novel. The pacing was extremely fast and easy to fall into - I read over 100 pages in what felt like half an hour - the pages just really flew by without much effort.
I can't say that I entirely understand what happened in the end or why. The timing of events doesn't completely make sense in my head which is why this isn't a 4 star read. I find that with thrillers like this sometimes the endings start to feel extremely far-fetched to me and while this hasn't happened for this book I can see how it was teetering on that edge.
HOWEVER, this was a quick read with plenty of twists and turns. I wasn't completely gripped but I was certainly interested enough to want to finish it.

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nxpe's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

So, this was a strange read for me. I didn't really like the characters nor did I like the writing style, but the plot sucked me in. This is also strange for me because I don't read horror and I definitely don't read ghost stories (they freak me out way too much). But I didn't know this book was either of those until after I picked it up.

So, there were a few things that I simply didn't enjoy about this book:

I didn't feel like Teddy sounded like a five-year-old. Maybe seven but not five (then again I don't speak with five-year-olds often (or ever) so...)
There were undertones of transphobia which was a big yikes and made me incredibly uncomfortable.

But, the story itself kept me incredibly immersed and has been on my mind since I finished it, which is what I want from a mystery thriller (which I thought this was). I would've given this book four stars if it weren't for bullet point two.

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