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Jason RekulakFiction · Non-Fiction
Hidden Pictures
Synopsis
Fresh out of rehab and rebuilding her life, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a nanny for Ted and Caroline Maxwell, caring for their sweet five-year-old son Teddy in a leafy New Jersey suburb. It seems like the fresh start she needs — until Teddy's drawings start to change.
What begin as a child's stick figures become disturbing, sophisticated images no five-year-old should be able to make: a woman dragged through a forest, a shallow grave. As the pictures grow darker and more detailed, Mallory becomes convinced that Teddy is channeling something — or someone — and that the Maxwells' perfect home holds a secret.
Illustrated with Teddy's unsettling drawings, Jason Rekulak's Hidden Pictures is a genre-bending supernatural thriller about addiction, motherhood, and the things that refuse to stay buried.
How it reads
- Writing4.0
- Impact3.0
- Characters3.0
- Plot4.0
- Atmosphere4.0
Prose complexity 4/10
Content warnings (3)
Substance AbuseViolenceKidnapping
- I was really enjoying this book (IGNORANCE IS BLISS)... up until I felt like the author's comments on the transgender topic. Teddy who chose to be referred to as a boy, who was born a girl named flora, ends up being a kid that was kidnapped when they were younger. Then when the mystery is solved Mallory is more upset about the kid being "forced" to wear boy clothes and refers to them as "she" again than the kid being kidnapped. Now if they did force the kid to wear boy-rendered clothes to hide the fact that they stole this child, that's one thing, but it was just a weird way to bring the story together. The boundary to transphobic was a bit much. Lots of unspoken comments on religion,science, and the transgender community ... idk how to feel
- I read this entire book in a single 6 hour sitting. I was apprehensive going into it, as I've avoided this genre for quite some time, but after some several recommendations and seeing it's short length (I've mostly been reading 1000 page tomes before this) I decided what the hell.<br><br>Other than a quick lunch (which I read during), I could not put this down. Probably the fastest read I've had all year. <br><br>Definitely worth a read!
- Two stars because I didn't hate it but man is this story all over the place. Everything is bonkers and hardly makes any sense. I liked the beginning scene... And I think that's it. Everything is so over the top and does not make sense? I mean, what kind of baddie still does a final monologue?! Did they not see The Incredibles?!?