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No Way Out
Taking her baby-sitting charge to the park after a disturbing crank phone call, Rebecca accepts a ride home from the boy's divorced father and realizes that he is taking her deep into the woods while a snowstorm gets worse around them. Original.
1 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1994
33 people want to read
About the author
Beverly Hastings
10 books14 followersJoint pseudonym of Carol Barkin and Elizabeth James.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 11, 2025
Rounded up to 3 stars for GR.
"I liked it...it was okay" pretty much sums it up.
All of these books by Beverly Hastings (pen name BTW) I have read so far, all deal with babysitters or nannies encountering problems as they watch a young child. Out of the three, No Way Out is probably the weakest one. I intend to find more for collecting purposes, but I can see why someone brought this to Half Price Books.
Rebecca has a job watching three-year old Ethan for his mother as an after-school job. She starts getting phone calls where there is deep breathing and no one answers her before hanging up. Ethan's mother and her best friend Dani don't think anything of it and Rebecca doesn't mention it to her own parents.
One day at the park, a man approaches Rebecca with Ethan and says that he is the boy's father and has driven a long way to see him. Ethan doesn't act like he even knows his father and clings to Rebecca, whom he calls "Becca", and the teenage girl is a little leery of letting the boy go with a man who might be straight up lying.
He offers to get some hot chocolate with them and then drive them home as it is starting to snow and sleet really bad, and Rebecca walked Ethan to the park. She accepts and they have some hot chocolate at a Dunkin Donuts, but they aren't heading back to Ethan's home...
Mr. Underwood drives them up to a cabin in the woods, having drugged their hot chocolate, and Rebecca soon gets her wits about her to realize they have been kidnapped. The man leaves to go and get some more food and children's toys but he has boarded over the windows so they cannot open and there is only one door to get in and out.
Rebecca forces herself to be strong for little Ethan, but she realizes that Mr. Underwood is a cold and crazed man out to make his ex-wife pay while she is caught in the middle to keep the child from making the situation worse. Soon, the isolation in the days to come catch up to a homesick child begging to go home and Rebecca realizes for her...there is no way out alive.
It is all pretty standard where you just hope everything doesn't go to the most horrible possibility of an ending. Halfway through the book, we do get a good twist that I don't see as much of a spoiler because it adds...something to the story.
Rebecca hears noises in the attic and goes to investigate when Mr. Underwood has gone on a shopping trip. Instead of squirrels or rats, Rebecca finds a teenage boy no older than her own age climbing down from a trapdoor in the bathroom. This African American youth is so tall and lanky that he gives his name as "Bones" to Rebecca and he says that he has been hiding in the attic.
He ran away from a home for wayward youths and found shelter in the cabin when the snowstorm hit. Bones has been there the entire time and was trying to escape when Rebecca heard him making noise after Mr. Underwood drove away.
She asks how he knew, and Bones tells Rebecca there is a very tiny window up in the attic that he climbed in through because of his very lean frame. His plans are to run away to the Candian border since they are up in the Adirondack mountains, so he won't be forced to go back to St. Ignatius or another terrible foster home.
Most of this is wondering if Bones will be able to help Rebecca and Ethan get away while Rebecca tries to keep Mr. Underwood from finding out about Bones in the attic and making sure Ethan doesn't alert his father to the boy who appears and disappears "like magic".
Despite this, No Way Out is still pretty generic in formula.
"I liked it...it was okay" pretty much sums it up.
All of these books by Beverly Hastings (pen name BTW) I have read so far, all deal with babysitters or nannies encountering problems as they watch a young child. Out of the three, No Way Out is probably the weakest one. I intend to find more for collecting purposes, but I can see why someone brought this to Half Price Books.
Rebecca has a job watching three-year old Ethan for his mother as an after-school job. She starts getting phone calls where there is deep breathing and no one answers her before hanging up. Ethan's mother and her best friend Dani don't think anything of it and Rebecca doesn't mention it to her own parents.
One day at the park, a man approaches Rebecca with Ethan and says that he is the boy's father and has driven a long way to see him. Ethan doesn't act like he even knows his father and clings to Rebecca, whom he calls "Becca", and the teenage girl is a little leery of letting the boy go with a man who might be straight up lying.
He offers to get some hot chocolate with them and then drive them home as it is starting to snow and sleet really bad, and Rebecca walked Ethan to the park. She accepts and they have some hot chocolate at a Dunkin Donuts, but they aren't heading back to Ethan's home...
Mr. Underwood drives them up to a cabin in the woods, having drugged their hot chocolate, and Rebecca soon gets her wits about her to realize they have been kidnapped. The man leaves to go and get some more food and children's toys but he has boarded over the windows so they cannot open and there is only one door to get in and out.
Rebecca forces herself to be strong for little Ethan, but she realizes that Mr. Underwood is a cold and crazed man out to make his ex-wife pay while she is caught in the middle to keep the child from making the situation worse. Soon, the isolation in the days to come catch up to a homesick child begging to go home and Rebecca realizes for her...there is no way out alive.
It is all pretty standard where you just hope everything doesn't go to the most horrible possibility of an ending. Halfway through the book, we do get a good twist that I don't see as much of a spoiler because it adds...something to the story.
Rebecca hears noises in the attic and goes to investigate when Mr. Underwood has gone on a shopping trip. Instead of squirrels or rats, Rebecca finds a teenage boy no older than her own age climbing down from a trapdoor in the bathroom. This African American youth is so tall and lanky that he gives his name as "Bones" to Rebecca and he says that he has been hiding in the attic.
He ran away from a home for wayward youths and found shelter in the cabin when the snowstorm hit. Bones has been there the entire time and was trying to escape when Rebecca heard him making noise after Mr. Underwood drove away.
She asks how he knew, and Bones tells Rebecca there is a very tiny window up in the attic that he climbed in through because of his very lean frame. His plans are to run away to the Candian border since they are up in the Adirondack mountains, so he won't be forced to go back to St. Ignatius or another terrible foster home.
Most of this is wondering if Bones will be able to help Rebecca and Ethan get away while Rebecca tries to keep Mr. Underwood from finding out about Bones in the attic and making sure Ethan doesn't alert his father to the boy who appears and disappears "like magic".
Despite this, No Way Out is still pretty generic in formula.
August 31, 2021
This is a classic babysitting gone wrong novel. We follow the story of Rebecca a babysitter for Ethan a 3 year old boy and their account of fear and survival after being abducted at their local park.
This was a very simple read but well put together. The last two thirds of the book really put me on edge and made me feel anxious. There were points where I imagined myself in their shoes and felt super uncomfortable. The ending was relatively dissapointing but had a few strong points. If we're over analysing here then I would've loved more development with all characters especially Bones and Rebecca. We get a small look into her personal life but nothing major, same goes for Bones.
A solid read if you're bored and are into mild YA horror.
This was a very simple read but well put together. The last two thirds of the book really put me on edge and made me feel anxious. There were points where I imagined myself in their shoes and felt super uncomfortable. The ending was relatively dissapointing but had a few strong points. If we're over analysing here then I would've loved more development with all characters especially Bones and Rebecca. We get a small look into her personal life but nothing major, same goes for Bones.
A solid read if you're bored and are into mild YA horror.
January 20, 2024
Really exciting and tense and plausible.
January 23, 2016
Great suspenseful book. There were plenty of suspenseful moments in the book that had me flipping the pages to see what happened next.
The book wasn't too offbeat but tries to fit in reality when it deals with kidnapping which may not be recommended for those who want those type of scenarios.
Rebecca was likeable mainly how she's so caring to the child who's kidnapped and that she has a resourceful mind as she find ways to escape from her kidnapping.
This was comforting read and highly recommended for horror readers.
The book wasn't too offbeat but tries to fit in reality when it deals with kidnapping which may not be recommended for those who want those type of scenarios.
Rebecca was likeable mainly how she's so caring to the child who's kidnapped and that she has a resourceful mind as she find ways to escape from her kidnapping.
This was comforting read and highly recommended for horror readers.
February 4, 2016
Nice easy read. The suspense is good the story doesn't feel like a drag. The whole Kidnapping seemed very realistic and the main characters are very easily likable. Rebecca is smart and brave, the way she cares for Ethan is remarkable. I wish we had gotten a little more background on Mr. Underwood but nevertheless, 4/5
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews