BOOK REVIEW: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekylak

 

Publication Date: May 10, 2022 Format: Hardcover Genre:  Ghost Thriller

Publisher: Flatiron Books  Length: 375  pages Buy:  Kindle | Hardcover

Synopsis

Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.

Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.

Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.

Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.

Review: 

I loved this book.  I couldn't put it down.  In fact I stayed up way too late to finish reading it.  

I love books set in places I know and since I'm a Philly girl I know the area that they talk about in the book. I loved Mallory and really felt for her as she struggled to stay clean and do all the right things.  As someone who has addicts in my family I know how often they are treated with contempt and not believed and also how ashamed many feel because of this.  It wasn't surprising to me that she doesn't want to reveal to new people that she is in recovery.  As a society we have made being addicted to drugs something shameful and to be hidden but if you want to go get drunk 7 days a week go ahead you deserve it, its 5 o'clock somewhere.....(I'm gonna step off my soap box and get back to the book now).  

There is a twist at the end that I definitely didn't see coming which was fantastic because its hard to slip things by me.  Teddy's artwork is throughout the book, something you would miss if you listened to this on audio and I think it really added to the story. The drawings get progressively creepier so I would 100 percent recommend that you read the book. 

Is a ghost using Teddy to communicate with Mallory? What does the ghost want and who is the woman being murdered in the drawings? Some creepy things have happened in the house that Teddy and his family live in so is it a surprise that there are ghosts? I loved this book so much I now have to go find this authors other books! 

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