Dark - 4 - star

A difficult book at times to read but it certainly stays with you long after the final words, not sure if this is good or bad! There are 3 main characters: Hannah, housewife, living in wealthy suburbia in Detroit. The babysitter, serial murderer so named because of the age of the victims and the way they are posed in death. Mikey a street wise kid, always high, carrying out the murderous work of his nameless employee. Their 3 lives will cross, and not in a very pleasant way. Hannah, the main focus of the story lives in a loveless marriage with Wes attending and organizing many charity functions, her life showing little direction, her only love being her 2 children; Katya and Conor. It is at one such charity function that she is drawn to the very mysterious, elegant stranger only ever referred to the reader by the initials YK. This relationship will lead Hanah in a very dark direction, she is hoping to find real love but what she discovers is a world of darkness and pain. Mikey had a very difficult and traumatic childhood under the guardianship of Father McKenzie. He carries out orders for his faceless employer and soon his path will cross with Hanah as a situation escalates out of control.

Essentially The Babysitter is about secret lives and the consequences that can follow. Does Hannah deserve sympathy from the reader? I fear not, she opens herself to danger by her own actions, leaving a loveless relationship for one of violence under the mistaken assumption that this is love. What is heart wrenching in this book, is the amount of violence on show and by using initials rather than names an uneasy feeling accommodates the reader from start to finish. Read if you dare!