Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak | Book Review

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Title & Author: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak 

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Sphere

Publication date: 23rd June 2022 

Blurb:

Mallory is delighted to have a new job looking after gorgeous four-year-old, Teddy. She's been sober for a year and a half and she's sure her new nannying role in the affluent suburbs will help keep her on the straight and narrow.

That is until Teddy starts to draw disturbing pictures of his imaginary friend, Anya. It is quite clear to Mallory and to Teddy's parents, even in his crude childlike style, that the woman Teddy is drawing in his pictures is dead.

Teddy's crayons are confiscated, and his paper locked away. But the drawings somehow keep coming, telling a frightening story of a woman murdered... and they're getting more sophisticated. But if Teddy isn't drawing the pictures anymore, who is? And what are they trying to tell Mallory about her new home?

Review:

I felt like I had a bit of FOMO with this book and I was super intrigued by the creepy drawings so I knew I had to add it to my October reads.

Mallory Quinn is a twenty-one-year old ex-addict who has been clean for eighteen months. She lands a job as a nanny for Caroline and Ted Maxwell through her sponsor who vouches for her.

The job entails looking after their five-year-old son Teddy during the summer before he starts school and Mallory lives in a renovated cabin in their grounds. Teddy has a tendency to draw unnerving pictures depicting some strange things and they get more and more detailed. Mallory knows there is no way a five-year-old is capable of drawing like this.

There are rumours that someone died in her cabin and Mallory is convinced that this woman is trying to contact her through Teddy.

I didn't know where this book was going to go. It is very much like a mystery with us following Mallory trying to piece together what the drawings mean. It went along at one pace for around 80% of the book then everything turned on its head for the last 20%. 

I love when I genuinely am surprised and don't guess the ending! The illustrations were absolutely fantastic and I love that there is a little interview at the end with the author and the two people who drew the illustrations too. It was a nice little behind the scenes glimpse.