The Nanny by Ruth Heald
Genre: Domestic thriller, Domestic drama, Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 11th September 2022
Published: 8th September 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
As I clutched baby Chloe’s blanket, tears streamed down my face as I remembered what happened the night she disappeared. Looking up at the apartment block I once called home, my mind was crowded with memories. David’s words echoed in my head, telling me to get out and never come back. I understood why: our mistake had ruined everything.
When I accepted a job working as a nanny for David and Julie and their young children, I was excited to be making my own way in the world. I bonded with baby Chloe instantly and would have done anything for her. She had David's thick, dark hair and smiling eyes. I fell in love with her and was excited for my future.
But when a terrible mistake led to Chloe disappearing, I was instantly blamed. With no evidence, I was let go and I returned home to rebuild my life.
Twenty years later and I am still haunted by what happened. I have a family of my own now and I’ve worked hard to be the best wife and mother I can be, but I’ve never forgotten the child who stole my heart.
Then a young woman arrives on my doorstep and the past secret that I have kept from my family comes hurtling into my present.
I try to tell myself that I am overreacting. But the woman in front of me looks so much like David. Who is she and why is she here? And if I welcome her in, will she want to be a part of my life, or destroy it?
A totally addictive psychological thriller that will have you reading late into the night. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, T.M. Logan and Shalini Boland.
MY THOUGHTS:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Ruth Heald's tense domestic thriller THE NANNY.
"For years you’ve been keeping a secret...But now she’s back..."
I fell in love with Ruth Heald with her explosive debut "The Mother's Mistake" and have thoroughly enjoyed each book since, with her stand outs being her debut, "The Woman Upstairs", "I Know Your Secret" and "The Wedding". Now I can add THE NANNY to that list. Hands down another five star read. It is edgy, fast-paced and filled with plenty of tense moments and secrets in abundance. What's not to love?
Hayley Taylor is married to Swedish businessman Lars with a five year old daughter Alice. They have a happy marriage and the perfect life together. But Hayley has a secret...in fact, she has several. None of which she has told Lars about.
Twenty years before, in 1999, Hayley was a tourist travelling in Thailand when she landed a job as a live-in nanny for David and Julie McFarlane. Her role initially was to care for David's two daughters from his previous marriage, Eva and Emily, while their mother was recovering from a motorbike accident and until she could take the girls back to England with her. Julie, in the meantime, was heavily pregnant with her own daughter and had no time, nor desire, to care for the little girls who were just four and five.
When Julie's own daughter Chloe was born a few weeks later, Hayley's work then extended to also caring for the baby's needs from feeding to changing to bathing...to pretty much everything her mother should have been doing, Especially considering she had ten weeks maternity leave. But instead, she returned to work early and left all children in Hayley's capable care. Julie didn't have a maternal bone in her body. I often wondered why she even had a baby when she had no desire to actually care for and seemed to merely want her to get older so she could chat with her. Is it any wonder why it was Hayley that Chloe constantly looked for? Was soothed by? Not enough for Julie, she became jealous of her daughter's attachment to her nanny.
So when Chloe suddenly disappeared one evening, all eyes turned to Hayley. She was pulled in for questioning by the police but later released with not enough evidence against her. But David and Julie continued to blame her for their daughter's disappearance and Hayley returned to England with a cloud hanging over her of a time she would much rather forget. Which is exactly what she did.
Now married to Lars, who knows nothing of her experience in Thailand, Hayley keeps that aspect of her life firmly behind closed doors. So when they advertise for a lodger to help pay the bills, Hayley expected it to be the answer to their prayers, not the undoing of her past. Johanna answers the ad and when Hayley opens the door it's like looking into the past. And Johanna seems to be the perfect lodger. She is friendly, helpful and efficient, even assisting Hayley with Alice and her mother who has dementia and also lives with them.
But is Johanna too good to be true? And when things start going missing from her hidden trove of secrets she keeps stashed at the back of her cupboard, she starts to wonder what exactly has she opened herself up for?
But Johanna isn't her only problem. A student support worker at her place of work, Ryan, has decided to write a true crime book investigating the disappearance of baby Chloe in Thailand...and he wants Hayley to fill in the gaps for him. Hayley does her best to fob him off but Ryan won't be swayed and Hayley begins to wonder has her time finally run out?
What an intricate web Heald has woven with THE NANNY! The complex plot, the fast-paced narrative, the unreliable characters, the secrets, the lies, the seamless transition from the present to the past...and a reveal you won't see coming! It is page-turning and addictive from start to finish and I would have been finished sooner had it not been for our beloved Queen's sad passing.
The descriptions are vivid, the storyline realistic and the characters equally unreliable and untenable. The reader is transported to Thailand in an age before the widespread use of mobile phones or internet so one must imagine what it must have been like stuck there with no means of easy communication that we take for granted today. From the hot humid weather on the streets of Bangkok to the lush extravagance of her employers' apartment to present day London, we are completely absorbed throughout the seamless transition between past and present and both the storylines as they unfold. I had a theory which I thought was a little crazy at the time but was then shocked to discover I was spot on! From there, everything began to fall into place...and yet one mystery still remained. What happened to baby Chloe? Can you unravel the mystery before the big reveal?
I absolutely enjoyed THE NANNY and thoroughly recommend it to fans of Shalini Boland, Kim Slater, L.G. Davis and Kerry Wilkinson.
I would like to thank #RuthHeald, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNanny in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Ruth grew up a suburban Buckinghamshire town. She studied Economics at Oxford and then worked in an eclectic mix of sectors from nuclear decommissioning to management consulting.
Seeking a more creative environment, she found a role at the BBC and worked there for nine years before leaving to write full time. Ruth is fascinated by psychology and finding out what drives people to violence, destruction and revenge. She’s married with one daughter and her novels explore our greatest fears in otherwise ordinary, domestic lives.
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