Title: The Babysitter
Author: Emma Curtis
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Synopsis:
Three women. Three secrets.
Claudia ‘s life imploded ten years ago when she was convicted of the murder of her child. Now she has done the unthinkable and confessed to manslaughter in order to be granted parole – her only hope of finding out what really happened to Tilly.
Sara is married to Joe, Claudia’s ex-husband, and they have a young child together. She finally has everything she ever wanted, but Claudia’s release threatens the perfect life she has created.
Anna was the babysitter who let Claudia and Joe down on day their daughter disappeared. Married with a child of her own, Claudia’s reappearance in her quiet cul-de-sac is an unwelcome surprise.
These three women are tied together in more ways than they realize. But only one of them is capable of killing.
My review:
I really enjoyed The Babysitter. It’s a very readable, intriguing read which follows two women – Claudia, imprisoned for killing her baby daughter despite maintaining her innocence, and Sara, married with children to Claudia’s ex, Joe. Claudia is determined to find out what really happened, causing quite a stir when she is released from prison.
The plot is well-paced, keeping me interested whilst still building the women’s backstories, particularly Claudia’s. We never know who we can trust, but the unreliable narrators just add to the suspense! I also really felt empathy for Claudia due to the way people around her treated her.
Some parts of the plot and character interactions required a bit of suspension of disbelief, but I think that’s to be expected with any book in this genre – on the whole it felt believable and was really gripping, with some great twists. Recommended!
My rating: 4/5
The Babysitter is out on Thursday 5 October – pre-order on Waterstones or Bookshop.org!
Many thanks to the publisher, Atlantic, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.