Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Order Link: Amazon
Special thanks to Flatiron for an arc.
From Jason Rekulak, Edgar-nominated author of The Impossible Fortress, comes a wildly inventive spin on the classic horror story in Hidden Pictures, a creepy and warm-hearted mystery about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.
Review:
Twenty-one year old Mallory Quinn is a former student and eighteen month clean addict who is given an opportunity to work as a nanny for five-year old Ted, son of Caroline and Ted Maxwell. The job is exactly what the doctor ordered affording her some independence and the chance to resume her daily runs while living in a small cottage on the property. Little Teddy is adorable, and Mallory loves spending time with him. Teddy loves to draw the typical pictures one expects from a child his age. However, gradually his artwork takes a turn toward the dark with drawings of a girl being dragged into the woods - drawings too mature for a boy of his age. Mallory suspects something unnatural is occurring and that it has to do with the rumors swirling around the cottage and a woman murdered there. Someone is trying to tell them something through this child's artwork. Her concern for Teddy is real, but no one takes her seriously except for Adrian who's home for the summer from college.
Hidden Pictures is expertly written and delivered via a creepy setting and sinister ambiance. I appreciated that the supernatural aspects were handled in an unique and intriguing manner. I found the characters to be believable and well-developed, and the plot line to be extremely twisted. I like to think I can see most twists coming a mile away, but there's one in this one that slapped me in the face before I saw it, and it's a game changer for sure. Hidden Pictures is an intense, fast-paced story that will have you burning through pages for answers. Highly recommended to fans of mystery, suspense and thrillers as well as anyone who enjoys a side of supernatural well done.
Synopsis:
Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job in the affluent suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.
Mallory immediately loves this new job. She lives in the Maxwell’s pool house, 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.
As the days pass, Teddy’s artwork becomes more and more sinister, and his stick figures steadily evolve into more detailed, complex, and lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to suspect these are glimpses of an unsolved murder from long ago, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force lingering in the forest behind the Maxwell’s house.
With help from a handsome landscaper and an eccentric neighbor, Mallory sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy—while coming to terms with a tragedy in her own past—before it’s too late.
Mallory immediately loves this new job. She lives in the Maxwell’s pool house, 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.
As the days pass, Teddy’s artwork becomes more and more sinister, and his stick figures steadily evolve into more detailed, complex, and lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to suspect these are glimpses of an unsolved murder from long ago, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force lingering in the forest behind the Maxwell’s house.
With help from a handsome landscaper and an eccentric neighbor, Mallory sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy—while coming to terms with a tragedy in her own past—before it’s too late.
No comments:
Post a Comment