Babysitter

Babysitter

A novel

by Joyce Carol Oates

Pub Date 23 Aug 2022 |

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Knopf

Literary Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

I am reviewing a copy of Babysitter through Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Netgalley:

Disclaimer due to subject matter and strong language not recommended for readers under sixteen!

In the last few years of the. 1970’s, in the wake of unsolved child-killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences.

Included in this group of people, there is Hannah wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive; Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on a chilling mission to rectify injustice; and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. As Babysitter continues his rampage of abductions and killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways.

Babysitter is a suspenseful and brilliantly orchestrated as well as engrossing novel. Babysitter is a starkly narrated exploration of the riskiness of pursuing alternate lives…