I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.<\/small><\/p>\n
Mogsy\u2019s Rating: 3 of 5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n Genre:\u00a0<\/strong>Horror<\/p>\n Series:\u00a0<\/strong>Stand Alone<\/p>\n Publisher:\u00a0<\/strong>Del Rey (September 8, 2026)<\/p>\n Length:\u00a0<\/strong>288 pages<\/p>\n Author Information:\u00a0<\/strong>Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m always willing to pick up a new book by Josh Malerman, and Pictures of You <\/em>was especially a no-brainer because it involves a pretty unique premise involving art and creativity. That said, because it was on the shorter side, it didn\u2019t leave much of an impression. While this quick, relatively straightforward horror thriller had some interesting ideas beneath the surface, it ultimately feels like a book that could have used a little more room to develop them.<\/p>\n The story follows Emily and Jack, a young couple who are very much in love despite having only been dating for a brief time. At the start of the book, Emily has some important news to share with her boyfriend and hopes to do so during their romantic getaway to a small lakeside town. However, their perfect weekend quickly turns into a nightmare when, after a night out together, Jack wakes up in the morning to find himself alone in their hotel room. Emily\u2019s phone is on the table, but she herself is nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n In fact, Emily had been taken the night before. She wakes up in a strange bedroom with very little memory of what happened. At the foot of her bed is a disturbing setup, with a large picture frame positioned in a way that makes her the central focus. Before long, her kidnapper is revealed to be a mysterious woman with an obsession with Emily that goes back farther than she could have imagined. It soon becomes clear Emily isn\u2019t just a prisoner. She has somehow become the subject of a deranged artist\u2019s work, and not only is she in danger, but Jack\u2019s life may be at risk as well while he desperately tries to figure out what happened to her.<\/p>\n From there, the story unfolds through shifting perspectives, including Emily\u2019s, Jack\u2019s, and a few others. These different narratives gradually fill in the gaps surrounding the mystery, revealing more about the people involved and the relationships between them. It\u2019s an approach that works well enough, but it also highlights one of the book\u2019s biggest weaknesses: there just isn\u2019t much depth. While it\u2019s refreshing to have a thriller that doesn\u2019t drag itself out for hundreds of pages when the plot is relatively straightforward, there\u2019s also a lack of features to set itself apart. And that\u2019s probably where I stand with Pictures of You<\/em>. It\u2019s perfectly fine for what it is, but it is also a very slight book where the premise is certainly more interesting than the amount of story built around it.<\/p>\n Malerman also plays with ideas about artistic obsession and the lengths some artists might go to in pursuit of their creative vision. Art has a strange power over people, whether they\u2019re creating it or consuming it, and can I appreciate the nod to those themes. That said, the execution is a little weak, and what we end up with is little more than a story about a captive woman trapped in a creepy room, trying to figure out how to escape. Sure, there are unsetting moments here and there, and I liked the general direction of the mystery, but ultimately the revelations arrive with more of an \u201cah well, okay then\u201d feeling than the impact I suspect the author was aiming for. The ending does bring things together, but it also reinforces how quickly everything has been moving.<\/p>\n Final thoughts: I enjoyed Pictures of You<\/em>, but I also can\u2019t say it will stay with me that long. What we have here feels like a case of a good concept being asked to carry a fairly small story in that it was a quick, mildly unsettling thriller with an intriguing artistic premise. Sometimes, that\u2019s enough. But since it\u2019s Josh Malerman, I think I expected a little more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bibliosanctum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/pictures-of-you.jpg\")
<\/a>Pictures of You<\/a> by Josh Malerman<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bibliosanctum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/3stars.png?w=150\")
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