The Babysitter by Sheryl Browne

This suspenseful thriller is like a train wreck. You don't really want to see the damage, but you can't help yourself and look anyway. Throughout the whole of the novel, I was screaming at the characters to open their eyes and see what was happening.

Now let me ask you, ladies especially -- would you really take a near stranger into your home and put her in charge of your children?? NO WAY. Especially if she was young and pretty and seemed the answer to an overworked mother's dream. So when Melissa and Mark Cain try to help their poor neighbor who was burned out of her home by a fire, you just KNOW that nothing good is going to come of this. They are too nice and you sense the menace of Jade immediately. Would you check references before you hire on a nanny -- of course you would. But, do they? Oh no, they are so happy to have some help in their busy and chaotic lives.

What Jade does to this family is pure evil. Should we overlook Jade's past and excuse her behavior? I don't think so! Even as the chapters roll by and as you are glued to the pages to see what heinous act Jade will pull next, you can't help but turn the pages as fast as you can to see if she is a master manipulator and a shrewd planner.

This book was great fun to read because, even as you knew (hoped) that Jade would be outed and taken out before she could ruin the family, you weren't quite sure what damage she would leave behind. What I didn't understand was how Mark and Melissa so totally missed the clues and evidence that Jade was not the paragon she seemed to be. When everything started to fall apart right after Jade came to live with them, I was sure that one of them would be suspicious. But, oh no, we had to go through a lot of drama. Nevertheless, I guess it wouldn't have been such a story if they had!

You can read this in a couple of hours and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it though there is one character I would have liked to see get his comeuppance! And, I'm a little worried about Dylan...

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-book to read and review.