mstjohn813's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bookmarkedbyal's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy. 

I gotta start by saying I'm a huge true crime fan. If you don't like true crime you likely won't like this book. 

I'd never heard of Tony Costa but man was he fascinating. I also just find it SO UNREAL how easy it was for someone to murder a person back in the day. He got questioned and would just be like "nah, they just left town" and the cops would be like "oh aight cool!" 😐

His cockiness about not getting caught drove me insane, especially with how gruesome these murders were. The fact that he really was just driving around in the dead girls car .... like what?!? 

It also blows my mind that Liza was just chillin' with a serial killer at 9 years old and had no idea. Sheesh 

Giving it four stars just because there are SO MANY people to keep track of I truly couldn't tell you who some of them are 😂

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

myantigone's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad fast-paced

1.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

librarymouse's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

The Babysitter shows life in Provincetown MA in the 1906s through a mix of personal memoir and synthesizing a timeline of Tony Costa's life and crimes. There was an astounding amount of casual drug use, alcoholism, and a combination of the two, and the manic energy that cocktail of drugs creates was captured really well by Rodman's descriptions of the adults in her life. It was fully not the intention of the book, but having friends from MA and fond memories of visiting them, the vivid description of Portuguese foods and familiar locations made me smile. The happy memories Liza Rodman shares are intimate and nostalgic. This book is written with stunning detail, showing both the best and the worst the era and location had to offer. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

localbogwitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad slow-paced

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

readerrachel's review against another edition

Go to review page

I really wanted to like this - I like true crime shows and was hoping this would be my foray into true crime books. But it just didn’t grab me - started out slow. I probably would have tried harder if I liked the last book I read, but life is too short to read too many books you don’t like.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

foreverinastory's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative slow-paced

3.0

This was interesting.

CWs: child abuse/neglect, murder, drug use/abuse, addiction, rape, sexual violence, emotional abuse, sexual assault, parental abandonment, domestic abuse, gore, dismemberment, violence, alcoholism, death, physical abuse, suicide, mental illness, adult/minor relationship, toxic relationship, blood, homophobia, f-slur, misogyny, sexual content. Moderate: animal cruelty, kidnapping, pedophilia, suicidal thoughts, torture, suicide attempt, injury/injury detail, fatphobia, body shaming, self harm, abortion, vomit, excrement.

 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cate_with_a_c's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Dark and chilling but very good. Right off the bat it’s made clear that Liza was emotionally and verbally abused by her mother and took every opportunity to leave her kids with a sitter. 
Told by two narratives it alternates between Liza the girl being babysat and her life and Tony the babysitter. The signal phrases hinting towards sad and upsetting content is very clear and gives the reader a chance to skip over a paragraph if needed while still understanding what happened. 
Very interesting and I think it was as respectfully told as it could be. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

tarynwanderer's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad slow-paced

2.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings