Reviews

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

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laurie_obng's review against another edition

4.0

“I shouldn’t try to write a book, I should just sit down at My laptop and tell the story…” And that’s exactly what i felt reading this book. Like it was being told. I felt for Mallory and Teddy. Its not your typical thriller where you try to figure out the plot and see how close you were. This felt like wanting to find out the truth for Teddy’s sake. Loved it.

reneealice27's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

theladyhaha's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

5.0

figbash's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Eerie, spooky, with a plot twist I wasn't expecting, but the main story was maybe a little predictable. I would read other books by this author as I liked his writing style.

kyan1127's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

vivisms_82's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

21 yr old, several months sober Mallory gets a job as a nanny to a 5 year old child named Teddy. Mystery and strange occurrences ensue. I truly liked this book. An unexpected page turner for me - it is part paranormal/part domestic thriller and I was quite ok going along for the ride and buying it. Is it perfect? No. I mean

The red herring mystery of Annie and Willie was a bit bonkers. I mean two mysteries?? I don't like rubbish coincidences like that. Weird.

I have noticed on a few platforms this book has been given low ratings due to

Teddy really being a girl

I can respect people being pissed if this was used as a comment on

children and transgender

, however I don't believe this is so - this is quite important in bringing the story together and (to me at least) makes it plausible ie

is used to protect Caroline and Ted from detection should the police come knocking - I mean a child goes missing, the first thing they broadcast is the gender "missing 2 year old girl" etc. They are on the run and by making Flora appear like a boy is to keep their crime safe for goodness sakes! Not some hidden anti-trans meaning!

. It completely makes sense and is not some leftist author preaching his anti-woke views. I think some folks have read too much into that. I also don't like JK Rowling or agree with any of the harmful narrative she feels compelled to expel - HOWEVER I don't think a reference to Harry Potter is the author giving a nod to her or the hidden spoiler showing support to her either. I think it is simply used so the plotline works. I work with books all day - HP is a go to even for people that don't read at all - they will pick it up for a gift, for themselves or read it to someone. My point is I think it is used simply due to its huge popularity - everyone has heard of it even if they have never read it; the author was just trying connect those scenes to the reader.

I will say I do however agree that the casual fat shaming with the mamma was weird and uncool.

Content Warnings