Hello, Tartlets! I’m so excited to be part of the blog tour for Hidden Pictures. Because I seriously loved this book.
(Whew! What a relief. It would’ve been totally awkward to be part of a blog tour for a book I hated.)
Billed as “The Haunting of Hill House meets The Perfect Nanny,” this supernatural thriller by Jason Rekulak surpassed all the expectations I had for it. I ripped through Hidden Pictures in just two days. TWO DAYS! Every spare moment had me reaching for my copy of this super creepy story.
The main story behind Hidden Pictures will seem pretty familiar — at least, at first. A down-on-her-luck young woman, Mallory, takes a job nannying a quiet and sweet child named Teddy. The offer seems too good to be true, and sure enough, almost as soon as Mallory arrives at the Maxwell family’s house, weird things start happening and the kid starts shoving creepy drawings in her face.
Been there, done that, right? WRONG. Why? Because Hidden Pictures has art.
As Mallory sifts through Teddy’s drawings, so do you — one minute you’re reading about some scribbles that kinda-sorta look like a bunny sitting in the grass, and the next thing you know, you’re looking at it. Every drawing that Teddy creates is in Hidden Pictures. Which means that when Mallory sees his disturbingAF drawings — like a woman who looks like she crawled out of the The Ring, or a man dragging a woman by the ankles through a forest — so do you.
I’m a sucker for scary stories with artwork. Remember Horrorstor? The illustrations in that book are what helped make it so great, and the same goes for Hidden Pictures. I’m a writer, so I’m all for the power of words, but being able to see exactly what Mallory sees really brings you into the moment. It’s almost as if you’re watching a movie instead of reading a book.
The book’s illustrations are also inadvertently hilarious. Like, you’re flipping through a bunch of Teddy’s nice little sketches, and you’re like, “Okay, normal, normal, normal…all normal things a kid would draw….WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!?!” I burst out laughing as many times as I hid under the covers.
While Hidden Pictures starts off like a traditional ghost story, it eventually becomes clear that there’s a lot more going on with Mallory and Teddy than just a good, ol’ fashioned haunting. Mallory’s emotional side story really tugs at your heart, and there’s a darn good mystery that begins to unfold at the Maxwell house. Most importantly, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing right up until the very (crazy, unpredictable) end.
If you’re looking for a riveting and unique haunted house story (I mean, who isn’t??), get your hands on a copy of Hidden Pictures ASAP.
Notes to my fellow New Jersey readers: Hidden Pictures is set in South Jersey (aptly so; there’s nothing scarier than South Jersey to this North Jersey girl), and I was psyched every time there was a shout out to my alma mater, Rutgers New Brunswick. Jersey Strong!
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak (with illustrations by Doogie Horner and Will Staehleill) is now available from Flatiron Books. Although I received a complimentary advance copy of this book, all opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I was not compensated in any way for this review or for any other promotion/publicity I’ve done related to this book.
