The Babysitter by Emma Curtis #libraryloan #paperbackbooks @CorvusBooks @emmacurtisbooks #TheBabysitter

 

The Babysitter by Emma Curtis

Published by Corvus

Publication Date 2nd October 2023

Book Description:

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 Thoughts:

This book was an impulse pick at my local library - I'd only nipped in to drop off another book which I had finished, and this one waved to me from the quick choices shelf!

So, we know from the description that Claudia Hartman has been jailed for the murder of her baby daughter Tilly - and she's gone from her not guilty plea in court to an admission of manslaughter, which has allowed her release from jail some 10 years later. The book starts with a prologue which describes exactly what happened that terrible day from Claudia's point of view, and it's every mother's nightmare. Her admission of guilt, albeit of the lesser charge of manslaughter, went so far against the grain but after nine years of constantly thinking about how she can find out who took her daughter that day, Claudia knew her only chance was to plead guilty. Now she's out, and those responsible are on high alert that Claudia is coming for them - even if she is yet to discover who they are.

Now, as you know, I hate to give any spoilers in my reviews and this book is one that you most definitely need to know nothing about any of the characters as you go in. The less you know about anyone, the more you will get from the story. There are many and varied layers to a lot of the people who feature in the book; my advice is to keep an open mind about everyone yet be prepared that any of them are capable of things you wouldn't expect.  Basically, everyone is a suspect. Even those who couldn't possibly be. There are points where Claudia is an extremely unreliable narrator - but she's not the only one who can be accused of this. My thoughts did metronomic swings from liking and sympathising with her to questioning whether she was completely deluded and should be back behind bars. 

From a long list of potential choices, the character I didn't "click" with most out of all of them was Claudia's husband, Joe. Right from the start I felt uncomfortable with him. Why would he be so willing to believe that Claudia was responsible for Tilly's demise? His almost immediate acceptance of the police opinion that Claudia had harmed Tilly - he barely even considered her account of events. That didn't sit well with me; surely, you'd trust the mother of your child to not be capable of hurting them? Even if this was proven misguided later on? A huge red flag for me. 

My biggest struggle with this book was the quantity of female characters that I had to fit into the puzzle quite early on. They are all necessary, so this isn't a criticism, just something to be aware of as you go in. Luckily, as I know I am likely to be sharing my thoughts about the book at some point, I tend to scribble a "who's who" to reference in case I can't place someone who doesn't figure much. This proved extremely handy as a couple of times I muddled up my characters here.

I very much enjoyed this book and commend Emma Curtis's writing skills as I still wasn't sure whodunnit and why extremely late into the story. I love a book that has me considering the options right the way through and this was most definitely one of those. If you want a book which will exercise those detective grey cells this'll do nicely.

About the Author:

Bestselling author Emma Curtis was born in Brighton and now lives in London with her husband. After raising her two children and working as a school secretary, her fascination with the darker side of domestic life inspired her to write her acclaimed debut novel, One Little Mistake. Emma has since written five more thrillers: When I find You, The Night You Left, Keep Her Quiet, Invite me and The Babysitter. Her next thriller, The Commuter will be published in 2024