Mallory Quinn is trying to make a fresh start. After a devastating event that left her dependent on pain killers, snatched away her dreams of cross country glory, and ripped her family apart, Mallory is back on her feet and mending her broken life. After a year or sobriety and with the help of her sponsor, Mallory has found a summer job nannying in an opulent neighborhood for the Maxwell family and their little boy, Teddy. Determined to prove her stability, Mallory quickly bounds with Teddy and finds him to be a sweet, creative, and highly perceptive child. Teddy has a love of drawing and is never without a pad and his colored pencils. But his creations begin to take on more and more disturbing images. Teddy's imaginary friend Anya, is a regular image that appears in his drawings. And as Mallory puts the pictures together, images of what appears to be a murder begin to come together.

As Mallory grapples with the mystery behind Teddy's drawings, she becomes friends with the local gardener and neighborhood boy, Adrien. With Adrien's help and the assistance of a peculiar neighbor, Mallory works to solve the meaning behind Teddy's artwork. But something...or someone...wants to keep those secrets buried.

This was a great book/audiobook. A mix of ghost story and thriller, it kept me guessing until the very end. There's a particular twist that occurs at the last 20% of the story that really had me on the edge of my seat. Definitely an entertaining read and one I would recommend for those that love the paranormal.

Okay, I think I've heard enough.

This tale begins with Mallory, a recovering addict living in a halfway house. She's 18 months sober and ready to move on with her life. I have loved ones in recovery so I felt like I would really be into this.

Her mentor, which should be a woman but is a man for some reason against any 12 step rules, turns her on to a job babysitting for a kid named Teddy.

This is where things quickly go downhill for me. Teddy's mom is warm and inviting. She works with addicts and veterans so she's eager to give Mallory a chance. Teddy's father is more reluctant and reserved. Citing her as high risk. Hurtful but it's not a lie.

Suddenly every virtue signal gets thrown in here from food to climate. Teddy has an imaginary friend who suggests he eat different things but can ya blame him?? I would too if my parents were feeding me according to what they think the sun monster wants.

They're obviously anti-religion. Fair enough. I'm not a religious person but I try not to judge. Mallory is religious and I feel this is just an odd take thrown in just to virtue against religion of any sort. The smart, science family and the dopey religious girl who was on drugs.

I dealt with all of it, I just rolled my eyes. Then we get to the real doozy. As they're outside swimming, Mallory meets the landscaper. He's of Mexican descent, though we don't know his immigration status and I, for one, did not ask. He's a nice young man and Teddy likes him enough to draw him a creepy picture.

He leaves and the quirky neighbor comes outside claiming to be a libertarian, spouting a bunch of racist and sexist nonsense. It doesn't even make sense. Libertarians are loose on the border stuff and very welcoming of immigrants. They mind their own business. They don't go in someone's yard they don't know telling them to not wear a bikini except for in the wet dreams and imaginations of hard leftists.

So for those reasons, I'm out. Lay off the politics and weird undertones next time or at least say that in the blurb. Surprise politics get a low rating from me every time. Most of us read fiction to get away from that stuff.

4.5 stars from me. This book had be on the edge of my seat, listening way into the late night because I was so enthralled. This is one of my favorite genres...sort of a thriller/lite-horror. I really liked the main character, a former high-school athlete that later burned out on drugs, but overcame her addiction and is trying to get her life back together. I also loved how the author handled her Christianity. It was addressed in a respectful way, but then didn't become a plot point that made her seem extreme or crazy. It was just there in the background, only popping up once of twice when another character made assumptions about how her faith would impact her opinions of someone else's lifestyle. Then the book did another very unusual thing of making that character point out that her Christian beliefs did not match up with others' preconceived notions. Not all Christians have the same opinions issues, and that is very realistic. Most books either make people of faith crazy or perfect. This book handled it just very realistically and it was refreshing.

What a surprise the mystery turned out to be. There was a supernatural element to the book that was woven in throughout, but never too over-the-top. I was intrigued to figure out what was implied by that. The little child in the story, Teddy, was precious and rarely grating as so many children in fiction can be. Honestly, I just liked almost everything about this book. I hope its a big hit. I think many people will appreciate the non-judgmental representation of varying types of people: recovering addicts, atheists, people of faith, working moms, etc. This was a book presented in a tone that I want to see more of: seeing people through a lens of accepting each other's differences without those differences driving the drama. The differences just ARE, and that's no big deal.

The story was fun and often unpredictable. I would love to read more by this author!

Wow! I loved this book! I was engaged immediately and the flow of how the story unfolded was perfect. I would have never guessed where this story would end up, and it had me hooked. I finished it in 2 days and that is a rarity for me. I really liked Mallory and how we got to know her past story in the midst of the main storyline. This was truly something different and I can't recommend it enough. The author is a new favorite for me and I will be reading more by him in the very near future. Well done!

I loved this book. I thought the narration was wonderful. I had no clue how the story was going to end, and let me tell you the twist at toward the end of the book got me. I would definitely recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced audiobook copy.

I really love the narrator of this book! And the story was excellent! I finished it in 2 days. I didn’t want to put it down. Definitely some plot twists I didn’t see coming. I have read another book from this author and enjoyed it. Can’t wait to see what he has in store for the future.

I flew through the audiobook of Hidden Pictures in just over 24 hours. Suzy Jackson was a perfect narrator to voice Mallory Quinn, who when we meet is a year and a half sober and taking a job as a nanny in an affluent suburb in New Jersey. Mallory had a tragedy in her past that changed the plans she had for her life. Now that she's back on the right track, getting out of Philadelphia for the summer to nanny seems like the perfect option. Five year old Teddy is such a sweet boy and the two hit it off right away. Unfortunately for Mallory things don't go quite as smoothly as she would have hoped and with the help of local landscaper, Mallory is left to figure out what Teddy's creepy drawings mean. The book is full of twists that you will probably not see coming, but you do have to be okay with a bit of super natural elements, a la Simone St. James. This was truly a perpuslive story that you will fly through to find out what is going on. I loved it, and the fact that Jason Rekulak is a local Philadelphian didn't hurt either. Highly recommend grabbing this on May 10!

I went into this book completely blind so finding out it was a paranormal thriller was a treat! I feel like this book follows a similar thriller arch I have seen in Riley Sager’s works. I thought the twists were unique and caught me off guard in the best ways possible.

With the good is the bad and this book had its fair share of it. I instantly disliked the way the main character used her religious beliefs to cause tension. Early on she finds out Ted and Caroline are atheists and she ‘grabs her cross necklace’. It felt dramatic and unnecessary. This was soon followed with her internalizing the idea that she wouldn’t be hired for being christian. It was portrayed in the way that christians are oppressed.

Overall, it was a thriller that had me interested but ultimately let me down.

I really enjoyed listening to this book! The narrator was very good too. I was hooked. It was creepy, but in a really good way. I can’t wait to hopefully add this book to my physical collection!

I requested to review the audio book Hidden Pictures solely based on the cover and title. That's it. I liked what I saw and went into the story cold. And I'm glad I did. The book features young, fit babysitter Mallory, a 23 year old recovering drug addict who is hired as live in nanny to a young child who likes to draw and has parents with an awesome shore house and some bucks.

If I've learned anything from Lifetime movies, and a ton of domestic thrillers, it's that all babysitters are evil and have the sole goal of eliminating mom and marrying dad. I'm completely okay with this trope. I was not prepared for the direction Hidden Pictures took, but I enjoyed the ride.

Mallory lives in the guest house which was also the site of a long ago unsolved murder. With young child Teddy drawing what appear to be pictures from the perspective of the murder victim, Mallory begins investigating.

You can't pigeonhole Hidden Pictures into a specific genre. Others on the internet classify it as horror or suspense, but at varying times it felt like straight up domestic thriller, mystery, supernatural, and even YA as the young protagonist dealt with prior addictions and change of direction.

For my own ego, I'd like to tell you that "I knew it! I knew that's what was going on all the time!!", but I honestly had no idea through most of it and the ending was an unexpected surprise.

This book releases on May 10th and the audio, narrated by Suzy Jackson, runs about 9 1/2 hours. Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio and Jason Rekulak for allowing me to listen in advance.

A little kid and his imaginary friend, is there anything creepier? Mallory Quinn is a recovering drug addict with a history of not being able to tell what was real from what wasn’t. She has a lot of baggage and a dead sister. To her credit, she is trying. She’s still in recovery when her sponsor offers her a dream job. She can live in a cottage in the woods and take care of Teddy, the adorable son of Ted and Caroline Maxwell. Everything is awesome until Teddy’s drawings turn from cute pictures to disturbing images of a woman being murdered. Mallory soon finds out how a woman was murdered in the cabin where she’s living now, and obviously makes the connection. Things spiral out of control. Other reviewers say that the final twist was a little too much, but I saw it coming. There were too many clues if you were paying attention. The whole plot is entertaining, and I couldn’t stop reading. Despite all her shortcomings, Mallory is likable enough to root for, even if I kept yelling at her for doing very, very stupid things. Suzy Jackson’s audiobook narration is solid. You can tell all the characters apart just by their voices and she doesn’t make Teddy sound fake. I enjoyed this read.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Macmillan Audio!

Rating: 4.4 out of 5
-Characters: 4/5
-Cover: 4.5/5
-Story: 4.5/5
-Writing: 4.5/5
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Paranormal
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Yes

Want to first thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to listen to this book. What first got me was the cover and then the summary. I was kinda of in a middle ground of just finishing a book and about to start another in a couple of weeks so I threw my luck on this book. I DOWNED this book in TWO DAYS!

I loved the story. An ex-druggie turned baby sitter having to figure things out. It kind of played like a movie in my head a bit. It was detailed enough but not overly detailed. The characters played their role beautifully. The author didn't waste too much time on secondary characters and the ending was just perfect!

Was it horror? Eehhh not really, personally I say the horror was like 10%? Not a lot, basic, and elementary at most. I came for the horror but stayed for the thriller.

Also for an audiobook I suggest chapter numbers for titles and not the title of the book for each and every chapter. That is the worst part of this whole experience!

I was very lucky to be able to read an advanced copy of this book. It's one of my new favorites I've read this year. It was creative, suspenseful, and creepy in the most fun way. I flew through it in a little over a day. It was never dull and had great pacing. It wasn't predictable and it had me guessing until the end.
I don't want to give anything away because I think it is a much better read when you go into it without expectations. I can't think of anything that felt like filler material. Every aspect of the story and each character felt like it served a purpose to the plot and mystery. Nothing felt like it was there to just throw you off or waste time, which I really appreciated. I can't wait to read more from this author and highly recommend reading this book!

Best Thriller/Mystery I have read all year. I loved Mallory she came off very authentic and I really felt for her and the predicaments she found herself in. 5 Stars. Highly Highly Recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me an audiobook arc of this title.

I’m not really into suspense fiction with supernatural elements but I had heard so many great things about this that I decided to give it a try on audio. The whole premise is intriguing and the deeply flawed main character is fascinating. She makes some good decisions and some poor decisions, but is authentic throughout. The narrator of this audiobook does a fabulous job of portraying all characters to the point where it seemed like there were multiple actors. The supernatural elements were a little odd but not to the point of being completely ridiculous or implausible. A quick-paced plot and multiple twists at the end made this an overall excellent audiobook.

Oh my.....I was pumped to get this as an audio - not disappointed. I love a good psych thriller and this one delivered. There were times where I was like mmmmm where is this going but it's definitely not your average thriller. The supernatural element was definitely intriguing - I usually just do straight thrills, this was another one I couldn't put down. I love the ones that keep you guessing.

Mallory Quinn is no ones idea of Mary Poppins, but newly released from rehab, she’s looking for a fresh start. It looks like she’s found it when she takes a job babysitting for the Maxwell’s, caring for five year old Teddy. She learns to love her charge but becomes concerned when his typical drawings of animals and flowers grow progressively darker, including a sketch of a man dragging a woman’s body. Do these sketches have something to do with an unsolved murder in the area? I loved this creepy story, the atypical heroine makes a nice change from the ”final girl” types populating thrillers these days

Audiobook
Great story ! I love Suzy Jackson as a narrator - she is very skilled at creating personas - even children!

In HIdden Pictures, we follow Mallory as she tries to begin anew via connections from her NA sponsor. Throughout the book Mallory reveals pieces of her former life - heroin and opioid issues stopped her from starting college and lead to a rift between her and what family she has left. A former distance runner, Mallory has been paired with a retired professional running coach for NA. He is a fantastic sponsor and finds her a child care opportunity that gets her out of her halfway house.

Mallory loves Ted and Caroline's home and their little boy but something eerie is happening. Teddy has befriended a young woman named Anya. But is Anya a make believe friend or the manifested ghost of a murdered young woman. As Mallory tries to get to the bottom of it, she has to walk a tightrope between following the very strict science only rules of the home and investigating a potential spirit. She of course also has to ensure that she is and seems sober.

If you love thrillers with a hint of supernatural, situations where there seems to be no solution or just like rooting for the underdog, then Hidden Pictures is for you! #NetGalley #NetGalleyreads #HiddenPictures #MacmillanAudio

Twisty, suspenseful mystery that will have you questioning who, exactly, is telling the truth. Is Mallory losing her mind? Is there really a ghost speaking through Teddy? I loved this title and found it deeply enjoyable for a great thriller.

This is the most problematic and horrific book in a long time. I can't believe it was published. Not to mention workout and food fixation. Did the GOP Right wing extreme write this with a mix of what they might consider as irony that I find disgusting?

Body shaming
Transgender Phobia..

AS PLOT PLOYS.

And I can keep going. STAY AWAY. FAR AWAY