This was a chilling read. I liked how the chapter switched around from Liza's life to Tony's story. I found Liza's mom to be a really interesting character..

As true crime grows in popularity, the genre is experiencing a boom, which is exciting for so many reasons: the ability to revisit cold cases, explore new angles, and provide definitive timelines of "popular" crimes. And then there's THE BABYSITTER, which does all of this about 75 percent of the time, and then turns into more of a memoir about the author at others. I understand the overlap of timelines and experiences, but I just don't feel that this book needed to be written. It added nothing to the discourse about the case and certainly didn't make me interested in the author.

I’m a big fan of all things true crime, especially books. This one was very intriguing and I found myself having a hard time putting it down.

DNF

The Babysitter is part memoir and part true crime, told in alternating chapters. Unfortunately, neither narrative is particularly interesting or exciting. It seemed that the author's intent by telling Liza's story was to establish that her mom was toxic and hated her. Tony's story, on the other hand, provided the story of his life from birth to, presumably, his crimes and jail. While I was intrigued by Tony's story, I was never given a reason to care about Liza's, and I did not feel like it added much. In the beginning, the authors state that Tony Acosta was not actually Liza and her sister's babysitter. So, they negate the title and the expected story early on. After making it through the prologue and the first five chapters, I did not have any desire to finish the book and spend time reading it when there are so many others I can spend my time on.

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy.

I gotta start by saying I'm a huge true crime fan. If you don't like true crime you likely won't like this book.

I'd never heard of Tony Costa but man was he fascinating. I also just find it SO UNREAL how easy it was for someone to murder a person back in the day. He got questioned and would just be like "nah, they just left town" and the cops would be like "oh aight cool!" 😐

His cockiness about not getting caught drove me insane, especially with how gruesome these murders were. The fact that he really was just driving around in the dead girls car .... like what?!?

It also blows my mind that Liza was just chillin' with a serial killer at 9 years old and had no idea. Sheesh

Giving it four stars just because there are SO MANY people to keep track of I truly couldn't tell you who some of them are 😂

This book was My Favorite Murder's Hometown Stories mixed with memoirs of your favorite celebrity. Liza Rodman reveals how she felt when she finally connected the crazy news headlines with the fact that this man, Tony Costa, was essentially her babysitter when she was younger. She didn't realize it until much, much later because Tony was always so good to her. As a self-proclaimed "murderino", I can see the connections between that and other serial killers. Heck, Ted Bundy had Ann Rule fooled, right?

I hadn't heard of Tony Costa before this book, but I definitely was still pulled in all the same. It was interesting hearing about this man from a young child's perspective and it really makes me wonder what her mother, family, friends, etc. thought when the news broke that he was killing women and burying them in the same parks that Tony took Liza and her sister. This book pulled me in from the very beginning and I would highly recommend.

Fascinating and compelling read on this book that fits both memoir and true crime genres. Perfect for those that like I'll be Gone in the Dark or The Glass Castle.

This was a slow burn kinda book. 🤔 Lots of background to get to the meat and potatoes. I feel for the author, she had a rough childhood. 🥲 This guy reminded me of Ted Bundy and all the documentaries and accounts with him. Just creepy. 😬

This book was both alarming and heartbreakingly sad. Much more than just a true crime novel it felt like a glimpse into America at the time. (I really appreciated the bits of history the authors threw in.) As an 80's kid the fact that missing girls were treating so mundanely was hard to believe
The 1960's was a strange and volatile time and that was easily reflected in both Tony and Liza's life.

The fact that I detested Liza's mother much more than Tony says a lot. Her neglect and abuse were hard to stomach. Seeing Provincetown through Liza's child eyes you could see why it would seem like a safe haven and while Tony and his mother would be beacons of light in her life.

The depictions of violence were definitely gruesome without being gratuitous or over the top. The victims were real people and I appreciated the authors made that clear, that there were people who loved them and they had lives they would never live because of this sadistic killer. This book will stick with me for a long time to come.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Part memoir and part true crime novel, this book has a bit of something for almost everyone. For fans of true crime I would say this is a well researched novel and a compelling read. You will be dying to know what happens from the very first page.

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.

This was such an easy book to listen to. The feel of the prose makes you have a sense of nostalgia, with the exception of the emotional abuse and murders. The book could almost pass as a memoir of growing up with that emotional abuse and the relationship the author has with her mother and sister, there just happens to be a homicidal babysitter thrown into the mix. All in all, it was a great listen.

I always enjoy true crime and this book was no exception! It was truly fascinating the way the book was woven together between Liza’s childhood and Tony’s life of crimes. This easily could have been a novel, but it added an element of shock knowing it is a true story!

Thanks to @atriabooks for my gifted copy.

I loved the multiple POV in this book. It helped create suspense and had me wondering the whole time how different paths would cross. Also, the POV of the girl who used to be babysat by a serial killer was a unique way to learn about a killer.

This book is perfect for listeners of true crime podcasts and lovers of Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in The Dark!

The narrative style makes it exceptionally readable for a nonfiction book. The pages flew by and I struggled to put it down. It’s hard to review without giving away the plot, but I loved seeing her perspective on both her mother and Tony.

Overall, this is a must if you enjoy true crime.

Imagine waking up from a nightmare as an adult, and in the nightmare was your childhood summer babysitter Tony, you hadn’t thought of Tony in many years, curious why your thinking of him now so you ask your mom what she remembers about him and her response, “ well I remember he was a serial killer, yeah so what he didn’t kill you, did he” . With an opening like that I knew immediately this book was going going to be a page turner.
In the summer of 1966 we meet seven year old Liza and her five year old sister Louise. Their mother Betty now divorced starts a job as a housekeeper at the Royal Coachman Motel in Provincetown. Her mother likes the fast life and wasn’t interested in being dragged down by her daughters, she would rather be dancing and most nights that’s where you could find her. So her mother would leave them with the motel handyman Tony. Tony treated Liza kindly unlike her mother, he would take them for ice cream and popsicles and adventures in his truck to the woods where he kept his “secret garden” , where Liza said later on smelled rotten. He made their summers fun. Liza and Louise said he was a nice man and looked forward to seeing him. What Liza and Louise didn’t know was that in the woods and his garden that he would take them to was where he would bury his victims. After their summer with him Tony would later make headlines for killing seven woman but only be convicted for killing two. Never knowing this since her mother kept it hidden from them, Liza tells her story after realizing her fun babysitter was a serial killer. She begins researching him. I’m this book she tells his backstory and her summer spent with him. My heart broke for her, the way her mother treated her just made me want to hug her. I loved this book. Five stars.

2.5 stars.

Probably the most meh true crime story I’ve read/listened to in a while. It just felt like a memoir of this girl’s childhood, which just happened to include a serial killer. Some parts were super interesting, I’ll give her that. But other than that, this book just wasn’t for me.

Nonetheless, thank you to NetGalley & Atria Books for providing me with a copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy.

This novel seemed like it would be right up my alley.

Eeeeeeep. Had to put the breaks on. Could not handle the child abuse.

I have put this title down and will not return to it.

Liza Rodman was a lonely girl. When she and her sister are left with the local handyman as their babysitter, she thinks nothing of it. He is kind and caring and seems to be a trustworthy adult who is kind to her. Little does she know that he is a serial killer who is terrorizing the area. This is Liza's story in her words.

This book was CHILLING and part dream meets nightmare. I loved reading it and recommend it to my true crime/crime fiction friends!