Today I’m joining the blog tour for The Babysitter. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

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.

Review:

I love Emma Curtis’ writing and I knew straightaway The Babysitter would be no different. Sometimes, I read a prologue and forget all about it until the big twist is revealed and I realise how everything fits together, but the prologue for this novel is not like that at all. It was on my mind from the moment I read it until the very last page and is a real sign of how addictive the story is.

The three women who are central to The Babysitter are Claudia, Anna and Sara. The chapters are written from their perspectives and it’s fascinating to learn more about them and gain some insight into what they are thinking. Despite this, it’s clear that they may not all be reliable, and this makes the novel incredibly gripping to read. I loved trying to work out who was telling the truth and what actually happened to Tilly. 

The author’s plotting is absolutely brilliant. There are so many red herrings and surprises and each one is delivered with exactly the right pace and use of language. I had no idea what the answers were until they were revealed and I couldn’t read quick enough to find out! I’ll be thinking about this story for a while after I finished reading.

The Babysitter is available from Amazon.

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