A teen with a rare superpower--invincibility--must defend herself and her one-year-old babysitting charge in this energetic and emotional thriller packed with bitter battles, heartrending grief, and hard-won trust.
Tru Stallard is a bastion. If Underhill, the peacekeeping taskforce of "talents," knew the 17-year-old was nigh invincible, they would lock her "away in a bunker" for fear of her powers. Her secret life is imperiled during a babysitting gig: Logan Dire, her adoptive father and the legendary Ghoul of Kansas City, is assassinated by Underhill for supposedly murdering a one-year-old. Tru and her friends know Logan has been framed because they are currently minding the very-much-alive baby. That baby, it turns out, is also bastion--one Underhill wants the world to think is dead even as it hunts her. Tru, afraid to reveal her own invulnerability to anyone, must rely on her friends to help her thwart the agency while she mourns the man who taught her the dangers of trust.
The Assassin's Guide to Babysitting by Natalie C. Parker (The Devouring Wolf) has exciting superpowered feats and fight sequences; sly scheming; Sapphic love; a blueberry-obsessed, indestructible baby; and a teddy bear of a man in an assassin's body (favorite hobby: baking). Flashbacks to Logan's lessons reveal the pair's disarmingly endearing relationship. Tense moments pull unforgivingly taut or break brilliantly under satisfyingly solid quips and grim humor. As Tru plots to outmaneuver Underhill, she works admirably to lower her guard for a chance at acceptance. With this, Parker layers a clever plot and gripping suspense atop a gratifyingly tender and funny narrative celebrating found family. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer