The Babysitter Lives by SGJ: Synopsis, triggers + book review
The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones is a creepy and deranged haunted house horror book that flips between gore, cosmic horror, supernatural / paranormal horror and body horror. A touch of insect horror too. All your niches are covered! Rejoice horror stans.
That said, please be mindful of the The Babysitter Lives trigger warnings, which I’ve listed in extensive detail below, as there are a lot..
Apart from that, if that sounds like something you might be interested in, I wrote a wee little blog post and The Babysitter Lives book review covering the characters, the synopsis and answered some FAQs.
As always, happy reading friends!
The Babysitter Lives synopsis.
A chilling and masterfully terrifying horror novel about a young woman who is all that stands between malicious supernatural forces and the children in her care. Perfect for fans of Nat Cassidy and Grady Hendrix.
When high school senior Charlotte agrees to babysit the Wilbanks twins, she plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night the SATs are tomorrow, and checking the Native American/Alaskan Native box on all the forms won't help if she chokes on test day. But tomorrow is also Halloween, and the twins are eager to show off their costumes.
Charlotte's last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy when her young charge sleepwalked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte's mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time. But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. Soon Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter's worse nightmare has come they're not alone in the house.
Get The Babysitter Lives here.
Review: The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones.
View my review and follow me on GoodReads here.
Spiders. Creepy twins who have an invisible friend. Nanny cams. Eyeball gore. A jack in the box.
Everything above is something you will find in The Babysitter Lives. And no spoilers here, the only thing you will NOT find is a babysitter death, as the title suggests because the babysitter LIVES so yay? But Charlotte, the babysitter, goes through a whole lot of very very bad stuff, although I’m sure you already guessed that.
The Babysitter Lives makes it 3 out of 3 five star winners from Stephen Graham Jones for me, each book so vastly different and horrifying in their own way. But I have to say, this one might take the cake for the amount of types of horror. Because how many spooks, creeps, jump scares, grossness and one vile husband can you cram into one house?
First of all, I am a haunted house enthusiast. Love a bit of paranormal history. Love a dark and depraved backstory. Love a good “maybe we should leave, actually?” atmosphere.
What I do not love is kids, especially creepy kids. If given the choice between a ghost-infested home and spending 20 consecutive minutes with children who have an invisible friend they call “the grey mommy”, I’ll take the haunted house, thanks.
Unfortunately, Charlotte has unknowingly opted in for both and it’s a bit late to nope the f out.
In some ways The Babysitter Lives is reminiscent of The Shining, The Haunting of Hill House and all the other classic haunted house horror books. But then SGJ added an Indigenous, queer lens from a teenage girl (he writes teenage girls so well!), and to me, it gives the story a whole new weight.
But then, he also said, “What if we just… made it worse?”, and has added extra stuff on top of all the paranormal haunted house stuff that may make you wanna bleach your eyeballs or quite possibly even tear your skin off, or you know, take a really long hot bath.
This is under 300 pages, so I won’t give too much away but please be mindful of your triggers as the types of horror here range from gore, to paranormal, to insects, to creeping dread, to almost something splatterpunk adjacent with a splash of cosmic horror. Oh and one very gross husband/father.
PSA: I understand this was available only in audio previously, but is now available to read on e-readers and print books now, so if that's you, you're on.
Anyway, I loved it. It made me sick. It made me itch. I would recommend it to people who like their haunted houses a little extra unhinged and depraved, beyond paranormal. Please mind your triggers, for real.
Thanks so much to Titan Books & NetGalley for the DRC.
View my review and follow me on GoodReads here. I chat about books a lot.
The Babysitter Lives FAQs.
SPOILER ALERT:
⚠️ Some answers may spoil The Babysitter Lives if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution. ⚠️
Here are the answers to all your common FAQs.
Is The Babysitter Lives a series?
No, The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones is a standalone adult horror book.
What are the content and trigger warnings?
Violence
Murder
Suicide
Body horror
Child death
Death
Cultural appropriation
Injury details
Classism
Grief
Gore
Sexual content
Racism
Homophobia
Lesbophobia
Gaslighting
PTSD
Paranormal horror
Adult/minor relationship
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The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
