Recap #15 – Mother’s Helper by A. Bates

Title: Mother’s Helper

Author: A. Bates (Auline Bates)

Published: August 1991

Tagline: Rock-a-bye-bye-baby . . .

Description: Her dream job is about to turn into a nightmare.

Becky can hardly believe it. Spending the summer as a mother’s helper on a romantic island, earning money for college and working on her tan at the same time – what a lucky break!

Too bad . . . Becky’s luck is about to change.

Soon the accidents will start happening – and the phone calls. Suddenly Becky’s island paradise will seem more like a prison. Becky will be plenty scared then. Mother’s helper is going to need all the help she can get.

Nostalgia Time!

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That description is bullshit. There are no accidents, and the phone calls are literally just the phone ringing over and over – Becky never answers the phone. Nothing fucking happens in this book until the end.

Wait, that’s not how I usually start these recaps, is it? K. Sorry. Let’s try this again.

Ahem.

This book was released the month I turned ten. I probably didn’t read it that early, I’d say it was probably a couple years after that, although I do seem to be able to picture myself reading this in the house I lived in when I was ten, so it’s anyone’s guess. I didn’t remember this one very well, or else I probably wouldn’t have bothered rereading it. I think I’ve been putting off writing this recap, not only because I’ve been sick (which I have – goddamn respiratory flu won’t let go of me) but also because I know I’m not going to have fun writing the recap of this damn book. It’s not even fun-bad; it’s just fucking boring.

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Recap #14 – The Evil Child by M.C. Sumner

Title: The Evil Child (Baby-sitter’s Nightmares #2)

Author: M.C. Sumner

Published: June 1995

Tagline: He’s watching you . . .

Description: A kid who likes games . . . deadly games.

William is different from the other kids Toni’s had to baby-sit for. He’s smart – too smart. And he can build things – deadly things. And if Toni isn’t careful, William may test his wicked inventions on her.

Nostalgia Time!

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Full disclosure, guys – I’m a sucker for the evil child trope. I don’t know what it is, but if it’s an evil child story, sign me up! This one came out in June of 1995, meaning I would have been a couple months away from my 14th birthday, so that’s probably right around the time I would have read it. I usually grabbed all the new teen thrillers off the book shelves at Kmart and Target not too long after they were released. I didn’t remember too many specifics until I started rereading it, then it all came flooding back and I remembered the end – which is a kind of wild and ridiculous ending that I want so badly to tell y’all about right now, but I don’t want to spoil it yet. I hate spoilers. We’ll get there when we get there. Anyway, here we have a book I really enjoyed reading even now, as an adult, and it features a likable protagonist who actually makes smart decisions and doesn’t immediately jump to wild conclusions, panic, or be completely oblivious to weird things going on around her. And she’s written by a male author, too, so good on you, Mark Sumner! This is a book where not much of anything menacing happens for a good two thirds of it, then it goes 0-100 in the last 50 pages or so. The not-much-happening portion of the book lets us get to know Toni better, though, and since she’s so likable it doesn’t feel like pointless padding or wasted time.