My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Babysitter’ by Phoebe Morgan in exchange for an honest review.

This is a twisty domestic noir/police procedural that moves between various characters’ points of view as well as before, after and during the murder at its heart.

When the police discover the body of Caroline Harvey, she is draped over a cot and they are shocked to find that the baby she was looking after is missing.

Siobhan Dillon, her husband, Callum, and sixteen-year old daughter, Emma, are on holiday at her sister’s luxurious villa in France. Then Callum is arrested by French police on suspicion of Caroline’s murder. Clearly Callum has been a naughty boy. 
 
A frantic search for Baby Eve ensues and Siobhan finds that her perfect family is being torn apart not only by the media and public outrage but by these revelations. While the police conduct their investigation into the murder, the events of the night of Caroline’s murder are slowly revealed to us.

Frankly Siobhan, Callum, and Caroline are all pretty unlikeable characters with Callum being especially vile. Caroline’s extreme neediness was frustrating. I wanted to tell her to buck up - though it’s far too late for her. Daughter Emma was an angsty teen, who hero worships her Daddy while Mum is perceived as only doing wrong. Poor Siobhan. 

For me the only sympathetic characters were the police: DCI Gillian McVey, who has to deal with a lot of obstruction from the Dillon family, and the sweet DS Alex Wildy. 

Due to the bouncing about between characters and time frames, it is important to pay attention to chapter headings. I have become used to this popular trend so likely would be shocked by a linear, one perspective narrative. 

So yes, ‘The Babysitter’ proved an entertaining thriller that provided plenty of suspects and surprises before its final pages.

A whodunit that will keep you guessing until the very end!

This novel is told from several viewpoints, all the characters are well-drawn and I was immediately intrigued as it becomes clear they all have their own secrets. 

I loved the contrasting settings of a French villa and Ipswich a town I live not too far from so I am very familiar with it. 

It just missed out on 5⭐ because I felt it dragged slightly in the middle (but that might just be me being super picky!) and it certainly regains it's momentum as the twists reveal themselves towards the end.

Overall, this brilliant plotted, tense psychological thriller is a must-read for all whodunit fans. This is my first Phoebe Morgan book but I shall definitely be hunting down the back catalog.

Thanks to HQ Stories & NetGalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A fantastic novel that had me hooked all the way through. Very tense in places. Couldn’t put it down.

⭐️ BOOK REVIEW ⭐️ Thank you so much to @hqstories for my #gifted copy of the Babysitter.
I really enjoyed this! It works from 3 POVs - husband, wife & victim. It has two timelines, leading up to the death and also the police investigation working back to the death. Easy to read, hard to put down. Some really good twists along the way, I did guess the ending (partly) but I actually didn’t mind because it threw another curve ball into the mix too. Really good who done it style psychological thriller 👍🏼👍🏼 Bookie rating 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A women is murdered in her own home and the baby girl that she was babysitting is no where to be found… Where is she? was she kidnapped? Murdered too? Why? 

What I absolutely loved about this one is that I had NO CLUE how it was going to go. I kinda guessed the character who dunnit but I really didn’t have any idea HOW they’d done it and WHY until the story revealed it to me. I was fully absorbed and invested in the story and I loved the escapism that it brought me. 

There was lots of twists and turns to keep me interested and plenty of end of chapter cliff hangers to keep me turning the pages and create a great sense of suspense. I love a book that flips between different characters points of view and this did just that.

I did feel like there were a few areas of Siobhan and Callum’s relationship that I would have liked to have known more about as subjects were touched upon but not delved into in as much detail as I would have liked. This did not take away from the story at all but I was left with a few questions, I think I’m just really nosey! 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed our time together and I will definitely be on the look out for more of Phoebe Morgan books!

It’s mid-August and Siobhan Dillon, 44, and her husband, Callum, their 16-year-old daughter, Emma, and Siobhan’s older sister, Maria Wilcox, are staying in Maria’s holiday villa in a tiny village called Saint Juillet on the north-west coast of France.

On the third morning of their holiday, French police arrive to arrest Callum, a TV executive and local celebrity in Ipswich, for the murder of a woman called Caroline Harvey. He denies murder but admits to having had an affair with Caroline for the last 18 months and claims they recently finished their relationship.

Caroline, 33, an illustrator, was stabbed to death in her own flat while looking after her university friend’s one-year-old daughter, Eve, who is still missing. Eve’s parents, Jenny and Rick Grant, are devastated by her disappearance, which occurred while they were visiting Rick’s mother in the Norfolk and Norwich hospital after a recent heart attack.

As the French and English police struggle to coordinate their investigations and put all the evidence together, we’re left wondering who did kill Caroline and if baby Eve is dead too.

Told from several viewpoints, including that of Siobhan, Caroline, Detective Sergeant Alex Wildy (Ipswich police), and junior French police officer, Adele, as well as others, we build up a picture of the characters and it’s fascinating to see how unpleasant and dysfunctional they are!

I liked that the book was set in Ipswich, a town that I’m very familiar with, and it was a good contrast to the hot and idyllic-sounding French location of Saint Juillet.

The storyline was tense, well paced and cleverly plotted and I kept changing my mind about who had committed Caroline’s murder and taken the baby and why! There were some good red herrings and misdirection as the pieces of the puzzle were slowly put together. I did guess nearer the end who was responsible but that was only through a process of elimination and from spotting a few clues!

Overall, I really enjoyed this brilliantly twisty and intriguing read; it was engaging and entertaining and a perfect summer thriller. I’ve already read and enjoyed The Girl Next Door and must read the author’s debut novel, The Doll House, which I already own.

This is an easy to read domestic, psychological thriller.
The story opens with a man on holiday with his family being arrested after a woman back in England is found stabbed and the baby she was looking after is missing. The story unfolds using different character points of view and past and present narratives as they try to find out what happened that night. 
After a good opening, I felt it dragged a little in the middle but picked up again by the end.

Genre: Thriller
Rating: 5/5 
Plot: 
On the hottest day of the year, Caroline Harvey is found dead in Suffolk. Her body is left draped over a cot – but the baby she was looking after is missing.  
Hundreds of miles away, Siobhan Dillon is on a luxurious family holiday in France when her husband, Callum, is arrested by French police on suspicion of murder.
 
As Siobhan’s perfect family is torn apart by the media in the nation’s frantic search for the missing baby, she desperately tries to piece together how Callum knew Caroline.
What happened that night? Was Caroline as innocent as she seemed – or was she hiding a secret of her own?
The thrilling new book from the number one digital bestselling author of The Doll House and The Girl Next Door.
My verdict: Firstly Thank you to Netgalley for letting me reader this spine chilling crime thriller prior to its release tomorrow. This book has everything: infedility, teenage angst, loneliness and murder. I read this book in a day and a half and I am so thrilled to be introduced to Phoebe Morgan her unique way of giving the reader the chills and making you question your allegiance to the main characters and if we can truly rely on the narrator to give us truth: Told with alternating narratives and timelines we slowly begin to uncover what happened that fateful night when everyone became embroiled together all because of this one man’s misogynistic urge to have his cake and eat and ultimately how the fall out affects everyone around him. Fast paced and thrilling it answers the eternal question that all crime novels ask: How much do we know about a person? I stayed up all night this book because whenever I got to the end of a chapter another piece of the puzzle would be unveiled and I was so desperate to know what happened. Fans of Shalini Boland, and BBC’s drama The Cry starring Jenna Coleman will throughly enjoy this newest thriller and become obsessed with separating the facts from fiction (with plenty of red herrings added to throw you off the scent, coming to a conclusion you could never imagine)

After previously reading and enjoying this authors other books I was really looking forward to diving into a new one! 

This was such an enjoyable psychological thriller, so well written like the previous books and offering up plenty of twists and turns to keep your mind guessing all the way through until a brilliantly delivered twist at the end. 

This was such an easy read for me because it just ticked all my boxes , for any fans of a good thriller that will get your mind working I would highly recommend this one , and her previous books too! 

Thank you to the Publisher at HQ for my Kindle copy

This is the first book that I have read by this author and it certainly won’t be my last.   I absolutely loved this psychological thriller which was full of suspense and intrigue.   Right from the first page I was hooked on the story.  This book wAs a gripping read and one which I highly recommend.

After reading Phoebe Morgan’s previous books I have become a firm fan and was very excited about this release. 
Caroline is found murdered and the baby she was watching has disappeared. Prime suspect is Callum who had been having an affair with her. Callum and his family have just arrived in France on holiday when the police call to arrest him. Wife, Siobhan, daughter Emma and sister-in-law Maria are astounded and return home under pressure from people demanding answers. It soon becomes clear that everyone has their own secrets, some are just more deadly than others. 

The story is told from several viewpoints, which I like as you get to see things from different perspectives and points of view, makes it quite exciting. You also get to know what happened in the run up to her death as well as the aftermath. There are clues as you read through, but you only get an inkling of what really happened – the twists in this were unexpected. 

I was adamant I knew who had killed Caroline and what had happened to the baby, but I did keep changing my mind throughout. 

The book is very well written and nicely paced, you don’t feel as though it is being rushed nor goes too slow. Phoebe Morgan has a great writing style, with stories that thrill and keep you hooked from start to finish. 

I highly recommend The Babysitter for fans of thrilling, dramatic reads.

After reading The Girl Next Door by Phoebe Morgan, I was so excited to read her latest thriller. The story line was quick paced and thoroughly enjoyable throughout. There’s always has to be a character that you are rooting for in a book, in my opinion. And that person was Siobhan. I really felt for her through o it this book. The twist sadly didn’t shock me. I did figure it out quite early on however, this did not tarnish the book in any way. I still enjoyed the journey and loved the writing. I hope to read Phoebe’s next book ince released.

Caroline Harvey has been murdered and the baby she was watching has disappeared. The prime suspect is Callum, a tv executive who was having an affair with Caroline. The Dillions are in France on holiday when they arrest Callum. His wife, Siobhan, daughter Emmaand sister-in-law Maria are left wondering who Caroline was. It soon becomes clear that everyone has their own secrets.

This story is told from multiple points of view. It also switches from before and after the then crime took place. There's several twists and clues to spot along the way. Thenstory focuses on: fidelity, lonliness, family and loyalty.  The characters are well rounded and believable. Thenpace is steady and I was drawn into the story straight away. I kept changing my  mind about who had killed Caroline.  But eventually, I got it right. I throughly enjoyed this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HQ and the author Phoebe Morgan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone has a secret, but who is hiding the worst kind of all?  Secrets and lies wind there way around a murder mystery and the frantic search for a missing child.  

The drama in this thriller expertly blends different viewpoints of the victim and the possible guilty parties in a sublime way.  With shifting time periods in the run-up to Caroline’s death and the events afterwards, this story really holds your attention as you try to piece the mystery together.  

I thought the small addition of the comments scattered from social media were an excellent idea, making the dire situation seem even more real as this is exactly how tragic events play out in real life with keyboard warriors jumping on any type of tragedy.  

The Babysitter is tense and thrilling, I loved it!  I will definitely track down Morgan’s other titles on the strength of this work.

Family secrets, lies and betrayals are rife in The Babysitter; I struggled to put it down! 

I did think a couple of times that I almost had this figured out, with the exception of missing baby Eve. I thought I had the murderer all figured out, I just couldn't figure out what had happened to the baby! 

Told between the perspectives of Siobhan and the police and Caroline on the night of her murder, The Babysitter had me gripped. It's a very easy read with short chapters and the multiple perspectives were enjoyable. The character and plot development are well paced and with enough twists and turns to throw the reader off but still provide a surprise ending that sewed the events together; a shocking but satisfying ending that I didn't see coming! 

I'd definitely recommend The Babysitter; see if you can figure out the truth behind Caroline's murder and the disappearance of baby Eve! I guarantee you'll never guess! 

Thank you to NetGalley, Phoebe Morgan and HQ for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A big 5/5 stars for this book. It had lots of twists and turns that i really enjoyed. I could connect with all the characters in the book, also i liked how the book was in each characters view. It was very well written and i will deffo be reading more of phoebe morgans books.

Phoebe Morgan certainly knows how to keep her readers on tenterhooks as this book is one that you won’t be able to put down until you discover exactly what happened to baby Eve who’s disappears the night that her babysitter Caroline is murdered. You may THINK you have it all worked out but there are twists and turns aplenty and a few shocking “gasp out loud” moments that will mean you are never quite sure if you have!

Although the murder of Caroline Harvey is a terrible crime, it’s the fate of baby Eve that really tugs at your heartstrings here. What really happened in Caroline’s flat that night? The police have plenty of suspects with her married lover top of the list but social media, being the judge, jury and executioner that it is, has already found the parents guilty. So the detective in charge certainly has his work cut out. I liked DS Wildy, the Ipswich detective who played his part in the investigation without the book becoming all about him, even though he did have plenty going on in his private life to get interested in. The other characters weren’t quite as likeable though! A wonderful collection of dysfunctional relationships that kept me muttering under breath!

The Babysitter is a gripping psychological thriller full of surprises that flowed flawlessly from start to finish. I love Phoebe Morgan’s style of storytelling and have done since her debut The Doll House so I’m with her all the way on this exciting writing journey she’s embarked upon! Highly recommended by me!

Took a little while to get used to the swapping about between timescales and people but in the end this probably was a good point of the book. It meant I discovered who I wanted to be reading about and who I wasn’t interested in. I wasn’t convinced by the actions and attitude of the teenager in the story and I can’t say I warmed to anyone in particular. Lots going on though and a few surprises along the way and I didn’t see them all coming n

OMG. I have just finished The Babysitter. What a fantastic book. I loved the way it was written  with so many cliff hangers at the end of chapters. Just when you think you know what's happening it changes and keeps you on your toes. I loved it!!! First one I have read by this author but definitely not the last. Great book and highly recommended!!

Another suspenseful psychological read from Phoebe Morgan, gripping from start to finish. When Caroline Harvey is found murdered in her home, the baby she was looking after is missing, her friends daughter. But who would want Caroline dead and take away the baby she was looking after.

Callum Dillon is holidaying in France with his family, he had been having an affair with Caroline and now he is under arrest on suspicion of murder and abduction. Yes he was having an affair but does that make him a murderer and someone likely to abduct a baby? 

This story comes with the usual twists and turns we now come to expect within this genre of read, keeping the reader guessing as to who the murderer is, and what has happened to the baby. The pace is kept all the way through, the plot flows beautifully.

A good engrossing read the story is told from several points of view and is set in both Ipswich and a villa in France. The characters are well thought out, three dimensional and believable, with an ending you don’t see coming.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #HQ for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest fair and unbiased review.