It's difficult to review this book without giving away too much. Jocelyn, a young woman from an upper class background has a terrible relationship with her mother Virginia. Brought up by her nanny who disappeared when she was 7, she is resentful of Virginia who she thinks is cold and unloving. So it is with reluctance that she returns to the family home when her husband dies. Ruby her daughter strikes up a good relationship with her grandmother, something that Jo finds hard. A skull is found in the lake on the estate but whose is it? Could it be that of her nanny or is it someone else. Then the nanny reappears...

I'll say no more about the plot or characters except that the characters were all flawed and there is no-one really to relate to, except perhaps ten year old Ruby. The plot has the usual twists and turns that you'd expect in this genre but ended a little abruptly.

Did I enjoy it? I don't know to tell the truth. It was a compelling read and I read it with a sense of fear and dread. Would I recommend it? Yes, on the whole I would. If you like psychological thrillers, then I think you'll like this one.

I enjoyed reading The Nanny, it was slow in places and a tad predictable but I liked the way it held the mystery back till the last few chapters. I really liked the dual storyline of the past and the present slowly telling each side of the story. Of all the characters I only really liked Virginia and Ruby, Jo I found far to desperate and Hannah of course deserved my distain. The book length could have been reduced without a the unnecessary storyline of the forgeries.

Widow Jocelyn and her daughter, Ruby. Now there's an interesting relationship. This book is full of them. Much more meaty and twisty than I though this book was going to be. Turns the whole missing child book right on its head as this time, the nanny goes missing.

it's quite complex in parts and there are multiple narratives and timelines which got a bit confusing for me before it al worked out nicely in the end ( from a narrative structure point of view) I 'm not giving any spoilers away about the plot. Missing nanny, body discovered but is it the person they think it is? All gets very shady.
Plenty of red herrings in this book so armchair detectives will have a lot of fun with this!

Families are complicated and funny creatures aren't they? Memories shut away can create interesting and frightening images in the future. Not a booktrail read as all the locations are either vague or fictional but it's a a creepy landscape which the author creates here.