Book Review: The Babysitter by Nancy Bush

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This has been a much touted book this season, and for good reason. It is quite the suspenseful story. ~~~~ [/i]In River Glen, Oregon, rumors are spreading about the Babysitter Stalker. One victim was fatally stabbed. A second fell - or was pushed - from a rooftop deck. High school sophomore Jamie Whelan, scheduled to watch the Ryerson twins tonight, isn't worried. She's more interested in the party she'll go to later, as soon as her sister Emma arrives to take over babysitting duties. But nothing goes according to plan.[i] [/i]Twenty years after that night's vicious attack, Emma remains scarred in body and mind. Jamie, back in River Glen after their mother's death, still feels guilty over trading places that fateful evening. Then suddenly another young babysitter is attacked. Jamie, with a teenage daughter of her own, fears something much more twisted than coincidence.[i] [/i]Is this new nightmare connected with those long ago crimes? Emma's fractured memories may contain the answer. But the deeper Jamie digs, the darker the secrets waiting to be uncovered - and avenged...[i] ~~~~ This certainly was a suspense filled story leaving me quite tense and unable to put the book down. I don't know how Nancy Bush managed to put such a story together - a lot of post-it notes I imagine. LOL Like her last book I read, Bad Things, this story had a ton of characters involved. I had a hard time keeping track of them for a good while. We are talking of two generations of characters, parents from the first group of school friends, of the second generation of school friends. And school friends who married school friends. So many names to keep track of, and so many twists and turns. I thought I had it figured out about half way through the book and it looked like I was going to be right. I wasn't... sort of. I don't want to give away any spoilers but there were a lot of attacks and scares and so many people to sort out. The story itself was great. I loved the whole Babysitter scenario and history repeating itself. And dang, I didn't know who you could trust? I also would not call this a romantic suspense. The romance in this story was minimal... as much as any other book of fiction where there is always a little bit of romance somewhere. And this was just a little bit of romance. Kudos to Harlequin, though, for accepting this novel for publication. Nancy Bush is a great author and tells a great story. The characters have their own individual personalities which made it a little easier to decipher who was who. That is a great talent in a writer. I highly recommend this book.