Book cover of Mischief

Book description

A child is left in the care of a disturbed babysitter in “surely one of the finest pure terror-suspense stories ever written” (The New York Times).
 
Bunny’s parents shouldn’t have brought her to New York City, but her father has an important speech to make, and her mother couldn’t…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Mischief as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I watched the movie adaptation Don't Bother to Knock starring Marilyn Monroe last year and bought the book not long after. After a few false starts, I finally delved into the original novel. Where the movie is an exploration of mental health, the novel looks at the villainess as cold and unfeeling sociopath who longs for something better and doesn't care who gets in her way - including a child she was supposed to watch over. It takes conventions and throws them out of the window (almost literally).

Not a detective story, but one that will get your heart racing and blood boiling. Set in New York City a rich family hires a babysitter who goes off the deep end. Women authors give a different point of view to crime stories and this one is proof of that.

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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