Emily Ruth Verona

"October 1993. When single mom Eleanor Mazinski goes out a for a much-needed date night, she leaves her two young children--sweet, innocent six-year-old Ben and precocious, defiant twelve-year-old Mira--in the capable hands of their sitter, Amy. The quiet seventeen-year-old is good at looking after children, despite her anxiety disorder. She also loves movies, especially horror flicks. Amy likes their predictability; it calms the panic that threatens to overwhelm her. The evening starts out normally enough, with games, pizza, and dancing. But as darkness falls, events in this quaint suburban New Jersey house take a terrifying turn--unexpected visitors at the door, mysterious phone calls, and by midnight, little Ben is in the kitchen standing in a pool of blood, with a dead body at his feet."--