My Rating: 3.5 stars
For me, this book was originally a solid 4 stars – that is, up until the ending (which I'll get back to later). The opening scene was quite explosive and emotional, hooking me from the start in wanting to find out exactly what happened, why things turned out the way they did, how such a horrific tragedy occurred. We are taken back in time to the very beginning where we are introduced to the Masse family – parents Myriam and Paul who have two adorable kids, toddler Mila and baby Adam – a seemingly ordinary family who decides to hire a nanny due to Myriam resuming her career as a lawyer. Enter Louise, a young woman with a world of experience taking care of kids – not only are the kids charmed by her from the start, she also proves to be efficient in everything she does, whether cooking or cleaning or coming up with activities for the kids. Myriam and Paul are thrilled that they have found the "perfect" nanny to take care of their kids, allowing them to immerse themselves into their careers without worry…as long as Louise is there, everything will be fine – that is the mantra that Paul and Myriam live by as they become increasingly dependent on Louise day-to-day….until one day when they realize everything ISN'T fine after all….
This was a slow-burn, character-driven story that doesn't really follow the traditional mystery/suspense/thriller format in that we already find out "what happened" and "who did it" within the first few pages, so the big question explored throughout the rest of the narrative was to understand the "why" and "how" – why did the nanny do what she did and how did things get to this point? Originally written and released in France 2 years ago, this book was recently translated into English for the U.S. market – while some of the sentences did come off a little bit oddly structured, I would say that overall, the writing was quite good. The author did a great job building up Louise's character, revealing her past in bits interspersed with parts of the investigation. As Louise's relationship with the family slowly unraveled, the sense of creepiness and tension slowly heightened as well, reaching near breaking point – I was absolutely on the edge of my seat and felt like I couldn't turn the pages fast enough! So I guess it shouldn't be a surprise then that I was disappointed with the way this book ended, which was very abruptly, with many questions still unanswered, plot points not yet resolved, many loops not yet closed. My first thought when I got to what ended up being the last page was that perhaps something happened to my copy of the ARC when I downloaded and perhaps some pages went missing, so I immediately went back and re-downloaded the book – in all formats available – and checked each one to see if the last section was the same….when I found out they were and the story truly did end at the point it did, I was actually quite upset, as I honestly felt like I'd just been played. It was akin to me waiting all season to finally watch that finale episode of my favorite TV show where everything will finally be revealed after building up the suspense for months, with my eyes glued to the TV set in eager anticipation, only to find out the finale was pre-empted last minute with no re-scheduled airing date planned (this is actually something that happened to be me before, way back in the day…). I guess in a way, the ending ruined the book for me, as I'm the type of person who doesn't like to be left hanging – when I'm reading a book (or watching a TV series or a movie), I always need to have some type of closure, some indication that the story arc has ended…even if the intention is to continue with the story as a series with the same characters at a later point, this particular story needs to end first. I didn't get that with this book and unfortunately, it ended up leaving a bitter taste in my mouth as a result.
Aside from the issues with the ending, this was an otherwise solid read that I actually do recommend for its compelling story and riveting characters. The author is obviously a very talented writer and can craft a truly captivating story. I would probably still read other books by this author but of course while crossing my fingers hoping that those endings don't turn out like this one did…
Received ARC from Penguin Group via Edelweiss
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