The Perfect Nanny: A Novel Kindle Edition

The baby is dead. We know that from the opening sentence. And so the focus will inevitably be connecting the dots between how Louise, the seemingly perfect nanny, could be responsible for such a horrible crime.Unsatisfied with life as a stay-at-home-mom, Myriam returns to work at a local law firm. With Myriam and her husband Paul both working, they decide to hire a nanny to watch their children, Mila and Adam.At first, Louise seems like a godsend: not only is she wonderful with the children, but she cleans the house daily and doesn't seem to mind when Myriam and Paul are increasingly absent.There are little signs early on that there's something slightly off about Louise—a vague sense of menace, a cool indifference—but these are only apparent to us, the reader, at least in the beginning.The Perfect Nanny is a character-focused psychological thriller that smartly addresses universal themes ranging from motherhood and domesticity to class and race. It explores the increasingly uncomfortable power structure between Louise and the parents, and the passive aggressiveness that mounts on both sides is downright uncomfortable.I'm struggling with how to rate this one—it's really between a 3 and a 4 for me. The writing is solid and the subject matter is interesting; and I'm always appreciative of a literary psychological thriller. But I never felt like I couldn't put it down or like I just had to know what would happen next.

She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her.When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau. Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, motherhood, and madness—and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.My Thoughts: Perfection, or the appearance of it, is a theme in The Perfect Nanny: A Novel. We see examples of the well-ordered world the nanny creates for the Masses family on a lovely Paris street. She makes their lives easy, with her tireless care, the cleaning, the dinners, and the willingness to stay late.But beneath the façade, Louise is a complex mix of disordered thoughts, fantasies, fears, and intensity. Back and forth the story goes, offering glimpses of other lives the woman has lived, including one with a very troubled daughter.As she slowly unravels before their eyes, Myriam and Paul try to sort through their thoughts and decide how to extricate their lives from hers. It should be simple, right? But Louise has so carefully inserted herself into their family that removing her seems impossible.In the beginning, we know the ending. As we turn the pages, fear and curiosity keep us going, even as spending another minute in Louise’s mind seems too horrific to bear. A creepy tale of madness, obsession, and the power of routines, at times I wanted to stop reading. But like the Masses family, who could not rid themselves of her, I was unable to extricate myself from this character study of a fascinating and disturbing woman. 4 stars.

Plot: Louise, a 40-something single mother of a grown daughter goes to work as a nanny for a couple - Paul and Myriam - with two very young children, Mika and Adam. I'm not spoiling anything by saying that she kills the kids, because the first sentence of the book is, "The baby is dead."I enjoyed everything about this horrific, superbly written story. Through each chapter, I felt the tension and build-up to Louise's eventual mental break. When I know how something is going to turn out, I like finding the clues to the outcome along the way. I appreciated that there was barely any physical or gratuitous descriptions of the violence that ensued. The flashbacks of Louise's life before working for the family was a plus and helped me to better understand her fragile emotional state.Glued to every page, just like the last book I read, I finished this in one sitting. Louise is a complex and obviously very disturbed person...I mean she kills two children. But the author slowly reveals her life experiences and multifaceted personality is such a brilliant way, that by the time I read the last page I fully understood why she snapped.A few days ago there was yet another school shooting - the 16th in the United States this calendar year alone! - and as I listened to the news reporters trying to explain the psychological signs the killer may have exhibited before he shot everyone, it occurred to me that sometimes it's impossible to see that type of violence coming. Without spoiling the book, I'll just say that the parents of Mila and Adam most likely didn't have a clue what was coming their way. I think they may have known that Louise had a screw loose, but I can't imagine they thought she'd go that far.I look forward to reading other books by this author. This one will definitely stay with me me for a while.