My review
This book was everything it promised me and something more, which it never warned me about. The book said it would be a fast-paced, gripping, roller coaster ride and I agree. It took me on a bumpy ride which I am still recovering from. And it promised me a psychological thriller, but gave me a psychopathic killer.
The book had so many twists and turns that I couldn’t help but read wide-eyed. I never saw them coming because the book did not go where I thought it would go. It took me on a long, dark, winded journey with two women, Maggie and Holly fighting for their lives and the lives of their children. A hooded man, the Babysitter, kidnaps a child and forces the mother to kill another mother to get back her child, and he could keep this cycle of vicious murders going on for a long time till he met mothers like Maggie and Holly.
Starting from the first chapter itself, the book clocks a rapid thrilling, heart bursting pace when Holly is sent to kill Maggie to get back her child, Abigail. From here on, the entire book is a fight for survival. Initial the ladies are fighting each other for their children and then they team up, and the Babysitter takes them on a merry trail along the dark roads in heavy snow.
I liked how the author, Richard Parker, could keep me engrossed into the story, the characters were so different from the usual ones that I couldn’t stop looking at them. There are a few characters which these ladies come across on their journey, but each one is grosser than the next. I could barely deal with the idea of such a human being when the story moved on to the next.
It is a wonder what mothers do to protect their kids and Richard has written this fact in a brutal, bloody way. The mothers survive bullet wounds, knife wounds, vicious dog bites, and psychopathic killers and their games. Each moment is ramped up in the story.
At the end of this book journey, I am battered and bruised, I am bewildered and doggone tired at the games the Babysitter played on the two women. Some of them were long drawn out, and I never understood his reasons fully.
But then who can understand the mind of a psychopathic killer, except maybe Richard Parker….
This was my first book by him, and if he writes books like this, I would be reading the book during day light hours and sleeping with lights on through the night.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Bookouture, and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My rating : 4 stars
About the Author
Richard Jay Parker enjoyed a successful career as a TV scriptwriter, script editor and producer. STOP ME was his fiendishly dark, debut thriller novel. Followed by SCARE ME, STALK ME, HIDE AND SEEK, FOLLOW YOU.
Book blurb
Maggie’s daughter Penny is her whole world… and she’d do anything to protect her. So when Maggie wakes one night to find a strange woman in her home, she runs to lock herself in her bedroom with her child. But Maggie knows why she’s come…
Someone has been targeting mothers and offering them a choice: do as he says or their child disappears. This stranger in her home has until dawn to follow his orders… but Maggie too has the ‘choice’ to make. Can she put the pieces together to stop the cycle before her time is up?
Product Details
Publication date : January 2018
Publisher : Bookouture
Language : English
Available on Amazon
A wicked, savage thriller which kills
43 Responses
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting… 😊
I won’t read the book…it already made me emotional…
Yp it was scary… Yet still I couldn’t put down the book
Yes no one can imagine something like this…ruthless psychopath killers at large in west…i remember i read mammoth book of serial killers by Nigel Cawthorne a decades ago…i still get that feeling in this review of yours…
No no it was not that bad. The author has maintained pace well, very little of killings. It was fun and unexpected. But on the whole it was a thriller
Oh that’s some relief…to be honest as i read i happen to conjure up the word by word story in my mind. N later on i m unable to sleep at night followed by nightmare thats why i stopped reading thriller suspense with horrific killers stuff…
Hmm it happens, if I read such a book, I follow it up with a light feel good warm book so the effects are negated
I think. I should also try it…thanks for suggesting. By the way i must say your a great connoisseur on books…
Thank you so much for such a compliment. I love books and live on them. I have been reading for 38 years… 😇😇
Oh then i think my instincts haven’t failed me then…that’s why it was from my heart…
Hahaha… Yes I think so too
Keep reviewing madame…i love reading too…could use your post as assistance…wishing you good health, prosperity n long life plus more reviews.
Thank you so much. I am shalini not madame. Thank you for your words of encouragement.
😊😊😊.
Thank you for your wishes. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Wish you same…lot of books reviews are coming i believe. Thanks in advance
Yp… I hope so along with other stuff… Let’s see. Still have to decide
I shall wait…
Excellent review. I loved one of his other books earlier this year (it changed names, but was once called Be My Killer)…
That became ‘follow you’ soon. This is my first book by him. Thank you Jay.
That’s right! 🙂 Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Jay and family, from Mumbai, India
Happy New Year!
Lovely review Shalini!
Thank you, Carrie. It was quite a different bool
You’re welcome!
I usually stay clear of books that proclaim themselves to be psychological thrillers, for they seldom do justice to the tag! But your review has made me curious! I am definitely reading this! 😀 Great review and wish you a joyous New Year! 🙂
Aah… Your first comment on my blog. Thank you for this respect and honor, this book was quite different from the light psychological thrillers. It was a book I didn’t want to continue but couldn’t stop reading. Thank you for reading my review.
Happy New Year to you too
I have followed your excellent book reviews as well as author interviews ever since I came across your blog, today was just the first time I commented 🙂 And being unable to stop despite wanting to, is ‘the’ sign of a good psychological thriller! 😀
Cheers!
🙃 you wanted to stop yourself from commenting… 🙃😵😵😂😂
Then this comment is all the more precious to me. Thank you so much
And the credit goes to Richard Parker the author… Read the book, when you get the chance, he has done a fabulous job.
Stop myself from commenting? Not at all!! I was actually referring to you wanting to stop reading and not being able to put down the book! 😀
But even if I wanted to not comment, I wouldn’t have been able to! The review is perfect- letting on enough of the premise while making the reader curious about the actual book! And kudos to you for that! 🙂
Thank you for the compliment. They are such kind words which has come on the eve of new year for a renewed hope. Sometimes fates happen and comments come at the right time. Thank you so much and happy new year
Happy new year, happy 2018
A very Happy New Year once again! 😀
This sounds good. Thanks for the tip!
Thank you so much.. That’s so sweet of you
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
Michael, Happy New Year. Happy 2018..
Thank you very much . 🙂🙂🙂🙂
Nice review
Thank you, Sir
Welcome mam