FFB: The Babysitter -- Andrew Coburn

Stark House has brought back another book that most of us had forgotten.  It's not a mystery novel in the strict sense, since you can't really figure out what's going on from any clues that are presented, and it's not a thriller because there's not a lot of the kind of action a thriller has.  You could call it a suspense novel, I suppose, if you wanted to pigeonhole it, our you could just call it a good book.  It's also short, another good thing from my point of view.

John and Merle Wright return home one evening to find their babysitter murdered and their daughter kidnapped.  They had known the babysitter, a young woman, for a while, and both had liked her quite a bit.  However, it turns out that everything she'd told them about herself was a lie.  

The police are stymied in their investigation, and the FBI men, two of the most soulless Feds in fiction, don't really care about the Wrights of their missing daughter.  They have their own agenda and are willing to manipulate everyone, including the Wrights and the cops, to pursue their own ends.  The Wrights turn amateur sleuths and find themselves mixing with some very shady characters.  

I don't want to say more and give too much away, so I'll keep quiet about the rest.  This isn't a noir tale, but it's quite bleak in its own way.  Check it out.