Play Book Tag discussion

Rowan Caine is excited to see the advertisement for a well-paying nanny position in a remote area of Scotland. She is tired of her life in London working for "Little Nippers" daycare and living in a small flat with a roommate. This job sounds like a dream come true: wealthy family with a large modern home full of technology, 3 young girls and another away at school, a more than generous salary, and most important to Rowan, a much needed change in her humdrum life. From page one the reader knows that Rowan is now in prison desperately appealing to an attorney for help. Rowan has been charged with murder for the death of one of the children in her care and she swears she is innocent.

Heatherbrae is the magnificent home in which Rowan became the nanny. The owners, Bill and Sandra, are well-known architects who have outfitted their own house with all of the latest technology that never ceases to amaze and sometimes stymie Rowan. The children are toddler Petra, 5 year old Ellie, 8 year old Maddie and 14 year old Rhiannon. Rowan arrives on a Friday afternoon only to be told that Bill and Sandra would be leaving the very next day for a week long conference. Rowan is understandably concerned but assures herself and the parents that she is up to the task. Despite animosity from the children, especially Maddie, Rowan settles in to her job. That is until the sounds of pacing footsteps overhead, ghostly visions, sudden chills in the house and an abandoned poisonous garden on the property that the children visit become part of Rowan's everyday life. Her terror increases especially after hearing that previous nannies left their employment at Heatherbrae after only a few days. It all comes to a terrifying end with the tragic death of one of the children and Rowan's arrest.

I enjoyed the haunted house aspect of the story and even the over the top nastiness of two of the children. Rowan is not the most likeable character herself as she has some deep secrets she wants to keep hidden. I'm not sure I quite understood the reveal but I did enjoy the creepiness of the story.

I liked it a lot!

I love this one! I think it's the best of the Ruth Ware books I've read so far. That house had me genuinely spooked.