Genre- Mystery, Thriller, Supernatural, substance
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak is a thriller novel. It follows a 21-year-old Mallory Quinn, who is fresh out of rehab. Mallory is 18 months clean (oxycontin addiction) and is ready to start a fresh life.
Summary
The novel is set in Spring Brooke, a serene and picturesque town. The Maxwells recruit Mallory as a live-in nanny for Teddy Maxwell, a cheerful, free-spirited and curious five-year-old boy.
Teddy’s parents Caroline and Ted Maxwell are staunch atheists and science believers. They have strong principles on child upbringing and give Mallory the lengthy sheet of house rules.
Caroline is warm and friendly yet formal and distant towards Mallory. On the contrary, Ted is cold, rude and suspicious of Mallory. Despite his qualms about her, he still recruits her.
Mallory has no problems settling into her new life. She has private quarters to stay. As a former athlete, she goes on regular runs in her free time.
Mallory and Teddy grow a strong bond. She finds that Teddy has a flair for drawing. He draws simplistic and light-hearted stick figure drawings of their everyday activities. One day, Mallory is taken aback when the topic of Teddy’s drawings takes a dark turn. His drawing shows a man dragging a woman (presumably dead) through the forest.
This drawing is just the start of many more drawings that follow. After a point, Mallory decides that she should figure out what is going on. What comes next forms the rest of the story.
Mallory is a flawed but well-wishing protagonist. Her narrative is a progressive journey from self-doubt to belief. She has a subdued demeanour because of her history of drug abuse, but that doesn’t stop her from voicing her opinions. Still, she chooses to keep her love interest Adrian in the dark about her past. She puts up an act that makes her comfortable around him. But her tragic past is deeply rooted inside her and it keeps surfacing now and then.
The supporting characters add depth and complexity to the story, each with secrets that keep you guessing. There are very few characters in the story and at one point the reader thinks they have solved the mystery, But the author throws in a bunch of unanticipated twists in the later half of the book. This makes the story gripping.
Jason Rekulak keeps the story simple. He avoids going deep into the character sketches and I am not complaining. The mystery behind Teddy’s drawings is what keeps the reader hooked till the end. The author has done a great job keeping that a mystery right until the end.
The book does full justice to its name. The illustrations are chilling and enhance the reading experience. No amount of written descriptions can give the impact that the illustrations do in this book.
The illustrations are well-placed and they align perfectly with the writing. The reader feels a blend of appreciation and thrill with every new picture. The charcoal sketches have a sad, dark tone, but are hauntingly beautiful.
Every chapter is like a puzzle piece, carefully placed to create a picture that’s as haunting as it is compelling. Each revelation pulls the reader deeper into the mystery.
The novel has a bittersweet realistic ending. “Hidden Pictures” is a fast-paced page-turner and well worth your time!
Rating- 4.5/5
Hidden pictures can be purchased here.
-By Soul Sword
The Writers Room 