DNF @ 72%; this is the first ARC I’ve ever been unable to finish, and I’m pretty disappointed. :(

I’d like to start by saying that I pass no judgment on the content of this book. Memoirs are tricky for me to rate and review because I don’t feel that I’m in any position to critique someone’s experiences. So let me get it out there: My star rating in no way reflects the author’s story.

Rather, I did not jibe whatsoever with the presentation of said story.

The prose is confusing and/or mediocre at best, stilted and unnecessarily offensive at worst. At one point the book is describing the people who populated Provincetown in the 60’s: liberal artists, hippies, and “homosexuals,” all of who transformed good kids into troubled teenagers. (Needless to say, I did not appreciate the insinuation that gay people were corrupting influences.)*

In another instance, during one of Tony’s chapters, there’s this line about a girl being a “true redhead”* because she was pestering Tony and making demands of him. I was confused by this. Is “redhead” somehow slang for “feisty”? Am I… missing something here? Or did the book just stereotype all people with red hair as inherently demanding and overbearing?

That being said, I understand, obviously, that homophobia was rampant in the 1960s in a way that it isn’t now. I understand that Tony was a bigot who probably did refer to redheads (along with women, gay people, people of colour, religious minorities—heck, EVERYONE) in derogatory terms. But the issue I have is that this isn’t a book written by Tony. As such, there was no need for these iffy descriptions to be used.

Again: I’m not casting judgment on the authors. And I’d like to give the book the benefit of the doubt, so let’s talk about my main gripes with the prose in The Babysitter: it just wasn’t easy for me to read. Several sentences were weirdly structured and required several rereads before I could parse out their meaning; this really bogged down my reading experience.

Moreover, quotes and testimonials were inserted awkwardly rather than seamlessly into the text. The result was that I felt jarred out of the book, when I would’ve liked for these firsthand quotations to imbue the story with a greater sense of nuance or realism.

Bottom line: Not the book for me, unfortunately! But many readers and reviewers have had a great time with The Babysitter, so maybe it’s best for you to read this and make your own call.



* Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The specific examples I cited in my review were taken from an uncorrected advance proof and will be verified with the published copy when it releases on March 2, 2021.

The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer written by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan was a chilling true story of a little girl longing for love and family and how she found just that with her much loved babysitter who was also a serial killer.

Short Synopsis: Liza Rodman was a young girl who came with a troubled family life. Her mother worked long hours in a motel and was very social during her evenings. She would send Liza and her sister off with the hotel handyman for afternoons so she could have a break. Tony (the handyman) would take the girls on trips to the dump, out for popsicles and to the local forest. Little did they all know, Tony had a dark side. He was a serial killer who would dismember his victims and bury them in that very forest they would all spend time in. Read this one to find out how he was discovered, what ended up happening to Tony and how Liza herself feels about being babysat by a serial killer for her childhood.

I enjoyed this book and found it super interesting. For those who know me personally, I am fascinated with true crime. I listen to podcasts, read books about true crime and was surprised to find that I didn’t know this story already. I liked how this book was written by Liza and her recollections of the events from the story as well as the true crime author Jennifer Jordan. It was a nice touch being able to understand the story from a little girls perspective and it made you really understand how it felt to be her. I felt sad for Liza’s childhood and it made me really grateful for my upbringing. I really appreciated that although this book was factual, it wasn’t stockpiled with facts upon facts. Some true crime books go into a ton of specifics and this one didn’t. I rate this book 4.5 stars I was engaged, interested and felt informed upon completing it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Shuster Canada, Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan for this advanced copy. This book comes out March 2nd. All you true crime lovers out there, put this one on your list!

I'm certainly in the minority with my thoughts on this book - most people who enjoy true crime stories, really enjoyed this book. Also, I DNF'd it at 25% and I rarely do that with a book unless I can just not read any more.

I wanted to like this as I'm brig true crime fan, especially when I know someone is connected to the person. I understand that this author did a ton of research after finding out her old "babysitter" was a serial killer. Unfortunately, it felt like they were trying to make the connection too strong - personally, I don't remember much about my old baby sitters when I was 7 and that was much more recent than the 60's, so I would have preferred less detail on what song they listened to - it also made it a longer and slower book. I stopped because I couldn't get past the "I liked his face" comments - regardless, I don't do books that glamourize or idolize serial killers - I'm here for facts and info.

I did really feel for the author and her memoir bits - she clearly had a very difficult upbringing and I felt for that and the circumstances. I think a lot of people will enjoy this one, and it very well could get better, so take this with a grain of salt.

THE BABYSITTER: My Summers with a Serial Killer by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan is a really gripping true crime book! Liza recounts her summers spent in Cape Code during the 1960s as a young girl unaware that her babysitter was the serial killer Tony Costa. I liked how the point of view switched back and forth between Liza and Tony. This book goes into great detail describing Tony’s life from adolescence to the murders and then the trial. This book reads like a novel and I finished it in one day! I definitely recommend this one to any true crime fan!
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Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Atria Books via NetGalley for my advance review copy!

The babysitter by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan was an intriguing true story about a man named Tony who became a serial killer killer in cape cod. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review, and thank you to Liza Rodman, Jennifer Jordan, Atria Books and Simon and Schuster for creating it!

This story is written by Liza Rodman who knew and was often looked after by the serial killer himself. I really liked the writing style of this book and found it very interesting to read about this story from the perceptive of someone close to him. Through this particular perspective you get to see the other side of this man, which allows for a better understanding of how so many people did not believe this man could ever be a serial killer. This story also is backed up by research the writer obtained through meeting and speaking with others who knew or spent time with Tony. I was also happy with the way this book ended, with the writer tying up all loose ends with an update at the end of the book.

I did find this book a bit slow and repetitive at times, but do see the importance of trying to show all aspects of the characters life in order to give the best understanding of Tony as a person. There were some parts in the book where it talks about “probably” and “‘might have happened this way” situations, which weren’t my favourite parts to read, as I felt it was a lot of speculating and could be taking away from the true story.

Overall, I think it was well written and interesting and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about true crime, court case information, and even memoir type books.

What a gruesome tale! In a time when it was truly dangerous to be a woman, this book highlights heinous crimes and brutal upbringings. Hard to read at times but worth it. Everyone has two sides and this book touches on the stark contrast to one person.

Thank you netgalley for the arc

What an excellent true crime memoir! The author is to be applauded for her willingness to explore to the trauma she experienced during her childhood and to explore the gruesome crimes of Tony Costa. I firmly believe that if Tony Costa hadn't been caught he would have kept murdering women.

This was a great true crime read. It is unimaginable what this person went through. Honestly one of the best books I’ve read in awhile! The story is spooky and gruesome. Not for the faint of heart.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book via NetGalley.

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Meet Liza. She is a young, lonely girl growing up in Cape Cod. While her mom was busy working Liza and her sister would entertain themselves throughout the day and met a young man by the name of Tony. Tony befriended the girls and would often babysit the girls and hang out with them, taking them out and doing fun things with them. Finally an end to their boredom and he was someone they could hang around with and do fun and cool things with. Tony suddenly disappeared when Liza was 10, back in 1969.

Jump ahead many years later and Liza finds herself having nightmares of Tony, the man she met when she was younger and looked up to so much. She hasn't seen Tony since she was a child. Turns out that Tony was a serial killer. Hard to believe that a man she had so much fun with and someone she admired could turn out to be a serial killer.

Parts of the novel delved into Tony's life, both as a young boy where he enjoyed taxidermy and killing and gutting young animals, to Tony as an adult, getting married and having children. It gives us a sense of Tony's character and some insight to how he might have turned out to be the man he was.

An interesting memoir that is sure to be enjoyed by many.

The Babysitter was chilling from the first page to the last! A gripping and dark true story that just goes to show that sometimes the people closest to you have dark secrets.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Understand it bring a true story.. ever heard of him before now.
The story was just ok for me the writing was mediocre and was hard to follow along to keep me interested enough...I found myself skipping over parts.


Thanks to the Author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

This was a creepy story about a young girls encounter with a serial killer. While the story itself was creepy as heck I found the story telling to be very inexperienced sounding. However as this is the storytellers first book I can overlook some of that. There was a fair bit of repetition of parts of this story and it did not flow as well as I would like. Overall for true crime I would rate this as average. The characters were brought to life and that definitely gave this a boost.

An interesting story. In all my reading and watching about serial killer's, I had not heard about 1969's Tony Costa, that I remember. I found the book intriguing and really appreciated the update at the end on how several missing girl stories were updated from then to now. However, I found that while engaging the book was not well written. For a factual book, there were way too many "probably"s and "might"s and rumours are discussed in detail after declaring *if*. I had a hard time believing the story as written and of course, could not believe anything prefaced by "probably" and "if". The author(s) also had a definite bias against the defence using negative words when describing their actions as if they were bad simply for defending Costa. I also had a hard time believing the author's account when near the end one person behaves in a totally out-of-character behaviour with no reason given. In the end, the book was certainly readable and has made me want to find out more information about this case, but everything here should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Babysitter by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan is Ms Rodman's chilling true account of her time in the company of serial killer Tony Costa. I cannot recall ever hearing about Costa and his crimes, but this is a haunting telling that definitely brought to mind Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me about more widely recognized serial killer Ted Bundy.

What struck me even more than her relationship with Costa was Liza's horrific abuse at the hands of her mother, a woman so heinous that she would leave her two daughters in the care of virtually anyone who was willing, leading, of course, to the relationship with the motel handyman. As a child so desperate for any kind of attention, Liza was immediately drawn to Costa, a figure of some authority to a pair of young eyes. Taking Liza and her sister to the 'secret woods', in actuality a place he used as a burial ground for his victims, became a fun adventure that Tony shared with the girls, who rarely had any other opportunities to leave the motel that they called home. Throughout their relationship, Liza was blissfully unaware of the evil that resided in the man she considered her only friend.

This is a dark and chilling account, but hopefully it is cathartic for the author in some way. That she continues to have a relationship with her mother to this day is nothing short of astounding, and certainly speaks to the power of forgiveness.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this ARC.