A review by staceen
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I struggled with rating this. It's written very simplistically, like a YA novel, so it's easy to fly through. I do appreciate a lite horror that actually ties up most of its loose ends. The characters were flat and, as someone on reddit said, "An ex drug addict protagonist that was also some kind of sheltered super prude." All that said, I enjoyed most of the experience of reading this. 

All that being said, the conservative dog whistles in this book abound. From the distain for atheists, to slut shaming, to anti-immigrant sentiment to Harry Potter. And then of course the big one. 

I think often readers can misinterpret a character's attitudes or feelings to mean that is what an author is trying to promote or endorse, but in this case I think it's spot on.