Until You're Mine by Samantha Hayes
Published by Crown Publishing
Publication Date April 15, 2014
Source: Library
Genres: Mystery
Goodreads
You're alone. You're vulnerable. And you have something that someone else wants. At any cost.
Claudia Morgan-Brown finally has it all. Pregnant with a much-wanted first baby of her own, she has a happily established family of two small step-sons and a loving husband with a great career. But she is also committed to her full-time job as a social worker, and her husband travels often. So when Claudia hires Zoe to help her around the house in anticipation of the baby’s arrival, it seems like the answer to her prayers. But despite Zoe's glowing recommendations and instant rapport with the children, there's something about her that Claudia cannot trust.
Moreover, there has been a series of violent attacks on pregnant women in the area, and Claudia becomes acutely aware of her vulnerability. With her husband out of town for work and her family far away, who will be there to protect her? And why does she feel unsettled about Zoe? Realizing appearances can be deceiving even in her seemingly perfect world, Claudia digs deeper into Zoe’s blurry past and begins to wonder – how far would someone go to have a child of her own?
Riveting from its very first pages, Until You’re Mine is a multilayered masterwork of twisted, psychological suspense. Readers of Before I Go to Sleep and Turn of Mind will be enthralled by this multilayered novel, featuring a twisted plot that ends in a breathtaking and shocking finale.
Initial Thoughts:
To be honest when I first picked up Until You’re Mine the plot reminded me of a Lifetime movie I had seen involving a deranged nanny who desperately wanted a child. I hate comparing books to Lifetime movies as it can quickly cheapen it. That is never my intention. Despite this judgement the plot of Until You’re Mine the eerie descriptions of the main characters is what caused me to pick up Samantha Hayes’ novel.
Claudia:
Claudia first comes off as the perfect has it all June Cleaver wannabe. This is a thriller though and no one is perfect in a thriller novel. Claudia reminded me of Phyllis Dietrichson. She swooped in after tragedy via her job and by pure coincidence married inheriting a seemingly wonderful life, but something didn’t feel right, a little off, and it wasn’t pregnancy hormones. Because of this nagging I questioned her pregnancy, is it all in her mind?
Zoe:
If there was something wrong with Claudia than there’s definitely something wrong with Zoe. She was so obviously screwed up that it would be a dull thriller if her cards were shown so early. The nanny is clearly hiding something but she is by no means the only one. Her true identity was unexpected and deceptive. Zoe Harper was by far my favorite out of the three because she seemed to have the most layers to her onion and liked peeling away each one.
Lorraine:
Lorraine, well Lorraine was just doing her job and happened to have a few problems at home that loomed in the background, occasionally brought up if there was a lull in the story.
Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed that the novel was told by three different voices, obviously hearing the story from more than one perspective added a lot to the psychological aspect to the novel and their intersection created a destructive finish. Until You’re Mine had a twist ending. I had an idea of where it could lead but when all three stories were put together a hint of suspicion was kept intact. Samantha Hayes’ novel was a great read and didn’t realize how quickly I was turning the pages until I had reached the conclusion.
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