You can use your St. Louis County Library card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:
4 of 7 copies available
“Addictive, thrilling, intoxicating.”—Lisa Jewell, author of None of This Is True
“The vacation home of dreams . . . or nightmares? What a ride—I tore through this nail-biting, pacey read.”—Sarah Pearse, author of The Retreat
Nina, still grieving from the loss of her father, discovers that she has inherited property in the British Virgin Islands—a vacation home she had no idea existed, until now. The house is extraordinary: state-of-the-art, all glass and marble. How did her sensible father come into enough money for this? Why did he keep it from her? And what else was he hiding?
Maria, once an ambitious medical student, is a nanny for the super-rich. The money’s better, and so are the destinations where her work takes her. Just one more gig, and she’ll be set. Finally, she’ll be secure. But when her wards never show, Maria begins to make herself at home, spending her days luxuriating by the pool and in the sauna. There’s just one rule: Don’t go in the basement. That room is off-limits. But her curiosity might just get the better of her. And soon, she’ll wish her only worry was not getting paid.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
July 30, 2024 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593909409
- File size: 236546 KB
- Duration: 08:12:47
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
May 20, 2024
A British academic receives a shock from beyond the grave in Steadman’s propulsive but ultimately disappointing latest (after The Family Game). Nina Hepworth, 34, teaches literature at Cambridge and has lived most of her life in the shadow of her brilliant mathematician father, John. After John dies of natural causes, Nina learns that he owned a piece of prime real estate in the British Virgin Islands, which he’s left to her. Stunned, she flies to the Caribbean to inspect the premises, a glass-and-steel mansion overlooking a private beach. Soon, however, Nina’s elation is tempered by her discovery that the house is rigged with all sorts of unsettling surveillance technology, prompting questions about what her father was up to. In a parallel story line set in the recent past, a young nanny named Maria takes a live-in gig at the same house, only to be ghosted by the people who hired her. She happily sticks around, but before long, she begins to suspect that she’s being watched. Toggling back and forth in time, Steadman briskly builds toward the bloody revelation linking Nina’s and Maria’s stories. Unfortunately, it’s an implausible letdown. This fails to stick the landing. Agent: Camilla Bolton, Darley Anderson Literary. -
December 6, 2024
Nina is grieving the death of her father when she learns that he left her a house she did not know about in the British Virgin Islands. Confused but required to go and settle the estate, she takes a vacation to check out the house. Then there's ambitious Maria, a former medical student who is now a nanny to the super-rich. All she needs is one more job, and she will have enough to achieve her dreams. The tale is told in different timelines, and when each woman arrives at Nina's father's house, a dream scenario turns into a nightmare much too quickly. Steadman's (Something in the Water) second novel is tense, fast-paced, and terrifying. The author narrates the audiobook, perfectly capturing the increasing dread and terror each woman faces as she fights for survival. Touching on many different facets of culture, the action-packed novel covers our obsession with reality TV, the dark underbelly of being rich and famous, and ways in which lonely people are exploited. VERDICT Listeners will not be able to stop this perfect summer thriller until the very end.--Elyssa Everling
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-