The Babysitter Murders by Janet Ruth Young
“Everyone has weird thoughts sometimes. But for seventeen-year-old Dani Solomon, strange thoughts have taken over her life. She loves Alex, the little boy she babysits, more than anything. But one day, she has a vision of murdering him that’s so gruesome, she can’t get it out of her mind. In fact, Dani’s convinced that she really will kill Alex. She confesses the thoughts to keep him safe, setting off a media frenzy that makes “Dani Death” the target of an extremist vigilante group.

Through the help of a brave therapist, Dani begins to heal her broken mind. But will it be too late? The people of her community want justice . . . and Dani’s learning that some thoughts are better left unsaid.”

We’ve all had thoughts that get away with us, be them fantasies or something stressful that just keeps growing and our imagination gets away with us. But I can’t say I’ve ever had any that are as violent as Dani’s. What really disturbed me is in one paragraph she is rambling about how she’s an extremely non-violent person then shortly after she’s imagining someone’s death. While I was very disturbed by her thoughts, I understand she has a mental disorder that is causing her to be that way.

Even more disturbing is the way the town in general reacts to her admission. Before that happened though, I have to say Malcom and his father are creepy! Seriously, the father sits around judging teens with his son. How disgusting. Once the “secret” is out, in general people react the way you would imagine them to.

The title of the book to me was a touch misleading, I fully expected to have some babysitter running around slaying all of the town’s children. Instead you have a story of a girl who really does have a big heart, you can tell she loves (or cares about) the people she’s having these feelings/visions of doing things to. It’s not all just murderous thoughts, some of her thoughts are of yelling insults at her friends and family.

The book was another good look at an uncommonly acknowledged mental disorder. It was refreshing and heartbreaking at times. It’s a topic I’ve personally never read about, but definitely plan to do some further research on it. While it isn’t my favorite book to do with psychological issues, it’s original and worth checking out!

The Babysitter Murders hits shelves on July 26th.

I received my copy courtsey of Simon & Schuster in exchange for my honest opinion.