"The Nanny"

“The Nanny”

Written by Gilly Macmillan

Review written by Diana Iozzia

“The Nanny” is a psychological thriller, in which a woman confronts her childhood nanny once again who was presumed either missing or dead. Jo, or Jocelyn, must move back in with her pretentious and conniving mother, Virginia, after both their husbands pass away. Jo brings her young daughter, Ruby, uprooting her from their life in California to go back home in Southern England. Jo is contacted by the nanny, Hannah, who Virginia has a deep hatred for.

We read this slow burn of a book, changing our alliances as the story progresses. We receive the story in various perspectives.

- Third person perspective about Hannah and who she says she is, and who she really is

- First person from Jo

- First person from Virginia

- Third person from the lead detective

I personally enjoyed this book, but I felt the plot to be too slowly paced for my liking. Many similar events repeat, many certain characters reveal facts that were not compelling, we aren’t able to predict most events, and I felt the true reveals were not as great. I felt this was very similar to an Edgar Allan Poe story, in the sense that we are reading from a creepy foreboding house, and we’re not quite sure who to trust. This book also reminded me of many of V.C. Andrews’s stories, “Sharp Objects”, “The Missing Years”, and “The Roanoke Girls”, some of my favorite ‘female character returns to childhood home, reveals family secrets” books.

I personally enjoyed the perspectives from Jo and Virginia’s perspectives most. Hannah’s backstory was important, and it was all too reminiscent of “Lullaby” / “The Perfect Nanny” by Leila Slimani. I felt that the detective’s perspective was completely unnecessary and did not provide enough interesting plot to be useful.

We have an increasing fear of who may be in danger next. We are not sure who could be dangerous, who is telling the truth. This is one of those stories that cannot be explained fully, because there are so many twists and turns.

This wasn’t my favorite thriller. I felt it to be a little empty, without enough plot and suspense to pull my interest. I read this story very quickly, but I fear if someone reads it slowly, they might lose their focus and not want to read it as much. I do recommend it, and I plan to read more by this author. I gave this book a rating of four out of five stars.

I received an advance review copy of this book in exchange for providing reading it and writing a review. Thank you to William Morrow.