Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

14 reviews

carlaa_aa's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

starrfishandcoffee's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping and Dysphoria

ladypuercoloco's review

dark emotional 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

4.75

I got into this one way more than I expected to - not sure why I chose it/how I came by it until I realized it fulfilled a Kindle Challenge requirement for a Goodreads pick.  I read horror/mysteries/thrillers all the time and honestly the blurb sounded a bit familiar to me, but as I got into the book I realized this one really stands out from other nanny horror books I've read.  The supernatural aspects are really well done

"Anya" being the mother was mind-blowing!  I liked the red herring of the mid-century murder plot that wasn't a murder...So many twists and turns came as surprises but even though I marked this spoiler and I seriously doubt anyone cares to read my reviews just in case I won't give more away.

. Having known a few addicts in various stages of use/recovery I really liked the future that was laid out for Mallory and the amount of work she was willing to put in.  This one was a pleasant early January surprise that will be hopefully setting the pace for the year - I LOVE being surprised by plot twists I really don't see coming!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Dysphoria, Addiction, Child abuse, Infertility, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Alcoholism

Overall I don't feel like any particular thing was too graphic but the contents/plot/subplot can be a lot to take in in retrospect. It honestly wasn't until I was looking through the trigger warning list that I realized just how many played a part in this book, but I listed all as mild as none were terribly drawn out. It's a horror book. There are bound to be some horrible things in, especially when it has been an award winner. I rated it just about as high as I ever rate anything - it is excellent at what it does and the elements it is able to work in

webberinr's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug use, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Addiction and Kidnapping

annahamburger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Drug use, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Dysphoria, Infertility, Transphobia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Blood, and Infidelity

izypup's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gun violence

Minor: Murder, Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Violence, Dysphoria, Infidelity, and Infertility

spooderman's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Transphobia

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Outing, and Stalking

Minor: Bullying, Dementia, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Classism, Infidelity, Vomit, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

sydoodle's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

I did guess the twists, but they were still CRAZY like this book went hard. So good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Alcohol, Infertility, Dysphoria, Racism, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Confinement and Dementia

monstersinspace's review

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>

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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

magellen's review

hopeful mysterious medium-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

3.5

As an ex-nanny, there are certain parts of this book that ring very true. Then there's portions where woof this female mc is written by a man. 
The book was also oddly dated - the first Harry Potter mention was surprising, but by the point the mc was praising its author's talent (😒) I thought I'd picked up a much older book but nope. 2022 publish date. Also the 'oh my god you like star warrrrs what a nerd!' bit was like...buddy, no one has thought that in decades.

Much of the book is a red herring - like literally the book takes some sharp turns in the back quarter that peel it entirely away from the first mystery. And like...yeah? I guess the bread crumbs are there, amongst the weird disdain lacing nearly every character.

Like...its not terrible? But it squicked me out more than once with author choices that like Mmmmm frankly, make me feel his bad vibes, much like a largely abandoned plot point from the beginning of the novel. 
I wouldn't recommend it to a friend or read it again, but if you're shooting for a reading goal eh, it is a book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Outing, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, and Kidnapping