Customer Reviews

The Sitter

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all, I did read to the end so I gave it 3 stars because "The Sitter" did keep me there until the end.

However, the way the plot unraveled and the book ended left much to be desired. There was no way to guess the ending, which was quite random and bizarre, in my opinion. I was expecting a little more realistic creativity rather than unbelievable "whatever" conclusions.

The best thing about this book was the setting (The Hamptons) and the main characters (attractive and young). Stine did a great job developing several characters that kept you wondering about their intentions and mysterious backgrounds.

A pretty fun thriller-style beach book that remains interesting throughout two-thirds of the book and then plummets to its end feeling like you wasted your time. As long as you keep that in mind, you may not be as disappointed as I was.

Ellie Saks is tired of the city and her dead-end temp jobs so she decides to move to the Hamptons for the summer.

Ellie is just getting out of a relationship with a guy who won't take no for an answer, her mother constantly reminds her of her short comings with her life, and to make matters worse she has started reliving a terrible incident that happened to her back in high school.

Upon arriving in the Hamptons Ellie finds out the job she had lined up has been taken, but a stroke of luck has a new job opportunity placed right in front of her. Ellie meets Abbie Harper, a young woman desperate for a live-in nanny to care for her two children. Ellie takes the job, but what looked like a great job turns to a nightmare as Abbie's young son begins acting weird, and strange things begin happening.

Ellie begins receiving disturbing messages, and the Harper's previous nanny warns of ghosts, and the evil locked inside of Brandon. Ellie dismisses everything, until the messages become gruesome, and a violent act proves that someone wants her dead.

Time is running out for Ellie to find a madman, and as she races to save herself she comes face to face with a horror she never expected.

`The Sitter' is a creepy and suspenseful shocker. Good old fashion horror unfolds in a story that's part supernatural, part slasher, and all-around scary. From it's chilling opening scene to it's surprise ending readers know they are in the hands of a master. R.L. Stine has written countless bestsellers for children and teens, but he out does himself with a gripping thriller for adults that deserves to be a huge success.

You will be hooked with this page-turner that's reminiscent of early John Saul novels.

Nick Gonnella

This is R.L. Stine's second attempt at an adult novel (his first being 'Superstitions'), and I believe it hits the target. At 309 pages, its quite an easy book to read, but at least for me, was a little more challenging than say Goosebumps or Fear Street.

I read R.L. Stine as a child, both the Goosebumps and Fear Street series, and it was quite a surprise to see him write an adult novel. Language, sex, drugs, alcohol, and very difficult situations play into this novel, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of 14.

The book is very well-written, and has a great surprise ending (what else would you expect from Stine?). I hope very much Robert continues his current writing process, that being no series, but a novel or two every 6-8 months.

Ellie Saks skips out of the city to escape a stalker-ish ex-boyfriend (whom she nonetheless still sleeps with in the book's opening chapters). Lucky circumstances see her landing a job as a nanny for Chip and Abby Harper, parents to two-year-old Heather and four-year-old Brandon, a spooky child who doesn't speak. Pretty soon, Ellie is the victim of some nasty pranks. She's also experiencing visions of a dead ex-boyfriend (not the stalker), and getting warned to stay away from the family she's sitting for by a strange old lady - who just happened to be the previous nanny. What secrets is the family hiding? Why is Ellie such a groan-inducing moron? Read on...

"The Sitter" isn't a long novel, but buried somewhere in this muddled mess is an okay thriller. However, our attention is thrown in too many different directions. There's Brandon, the evil child who may or may not be the latest victim of a curse that haunts the house his family lives in. There's Clay, Ellie's unbalanced ex-boyfriend who may or may not be the one sending her nasty gifts. There's Will, Ellie's ex-boyfriend who died in a car crash that Ellie feels she caused - and she thinks she keeps seeing him wherever she goes. When it all ties together in the finale, it's too little, too late.

The fault lies mainly in Ellie Saks herself. She's an idiot! The most stupid, infuriating, exasperating moron I've ever come across in horror fiction. First and foremost is her propensity to drop everything and chase after any boy who resembles Will-the-dead-boyfriend. Second is her inability to get the hell out of dodge when the going is good. Third is her constant stupid decisions. If you were babysitting a young boy who delights in killing harmless animals, would you really get someone to drop off your cat so that it can live with you? I mean, really???

R.L. Stine can't do adult fiction. His writing is too simplistic and his plotting is too obvious. This nonsense wouldn't fool anybody under 12. He relies far too heavily on the old "Fear Street" standby of ending every chapter on a false scare. This and "Eye Candy" were his attempt to attract an older audience after the failure of "Superstition", but despite the frequent "f" bombs and strong sexual content, I still felt as if I were reading a "Fear Street Super Chiller". By no means boring, but simply not very good.

I had not picked up an RL Stine novel since junior high when I read his Fear Street novels, but I thought The Sitter may have potential. I found this book at a used book store, saw it was adult fiction, and decided to give it a try. The plot is a bit stale, as well as formulaic to Stine's teen fiction (dead flowers, dead cats, dead hand, etc.) with the exception of some steamy scenes that extend beyond Fear Street's PG-13 teen makeout sessions. Overall, it's not a bad read. The plot unfolds nicely with The Hamptons as a backdrop, and Ellie, the heroine/female lead is quite likeable and a well-developed character. Unfortunately, as the drama and horror progresses, the story loses momentum and Stine can't seem to make up his mind whether this is a supernatural horror tale or a vengeful, murderous plot against the heroine, or maybe even both. Keep your expectations in check and you may be pleasantly surprised at this quick beach read.

This is excellent. It's Stephen King meets "bridget Jones." Though out of the target market, i did read some of Stine's "teen" stuff, and it was GREAT! Like Stephen King Lite --but THIS made Stephano's writings look like nursery tales! The character of Ellie was likable and I cringed when she received the gruesome gifts, and her stalker ex tormenting her. Horror and chick lit combined in a scrumptious, refreshing cocktail of entertainment. Should have bought two copies. i have a feeling I will wear the first one out with rereading

This book was really good, as usual R.L Stine has a huge twist that you'll never expect. It is about a girl name Ellie Saks who is trying to get away from her boyfriend and is looking for a job she gets a job as a nanny and there she meets 4 year old brandon who as stopped speaking for awhile and is haunted by something unspeakable. I recommend you read this book if you are a big r.l. stine fan.

I used to read Stine's Goosebumps, Fear Street and Point Horror books, and I still find some of his goosebumps books more entertaining than this. In this book, he's clearly finding it hard to shake off his 'teen' style, and sex, drugs, alcohol and excessive swearing don't make this a proper adult thriller. It was too short, almost lazy, but still ok. I'm sure he's capable of writing a proper adult novel given time, and this was too kiddy, too inconsistent. But hey, I'm only 16, what do I know?

I've been a big fan of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street books for quite some time now. I didn't really consider them to be scary or frightening; I just enjoyed the books So I picked this book up at the young adult section not really expecting anything but a young adult thriller, a la Fear Street with more matureness. When I finished the book and read the About The Author page, I considered it kind of shocking that this was supposed to be an adult novel. But this book was really nothing like that. The plot was the same easy-to-conceive one as other R.L. Stine books, and anyone who can understand a Goosebumps book can definitely comprehend this one. Basically, R.L. Stine adds some older characters to a supposedly scary plotline and then throws in a lot of sex, swearing, boyfriend-and-girlfriend issues, smoking pot, etc.

Here's the plot: Almost twenty-five-year old Ellie Sacks finds herself in a tight stretch one summer. She doesn't have a permanent job or a family yet and is sick of her mother telling her about how successful her older sister is. Ellie's best friend was planning on getting a job and Ellie felt as though she should do the same. She finally gets a job when a lady named Abby Harper corners her in a boutique and asks her to be a nanny to her two children, with a promise that the pay would be very good. So Ellie packs up and moves to the Harper's house, not knowing what is in store. She finds that she is expected to be nanny to a two-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy named Brandon who has stopped talking for reasons that nobody knows. Ellie makes it her main goal to be able to communicate with the boy, but she has other stuff to deal with, such as death threats, horrible things from an anonymous sender, and a crazy lady who tells her to stay away from the Harper's. Slowly, Ellie's summer becomes more and more horrible and unpredictable until the final plot twist at the end.

This book wasn't bad- but it's definitely not an adult novel. If R.L. Stine took out the adult-like stuff, then this novel could be for a nine-year-old kid to easily read. He should sharpen his pencil and try again.

I was a big fan of the Goosebumps series when I was a teenager, and reading R. L. Stine's first adult thriller was a flooring, suspenseful experience.

Ellie Saks wants to get away from the dead-end jobs and stressful life of New York City. More to the point, she wants to get away from her ex-boyfriend's obsessive behavior. So she moves to the Hamptons and accepts an offer to work as a nanny. Her life takes some disarming turns when she moves into the Harpers' beach house. The young couple's four-year-old son hasn't spoken in months, and Ellie witnesses his dark and sinister behavior. Throw in a ghost story, a tormented past, a murderous stalker and enough twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages into the wee hours and you've got quite a chilling novel in your hands.

Mr. Stine has outdone himself with this gem. I thought his horror stories for children and young adults were fun, but his novels for adults are intense. I picked up some young adult-like elements in his writing -- the twenty-five-year-old protagonist seems younger than her age at times -- but that is the only flaw I found in this book. A fine read. Highly recommended...