I read the 372 pages over three evenings and had an outstanding time with this novel and even if the idea of a ‘twist’ ending is overhyped, I was very satisfied with how things play out and did not feel cheated in the slightest. For the most part it uses ambiguity beautifully, balancing a potential supernatural riff with a main character who is not quite an unreliable narrator. As King alludes to, it does indeed include some very clever twists, plot shifts and very sneaky misdirection. This is a clever page-turner which is hard to put down, demanding 100% of your attention. I do not always agree with the endless cycle of Stephen King quotations which appear on new releases, but on this occasion, King nails it. Hidden Pictures does precisely what its publicity promises and is an amazingly easy-to-read dark thriller. This is exactly the type of thriller with a supernatural edge to it which would be popular with readers who are not attracted to more traditional horror fiction.

Most years there is a breakout ‘supernatural thriller’ hit and Hidden Pictures is clearly that book for 2022, which it will surely carry into 2023 with the momentum gathered from the surprising Goodreads victory.īut is it any good and worth the hype? Yes, and definitely yes. It also has this cool Stephen King quote on the front cover: “I loved it… the surprises really surprise, and it has that hard to achieve propulsiveness that won’t let you put it down.” Other quotes from Grady Hendrix, Ransom Riggs, and major UK newspapers The Times and The Daily Mail back up the fact it clearly did pick up mainstream coverage (even if it passed me by for whatever reason). The horror genre bubble is miniscule in comparison to the mainstream publishers which dictate the tastes of a massive percentage of the book buying public and as Hidden Pictures is released by Sphere, it certainly had one of the bigger boys promoting it.

Interestingly, subsequent conversations with authors, bloggers and fellow reviewers revealed that others were equally mystified how a novel which had clearly picked up next to zero attention in the horror press could win such a big award. It is rare for a horror novel to do so outstandingly well in a major book competition without it appearing on my radar, so I had to track it down to satisfy my curiosity. I had never previously heard of Jason Rekulak or his second novel Hidden Pictures until it reached the latter stages of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award, eventually winning the horror category.

Jason rekulak hidden pictures review