Being an au pair is a tough job. The au pair must become enmeshed in a family but must remember that they are the hired help. They must care for the children while not loving them too profoundly. They are the authority figures but the children know that their parents are the employers. 

In this debut novel the author introduces six au pairs in France through their interactions with their host families, their French teacher, and each other. One of the au pairs is accused of killing the boy in her charge. Did she do it?

I couldn't stop reading. I became fully invested in the different storylines.

I found this book to be a good read but a little frustrating. The premise sounded very promising. A 'bad nanny' book set in Paris. The book does start very well. Then there were just too many unnecessary characters and extra details. It was distracting from the overall mystery. By the end of the story it does come full circle. I would recommend this book to someone who I think can look beyond the extra details to enjoy the story.

Set in a wealthy Paris suburb, the story begins with the death of a child under the care of an au pair. Although it starts there, there is much that transpires before we circle back to the incident. If has the feel of multiple short stories that are threaded together at the end. I found myself not really caring for any of the characters,

A slow moving mystery. Definitely not a thriller. There's lots of drama and plenty of characters giving their points of view.

Being an au pair near Paris could be seen by a young person as a glamorous way to live in Europe. For the six young women, with families across the world, that is not the case. Each young woman has her own reason for why she chose to be an au pair, why she stays in the role, and where life will take her. Misunderstanding can quickly change everything and have long-lasting impacts.
This well-written story keeps the reader engaged. The novel fluctuates from current to remembering the past.

The Caretakers is an interesting mystery with an amazing setting and unsettling story. I tried to figure out where it was going, but was surprised!

Loved reading this book - a great commentary on social milieus and class with a little bit of mystery that kept me reading. Will wait for more from the author!

Smooth writing and well posed. Was completely hooked into the characters and their stories. First time reader of author looking to enjoy others pieces

This story follows a group of au pairs as they navigate the suburbs of Paris and the lives of the families they work for. The families themselves each have their own dark secrets, and when one of the au pairs is arrested after the death of a child, you start to realize how the families secrets and the lives of the au pairs intertwine. This was a slow burn of a mystery/psychological drama. It left me feeling a bit sad for all of the characters involved, and it was hard to connect with any of them. Still I found myself reading to the end to find out what happened. Recommend for those who like Megan Abbott's books.

Thank you to William Morrow and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and reviews this ARC (late). This fell flat for me. I was really excited to read it based on the description. Thought it was going to be more of a mystery/thriller. Unfortunately it was more filler about the other nannies and not much about the mystery part. Was very disappointed.

So it took me absolutely forever to get through this book. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything in it that gripped me and motivated me to pick it back up to keep reading. Overall I feel like it should’ve been called The Caretaker (singular) and been about Alena with Lou and Holly as secondary characters. There was way too much background on the women and not enough about the only interesting part of the story line, Julien’s death.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
A first novel from state writer of nonfiction. Well written with some lovely turns of phrase. However, the storyline is jagged and often hard to follow. Interesting characters but not likeable. Had to force myself to finish. A good edit might help.

Just Ok. Six POV’s of a group of American girls working as Au pairs in and around Paris, their teacher, a socialite mother and a kind French teacher. The writing is good, and the story is well structured and paced. I just found myself a bit underwhelmed. Not even quite sure why…. I just felt like it lacked a little bit of tension.

The Caretakers illuminates a niche of contemporary Paris where families of means often hire a live-in “au pair” to care for their children. In the prologue, readers discover that a child has died under mysterious circumstances. The rest of this propulsive novel untangles snippets of who may be at fault, and why. It’s a complex nonlinear narrative with multiple flashbacks. Debut novelist Amanda Bestor-Siegal’s storytelling eviscerates of a culture where childcare is often undervalued and appearances can be deceiving. Each main character—and indeed, the entire city of Paris—exists in a blur of anxiety wrought by the 2015 terrorist attacks. The author consistently braids this collective, social angst with characters’ individual yearnings, insecurities and grievances. In a world where acts of political terror can bring a city to its knees; people also wield uncanny powers to inflict personal harm upon friends or family.

A marvelous domestic thriller set in Paris with undercurrents of class, race and social malaise, The Caretakers will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty, Celeste Ng and Kiley Reid. Themes include living between cultures, empowerment, parenthood, family life, coming-of-age. A feast for book group discussions.

An exciting debut! Full review on BookBrowse.

There was a lot going on in this book! The synopsis had me intrigued and I was excited to start this thriller.

Sadly, I didn’t love it. It was more of a mystery than a thriller (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and the super long chapters left me slightly confused and, at times, uninterested. There was so much background story to each of the main characters and I began to get confused and struggled to keep the characters straight. I did finish the book but it was just ok to me.

I would give another book by this author a chance, but I’m thinking her writing is just not my style.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reading copy in return for my honest review.

This was well written, I was able to clearly picture everything described. Each character had a backstory and I enjoyed reading each one but in the end I wished there was more to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed the build up of this novel. I thought this was going to be more of a thriller or a psychological thriller but it was mainly a novel built on relationships and family dynamics. The author has an almost detached profoundness to her writing (if that makes sense). She reminded me of Sally Rooney in the way that she gives deep character insights and her characters change their minds seemingly on a whim. I love Sally Rooney so this was right up my alley. Not to mention that it takes place in Paris. I guess the end was the only part that felt like a letdown to me.

If given the chance to read about Paris, I'll always say yes. The setting is important, but so are plot and characterization. I had a tough time getting into this story and there were A LOT of characters. It isn't really the book you read before bed, but a "during the hours when you are more awake" and have time to connect the dots and review the backstories. If you invest the time, you'll find a beautifully written book.

I did not love this book. However, that being said, I think our younger readers would enjoy the idea of going to Paris and being an au pair. The excitement of living in a foreign country and experiencing a new life with another family sounds like a dream. However, that does not always turn out the way these young women think it will .I found it confusing at times when the author jumps from present to past but that does explain why and how things happen.

Thank you William Morrow for gifting me a copy of this book to review via NetGalley. This novel seems to be marketed as a mystery/thriller, but it was definitely not paced like one. The book opens with the death of a child, but then the entire novel is back story about characters I didn't find myself caring much about. The chapters were long with very little plot moving things forward. By the end, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love this one either.