The New Nanny (The Lies We Tell #1) by L.G. Davis
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 7th September 2023
Published: 11th September 2023
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
A forged reference and a fake social media page is all it takes to convince the Mayers I’m the perfect person to look after their son Wyatt. Some people would be scared to move to a remote mountain village with a family they’ve never met, but it’s exactly where I need to be. Because Wyatt is my child…
My sweet little boy was taken from me. There are dark secrets in my past that will stop me from ever getting Wyatt back, but now I’m his nanny, I’ll finally get to raise him like he’s my own.
When I arrive at the Mayers’ house, I’m stunned by the striking glass family home and Robin and Paul’s lavish lifestyle, which I couldn’t afford in my wildest dreams. But Wyatt seems troubled. Robin claims he needs therapy, she says he barely speaks to her, and soon I realise that he’s rarely allowed to leave the house…
When Wyatt gives me a shy smile and begins to open up, it’s clear he needed me just as much as I needed him. We’re making up for the time we lost with long afternoons playing games and baking apple pie.
Everything finally seems perfect in my life. Until I find out what happened to his last nanny…
An utterly heart-pounding and nail-biting read that will have you racing through the pages. Perfect for fans of The Marriage, The Housemaid and The Family Upstairs.
MY THOUGHTS:
"People say that revenge is a dish best enjoyed cold, but I prefer to serve mine piping hot."
Having enjoyed the last four books by Liz, I was thrilled to receive this new one and its sequel. But I don't know if it was just me (with a few things going on RL) that this one didn't quite enamour me as the others. It was still a thrilling read, chilling even in parts, and it left you feeling "what the heck have I just read?" I think I found the characters hard to connect to also which does make a story difficult.
We meet Christa as she lands in Austria to take up a nanny/housekeeper position with the Mayers at their luxurious villa. The family may be impossibly wealthy with everything they could ever want but they are emotionally distant, neglecting their their 15 year old adoptive son Wyatt. But for Christa, he is the very reason she took this job.
When she was just 17 years old, Christa had a baby boy who was then wrenched away from her and adopted out. By chance she came across Wyatt after searching for her little boy and was determined to be in his life. She fakes her experience and talks herself up to get the job and thus accompanies the family to Austria for the summer. It isn't long before Christa sees how the family behaves around Wyatt and how he reacts to their presence. And it breaks her heart. And so she befriends the boy, determined to look out for him as his parents obviously don't.
But when Christa wants to take Wyatt out of the villa to experience life beyond it, Robin vehemently forbids it. Wyatt has everything he needs in the villa; he doesn't need to leave. Over games of chess and board games, Christa bonds with Wyatt and before long she ignores Robin's strict rules forbidding him to leave. He is like a different boy out in the village and when he is with the horses he begged her to take him to see. It seems it is only in Robin and Paul's company is he silent and withdrawn. And Christa finds herself wondering why that is...
Then she meets James on one of her outings who tells her about the previous nanny that worked for the Mayers seven years before. She disappeared without a trace and was never heard from again. Rumours are rife in the village, and the reason why Robin doesn't venture out herself. But after a little digging of her own, Christa wonders if she hasn't unknowingly walked into a trap. Filled with secrets and deception, the manipulative Mayer family have lured Christa into their web...but is it too late to make her escape? Before it's too late? And what will it mean for Wyatt? She can't leave him behind.
The tale is compelling and fast paced but I felt it was lacking something of Davis' other thrillers. What that is, I'm not sure, but it is something. However, the pages are still filled to the brim with dark secrets, twisted lies, deadly deceptions and shocking twists. Basically, assume nothing. I have to wonder where the second one "The Nanny's Child" will take us.
A twisted psychological suspense thriller about motherhood, obsession and dark dark secrets.
I would like to thank #LGDavis, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNewNanny in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
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She now lives in Vienna, Austria, with her husband and two children.
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