Mini-review

MINI-REVIEW

This one's a taut dark psychological thriller along the lines of many of Adele Griffin's stories.  It is narrated by Annie Phillips who grew up in poverty in a Detroit slum with an alcoholic mom and abusive step-dad. She feels responsible for the death of her younger sister and is dealing with survivor's guilt. When the opportunity presents itself to move to San Francisco to become a nanny to a 3 year old girl and attend university she jumps on it. But there's something wrong in the very wealthy family Annie works for. She fears she is losing her mind, and she may be. Annie is an unreliable narrator (the best kind for this kind of thriller) and we are not really sure what's going on until towards the end. If you like mysteries and thrillers, you will love The Ruining by Anna Collomore.