Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Hidden Pictures

I had a fantastic time reading this author's debut back when I read it in 2017, and I've been looking forward to read more of his writing ever since. I'm still not sure why it took me over two years to finally get to his second book Hidden Pictures... The blurb made it sound like a fitting read for Halloween month, and it was the perfect excuse to finally pick it up. Things started out well enough and I was really enjoying my time with this book despite some red flags. Sadly, the plot made a drastic turn around the 70-80% mark that completely ruined the story for me. Not only were the twists absolutely ridiculous, but they also left me with a bad taste in my mouth and the main gender-related twist was borderline offensive. Transphobia, racism, discrimination against atheists, fatphobia... This story seemed to have a particular right-wing political agenda, and this not only made me dislike certain characters but also ruined the reading experience for me. It's such a shame, because the premise itself is fantastic and I can't deny that I was really enjoying myself during most of the book despite the previously mentioned red flags present throughout the story. I also loved the illustrations, which really complemented the plot... I gave Hidden Pictures an extra star for them, but the rest pretty much ended in a trainwreck. I do hope his newest story has less of a political angle, because I will probably have to give up his writing otherwise.

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lulibooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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dcnireads's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

at first i was a bit skeptical about the writing style. it didnt really feel like i was reading a novel, it just felt like i was reading someone's diary, or a simple, straight-to-the-point recollection of a tense, complicated, scary story. i thought it felt boring and detrimental to the vibe of the whole book considering what genre it falls under, but i was still invested and im a simple reader, so anything quick and steady paced and easy to read was enough for me. but when i got to the end, i went from being only midly satisfied to genuinely impressed.

the epilogue revealing that it was mallory writing the whole story from her own point of view as a way to help flora understand what happened to her was a clever, clever move. that one line about mallory mentioning that she found it hard to write everything until sofia advised her to just write like herself instead of trying to write like an experienced author? honestly genius. whether or not it was done on purpose to disguise the basic writing and narration style, it still worked for me. this was initally looking like a good 4-4.5 read, but to be honest that onemove really impressed me. so did that teddy/flora plot twist and red herring that is annie barrett's ghost story. in conclusion, i think this is worthy of being a good ole 5 star read after all.

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steimerr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have been fluctuating between and 3/4 star rating for this book as I feel the rating depends on what you're looking for...

Being listed under the Horror genre, I was expecting a lot more than I was given. I have read plenty of other books that touch on the same "horrific" topics that are not considered to be under the horror genre. Some of which I think included much more graphic details than this so called horror novel. There was a lot of telling and not enough showing in this book (aside from the literal illustrations of course). I would certainly not consider this book a 4 star horror novel. That being said it wasn't a bad book by any means. I actually thoroughly enjoyed the story and how it was written, I found it easy to read and retain. The illustrations were a great addition and made it a quick read. There were a couple of unpredictable twists and many reaction provoking moments. I was satisfied with how the story unfolded and concluded but I found that the ending could have used some more detail and thought it felt a little rushed. The epilogue was great though!

Overall, this was a 4 star book for me because I actually did really enjoy reading it. It's a book I think many readers can enjoy, an engaging paranormal mystery.

But I would most definitely not recommend it as a horror novel.

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was good, but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. I didn’t find it creepy at all. which is a bummer. I really did like the art work included and thought that was a unique idea. I just don’t think the plot twist was well done because there’s no way you could have guessed a lot of that. Especially the Ted just being so absolutely in love with Mallory? Like that was stupid. Also I don’t know the trans situation just left a bad taste in my mouth. Also the ending? Idk I just didn’t love that. As for the ghost, I just wanted more.

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jess_louisa96's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The first half you know something creepy is going on but can’t pinpoint what. The second half had lots of twists and turns and many gasps! The drawings throughout definitely add to the creepy nature. I couldn’t put this down and would definitely recommend!!

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randilion28's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I have decided to save my 5 stars for books that steal my heart and won't let go... This was a close one simply because I HAD NO IDEA what the end result was going to be until they spelled it out for me and WOW! I absolutely didn't expect it to be anything like it was and I'm thankful for it. It makes reading these books all the more fun when I haven't figured out the plot before I'm halfway into the story! I don't like going over what happens in the story at all because I don't want to accidentally give away anything but I do want to warn others that if addiction is a real trigger for you - then I would consider reading something else as there are a couple times that it gets very explicit in details. Otherwise I 10 out of 10 recommend reading if you like thriller/mystery books! I listened on Spotify but halfway through saw the book at Walmart and decided to get it because it actually shows the pictures that little Teddy is drawing and I would absolutely recommend getting the physical copy!

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eli_93's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I was, at first, skeptical about the book, solely because I usually grow bored of the whole "scary kids" trope. However, I have to admit I was intrigued as the chapters progress and the characters and plot start to take shape. Even though the characters felt a little too cliched (sometimes to the point of being an offensive cliche, especially towards the POC characters...), I was somewhat curious by the not-so-often used "marriage" of a who-done-it murder mystery and investigation with the supernatural.

I'm also always partial towards female ghosts who are not malevolent, but are instead seeking justice and retribution

. However, by somewhere along the middle, the characters became predictable and a tad boring, and by the time the big final reveal happens, nothing made a lot of sense nor did the characters sound like themselves. There is the classic, but most of the times completely unnecessary, sexual harassment of a woman, a woman being rescued by a man (one of which, the man who harasses her), the random (and again unnecessary and oddly timed) implicit sex scene... This book is a pool of cliches. And they're not even well explored.
To make matters worse, the author adds transphobia and not so cleverly disguised compliments to J.K.Rowling to the initial stereotypes. I think it is safe to say I'm not reading this author again, nor would I recommend it.

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