The Nesting by C.J. Cooke

Available September 29, 2020

Content warnings for suicide, child abuse, spousal abuse, animal death

Struggling to recover from a suicide attempt and becoming homeless after a break up with her longtime partner, Lexi Ellis finds herself alone on a train with nowhere to go. Overhearing a group of young women discuss a nanny position for a wealthy family whose children recently lost their mother and will be staying in Norway, Lexi impulsively decides to impersonate one of the young women and apply for the job herself. Shockingly, she lands the job and quickly researches everything she can about vegan cooking and childhood education.

When Lexi and the family arrive at their temporary vacation home in Norway, Lexi finds it isn't quite what she was expecting. The demands of her new position are exhausting and the longtime housekeeper acts suspiciously. Odd occurrences in the home seem tied to one of the little girl's night terrors and Lexi quickly becomes convinced that the mother's death may not have been a suicide.

After the mother's journal lands in Lexi's room, Lexi becomes obsessed with discovering the true cause of her death  and finds herself, and the daughters, in grave danger.

Ok, this is one you have to let a few things slide in the beginning because the ending does make it worth it. How Lexi was hired as "Sophie" without anyone knowing? Not sure. Can't believe a picture ID wasn't required at any point. But, let it go, it'll be fine.

The story is told from multiple points of view and the author does an excellent job staying true to each character's voice. Lexi/Sophie is such a scattered mess of a character. As the story unfolds, we learn more and more about the abuse she suffered as a child and the impact of that abuse on her adult life. She truly grows to be a sympathetic character and I really think she was doing the best she could with what she knew. We learn Aurelia's story, the girls' mother, through flashbacks to her time living in the vacation home. Struggling to raise a toddler and a newborn in the remote wilderness with almost no help from her husband, Aurelia shows classic signs of postpartum depression but it becomes clear that something far more sinister is at work. Tom, the father, is obsessed with the complicated home build he is working on in memory of Aurelia but the build is plagued with disasters and setbacks causing him to act erratically and oftentimes, aggressively.

The story moves along quickly, with frequent flashbacks to Aurelia's time in the house which often raise more questions than answers. I loved how Norse mythology was tied into the story, much of it new to me, and the tension given off by the forest around the house became a character in itself. Every time anyone went outside I was prepared for some disaster to strike them or creature to come from the woods to attack. The forest seemed to affect all of the characters and the stress of that caused serious riffs between everyone living in the house, leaving no one capable of trusting one another. The tension of the build, Aurelia's death, and living so remotely contributed to the "was it suicide or was it magical creature" and the author did it really, really, well. 

When everyone is lying, who can you ever trust?

Want to give this one a try for yourself? You can find ordering information here:

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.