In her late thirties, Jocelyn Holt is a recent widow. She and her ten-year-old daughter, Ruby, still grieving, move from California to the Wiltshire manor house where Jocelyn grew up. Financially strapped, Jocelyn must depend upon the generosity of her widowed mother whom she has always found to be unloving and cold.
“To have a child whom you love but who does not love you back is a particularly intense and unrelenting source of pain.”
She is surprised that her mother, Virginia, is quite besotted with her granddaughter Ruby. They seem to form an instant bond. This is something that both surprises and unsettles Jocelyn. She does not want her mother being any kind of influence on her daughter. She fears that Ruby’s spirit will be quelled by her mother’s arrogance, snobbishness and life of aristocratic privilege. Jocelyn was brought up by a Nanny and never really had any real attachment to her mother. When Jocelyn was seven years old, her nanny, Hannah, disappeared and afterward Jocelyn was sent to boarding school.
Not long after they move in, Jocelyn takes Ruby for a boat ride in the lake on the estate’s grounds. When they pull up at a little island in the lake, they make the gruesome discovery of a human skull…
The police descend on Lake Hall’s estate. The discovery of the skull is the talk of the village.
Shortly thereafter, a woman comes to the door of the manor house. She claims to be Hannah Burgess, the long lost Nanny. Jocelyn is overjoyed to make her beloved nanny’s re-acquaintance. Virginia, on the other hand is appalled…
Ruby dislikes her immensely. She posts online about her #evilnanny
This is my third novel by Gilly Macmillan and she never disappoints.
Ironically, the characters that most resonated with me were the ones I felt I was supposed to dislike – conversely, the characters which I felt I was supposed to like the most (i.e. Jocelyn), I felt myself disliking on occasion and I was often impatient with her.
I liked how each character gave their viewpoints in alternating chapters.
The setting, a grand English manor house and estate grounds were very appealing.
how I imagined Lake Hall to look
The plot had more than a few twists which will please those who love that sort of thing. I thought I had the story completely figured out about a third of the way through… needless to say that was probably the author’s devious plan. I was very wrong.
A novel of mistakes made, regrets, family secrets, misplaced trust, intimidation, emotional manipulation, and inter-generational relationships.
The ending I found immensely satisfying, though I suspect there will be a few readers who might not agree with me. I guess it depends on how you feel about what constitutes justice.
In summation, this diabolical psychological thriller is a prime example of the fine writing of Gilly MacMillan. If you haven’t yet tried one of her novels, this is an excellent one to start with. Just saying….
ISBN: 9780062875556 Length: 400 pages
I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from William Morrow/Harper Collins via Edelweiss. 
Gilly Macmillan is the Edgar nominated and New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew, The Perfect Girl, Odd Child Out, I Know You Know, and The Nanny. She grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire and lived in Northern California in her late teens. She worked at The Burlington Magazine and the Hayward Gallery before starting a family. Since then she’s worked as a part-time lecturer in photography, and now writes full-time. She resides in Bristol, England.
she feels a sham, but the excellent salary offered causes her to push her guilt to the recesses of her mind. Despite her lack of psychiatric knowledge about her new position, she seems to form an immediate bond with one of the residents of ‘Howell Hall’. Sylvie has been diagnosed as having hysterical catatonia – but she reacts to Ali’s kind advances.
She begins to enjoy the work, despite herself, but senses that there are many secrets being hidden at Howell Hall. Nothing is quite what they would have you assume…
Most readers will acknowledge that some words reappear time and time again in titles. Often these words are associated with a particular genre. Case in point: “The girl on the train” and “Gone girl” spawned countless thriller titles with the word ‘girl’ in the title.
Elizabeth Gallagher is a 911 operator. Blaming herself for an on-the-job mistake, she has lost confidence in her ability and feels guilty about the outcome of the case. Elizabeth’s guilt is just one of the things that is unsettling her. Her relationship with her husband has become somewhat distant and both of her children are leaving the nest imminently.
Lisa Wingate
In fact, there were few likable characters in this book. Even the mother of the missing child was cold, unreadable, and unsympathetic. She viewed her daughter Lola Jade as a possession – someone she ‘owned’. The only character I warmed to was Rachel Prince’s Detective Sergeant, Mark Brickall. I enjoyed the irreverent rapport he had with Rachel Prince and the way she missed him as a sounding board when he wasn’t on duty.
Alison James was born in the Cotswolds but spent most of her formative years abroad. She studied languages at Oxford, then became a journalist and author, returning to university after having two children to take a law degree. After a three-year stint as a criminal paralegal, she worked as a commercial copywriter and then a TV storyliner, before coming full circle to write fiction again.
D.I. Kim Stone – An acerbic, brusque, and driven young woman who works as a Detective Inspector for the West Midlands Police, the second largest police force in the country. She is socially inept, and has been known to break the rules, as well as to disregard instructions and protocols in her search for justice. An insomniac, she is fueled by nervous energy and lots of coffee, and is beautiful, but she works hard to hide it. She is 34 years old, brilliant, hot-headed, and damaged. As a child, she suffered horribly, and was shunted from foster home to foster home. Only once did she experience a nurturing, loving relationship – and that was very short lived…. Now, when not working, her favourite thing to do is work at restoring vintage motorbikes. Bikes are her passion, and she uses a Kawasaki Ninja as her regular form of transport.
Other than her second in command, Bryant, she is friendless. Her one real weakness is her fondness for her adopted dog, Barney.
Police team
In DI Kim Stone’s seventh outing we find her team working on a case of murdered prostitutes. The murders take place in the Hollytree housing estate. A place of criminal gangs, despair, and hopelessness run by the ruthless and heartless pimp, gang boss, and overall criminal, Kai Lord.
Meanwhile, a male infant is left at the freezing cold police station parking lot. Kim discovers the child and tasks her team members Kevin Dawson and Stacy Wood to find out his identity and that of his mother.
Four from NetGalley:
“They were living with the enemy; it was time to do what she could to resist.”
