The Babysitter Lives (Unabridged)
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3.3 • 33 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“I enjoyed The Babysitter Lives very much. It’s perfect for audio, as really scary stories always are, and this one is really scary. Perfect for a long car ride…especially when you’re almost out of gas and you start wondering if maybe someone has gotten into the backseat and will lurch into the rearview mirror.” —Stephen King
Only on Audio! A new horror novel from the bestselling author of The Only Good Indians and My Heart Is a Chainsaw.
A mother carries her six-year-old daughter into the tiled bathroom where the bathtub is already running, is still running, is overflowing, and for a moment the girl calms, seeing her little brother floating facedown in the water, his hair a golden halo around him, but then this mother is guiding her face-first down into that water, that, as it turns out, isn’t just water but scalding water, and eleven years later her scream is the drawer screeching out of the counter by the sink.
When high school senior Charlotte agrees to babysit the Wilbanks twins, she plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night studying: the SATs are tomorrow, and checking the Native American/Alaskan Native box on all the forms doesn’t mean jack if you choke on test day.
But tomorrow is also Halloween, and the twins are eager to show off their costumes—Ron is a nurse, in an old-fashioned white skirt-uniform, and Desi has an Authentic Squaw costume, complete with buckskin and feathered headdress. Excitement is in the air.
Charlotte’s last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy, when her young charge sleepwalked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte’s mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time. But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. Soon Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter’s worst nightmare has come true: they’re not alone in the house.
The Babysitter Lives is a mind-bending haunted house tale from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.
Featuring a note from the author.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
An audio-only story by one of horror’s biggest rising stars is a big deal all by itself, but Stephen Graham Jones’ modern twist on the haunted-house tale is a terrifying story narrated scarily well. Native American overachiever Charlotte hopes that babysitting the Wilbanks twins on the night before Halloween will give her a chance to study. But instead of quietly watching TV, young Ron and Desi decide to let their sitter in on a secret about their house—one she’s better off not knowing. Jones sets up a mind-bending game of Chutes and Ladders—and sends us sliding into the abyss. His nightmare-inducing story touches upon white privilege, Indigenous identity, LGBTQIA+ romance, alternate dimensions, and body horror. Narrator Isabella Star LaBlanc takes just the right approach, with understated narration that lets the terror grow so slowly, you barely notice, while auditory jump scares add to the creepiness. How scary is this audiobook? You’ll find out for yourself.
Customer Reviews
Boring and confusing
Felt the author was way too infatuated with his own story. There was no closure to the story but more inane continuation in the end - if this was a paperback book, I probably would’ve flipped to the last page and just read the ending, such as it were.
5/5
More along the lines of the only good Indians than my heart is a chainsaw or mongrels. A great haunted house book.
Weird and Hard to Follow
This book started out strong and grabbed my interest. However, about a third of the way through, it got so weird that I almost quit reading it. I stuck with it because it had potential. It left me disappointed and wishing for my time back. It had weird details and a time line that was difficult to follow. I did not feel like there was any clear resolution to the story. Kudos to the author for writing a novel and getting published; it is just not my style of reading.