Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
Book Overview:
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak is a suspense-laden horror novel with a sinister twist at the end. We follow Mallory Quinn fresh out of rehab and desperate to start a new life sober and free from drug addiction. Her sponsor Russell sets her up with a job interview with Ted and Caroline Maxwell a professional couple looking for someone to help care for their son during the summer.
After a peculiar interview, Mallory lands the job and moves into the cabin next to the Maxwells’ home. For the most part, everything is honky dory. Mallory finds immense joy in caring for Maxwells’ son Teddy due to his robust imagination. That is until he begins to draw disturbing images of his imaginary friend Anya. At first, Mallory doesn’t worry too much about it. After all the Maxwells are aware of these drawings and are confident it’s just a phase.
However, as Teddy’s drawings progress becoming more detailed displaying advanced artistic abilities Mallory begins to believe that something foul is afoot. She learns during a brief visit with the next-door neighbor Mitzi that long ago Annie Barrett was supposedly murdered in the cabin with her body never to be found again.
It’s at this point that a suspicion is planted into Mallory’s head that perhaps the spirit of Annie Barrett is possessing Teddy in the form of his imaginary friend “Anya” causing him to draw these detailed images to tell the story of her murder. She brings this up to the Maxwells and is met with disbelief as they reject the possibility of this being the case.
Feeling she must do something Mallory reaches out to Mitzi and the landscaper Adrian to help get to the root cause of what’s going on. As she does this things begin to escalate in the home until they reach a fever pitch and Mallory realizes that there’s something far more deadly at play than what she originally imagined.
Book Review:
This was a fairly decent horror full of creepy elements that piqued my interest and action that helped to propel the story forward. The elements that I found the most enjoyable were the inclusion of the sinister artwork by Teddy, the steady pacing, and the conclusion of the events involving what was happening with Teddy. Things that didn’t work for me were Mallory’s lack of supernatural abilities, quickly identifying the plot twist, Mallory’s ignorance despite obvious red flags, and the unnecessary epilogue.
Let’s start with what worked for me. The supernatural elements and the inclusion of Teddy’s artwork, as it progressed from harmless to shockingly horrifying, were such new and interesting factors to feature in a story. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with this type of element contained within the story. Being able to see what Mallory was seeing allowed me to become involved with the story and feel a part of what was happening.
Also, the pacing was steady and consistent. There weren’t any slow, dull moments because things were happening steadily. Be it in the form of Teddy’s pictures, Teddy’s odd behaviors, revelations from minor characters, or Rekulak using supernatural elements to create tension and intrigue.
Lastly, I appreciated how things wrapped up regarding discovering what was going on in the Hamilton household. The buildup to the final revelation was well-written creating an emotional impact for the reader.
What didn’t work for me was how in the beginning we get a hint at Mallory perhaps possessing some type of sixth sense of some kind. As she’s participating in an experiment it’s revealed that she was able to correctly ascertain the gaze of the male colleagues while blindfolded. This revelation is touted as being something extraordinary and unique about Mallory. However, we don’t really see this come up in the story again.
And it has no real prevalence in the events that transpire in the story. Unless of course her “sensitivity” is what allowed her to identify Teddy was being haunted by a spirit. Even if this is the case nothing was really mentioned to tie these two points together. So what was the point of bringing that up in the first place?
Next, while I liked the leadup to the final revelation and the twist in the story I don’t like that I had guessed it so early on. Let me be clear I don’t necessarily dislike it when I can guess a twist or see it coming. I just dislike it when I guess a key plot twist and it’s what I consider to be underwhelming, generic, or average. And, that’s my opinion of this plot twist. It was average and typical for me.
Then there was Mallory. While she was able to pinpoint what was happening to Teddy I felt that she overlooked many clues that exposed the true dangers lurking within. I feel Mallory’s wish to gain approval from others blinded her to the odd inconsistencies that were occurring. Plus, she handled every setback, and every incident in such a dramatic way. Please understand I get that writers often do this to shake up the credibility of their character and cause the reader to question the protagonist and create drama, action, and intrigue. I also think this can be accomplished without making characters appear stupid all the time.
This seems to be common in many thriller and horror stories where the main protagonist is always portrayed as overly emotional, highly reactive, and dramatic. It doesn’t help that in the majority of these cases the protagonist is female. Can we get thrillers and horrors where the main characters are cunning, witty, and sharp? I mean it’s possible for bad things to happen and to progress a story with intelligent, strong-willed characters while still including thrilling and horrific elements that put them in dangerous and terrifying positions.
Ok, off my soapbox and onto the epilogue. I don’t believe the epilogue was necessary. It didn’t reveal much of anything and I don’t see the added benefit to the overall story. For me, it just made it all about Mallory and her expectations and feelings and I thought what does that matter? You did what was right now it’s time to step away and let life run the course it’s supposed to take. Instead, we see her trying to make this weird connection with a person who’s still in the process of healing and unpacking the emotional and mental consequences of their trauma. How or why Mallory fits into this I don’t know.
Aside from the few dislikes that I had I did enjoy this story for the most part and had a good time. I recently purchased Rekulak’s second novel and look forward to diving into this one soon. So, the jury’s still out on whether this is a new favorite author we’ll see.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts? Share in the comments below! Remember if you’re including any spoilers label them as spoilers at the beginning of your comment so people who haven’t read this book just yet can skip. Until next time happy reading!
