Book Review: Jason Rekulak - Hidden Pictures (published in 2022)

 

This whole time I was thinking I would give this book a decent four stars. Then the ending blew me away. The way everything connects was well-done in my view and I think everything wraps up perfectly (including the one thing that doesn't wrap up at all, which I found entertaining).

This story is about a recovering addict Mallory. She's 18 months sober and is looking for a summer job. She's finds this with the help of her sponsor with a family who is looking for an in-house babysitter for their child Teddy. Teddy warms to Mallory immediately and he draws her many pictures. There's something off about the pictures though, they start transforming into more sinister images and who is this woman Teddy is talking to in his room during Quiet Time? 

This book could touch upon one of my major tropes in thrillers when female protagonists are projected as weak. It does not however. Mallory has been written as a decent female protagonist (even though she does somethings that made me shout out in frustration), and the plot evolves in a very interesting manner. It's certainly something I didn't really expect even though I had a bit of an inkling. 

It's a very entertaining read, and I'm looking forward to more books from this author in the future. 

Book Review: Darcy Coates - From Below (published in 2022)

 

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!

I did not like the ending of DARCY COATES' latest horror novel, but there's a big but coming: I loved how it wrapped up all elements of the story so nicely. Nothing is left hanging. All plot points I could think of have a nice ribbon tied around them. 

I read THE WHISPERING DEAD by Coates recently and I enjoyed it, but it was slightly bland. This is not that. The pacing of FROM BELOW is a bit slow. It's not 400 pages but it felt like more, and it didn't really need to be. It nail-bitingly creepy though. I've not read many horror books lately that contain real suspenseful horrific scenes and this one does. 

The story is about an expedition to a sunken ship. No one knows why it sunk back in the day, so a film crew is out to capture footage of the vessel to see if they can uncover more information. And that they do. 

The characters are all interesting and well-fleshed out. It's easy to understand all their motives. Expeditions and explorations where horrific scenes are found are a favourite thing of mine in books, so it has all the elements for me to love. If the pacing wouldn't have been off and if the thing that happened at the end wouldn't have happened it would've been five stars. 

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!