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Title details for Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak - Wait list

Hidden Pictures

A Novel

by Jason Rekulak
Suzy Jackson
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
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"I loved it." —Stephen King
From Jason Rekulak, Edgar-nominated author of The Impossible Fortress, comes a wildly inventive spin on the classic horror story in Hidden Pictures, a supernatural thriller about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.
Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.
Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman's lifeless body.
Then, Teddy's artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.
Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it's too late.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 10, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250855794
      • File size: 280710 KB
      • Duration: 09:44:48

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 14, 2022
      Rekulak (The Impossible Fortress) uses horror as a lens to bring the dark underbelly of suburbia into focus in this gripping supernatural thriller. Narrator Mallory Quinn is a 21-year-old recovering addict getting a second chance as a live-in nanny to five-year-old Teddy Maxwell, a sweet-natured young artist whose wonderfully creepy pictures appear throughout the novel. His uncanny muse/model is his “imaginary friend,” Anya, whom his erudite, politically correct parents dismiss. Mallory takes Anya seriously, however, especially as Teddy’s art rapidly turns darker and impossibly sophisticated and Mallory learns of a long-ago murder in her guest house quarters. How is Anya manipulating Teddy? Could she be the murder victim? And why do Mallory’s concerns provoke such explosive emotion in Teddy’s parents? The plot unfolds at a good clip, and Mallory’s voice is engrossing, if occasionally too writerly for her working-class South Philly roots. There are no shocking twists here, but Rekulak isn’t looking to keep readers up at night; he’s holding a mirror up to white, affluent Gen X and asking pointed questions about class, trauma, and horror conventions. In that mode, he executes well and sticks the landing.

    • Library Journal

      August 1, 2022

      Recovering addict Mallory Quinn has a new babysitting job with the Maxwells, and she adores their precocious five-year-old, Teddy. However, she's not a fan of Teddy's imaginary friend Anya, who talks with Teddy during quiet time and makes him draw disturbing pictures of a woman being murdered. Mallory wonders who the woman in the pictures is and what exactly Anya could be. She must find answers if she wants to protect Teddy and perhaps herself. Rekulak crafts a very solid mystery full of dead ends, red herrings, and a twist that upends expectations. Having the story told by Mallory, embodied by narrator Suzy Jackson, also really draws listeners into the story. Jackson portrays Mallory as optimistic, resourceful, and someone the audience can easily root for. Mallory has made mistakes but soon discovers that she is capable. But can she save herself and Teddy? VERDICT Rekulak's (The Impossible Fortress) latest is both a mystery and a ghost story, with a strong central protagonist.--James Gardner

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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