Sam Frain thinks she’s found the perfect live-in nanny position in a sprawling mansion owned by one of the wealthiest families in the country. The job seems simple: Take care of Annie Lange. Annie may look like a grown woman, but she lives inside a world built for a little girl—frilly dresses, scripted games, rigid rules, and what seems like every doll in the world. As Sam learns the true nature of Annie’s games, she's forced into a waking nightmare of psychological domination, grotesque excess, and carefully curated cruelty. In this gilded cage where money erases morality, survival means choosing whether to resist—or become part of the performance.
This was a pretty solid extreme novel, so long as the content within here is taken into account. For the most part, the main setup here comes together incredibly well, starting with the arrival at the mansion and learning what the babysitting gig is supposed to contain. This setup involves the different meetings, where her regimented, completely scripted behavior makes it clear why the whole structured environment is necessary to keep her contained; there's a rather solid sense of distrust in the air about what the actual purpose of her visit really is. By the time it starts to become obvious that there's something off and that it slowly becomes a harrowing psychological experience, the more she stays there, eventually becoming far darker as we witness the relationship devolve into a series of torture, mutilation, dismemberment, and sexual degradation.
That's where the main point of contention about this one comes from, as it's either going to be a complete turn-off or something that enhances the story. As we get to learn more about the relationship between the two and how far this goes with the interactions between the two of them, there's a series of scenarios throughout here where the types of games she forces the caretaker to play are designed to be controlling and sexually exploitative situations that are incredibly difficult to get through, regardless of how well-written it all is. The vividness and attention to detail with which the scenarios are written make it quite digestible, even though what's being described is incredibly revolting and cruel to get through, so it's a very difficult situation on display here involving these discomforting attributes that might not be easily accepted by most readers.
4.5/5
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