Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - 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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cassidy_rain's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“I can see her every night,” Teddy says. “She sleeps under my bed so I can hear her singing.”

Okay, I had some theories but I did NOT see that coming. What a perfect, spooky fall read! Hidden Pictures is a paranormal mystery. It follows Mallory, she’s working on getting her life back together and maintaining her sobriety when she has the opportunity to become a nanny for one child, Teddy, for the summer before he goes off to school. The family seems super empathic to her situation and she gets along great with Teddy so she’s hired right away. Things get interesting when Teddy starts mentioning his imaginary friend and drawing some strange and disturbing pictures. Is he just a child with a busy imagination or is something more sinister going on?

This story grabbed my attention from the first pages and I flew through it in nearly one sitting. The characters and storyline are so good! Mallory is flawed but I loved her as a character and was rooting for her so deeply. You can feel her frustration through the pages as she tries to uncover the mystery. I also adored Adrian and the fact that she has somebody on her side. Teddy is also a great character and the addition of his actual drawings is SO fun and immersive, like you’re helping solve the mystery. At first glance this feels kind of predictable; I thought I had everything figured out about the 50% mark and was sorely mistaken. There’s a lot of paranormal elements, which isn’t always my thing, but I think it’s done in a way that feels very realistic (rather than in a horror way). Highly recommend!

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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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ravensalwaysreading's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

2.5

Too many plotholes and strange character interactions. What idiot tells a pair of murderers that she knew they had murdered? The main character was incredibly shallow from a writing aspect and as a person. Manic pixie dream girl except a vapid Christian version.

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czty27's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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bones008's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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