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’ve heard so much about Hidden Pictures and I couldn’t wait to get started on it. There are a few things that become clear straight away: firstly, that Mallory may not be a reliable narrator, and secondly, that this novel would be a very creepy and atmospheric story. This showed me that I would enjoy it and I felt as if I was right there in every scene. I really wanted to know more about Anya and I was determined to get to the bottom of what was happening.

Despite her potential to be unreliable, I really warmed to Mallory. I wanted her to stay sober and I loved her relationship with Teddy. She clearly wanted the best for him and their interactions were really heartwarming. His parents, however, were very different and I was suspicious of them from the beginning. Each character is really well developed and I was intrigued to see how things would work out for them. They all have very well defined back stories and that allows the reader to get to know them more thoroughly.

There are some brilliant illustrations of the drawings used in the story throughout the book and they really bring the narrative to life.

It’s difficult to say much more about Hidden Pictures without giving away spoilers, but my thoughts about the novel completely changed about three quarters of the way through. I had no idea that the novel was heading in the direction it did, and it means that now I will be thinking about these characters for some time.

Hidden Pictures is available from Amazon.