I found this to be quite an interesting book. It made me think back to my childhood in spots and it was nice. But to find out that someone who spent so much time with you growing up turned out to be a serial killer, plus taking you to places where he buried some would be truly intense. This was a serial killer I had not heard of, somehow, but I find him to be interesting. I thought this book was well-written and the storyline was very interesting. It truly kept my interest. I highly recommend it.

Liza grew up spending summers in Provincetown during the wild 1960s. Her mother would get a job at a hotel so they could justify the move each summer. Her mother was often neglectful and angry, leaving them with whoever she could find to ‘watch’ her children. One of her “babysitters” worked at the same hotel as her mother and was a handyman named Tony Costa. Tony Costa was a serial killer. Liza recounts her memories of her encounters with Tony and her traumatic upbringing with alternating chapters that feature details of Tony’s crimes.

I read a fair amount of true crime and I am always wary of the variety of tones that an author could take. I found this novel to have sensationalism written all over it. True crime can be a fickle genre and can get a lot of flak if the author seems to want to make the case extremely dramatic just to attract readers. I found myself questioning the research methods and I thought the perspectives to be very biased. I really enjoyed Liza’s memoir chapters as it was brutally honest and factual. This book definitely made for an interesting read as this is a case that isn’t widely known and I am glad I read it as I learned about the victims. I thought the court case could have used a bit more detail to wrap up the ending. Thanks to @atriabooks and @netgalley for my review copies. It seems as though the true crime and memoir hybrid is becoming more common!

I’ve been slowly working on this book The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer by authors Liza Jordan and Jennifer Jordan. The story alternates between the authors’ narratives which help reveal the full timeline of the serial killer Tony Costa during the late 1960s and beyond. ​ ​​This book is a chilling true story which is both a memoir and a crime investigation, and it pulls you in from the start! I finally carved out time to finish it and wow. What a ride…tragic and scary and horrific but such a well-told story!

The idea that someone grew up with a serial killer hanging around and actually KNEW them is a little bit terrifying, but the authors make this whole story seem so wholesome. I really enjoyed the story overall. It kept me interested and wanting to read til the end.

4/5 stars

This book is truly frightening, in the way that you get scared when you realise that what you've just read or seen is actual reality.

Aside from that, the story is told essentially in alternating parts, some about Liza and some about Tony, the handyman with more than one dark secret. I thought the flow of the book was good. It kept me turning pages, although I must admit there were times when I was so ashamed of her mother that I wanted to throw the book across the room. (I might have if I hadn't been reading it on my Kindle.)

This book makes you think twice about whom you trust and how well you really know the people in your life. I found myself considering this memoir long after finishing it, and wondering how the author manages to trust anyone after her experiences.

The Babysitter would be a great choice for anyone who is into real-life stories, especially those that can handle a bit of creep-factor.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from NetGalley, provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Such a very strange story, but so interesting to read about. Excellent for fans of true crime/ serial killers, and an overall enjoyable (as much as can be) read.

The Babysitter is a book that stays with you long after the last page has been read. It is the true story of convicted serial killer Tony Costa as told by Liza Rodman. Rodman spent time with Costa when she was a young girl. To her, Tony Costa was a loveable handy man and the only adult who seemed to care to spend time with her. She recounts the many times that her mother left her and her sister in his care. During the summers that he was acting as her babysitter, Costa was also living a very different life as a serial killer. Even though he was arrested in 1969, it wasn't until years later that Rodman connected the babysitter of her childhood to the serial killer that he turned out to be.

The book itself is a fairly quick read. It holds the readers' interest and provides a look at the two sides of a man who was both kind to young girls yet also a cold blooded killer. This is a book for fans of true crime or anyone who is interested in the mind of a serial killer.

I love reading true crime books and listening to true crime podcasts, so I was already vaguely familiar with the horrorshow that was Tony Costa. The author's connection to him as a trusted adult during her tumultuous childhood was a really unique story angle. I thought the book dragged a bit and it took me longer to read than usual, but it was overall interesting and most true crime readers would get something out of it.

This combination memoir/true crime story was a compelling but difficult to read. It is a slow burn but takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. I was surprised there wasn't more interaction between the author and her babysitter (who turns out to be a serial killer!) but he's not the only villain in this book. Liza's abusive and negligent mother was even more dangerous in her own way.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy to review.

I DNFed this half way through, I couldn't connect to the writing style. I might give it another try with a physical copy for the book.

Tony Costa is one of those serial killers that I haven't heard of. Maybe because his crimes were too gruesome?

Liza Rodman had a pretty tumultuous upbringing. She was raised by a single mom who was really focused on herself and dating. Liza and her sister were always with random babysitters, including people their mom had just met. One of those babysitters was a man named Tony Costa.

Tony Costa can be described in many ways - absent father/husband, drug addict, neatnik, handyman, thief, and killer. As with many serial killers, Tony Costa only let a few people see his dark side. In fact, he a quite a few followers that he called "kid chicks".

Liza was 10 years old when Tony Costa was arrested. Honestly, I assumed that her and Tony would barely cross paths. But they spent quite a bit of time together. Liza is quite lucky that she was so young and Tony never did anything to her.

The way Liza tells her story intertwined with Tony's is really well done.

"The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer", by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan, is the real-life story of notorious murderer Tony Costa. Growing up with a single mom (whose interests and attention was always somewhere else), Rodman and her sister had a variety of people caring for her. One of those people was Tony Costa. While known around town as a jerk, alcoholic, and deadbeat dad, no one suspected Costa of being a serial killer. However, once several women seen with Costa have suspiciously gone missing, police begin to zero in on Costa. Reading about Rodman's upbringing was sad and at times disturbing, but it gave me an appreciation for the strong woman she is today.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Babysitter was dark and disturbing as one would imagine. It was a well researched intruiging read. If you're a fan of true crime, as I am, I would recommend.

I reviewed this title on my blog and will provide the details directly to the publisher in the next round of this review process.

It took a little while for me to get into this one, but once I did, I was hooked. Liza tells the story of her childhood, but she also tells the story of Tony Costa, a serial killer in Provincetown back in the seventies. Apparently, Tony was her babysitter, and used to take Liza around with him, unbeknownst to her, to his dumping ground. As much as I like true crime, I didn't know about Costa, so I was hooked on both his story and Liza's. I will say that she's a lot more forgiving to her mom than I would have been.

I really enjoyed this book. I found myself more interested in Liza’s story than Tony’s. I just wanted to strangle her mother. This is coming from a true crime buff. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in true crime.

Thank you to the Atria Books and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

A heartbreaking tale of surviving an abusive childhood, interwoven with the true-crime tale of a Cape Cod serial killer (these parts notably gave due focus to the victims, in a positive way). Liza is a survivor! I would love to read more about her life.

This was my first true crime read. I know, I’m waaaay behind the craze. 🙃

This really kept me going. Half-memoir/half-biography, I was intrigued with the timeline and details, though understandably gory at times. It was unsettling when you start to think of the people you trust and wonder if you really know them.

The historical aspect was fascinating. I learned a lot about that time period that I didn’t already know- you know, the small but important things that might not seem like #1 culture details but in the end give you a far better understanding of the big picture.

My heart broke for Liza throughout. At times I wanted to smack her mom. But, I appreciated the redemption in their relationship.

I did not like how a lot seemed redundant though I do get why that was done. It was also at times a little confusing, and I had to go back and re-read the wording to make sure I really knew what had been said.

Do I want to read more true crime now? Absolutely

I had never heard about Tony Costa before reading this book. This was a very interesting story and I can’t imagine how horrifying it must have been for the author to realize she’d spent time with such a person. I thought this story was well told!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Two and a half stars, rounding up to three.
I had really been looking forward to reading this book when I learned about it. Unfortunately, it fell short for me on a few levels.

I feel terrible for Liza, the author -- no child should ever go through the things she went through at the hands of the adults in her life. But I don't feel like her story added very much to the twisted (and frankly more interesting) story of Tony Costa and his victims, and honestly, there were a few times she shared a little too much information for me. The only times her story and Tony's intersected were when her mom let her go for a ride in Tony's truck sometimes. She didn't really seem to spend a lot of time with him, let alone be "babysat" by him. Apparently, she didn't even think anything was off about Tony until she was an adult and he was long dead... actually, until she was informed he had been a serial killer.

I feel like Liza's story could have been told in a chapter or two in the beginning as an introduction to Tony's story. The alternating stories felt choppy and seemed to detract from the horrors Costa was inflicting. Tony's story was horrific enough to stand alone, and her memoirs should have been their own volume as well. The mash-up actually detracted from the horrors in both storylines. As it was, neither story engaged me and I ended up skimming through chunks of both of them.

I'm grateful to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read "The Babysitter" in return for my honest opinions.