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Cover of Hidden Pictures

Hidden Pictures

Jason Rekulak

432 pages

A wildly addictive, visually unsettling descent into suburban paranoia where the scares are literally drawn out on the page.

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What it feels like

Reading this book feels like flipping through a cursed sketchbook in an empty, too-quiet house. It is a highly visual, propulsive experience that relies just as much on what you see as what you read. The atmosphere begins with the fragile optimism of a fresh start, wrapped in the glossy veneer of wealthy suburbia, but quickly curdles into a dread-soaked, claustrophobic nightmare. The prose is clean and accessible, designed to keep the pages turning at a breakneck speed while seamlessly integrating the increasingly sinister illustrations that anchor the creeping horror. It is an incredibly addictive read that plays with the boundaries of psychological suspense and the supernatural, perfect for anyone who loves a twisty, cinematic thrill ride that makes them question their own eyes.

Mood
  • unsettling
  • dread-soaked
  • suburban-gothic
  • creepy
Tone
  • earnest
  • suspenseful
  • increasingly frantic
  • accessible
Pace
propulsive
Themes
addiction and recovery · trusting one's own mind · hidden suburban darkness · maternal protection · the weight of the past
The writing
The prose is clean, straightforward, and highly visual, serving as a seamless, fast-paced vehicle for the story's unsettling illustrations.
The arc
The journey moves from a fragile, hopeful stability into a spiral of paranoid dread, culminating in a shocking, adrenaline-fueled revelation.
Who it's for
Readers who devour twisty, fast-paced psychological thrillers and love the added visceral dread of creepy, multimedia storytelling.
Content notes
  • substance abuse and recovery
  • murder
  • child endangerment
  • gaslighting
  • violence

About the book

A wildly inventive spin on the supernatural thriller, about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.

Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she 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.

Description from Open Library.

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