The Night Nurse by Cole Baxte
They seem like angels of mercy. Until you invite them in.
While going through a bitter divorce, Laura moves home to care for her widowed father who suffers from dementia.
Quickly realizing she can’t handle her dad alone, Laura hires nurse Bella and her dementia-specialist brother, Andrei, to look after him. The siblings are the perfect caregivers, effectively handling her father’s needs and mood swings.
Then accidents begin happening around the estate, and her dad takes a drastic turn for the worse. He becomes violent and claims he’s being poisoned. Is it true? Or is his illness causing paranoia?
As Laura tries to get to the truth, she begins to realize that the caregivers are not who they seem, that they may have a sinister agenda of their own. But who are they really? And what do they want?
The answers to these questions are more horrifying than anything Laura could ever have imagined…
Really enjoyable read. Twisty and gripping. 5*.

Laura, going through a bitter divorce, moves home to care for her father, who is suffering from dementia. Because of of his frequent temper tantrums, he is once again without a housekeeper and nursemaid, so Laura begins the search to find help. She ends up hiring a nurse by the name of Bella, who works as a team with her brother Andrei. Everything starts out wonderfully, but then Laura;s dad takes a turn for the worse,, freak accidents start happening around the estate, and Laura begins to wonder if she is being drugged and her father;s meds are being tampered with. As Laura tries to get to the truth, she begins to realize that the caregivers are not who they seem, that they may have a sinister agenda of their own. But who are they really? And what do they want? The answers to these questions are more horrifying than anything Laura could ever have imagined…

I really wanted to like this book. I thought the premise sounded good, but it did not live up to my expectations. The author did a really poor job with character development. They either felt completely unrealistic, had no redeemable characteristics, or just felt one-dimensional. There was so much time spent on describing mundane, everyday tasks, that felt completely unnecessary, and I felt that Laura's mother was over-the-top evil, especially for someone who was supposed to be a schoolteacher. It also didn't make sense to me how much the father defended his late wife, and seemed to revere her, when he was a victim of her abuse also. I kept waiting for the big reveal, or twist to haooen, but there wasn't one. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention how annoying it was how often the caretaker (Sam) used the endearment "darlin'_. I really can not in good conscience recommend this one.

I was drawn to this book because it is a thriller, it deals with a nurse, and the main character has my name! This was a very quick read, with some very fast parts and a lot of detailed slower parts.

Summary: Laura is a romance author who moved back in with her aging father who has dementia. She’s just getting out of a rough marriage and was also abused by her mother throughout her childhood. Soon after moving in with her dad, she realizes she can’t care for him by herself. She hires a brother-sister nurse duo who sound great for the job, but soon after they move in, Laura notices a change in her dad, and incidents keep happening throughout the estate and to her estate manager and crush, Sam. Laura takes matters into her own hands and investigates the nurse.

My take: There isn’t a big reveal at the end, but the events leading up to the ending were written well. There is a lot of detail in this book, and if that were to be taken out, then the book would probably be even shorter. So many of the main character’s every day tasks are so detailed that the writing seems a bit bland.
What I liked: a quick read, it drew me in even if there were some slow parts. I also liked the theme of the book
What I didn’t like: so much use of the word “darlin’” by Sam! Laura seemed a bit of an unstable character, but to be fair, she has been through a lot. There’s a lot of dialogue between Laura and the characters and it’s a bit mundane. I give it a 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator for this ARC!

This is a hard book to review as I think it was enjoyable in parts but I thought the pacing was all over the place and although there were some twists and turns I would have preferred more.

Nothing thing happened. A psychological thriller must have twists, thrills, suspense, mystery, and a shocking ending. This book didn't have a single one of those. No twists or thrills. Zero suspense. And it was too predictable to have mystery or a shocking ending.

A woman's wealthy father has dementia, and she needs someone to help care for him and hires a brother and sister team. However, they are not as they appear. How will she protect her father?

Ok, here is the down and dirty for Cole Baxter's THE NIGHT NURSE. I usually do not inject my feelings into a book that did not live up to my expectations, but this one is ripe for the picking.

By the looks of the other reviews, many others shared my feelings.

Pros:
~The Cover
~The Title
~The Book Description
~The Prologue
It ends there with the positives.

~I have not read this author before, but it appears he has a successful track record. My first impression was not a good one. Do I try again for another of his books?

The jury is still out.

~THE HOUSEKEEPER: I thought it would be another great book similar to Joy Fielding's The Housekeeper (5 ⭐ STARS), which I loved. Sadly, it does not compare, nor is it in the same league.

Or even something like Frieda McFadden's The Housemaid.

Nope!

Now the Cons:
~No shockers, surprises, or twists here
~Completely silly and elementary
~Overuse of the word "Darlin'!"
~Predictable
~No character development (Laura, in particular)
~Not enough (creative) gaslighting or manipulation to make it suspenseful or believable with tension
~No suspense. I would not call this a psychological thriller.
~Never mentions the town or state set in
~Radcliff estate setting could have been more atmospheric and built upon

In every conversation between Sam and Laura, he used "Darlin"! (Please use their name!) Not once, but the entire book in every conversation they had, which was many! Plus, other characters were also using other adjectives instead of their name. Who does this? If this had been an audiobook, it would have been a DNF the second time I heard it.

~Why spend so much time talking about their childhood abuse when not even leveraged?
~Not even part of the plot?

This would have been prime for murder, obsession, and revenge!

Characters:
~Laura: Daughter (Author) newly separated, drama-filled, distracted, clueless
~Billy: Son (does not like the dad)
~Sam: the caretaker (onsite gardener and property mgr for many years)
~Michael: Dad: Dementia (a wealthy businessman)
~Mom: Deceased (physically and verbally abusive)
~Bella: Nurse: Live-in woman hired to take care of dad's dementia
~Andrei: Bella's brother. Hired to handle physical therapy dad's care
~Dr. Temple: Dad's physician
~Dr. Fischer: Laura's Therapist
~Jim: Laura's husband

~Here is what would have made the book better: (Just my opinion, and happy for anyone to weigh in).

MY THOUGHTS: Since Laura and Billy had such an abusive childhood (at the mother's hand) and the dad was the victim, as were the children, and he did not stand up to the mom to protect the children—then USE Billy, the younger brother that Laura left to fend for himself—HE wants revenge. As we saw, he does not like his dad and refuses to help with his care. BINGO!

So when Laura reaches out to him, he refuses to come. Now here is what would have made it wickedly juicy:

In reality, he is behind the couple being hired as a way to distract his sister and sneak in himself to plan his revenge plot.

He wants to make his dad pay, suffer, torment him, and pay back for all his years of suffering—how his dad did not come to his rescue as a child. Also possibly attempted murder or even murder to get his money. His sister has no clue he is involved.

Of course, all this would be hidden from the readers, and then at the end, after much more gaslighting and manipulation (much more than was here), we would need to guess who the killer is: Bella or Andrei. Neither, it is Billy!

And maybe throw Sam and Dr. Temple in the mix as suspects (sure, they have some grievances with the old man). Also, get Laura kicked out of the house and distracted with her husband (he could be in on it). Then the final twist would be Billy as the murderer. Also would be fun to make him gay and Andrei his partner in crime.

Laura was such a weak character, and we need someone much more robust, wicked, manipulative, and evil —Don't you think?

Laura was supposed to be an author and not creative, so would not want to read her books. She is not too worried about her father being poisoned, only herself. All she worries about is getting laid (between Sam & Andrei and lying out by the pool.

So sad; this book had so much potential. I am being overly generous with the 2.5 Star rating rounded to 3.

VERDICT: Do yourself a favor, skip THE NIGHT NURSE, and go straight to THE HOUSEKEEPER You will thank me later.

Thank you to #InkubatorBooks and #NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 2.5 Stars rounded to 3
Pub Date: Nov 27, 2022.

After leaving behind a bad marriage where her husband left her with his debt Laura moves back in with her father who now has failing health. It wasn't an easy thing to do as her mum wasn't a nice mum but she had no choice. She is a successful romance writer and doesn't have the time to look after her dad who needs full time carers so she begins to look for someone that can also live in.
She soon feels that she had landed on her feet with a brother and sister who seem ideal for the role. She has more time more and her dad is happy but only time will tell if this lasts.
You will be love this book from start to finish.

Very well written story from the start to ending. While reading I felt I knew what was going to happen and who the "bad guy" would be. But the excitement and twists kept me in the edge of my seat wanting more. I'd only say I'd wish there was a longer epilogue since I didn't want it to end.
Another test story by Cole Baxter!

This book is exactly the kind of book I enjoy. Main characters that you can really resonate with and a few good twists and turns that mean you can’t put it down! Enjoyed reading this and will definitely be reading more from Cole Baxter.

This book was full of drama, suspense and passion. I could not put this book down. yet again, another intriguing and captivating book by Cole Baxter.

OMG!!!!!! This is a first book I have read by Cole Baxter. I have to say his writing is perfection! I was on the edge of my seat. I walk while I read and let me tell you I was almost running sometimes because it just had me wrapped up in it. Definitely make sure you look for the trigger warnings for this book if you dealt with abuse. But it was just so well written. I love watching Laura learn to overcome her trauma and learning to help her dad with dementia. I can't imagine how hard that would be. Then to think your doing everything you can to help him and then put him in harms way. It was a fast read for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a good thriller that will keep you wanting more. Thanks for letting me read this in advanced and I can't wait to read more books by Cole!

2.5 stars rounded up

While going through a bitter divorce, Laura moves home to care for her widowed father who suffers from dementia. Quickly realising she can't handle her dad alone, Laura hires nurse Bella and her dementia-specialist brother, Andrei, to look after him. The siblings are the perfect caregivers, effectively handling her father's needs and mood swings. Then accidents begin happening around the estate, and her dad takes a drastic turn for the worst. He becomes violent and claims he's being poisoned. Is it true? Or is his illness causing paranoia.

The pace is slow in the first couple of chapters, then the pace picks up, only to slow down and then pick up again. Laura and her brother had a terrible childhood. But Laura still feels it's her place to look after her father. The brother and sister caregivers she hires to help look after her father are not at all like what Laura first thought. This is not the best written book I've read but it wasn.t the worst either. The word "darlin" is a bit overused. There were a lot of possible directions this this story could have taken but it didn't have the big twist we are all looking for in a thriller.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #InkubatorBooks and the author #ColeBaxter for my ARC of #TheNightNurse in exchange for and honest review.

Can you really trust those living in your house?

Poor Laura, she has had such a bad time of it. An abusive childhood (by her Mother - which made for an interesting change), a messy divorce, a Father with dementia and now untrustworthy hired help. The Night Nurse was a good read, quick (I read it in a day) but interesting and griping.

I was not massively surprised at any points of the book, but the flash backs to childhood kept things interesting. I thought it was well written and the dementia story line was accurate and wholesome.

My only feedback would be that some mundane tasks were over explained and Sam used the word "darlin" way too often. It made me start to dislike him as a character when I really wanted to like him!

Overall an entertaining thriller.

This book was good but it wasn’t great! It started to become repetitive and predictable. The authors writing style was not what I was hoping for!

Laura was abused by her mother when she and her brother were young and living at home. Now grown and going through a divorce, Laura feels that it is her responsibility to look after her aging father who has dementia. Her brother does not want to help as he remembers his awful childhood. Laura moves back to her father's large rambling home and soon realizes that she will need help to care for him. She thinks she has found the ideal caregivers- a brother and sister, but later things change and she realizes that they are not the people she thought they were.
I was hoping for a good twist at the end, but was disappointed.
I do thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Overall a not bad book but a bit too slow for me and I couldn't get involved in the storyline unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for this ARC.

The Night Nurse started of good, but then the pace started to slow down, I found the characters to be annoying and over use of the word "darlin".

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the author, Cole Baxter, for this ARC.

*this review contains spoilers*
Laura is fresh out of a difficult marriage to a man that took advantage of her kindness, and she soon finds out that her father’s dementia diagnosis means that he needs extensive home care. She volunteers to help, and moved back to her childhood home to be a live-in caregiver. Enduring horrible flashbacks to an abused childhood amidst her fathers tantrums, she decides to hire help. Once things take a turn, Laura senses that the new live-in nurses may not be who they claim to be.

I believe that the premise for this book was great, but the execution was not the best. This book was really detailed, to the point that I found myself skimming paragraphs because of the sheer amount of detail it would give about making dinner, or taking out the garbage. If Laura was a real person, I think someone would have called her on her stupidity and lack of common sense more than once. For instance, when someone claims to be a nurse, wouldn’t you check a license?

Overall, the book was fine. It was pretty slow to start. It seemed like the first half of the book was an attempt at reaching a word count. The second half picked up, but it pulled in the middle of the action and didn’t keep my attention as well as I’d hoped.

I loved this book! I liked the plot and it didn't disappoint!! The first couple of chapters were slow, but it picked up and finished very nicely! Highly recommended!

This is a review of The Night Nurse, a psychological thriller written by Cole Baxter. This review contains spoilers. The story focuses on Laura, the daughter of a man with the beginning stages of dementia. When Laura moves home to take care of her father she soon realizes that she’s in over her head. Because of this, Laura decides to hire a pair of siblings to help care for her father. This doesn’t go as planned as the progression of his disease starts mysteriously developing at a rapid pace.

What it got right:
Usually, I have to be instantly engaged to decide to keep reading something. This book is able to hook you in immediately, as it starts off with a bang from the first sentences. I do believe the book slows down a little, but picks up a lot towards the end.

As a neuroscience student I can say that the portrayal of dementia and it’s symptoms in this novel were completely accurate. It’s common for individuals suffering this illness to experience temper tantrums, mood swings, confusion and frustration.

I also enjoy the fact that this book chose to focus on a woman (Laura’s mother) as the perpetrator of abuse. Typically most authors tend to cast the male in the role of the abuser, which isn’t always accurate in real life. It is true that sometimes male victims may have more trouble coming forward and saying they’re being abused, which is exactly what happens with Laura’s dad.

What it could improve on:
I have mixed feelings on the execution of this book. In terms of the writing, I do feel that it’s a little lacking. It seems like the story focuses too much on the mundane tasks characters do everyday instead of adding depth to the backstories of the characters themselves. Adding more description could’ve gone a long way into improving the storyline overall. I would also edit out Sam saying “darlin’” soooo much. It felt like that was every other word he said, to the point where it became hard to read his dialogue after awhile.

There were so many possibilities for the ending that I’m disappointed in what the author chose. I was almost hoping that Sam or the doctor would be in on with Bella and Andrei. There was room to get creative here and I would’ve liked something a bit more wild or twisty.

Overall I would give this book a solid 3 stars. I think the idea for this book was great but the actual story became bogged down by technical mistakes and choices in the writing. I haven’t read any of Cole Baxter’s other books but I’ve heard lovely things about him so I’d be happy to give it a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Inkubator for the ARC of this book!