Discover The Babysitter: My Summers With A Serial Killer Outlined By Liza Rodman Displayed As Paper Edition

off, I was given a copy by Atria Books and Simon amp Schuster for an honest review,

This book fits into what I call a True Crime/Memoir hybridization, The reason being is that the memoirist knew the killer and could have been a possible victim, It is along the vein of Ann Rules “The Stranger Beside Me”, Since she knew Ted Bundy,

While reading this, you can actually feel as though you are in Provincetown, Massachusetts encountering the story as it unfolds,

Possible Spoilers . .

What I thought was chilling that the “Pied Piper” that everyone was following, Tony Costa, had many similarities to Charles Manson, He was the “East Coast Version”,

So many young people became “lost” during this time and they latched onto men like that who knew how to exploit them and use them for nefarious purposes.


This book also has plenty of triggers in it, So be warned.

I was glad to have the opportunity to read this book, DNF at
Reading this has not been a great experience, This is not a criticism on the story itself but rather how it was told, I could not get past the writing style it was too disjointed and the narrative did not flow, Disappointing considering the Tony Costa case was so fascinating, .rounded up

The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer is a partMemoir, partTrue Crime novel told by Liza Rodman.


Alternating between chapters about both Liza and Tony, this book tells of Liza's early life and her interactions with the serial killer, Tony Costa.
It also delves into the details of Tony's life and crimes based on the author's research,



Liza was just a girl when her summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, brought her into contact with Tony a young man she greatly admired.


Liza's mother frequently let her two daughters go off with Tony, a coworker of hers at a local motel, to run errands, He would buy the girls popsicles and take them on rides in his truck to the Truro Woods,



The two alternating portions of the book were quite distinct, Liza's early life was troubled, She never felt wanted, or loved, and it felt like the sections detailing her life were a bit of a therapeutic exercise for her,

Tony's sections follow his life from an early age, up through his imprisonment,

This is definitely an interesting book, I live on Nantucket, off the Cape, so am quite familiar with the areas detailed here, It sounds like the Cape of thes was a wild place to be,



It took me a while to get used to the alternating perspectives, the flow felt a little off, but overall, I am happy with it.
I think if you like both Memoirs and True Crime, the melding of the two genres is actually quite pleasing,

Thank you so much to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review, I appreciate it very much!

DNFthis is the first ARC Ive ever been unable to finish, and Im pretty disappointed, :

Id like to start by saying that I pass no judgment on the content of this book, Memoirs are tricky for me to rate and review because I dont feel that Im in any position to critique someones experiences, So let me get it out there: My star rating in no way reflects the authors story,

Rather, I did not jibe whatsoever with the presentation of said story,

The prose is confusing and/or mediocre at best, stilted and unnecessarily offensive at worst, At one point the book is describing the people who populated Provincetown in thes: liberal artists, hippies, and “homosexuals,” all of who transformed good kids into troubled teenagers.
Needless to say, I did not appreciate the insinuation that gay people were corrupting influences,



In another instance, during one of Tonys chapters, theres this line about a girl being a “true redhead” emphasis mine because she was pestering Tony and making demands of him.
I was confused by this, Is “redhead” somehow slang for “feisty” Am I missing something here Or did the book just stereotype all people with red hair as inherently demanding and overbearing

That being said, I understand, obviously, that homophobia was rampant in thes in a way that it isnt now.
I understand that Tony was a bigot who probably did refer to redheads along with women, gay people, people of colour, religious minoritiesheck, EVERYONE in derogatory terms.
But the issue I have is that this isnt a book written by Tony, As such, there was no need for these iffy descriptions to be used,

Again: Im not casting judgment on the authors, And Id like to give the book the benefit of the doubt, so lets talk about my main gripes with the prose in The Babysitter: it just wasnt easy for me to read.
Several sentences were weirdly structured and required several rereads before I could parse out their meaning this really bogged down my reading experience,

Moreover, quotes and testimonials were inserted awkwardly rather than seamlessly into the text, The result was that I felt jarred out of the book, when I wouldve liked for these firsthand quotations to imbue the story with a greater sense of nuance or realism.


Bottom line: Not the book for me, unfortunately! But many readers and reviewers have had a great time with The Babysitter, so maybe its best for you to read this and make your own call.




Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon amp Schuster, and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The quotes and specific examples I cited in my review were taken from an uncorrected advance proof and will be verified with the published copy when it releases on March,.
Officially freaked out.

.stars.

Shortest Summary Ever: Liza Rodman has a pretty awful mom one who drags her and her sister around working jobs where she can meet men, partying all night, and leaving her kids in the care of random people.
One of these random people was serial killer Tony Costa who took them for rides to the woods, aka his victim burial grounds, Lizas recollection is captured here,

Thoughts: This is a book that made me mad, sick, and troubled which is what it should be, I was engrossed in every shocking turn and several moments forgot I was reading nonfiction, While the description casts the spotlight on Tony Costa, the true attention of the story for me was on Liza and her life story of abuse from a negligent, appallingly absent, and crass mother with poor judgement to say the least.
Then, to learn this awful truth later in life and process what this means is mindbending,

Im a teacher and therefore abuse is a “hotbutton” for me, but listening to how this selfish mother dragged her daughter around like old luggage leaving her with a trail of miscreants made me simply sad, perhaps even as disgusted as hearing about Costas murders and the havoc he wreaked on so many lives.


But while Costa was surrounded by people who in many ways enabled him, Liza SURVIVED, And it sounds like she flourished and that made the book amazing to know the light is there, Perhaps the question should be was Lizas mom any less psychotic than Costa When one exposes her children even unknowingly, to a man like this, does she share equal blame This is my “chew on that” as you read this brilliant work.
Imma go hug my awesome mom now,

All my reviews available at scrappymags, com around time of publication,

Genre: Nonfiction, True Crime

Recommend to: Serial killer readers, Fans of true gritty and downright honest details, This is the story/“deal with it” type of book,

Not recommended to: if you cant handle child abuse/neglect, I almost quit but I stuck it out,

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Atria Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my alwayshonest review and for thanking the heavens for an amazing mom.
This was interesting, partially because it's half true crime and half memoir and also because I haven't heard of this serial killer,

The only thing is, we get a lot more of the author's life than Tony's, and she overshares in some parts, like really really things I did not need to know about her.


Also, Tony Costa was not her babysitter in a traditional sense, more like someone who her mother dumped her on and he took her with him to do errands.


Still, I'm glad he was nice to the author and that she came out of this alive,.stars, rounding up.

Jumped out of my genre comfort zone to read this memoir about a young girl who's babysitter was the serial killer, Tony Costa.
I was unfamiliar with Costa and his brutal killings in the's, So I was intrigued.

The book alternates storylines between Tony and Liza, the author who was aroundyears old when she met Tony, Tony's story was interesting and thoroughly researched, I was very impressed with the level of detail,

Where the book lost pacing and even interest is in Liza's story, I don't want to undermine anything Liza went through as a child, The emotional and physical abuse she endured from her mother is disturbing, It's a life that no child should ever have to experience, I have nothing but sympathy for her,

However . . it just wasn't interesting to read about,

I'm here for all the grisly True Crime details and the psychology around "the why" Tony Costa committed the murders, but I was not interested in poor Liza's story.
Her link with Tony is very minor and a bit of a stretch to refer to their connection as a babysitter,

I cannot stress this enough that the research here is absolutely phenomenal, The Epilogue even details how the authors were able to solve cases forpreviously missing women presumed dead that were linked to Tony,

If you're a True Crime fan and unfamiliar with the Tony Costa murders, then I would recommend this, The details are heartbreaking but the psychology behind it is thoughtprovoking, .