The Davidsons seem like a normal family. But they do have one little secret…

American student Alice Snyder was excited to be spending the summer in Scotland, working as an au pair for the Davidson family at their remote lodge. But one month after she arrived, Alice disappeared without trace.

Now the new au pair, Melanie, has arrived – and soon notices that the Davidsons are a bit odd. There’s the strange comings and goings at night, the creepy paying guests, and sinister uncle Gray who makes her flesh crawl.

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And then there’s the worrying scratch marks on the floor of the au pair’s bedroom.

Did Alice try to barricade herself in?
What could she have been so afraid of?
Are the Davidsons somehow linked to her disappearance?
And is Melanie herself now in danger?

As she desperately tries to find out what happened to Alice, Melanie begins to understand that this old house harbours a truly horrifying secret. Alice was its last victim, but she might be its next…

My Review

What a suspenseful read! Poor Alice. So innocent and trusting and the two youngest girls in her charge, Tess and Isabel, adore her. Not so much 16-year-old Christina, but then she’s a teenager and doesn’t need a nanny, especially one only two years older than her.

Alice lives with her mum and dad in the US, but runs away to take up a post as an au pair in a remote Scottish manor house – Scallon Lodge. It’s in a state of disrepair, but that’s because the Davidsons’ business went bust and they can’t afford to do it up. As well as Ken and Caro, there’s Ken’s dodgy brother Gray and the three girls. Alice initially thinks they are all cool and wonderful, even Gray, and the younger girls are a delight.

Then Alice disappears, her clothes found by the sea, and the police believe she got into trouble while swimming and drowned. But Alice could barely swim and would NEVER have gone into the water by herself. I swim 3-4 times a week and I would never swim alone in the rough seas. Or anywhere remote by myself.

Almost immediately after Alice’s disappearance, a new au pair arrives. Melanie AKA ‘Donna’ is a lot older than Alice, and shall we just say, she’s streetwise. She wasn’t exactly an angel in her youth, but she’s turned her life around. She’s never worked as an au pair though, but hopefully she’ll get away with it, because she’s determined to find out what happened to Alice. And she’s not fooled by Ken or Caro of even creepy Gray. He won’t pull the wool over her eyes like he did Alice. And then there’s the so-called ‘paying guests’. What are they really up to?

What happened to Alice and were the Davidsons involved? And is Melanie/Donna herself now in danger? She can take care of herself, but how far would these people be prepared to go to hide their dirty little secrets?

The Au Pair is full of twists and surprises – the biggest is revealed fairly early on – and would make a fantastic holiday read. Just one word of advice. If you plan to take up a post as an au pair, make sure you check out the references for your employers. But then if Alice had done so, this book wouldn’t have been any fun.

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

As a child, Jane spent a lot of time in elaborate Lego worlds populated by tiny plastic animals and people. Crime levels were high, especially after the Dragon brothers set themselves up as vets and started murdering the animals in their ‘care’. (They got away with it by propping the victims up with Plasticine and pretending they were still alive…) As an adult, she is still playing in imaginary worlds and putting her characters through hell – but now she can call it ‘writing’ and convince herself that she is doing something sensible. In real life, she has a PhD in genetics and copy-edits
scientific and medical journals.

Jane’s links
Website: https://www.janerenshaw.co.uk/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/janerenshawauthor/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/JaneRenshaw10

Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204842288-the-au-pair
Buy Link – https://mybook.to/theaupair-zbt