“We don’t know how much our bodies can endure until we make cruel demands of them.”
If you loved Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, you know how gripping a story can be when suspense, supernatural twists, and chilling mysteries all collide. Rekulak’s novel follows Mallory Quinn, a young woman fresh out of rehab, who takes a seemingly ordinary babysitting job for five-year-old Teddy – only to discover his hint at dark, unexplained events. As his sketches become increasingly sinister, Mallory finds herself ensnared in a mystery that blurs reality and the imagined. For anyone looking for more books like Hidden Pictures, there’s a trove of thrillers and psychological suspense novels that blend eerie atmospheres, unsettling secrets, and memorable characters. Whether it’s supernatural mysteries, darkly twisted plots, or stories that keep you guessing until the final page, these books similar to Hidden Pictures will satisfy your craving for spine-tingling suspense and page-turning intrigue.
Hidden Pictures Summary
Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.
Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory starts to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force. Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.
A Head Full Of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay
We’re kicking off our list of books like Hidden Pictures is one of Paul Tremblay’s best books, A Head Full of Ghosts. The lives of the Baretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. As their home is transformed into a house of horrors, they turn to a Catholic priest, Father Wanderly, and a production company to film their plight. When events in the household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of legend.
Fifteen years on, a bestselling author interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long-ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories begin to surface – and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.
That’s Not My Name – Megan Lally
Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there – or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and, not long after, a frantic man arrives. He’s been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he claims.
When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except that Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the entire town are convinced that Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence; he needs to find her before it is too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow… and the more danger both of them are in.
We Used To Live Here – Marcus Kilerwer
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve done when they pick up an old house in a picturesque neighbourhood. One day, there’s a knock at the door. It’s a man with his family, claiming to have lived in the house years before, asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. However, as soon as they step inside, inexplicable things begin happening, including the youngest child disappearing and a ghostly presence materialising in the basement.
Even stranger, the family don’t seem to be able to take the hint that their visit is over. And when Charlie too suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is seriously wrong with this house and the visiting family – or is Eve just imagining things? Like Hidden Pictures, We Used to Live Here is a spine-tingling horror that promises to haunt you long after you’ve finished it.
Check Out The Best Books Like We Used To Live Here
Gray After Dark – Noelle W. Ihli
When a tragic accident sidelines Miley’s dreams of Olympic gold, she takes a summer job at a mountain guest lodge. The Frank Church Wilderness is remote, but it’s the perfect place to train and recover. Local lore about a staffer who died years ago doesn’t scare her. But it should.
Miley’s plans take a terrifying detour when she’s abducted during a morning run. Held captive in a desolate off-grid cabin, she’ll have to use her athletic prowess, cunning mind, and courage to survive. Yet, as the nightmare at the cabin escalates, Miley is forced to form an unlikely alliance and attempt a risky escape. Inspired by real events, Gray After Dark is another thriller similar to Hidden Pictures with a finale that is sure to leave you breathless.
Suffer The Children – John Saul
One hundred years ago in Port Arbello, a pretty little girl began to scream. And struggle. And die. No one heard. No one saw. Just one man whose guilty heart burst in pain as he dashed himself to death in the sea. Now something peculiar is happening in Port Arbello. The children are disappearing, one by one. An evil history is repeating itself. And one strange, terrified child has ended her silence with a scream that began a hundred years ago. One of the best classic horror stories of all time, Suffer the Children is a tale of historical evil returning to haunt children.
Naomi’s Room – Jonathan Aycliffe
Charles and Laura are a young, happily married couple inhabiting the privileged world of Cambridge academia. Brimming with excitement, Charles sets off with his daughter Naomi on a Christmas Eve shopping trip to London. But by the end of the day, all Charles and his wife have left are cups of tea and police sympathy. For Naomi, their beautiful, angelic only child, has disappeared. Days later, her murdered body is discovered.
But is she dead? In a howling, bumping story of past and present-day hell, Jonathan Aycliffe’s haunting psychological masterpiece is guaranteed to make you sink to untold depths of teeth-shaking terror, perfect for anyone who loved Hidden Pictures.
The Turn Of The Screw – Henry James
Another one of the top classic horror books like Hidden Pictures, The Turn of the Screw, is the story of a young woman’s first job: governess for two weirdly beautiful, strangely distant, oddly silent children, Miles and Flora, at a forlorn estate. An estate that is haunted by a beckoning evil. Half-seen figures who glare from dark towers and dusty windows – silent, foul phantoms who, day by day, night by night, come closer, ever closer.
With growing horror, the helpless governess realises the fiendish creatures want the children, seeking to corrupt their bodies, possess their minds, own their souls. But, worse – much worse – the governess discovers that Miles and Flora have no terror of the lurking evil. For they want the walking dead as badly as the dead want them.
Incidents Around The House – Josh Malerman
To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”
When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the same question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, soon her family must pay. Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe. But other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety of Bela relies on the cusp of breaking. But Other Mommy still needs an answer. Like Hidden Pictures, Incidents Around the House is a chilling tale about a family as haunted as its home, told from the viewpoint of the child Bela.
Play Nice – Rachel Harrison
Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbours a not-so-glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After her parents’ messy divorce, her mother moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. At least, that’s what her mother claimed. That’s not what the sisters remember, or what the courts decided. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.
After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Clio spots an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the house makeover begins, Clio discovers there may be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface, a sinister presence in the house manifests, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundations.
Check Out Our Play Nice Book Review
Baby Teeth – Zoje Stage
Meet Hanna. She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.
Meet Suzette. She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained homeschooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette’s husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette begins to fear that there is something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.
The Boy Who Drew Monsters – Keith Donohue
Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outside. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters. When those drawings take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire.
While those around Jack Peter are haunted by what they think they see, only he knows the truth behind the frightful occurrences as the outside world encroaches upon them all. Similar to Hidden Pictures, The Boy Who Drew Monsters is a mesmerising tale of psychological terror and imagination run wild, a perfectly creepy read for a dark night.
The Chalk Man – C.J. Tudor
In 1986, Eddie and his friends are on the verge of adolescence, spending their days biking in search of adventure. The chalk men are their secret code, stick figures they draw for one another as hidden messages. But one morning the friends find a chalk man leading them to the woods. They follow the message, only to find the dead body of a teenage girl.
In 2016, Eddie is nursing a drinking problem and trying to forget his past, until one day, he gets a letter containing a chalk man – the same one he and his friends saw when they found the body. Soon he learns that all his old friends have received the same note. When one of them is killed, Eddie realises that saving himself means working out what happened all those years ago. But digging into the past proves more dangerous than anyone could have known. Because in this town, everyone has secrets, no one is innocent, and some will do anything to bury the truth.
Check Out Our The Chalk Man Book Review
The Sun Down Motel – Simone St. James
Upstate, NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets.
Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long, she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden.
The Turn Of The Key – Ruth Ware
When Rowan Caine first happens upon the advertisement, she’slooking for something totally different. But it looks like an opportunity too good to turn down. A live-in nannying post with an astonishingly good salary attached. And when she arrives at Heatherbrae House nestled in the Scottish Highlands, she is captivated by its luxury and picture-perfect family of occupants. What she doesn’t realise is that she’s already stepped into a nightmare. One that ends with a child dead, and her in prison for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from her cell, she struggles to recall the events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance, the faulty electronics, or even the girls themselves who turned out to be far from the well-behaved kids she first met. It wasn’t even how she would be left alone for weeks at a time. But she swears she’s not guilty – at least, not of murder. But if she isn’t, it means someone else is.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Turn Of The Key
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
