Nanny Needed

Manhattan’s mega-wealthy, immensely private Bird family needs help—just not the kind Sarah Larsen, the narrator of this off-putting, overly contrived psychological thriller from Cross (The Missing Woman), anticipates when she interviews with chic mom Collette and charming adult stepson Stephen for the extremely discreet nanny position they’ve advertised. Drowning in debt from her aunt’s final illness, on top of bills her and her fiancé’s waitstaff earnings can’t even dent, Sarah is so eager for the suspiciously well-paying post that it doesn’t faze her that she hasn’t actually met almost-four-year-old Patty before accepting. When Sarah discovers the true nature of her role in the family’s dangerous ongoing psychodrama—one which would send any sane person sprinting in the opposite direction—it’s too late; she’s signed an ironclad contract and NDAs, which Stephen makes clear the clan intends to enforce. And from there things only get worse as she struggles to escape an increasingly noxious situation. For readers who forge on, the dubious rewards that await are even more preposterous final twists. This is for those for whom nothing is too implausible. Agent: Rachel Beck, Liza Dawson Assoc. (Oct.)