Book Cover

We don’t know how much our bodies can endure until we make cruel demands of them.

# Review

Mallory is a young recovering drug addict who finds a job being a live-in au pair to the Maxwells and their five-year-old son Teddy. The Maxwells are wealthy and live in an idyllic neighbourhood, their son Teddy is also well-behaved. Teddy enjoys drawing and one day, Mallory discovers that his drawings are taking a sinister turn.

I'm a big fan of mystery thriller authors like Stephen King, so when I saw that this book won the 2022 Readers' Favorite Horror award on Goodreads, I decided to check it out. The story actually starts out very interesting; Mallory's backstory and the picture perfect environment within the Maxwell household are both interesting premises for a horror story. Unfortunately, the story starts strong but never escalates, and the ending is very corny and predictable. There were so many missed opportunities, such as leveraging Mallory's backstory more in the plot to throw more uncertainty to the core mystery. The characters are mostly archetypal, with Mallory the only one receiving thorough development. The writing is entertaining but was not very memorable. There were some exciting passages, though, such as the vulnerability Mallory feels in her cabin.

# Conclusion

A pretty mediocre horror story with some exciting passages; I'll probably stop valuing the Goodreads Choice Awards as much going forward.

# Overall rating: 7.3

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