A nifty little thriller about three women- Didi, a new mom who is overwhelmed and hires Hennequin, a baby nurse, who is being hunted and investigated by Miriam, a police officer who is convinced Hennequin killed her husband, Miriam's brother in order to inherit his fortune. Whew. Hennequin is obviously the one to watch here because she has no need to work. She's also, as Miriam discovers, got a long and violent history. It's not clear why she has picked Didi and why she does what she does but suffice it to say, this one will have you turning pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

This was a tense, fast read. I didn’t want to put it down because I was so worried about the mother and the baby in the story. This was one roller coaster ride with an excellent ending.
Many thanks to Amazon Crossing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. I ended up really enjoying it and was eager to see the ending.
Thank you to netgalley for the arc .

This book made me feel so uncomfortable at times!!
The premise is great - an obviously psychopathic woman posing as a maternity nurse for a couple and their week old baby. Didi (the new mum) had a horrendous birth and is now subsequently struggling, but for some unknown reason, the midwife is intent on making her life 1000x worse!
It's really creepy and full of suspense, so perfect for the Halloween season!
My issue with it was the ending. There was a massive build up yet the climax just felt disappointing as it all ended too quickly!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you @Netgalley and @Amazoncrossing for the ARC of close to the cradle. This book was so creepy. I cant think of anything more scary then being a brand new mom and hiring a nurse to help and she has creepy and scary motives. This book had me biting my nails. Really good with the suspense. Definitely recommend for all you thriller lovers.

Translated from the original Dutch novel, this story revolves around three women, - a new mother, a midwife and a detective and is told from their different points of view. Grabs you right away and the reader is only given enough information to keep you riveted until the end. Good psychological thriller.

Wow!! This book was freaking amazing. Talk about a thrill ride. I couldn't put this book down once I started. I enjoyed the characters and all the twists and turns in this story made it a really great book. I'll definitely be reading more from this author after this book.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fantastically written thriller!! It was fast paced with a villain (Hennequin) that you love to hate. I read this rather quickly, because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. All of the twists in the story keep me engrossed. I’ve already purchased one of the authors previous books because I’m so impressed with Close to the Cradle. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced review copy.

“Close to the Cradle” was a fast paced, intense, edge of your seat book. It was well written and had me sucked in from the start. I highly recommend this book and will be searching for other books to read by this author.

This is my second book I have read by this author. The first was Mother Dear which was fantastic. In this book, Close to the Cradle, the author delivers another page turning, full of suspense and thrilling ride. If you read the blurb, then you know the basics and the characters involved. But the big mystery is why Hennequin Smith has decided to be a baby nurse to a brand new mother when she is very well off and being a maternity nurse is the last thing on her mind. Then there is Miriam, a police officer whose brother was married to Hennequin and was very wealthy and died under mysterious circumstances. So Miriam finds out that she is a baby nurse and goes on her own to figure out why she is a baby nurse and to prove that she is a killer. I read this book in a day and a half it was so good. I couldn't wait to see how it would all turn out and what motivated Hennequin to be a maternity nurse to this young couple. The end was awesome and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves intense mysteries and a roller coaster of a ride. I received this book as an ARC from net galley for an honest review. Read this book if you like this genre and her first book also, Mother Dear. Thank you Net galley for this ARC.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

Miriam is a police officer. She has suspicions that her sister in law murdered her brother. They had only been married 18 months when he fell down the stairs and died.
When she looks into Hennequin's history, she finds that her suspicions are closer to truth than fiction.
Hennequin had pushed a girl over a stairwell when she was 16. She was in youth detention for a year.
Now people have a habit of disappearing anytime she's around.
The truth of the matter is things and people aren't always how they appear. But, sometimes they are.
Incredible story! An excellent ending!

I really enjoyed this book. The author kept me on my toes the entire book. It definitely ended with a surprise and it made it even better. One of the main characters had different identities so to speak which really made for an interesting read. I also like that there were multiple points of view through out the book.

Very good read! The plot moves fairly quickly and the characters are absolutely memorable. It's fast-paced with great twists!

To sum up this book in one word- WOW! Close to the Cradle is an intense psychological thriller written by three different perspectives. I had a hard time putting the book down as I was dying to hear the ending. I highly recommend Close to Cradle and am thankful I got to read an advanced copy through NetGalley.

Close to the cradle is a Dutch book translated to English. I’d describe it as a psychological thriller.

We meet three different women from different backgrounds that are all tied together:
Hennequin- a derranged midwife
Didi Vos - new mother
Miriam - police officer

POV changes quickly wasn’t with a character for long enough to get a feel for their personality at the start of the book. I can appreciate this added to the sense of danger during the book but would have liked longer to get to know each personality to begin with.

A very tense read, I was on the edge of my seat desperate to know if Didi and her baby were going to be okay. I don’t normally like thrillers, this was a good read apart from my issues mentioned.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Confined to bed after a difficult pregnancy, new mother Didi considers her visiting nurse a godsend. Meanwhile, police detective Miriam looks for answers in the wake of her brother’s sudden death. The connection between these two women turns deadly in Nova Lee Maier’s “Close to the Cradle,” a tightly written thriller by a master of Dutch psychological horror. “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” meets “The Bad Seed” in a fast paced tale full of high-stakes plot twists.

Absolutely loved this book! The story flows, the characters are fascinating and I couldn't tear myself away. Highly recommended.

Thank you NetGalley and AmazonCrossing for the eARC.
Being from Holland originally, I was excited to find a book translated from the Dutch. It was a good read.
However, it made me deeply uncomfortable at times because the story involves a psychopathic woman posing as home help for families with newborns. Didi, the young mother, and her newborn, Indy, have just come home from the hospital and Hennequin is the home help, ready to assist Didi, who is incapacitated with severe pain, barely able to move. Oscar, her husband, is staying home from work for a week to help out as well.
We also meet Miriam, a policewoman who is hunting Hennequin as she believes Hennequin killed her brother, inheriting most of his fortune.
Without giving away more of the story, I can say this is a very tense read, hard to put down. Constantly worrying about the tiny baby and her helpless mother made me tear through the book really fast, but as I said, it was not a comfortable read!