Book Review: Secrets And Skulls Of Lake Hall

The Nanny is a suspense novel written by Gilly MacMillan. It is one those with changing point of views among a few characters.

A widowed mother named Jocelyn is reluctantly returning to the English estate where she grew up and is concerned about the rather complicated relationship with her aristocratic, oppressive mother. Part of the tension stems from the sudden disappearance of a beloved nanny thirty years before. Not long after Jo and her daughter arrive, they discover a human skull on the property which stirs up further questions about the past. When a woman turns up claiming to be the long-lost nanny, all sorts of long-buried secrets are the on the way to being unearthed.

There are a few clever twists here, but I didn’t catch much that stands out as being the masterful plotting that is touted in the review excerpts. It does explore the notion that our memories may not reflect actual truth in the relationships or events that take place. I had some trouble buying into the plausibility of some of the revelations toward the end of the story. Yet again, this is a novel that manages to not be terrible, but it also falls short when it comes to keeping my attention all the way through.

Next up is a Doctor Who novel written by an actual Doctor. Tom Baker finally gets to share a story idea he and the late Ian Marter had in the 1970’s with Scratchman.