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The Housemaid (Review, Book Summary & Spoilers)

By freida mcfadden.

Book review, full book summary and synopsis for The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, a psychological thriller about a young woman who takes a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy couple.

In The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, Millie is a young and beautiful woman who applies and is offered a job as a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy couple, Nina and Andrew Winchester.

For Millie, who has a criminal record, a it's a fantastic job -- until it's not. Things go downhill quickly as Nina Winchester exhibits increasingly bizarre and frustrating behavior. Millie is also offered a room in the house in the attic ... that only locks from the outside.

In this fun and quick-paced psychological thriller, Millie wonders what type of people she's really working for...

(The Full Plot Summary is also available, below)

Full Plot Summary

The two-paragraph version: Millie is a young, beautiful ex-con who gets a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy couple, Nina and Andrew. Nina is temperamental and increasingly crazy, while Andrew is attractive and kind. Millie eventually sleeps with Andrew, and he kicks Nina out. We then learn that Nina hates Andrew and wanted to be free of him, which is why she hired Millie in the first place as a replacement. During their marriage, Andrew tortured Nina by locking her up in an attic room as "punishment" to correct various behaviors. He had her locked up in a psychiatric facility for 8 months as well. He used threats against her daughter to control her.

In present day, Andrew soon turns on Millie and wants to do the same (locking her up, torturing her) to her, but Millie finds some pepper spray in the attic room and attacks Andrew, locking him in the room and torturing him instead. We then learn that Millie went to jail for accidentally killing and attempted rapist and has a few other violent incidents in her past. Nina knew about it all along. She not only wanted Millie to be a replacement, she was also hoping Millie would kill Andrew. When he dies, Nina offers to take the blame for it, since it's what she wanted all along, she just didn't have it in her to kill him. But when the police detective comes to question her it turns out his daughter was Andrew's ex-fiance who was traumatized by him. The detective concludes the death was an accident. In the Epilogue, Millie interviews for a cleaning job but it becomes clear the woman really just wants Millie to kill her abusive husband. Millie takes the job.

In Part I , Millie is a beautiful, broke young woman who takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy couple, Nina and Andrew Winchester . Millie doesn't tell them that she's been in jail for the last ten years, ever since she was 17. They put her up in a small room that was previously a closet so the door locks from the outside. Nina is temperamental and messy, and she has a daughter, Cecelia , 9. Nina often forgets or gets confused about instructions she's given or not given Millie, and Millie gets blamed for it. Nina has also gained weight over the years and everyone around her seems to agree that she's a little crazy. Her medicine cabinet is a mess of pills. Millie hears that Nina previously was admitted to a psychiatric facility after she drugged and attempted to drown Cecelia and then took pills to try to kill herself, too.

Meanwhile, Andrew is handsome, successful and understanding. Millie and Andrew slowly grow closer. When Nina and Andrew go to a fertility doctor and learn that Nina can't have any more children, Andrew is heartbroken. One night when Nina is away, Andrew and Millie sleep together. Before long, they get in a fight and Andrew kicks Nina out. Soon, Andrew fires Enzo, the landscaper. Andrew thinks the guy is an asshole, and Nina was the one who kept him around since he was the "best". Before Enzo leaves, he warns Millie that she is in danger and should leave. Shortly after, Millie gets a phone call telling her to stay away from Andrew. That night, she goes to bed, but wakes up to find that she's locked in her room.

Part II opens with Nina being glad to be free to Andrew. The narrative switches to Nina's point of view as she recounts her history with him and her plan to be free of her sadistic evil husband. Nina was once a English Ph.D. student, but she dropped out when she got pregnant and took a job as a receptionist at the company that Andrew runs. He took an interest in her and after a short courtship they were married. Three months in, he locks her in the closet in the attic for two days as punishment for letting her roots show and looking sloppy. When he lets her out, he explains that he's going to put her back in there if she misbehaves.

Nina soon wakes up groggy and sees her infant daughter Cecelia in the bathtub with the water on. Panicked, Nina realizes she's been drugged and struggled to get to Cecelia. The police show up, having been called by Andrew, and reach the conclusion that Nina drugged Cecelia to try to drown her and then took pills to kill herself. Nina is sent to a psychiatric facility for the next eight months where they convince her that her sadistic experience with Andrew is merely a delusion. Nina eventually believes it and is let out, but Andrew soon locks her in the attic bedroom again.

He continues this "punishment" every other month or so for whatever perceived misbehavior. He threatens to hurt Cecelia or have Cecelia taken away and her re-admitted to psychiatric care if she doesn't comply. He also tells all of her friends that she suffers from delusions, and he lets Nina know that if anything happens to him, his lawyer had been instructed to tell the police that she's been threatening him. This goes on for seven years. Andrew soon starts wanting another baby since Cecelia is getting older, and he knows that when Cecelia becomes more independent it will be easier to control Nina by threatening to hurt another child.

With Enzo's help to arrange passports and new identities, Nina makes an attempt to flee with Cecelia, but Andrew finds out and stops it. Finally, Nina resorts to finding someone young and beautiful to tempt Andrew into taking her place. Nina finds Millie and hires her. Nina tells herself that Millie will be okay and can leave because she doesn't have a child to use to control her like Nina does. Nina knows she needs to make Millie dislike her so that Millie will be willing to sleep with her husband, and Nina creates a situation (the Broadway show) where it can happen. Sure enough, Andrew picks Millie, and Nina is finally free. Enzo, however, reminds Nina that they just can't leave Millie with Andrew because it isn't right.

In Part III , Andrew explains to Millie that she's been locked in the room because she's being punished and he subjects her to mild torture before he lets her out. When he finally does, Millie attacks him with some pepper spray that she found in the room. She then turns the tables on Andrew and locks him inside, forcing him to perform tasks like demanding that he remove his own teeth with pliers, and refusing to let him out. (We learn that Millie went to prison for accidentally killing a guy in boarding school who was attempting to rape a friend of hers.)

It turns out that Nina was the one who hid the pepper spray in the room for her to find. Nina knew about Millie's incarceration -- as well as various other violent incidents in Millie's past. Nina wasn't just hoping Millie would replace her, she was also hoping Millie would kill Andrew.

Enzo convinces Nina that she needs to go save Millie because Millie hasn't left the house in days. When Nina arrives, she finds Millie there with Andrew's dead body. Millie is upset, knowing she'll go to jail, but Nina offers to take the blame since this was always her intention. She hoped Millie would do it because she didn't have it in her. She says she can attribute it to her mental health issues and go back to the psychiatric facility, and they'll say Millie was given the week off and wasn't even there.

When the police arrive, Nina sticks to that story. The detective questions her, then he admits that his daughter knew Andrew. She was his ex-fiance, Kathleen Connors , and he traumatized her. The detective concludes that Andrew's death was an accident. Later, at Andrew's wake, Nina meets Andrew's parents and is surprised to hear that his mother Evelyn is very tough on Andrew, even in death. She approves of what she assumes was Nina teaching Andrew a lesson.

In the Epilogue, Millie is interviewing for a different cleaning job when she notices the woman has a bruise on her. The woman says that Nina recommended her as someone who could help her. Millie understands her perfectly (the woman wants her to murder her abusive husband), and she accepts the job.

For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary .

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Book Review

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is a page-turner that I’ve seen around for a while now, but I didn’t take much of an interest in at the time. I wasn’t particularly drawn in by the cover and wasn’t familiar with the author.

But, I read her newly released psychological thriller, The Teacher , recently, and I liked it enough that it made me curious about The Housemaid which other people seemed to like.

The Housemaid is an extremely fast read, partially because the book itself is on the shorter side and also because the chapters are short and to the point. So, this would be a great book to read if you’re trying to dig yourself out of a reading slump. The plot is uncomplicated, but has enough drama and twists to keep things interesting.

The setup is standard mystery-thriller fare. Millie, our protagonist, is young, beautiful, broke and has secrets to hide. She takes a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy couple whose marriage, she soon discovers, is a little rocky. The husband is pretty hot, and the wife is pretty nuts.

You can probably make some guesses about how the story progresses and a lot of those guesses would be right — but don’t worry, The Housemaid has some surprises in store.

I felt similarly about The Housemaid as I did about The Teacher. They’re both fairly generic genre novels, but they both get the job done and scratch that itch if that’s what you’re looking for. Of the two, The Housemaid is the quicker read. They’re both probably somewhat forgettable, but I think The Housemaid has a more memorable ending, in my opinion anyway. I’d say it’s probably the one I’d recommend to people, but if you like these types of books, you could probably read both.

I should mention that I loved the Epilogue for the Housemaid. I’m obviously not going to say more and ruin it for everyone else, but yeah, it brought a smile to my face.

Read it or Skip it?

So, should you read it? I mean, it goes by so quickly, I’d say why not? The Housemaid is a solid, very quick genre novel with a couple of fun twists. It flew by for me.

See The Housemaid on Amazon.

The Housemaid Audiobook

Narrator : Lauryn Allman Length : 9 hours 41 minutes

Hear a sample of The Housemaid audiobook on Libro.fm.

Ending & Explanations

See the Questions, Ending & Explanations for The Housemaid

Book Excerpt

Read the first pages of The Housemaid

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At first, I sort of fell in love with Millie getting dealt a raw hand from Sister Fate and was pleased when she had a stroke of good luck. But, there was a small part in Chapter 19, when they had the refrigerator drama and she stepped on a piece of glass, that I slowly fell away. The next day, she forgets the drama until an image of Nina with blood on her dress comes to mind. Really? The glass in her foot is so soon forgotten.

By the time the tickets for the show were purchased, I’d concluded the ending. I haven’t read about it yet, but I’m no longer a fan of Millie, and consider her the not-so-smart girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

Having grown up on the questionable side of town myself, I’ve come to realize that by the time you reach adulthood, either you’re destined to die in the gutter or you figure out Life’s Big Con and get on with it. See ya, Millie!

Jen Ryland Reviews

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Review With Spoilers of The Housemaid

12.10.2023 by Jen Ryland // Leave a Comment

I read The Housemaid back in the spring and have been meaning to review it. Now that book two in the series has won Goodreads’ 2023 Best Mysteries and Thrillers award and there is a book three in the works, I thought I’d compile opinions on the books and share my thoughts. First off, here’s my Review with Spoilers of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.

Cover of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden on a dark blue background

Written and edited by Jen Ryland . Last updated on:

This review will contain:

A brief plot summary of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
My analysis of the overall reception of the book
My opinion on The Housemaid and whether YOU will like it
Spoilers for the ending of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Review of The Housemaid With Spoilers

Cover of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden has a blue background with a large keyhole. A woman's brown eyes is peering through the keyhole.

Published in 2022 by Bookoture and Grand Central Publishing

I read this book in May 2023

It was selected as a candidate for Best Mystery and Thriller of 2022 on Goodreads.

Plot Summary for The Housemaid

Former convict Wilhelmina “Millie” spent the last ten years in prison for murder. Now released, she’s trying to find a job … any job. She’s a little surprised to be offered a live-in housekeeper position by the Winchesters: Nina, her husband Andrew, and their daughter, Cecelia.

Right off, the Winchester’s gardener warns her that she’s in danger. But how and from whom? As Millie learns more about this couple, she realizes that the truth of the situation is hard to come by.

Reception for Freida McFadden overall and for the Housemaid

Photo of copies of The Housemaid and The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden on a black background with a key.

Freida McFadden started as a self-published Amazon author in 2013. Ten years later, she has an avid fanbase, is a TikTok favorite, and her most recent books have been traditionally published.

As with many thrillers and mysteries, opinion on her books has been divided. Readers who love fast-paced twisty thrillers generally adore McFadden’s books . Those who prefer stories with more character development and believability aren’t as enthusiastic.

Fans of The Housemaid rave about:

The Housemaid’s fast pace
The book is a “quick and easy read”
The lack of “fluff”
The snappy voice and dialogue

Critics of The Housemaid complain about:

The lack of believability and character motivation
The absence of “fluff” i.e. world-building and character development
The similarities between McFadden’s books AND the similarity of some of her plots to other popular books. It’s an interesting observation. I’d have to do a whole separate post on this but will just point out that a) many authors write similar books and b) concepts, titles, and plots of books can’t be copyrighted and c) many popular thrillers (and romances) have very similar plot lines.

My Take on All Freida McFadden Books

All the Freida McFadden books I have tried have been great audiobooks.

I have HUGE issues with listening comprehension. My mind wanders. I forget everything I heard.

So I struggle with audiobooks and I think the directness and lack of “fluff” make McFadden’s books perfect to listen to. For me.

My Opinion of The Housemaid

While I can appreciate a “quick and fast read” I tend to prefer written books that have more atmosphere and psychological depth. So The Housemaid isn’t my ideal book … BUT:

The Housemaid is a modern gothic, a subgenre I really enjoy.

I was genuinely surprised by the twist and, as I read SO many mysteries and thrillers, I can be hard to surprise.

If you have NOT read the Housemaid and don’t want spoilers, come back to this post when you’re ready.

Spoilers for The Housemaid and The Ending Explained

What is the ending of the housemaid.

Millie’s employee, Nina Winchester, is being physically and psychologically abused by her husband Andrew, which includes being locked in the attic room that Nina assigns to Millie.
Nina gaslights Millie and acts erratically.
Millie sympathizes with Andrew and the two begin a secret affair. Nina discovers their affair and Andrew tells her their marriage is over. Nina leaves, taking her daughter with her.
Suddenly, Millie finds herself Andrew’s new victim , locked in the attic room and forced to perform bizarre acts, like pulling out her own hair.
The twist: Nina, helped by landscaper Enzo, hired Millie as a way to free herself from Andrew. Nina pushed them together and it worked: Andrew dumped her to focus on poor Millie.
Millie manages to pepper spray Andrew (with pepper spray that Nina thoughtfully hid in the room) and lock Andrew in the attic room. She forces him to perform bizarre acts, like pulling out his own teeth.
Andrew dies in the room.
Nina, alerted by Enzo, shows up and offers to take the fall for Andrew’s death . Fortunately, the police officer sent to the scene has a daughter who dated Andrew and knows he’s abusive. So the police agree to ignore the fact that Andrew inexplicably died and has missing teeth. (Yes, this is extremely unlikely but ok!)
At Andrew’s funeral, Millie learns that Andrew’s mother used to pull out his teeth. (What? More on that below.)
Nina gets Millie a new job with another abused wife.

What are readers’ questions About the Housemaid?

Why was millie in prison.

She was sent to a therapeutic boarding school, where she tried to save a female classmate who was being attacked by a guy. She hit him over the head to save the girl, but apparently went a little overboard. She had a record, so she pled guilty to manslaughter.

Why would Andrew, an abusive husband, allow his wife to hire Millie?

This doesn’t seem that odd to me. Yes, many abusers isolate their victims, but Nina has a child and it seems like Andrew would like a lot of attention.

Why the coincidence of the pulled out teeth?

Did Millie know that Andrew’s mother used to pull out his teeth? If Andrew mentioned this, I missed it. I agree that the coinicdence was pretty random. Millie just happened to find pliers in the garage and think of pulling out Andrew’s teeth?

If Enzo witnessed Andrew’s abuse of Nina, why didn’t he do anything?

It’s all a bit hazy. Enzo’s sister was married to an abusive man and Enzo assaulted the guy and then fled the country. So he is possibly being sought by Italian police and is in the US illegally.

If Enzo knew that Andrew was dangerous, why didn’t he keep a closer eye on Millie?

He just gave Millie vague warnings. He’d agreed to help Nina. When he hadn’t seen Millie for days, he did alert Nina.

Is The Housemaid a retelling (or inspired by) The Last Mrs. Parrish (2017)?

I have not read The Last Mrs. Parrish so can’t weigh in on any possible similarities between the two. But there are a lot of similar books out there and most Gothic fiction does share common elements. Tell me what you think in the comments!

Did you love The Housemaid, or was it not for you? Leave all comments below, and feel free to leave spoiler questions and comments!

Be sure to check out my post on The Housemaid Book Two which answers these questions and more!

The Housemaid vs. The Housemaid Two : which is better?
Is Millie in the Housemaid Two?

And you can also check out my Audiobook Review of The Coworker!

About Jen Ryland

Over 12 years of book blogging and reviewing, I have read over 1500 books. A fair and honest reviewer who loves book discussions, I'm here to help you find a book you'll love to read AND give you a place to talk about it and ask questions. Find me on Instagram and Pinterest as @jenryland!

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Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

A few months ago, The Housemaid by Freida McFadden popped up on all Dutch social media platforms I’m using. The book was recently translated and it received glowing reviews. However, I wasn’t interested at first since I’m not the biggest fan of thrillers lately and especially not psychological thrillers. Somehow, it kept demanding my attention. Finally, I caved and bought myself a copy of the book which I read pretty soon. Did I find it as addictive as other people state it is?

Book cover for The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Title: The Housemaid
Author: Freida McFadden
Series: The Housemaid #1
Publish date: August 23, 2022
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 9781538742570
Number of pages: 325
Genre: Thriller

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own… Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am. They don’t know what I’m capable of…

This story is centered around Millie who has applied for a housemaid’s job at the Winchester house. Nina, Andrew and their daughter are in desperate need of a maid. Everything seems fine at first, but soon strange things happen. Nina acts odd and Andrew seems to be a broken man. However, Millie has much darker secrets of her own, ones she hope will never find a way out…

As a reader, we don’t know Millie’s secrets either, but we have to find out eventually. We will, but that takes up a good chunk of the book. Also, Nina acting weird seemed to be resolved quite quickly, but nothing turns out the way they seem. However, I wasn’t connecting to any of the characters. Of course I wanted to know about Millie’s past and what was going on with the Winchester family, but overall I think my expectations of this thriller were too high. I just didn’t feel it.

The writing was good. The chapters are mostly short which makes it easy to turn just another page and read some more. However, they are meant to build up tension which I didn’t feel overall. It was not intriguing.

To be quite honest, the plot was not intriguing for most part. The book is devided into three parts: one centered around Millie, one around Nina and the final one alternates between Millie and Nina. The first part about Millie was outright boring. I couldn’t get into the book and actually doubted whether to DNF it. I’m glad I pushed through, because the second part was much better. It’s centered around Nina and there several twists make their way into the plot. They can be interesting and they somewhat are. However, the book lost me already. The third and final part was wrapped up way too quickly and therefore was not intriguing anymore. It felt to me that the story needed to be wrapped up and that the final part was thrown to do just that. This is the part where Millie’s past got revealed, but that was done quickly as well.

Unfortunately, I found the Housemaid by Freida McFadden not as addictive as the blurbs claims this thriller to be. The first part was really boring and dragging and the third part was qrapped up way to quickly. The second part was the most interesting, but to be fair this book already lost my interest. The writing style is easy and accessible though, with short chapters. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel any tension and urgency in this book. I’m not sure whether I will pick up the sequel, maybe once in a lifetime.

Published by Laurie

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The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (2022): An Absolutely Thrilling Read

Benjamin Hughes

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is one of the chart buster bestselling novels of 2022 according to the Wall Street Journal.

Millie is making a clean break from her troubled history. Millie has responded to an ad for a housemaid posted by the Winchesters. Nina Winchester arranges to meet with Millie at her house.

She gives Millie a tour of the house and outlines Millie’s duties, which amount to light housekeeping and meal preparation. Nina takes Millie up to the attic and shows her the bedroom she’ll be sleeping in.

When Millie finally hears from Nina a few days later, she is overjoyed. She will begin her employment with the Winchesters the following Monday. The house is a shambles by the time Millie comes the following day.

Despite of being from medical background, Freida McFadden knows her subject really well and have complete command over how to present her characters in the most emphatic way.

The house looked spotless when Millie arrived for the interview, so she assumed she wouldn’t have to do any tidying up before her arrival.

Millie gradually finds out about Nina’s misdeeds as the days pass. Or, more accurately, she learns the hard way about Nina’s erratic emotions. Millie is picking up Nina’s daughter Cecelia from school, as requested by Nina.

Millie finds out Cece has extra classes and her friend’s mom would take her when she gets to school. While on the phone with Nina, Millie gets the response, “I never told you to pick Cece!”

So, what’s different now?

Millie soon finds herself the target of Nina’s erratic behavior. Millie is the victim of Nina’s gaslighting, and she is also falsely accused of something. Cecelia, Nina’s eight-year-old daughter, is also not a saint. Millie has been met with strong distaste from both of Millie’s parents.

Andrew, Nina’s husband, is the only one who has any idea what Millie is going through.

Millie finds out via Nina’s other pals that Nina was admitted to a mental institution. Even though Millie now understands why Nina is acting so irrationally, the fact that she is the recipient of Nina’s rage does not make her any happier.

Things are about to get much worse. Millie has to get out of the house as soon as possible. But… she can’t since her bedroom door doesn’t lock from the inside.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve ever read, without a doubt. The plot twists and turns kept me reading until the very end. There are three acts to the story. The first section focuses on Millie and how she is treated while staying at the Winchester residence.

The second part is just… WOW!

That was a surprising turn of events. What the heck is going on, I thought. Don’t even get me started on how great the third part is!

I assumed The Housemaid would be “just another domestic suspense with a shocking ending” when I first started reading it. Oh, how wrong I was! Not just the climax, but nearly the entire novel is full of unexpected turns and shocking revelations.

Fast-paced, nerve-wracking, spine-chilling, twisted, and riveting best describe the novel, her latest psychological thriller.

This is a book you should read immediately.

If you like reading The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, find out her five must-read books here.

The Housemaid by Freida Mcfadden Buying Options:

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About the Author

Benjamin Hughes is a literary enthusiast with a lifelong passion for books. He has an extensive knowledge of classic literature and a profound interest in exploring the depths of philosophical and existential themes.

With his articulate writing style, he guides readers through complex narratives and leaves them with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the written word.

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Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

The housemaid (book 1), goodreads choice award – nominee for best mystery & thriller (2022).

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is a fast-paced dark thriller full of secrets and deception.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

This book is part of My Fall 2023 Reading List .

My Overview

Millie, recently released from ten years in prison, is unemployed and living out of her car. When Nina Winchester offers to hire her as a housemaid, Millie can’t believe her luck. A job at the Winchester home will provide what she needs: money and a place to live at! From the beginning, there are plenty of red flags for Millie, including the gardener warning her of danger. Millie even knows she’ll have to sleep in a tiny attic room that only locks from the outside, but chooses to focus on the big picture … housing and employment. She’s even willing to put up with Nina’s unstable behavior and her daughter’s brattiness. Fortunately, Andrew Winchester (Nina’s husband) is kind to her.

The story is divided into three parts. Part 1 sets the scene at the Winchester home and introduces the main characters: Millie, Nina, and Andrew. I enjoyed the set-up of the plot, and Nina’s observations and humor. Part 2 begins with a big twist I didn’t expect. As the story unfolds it quickly becomes OTT and less believable. By Part 3, the story basically goes off the rails.

Overall, this is a high-paced thriller where no character can be trusted and suspension of disbelief is needed. Based on all the hype, I had high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver on the hype for me. The story is so crazy, though, that it makes this an unputdownable book. Even as I watched the story go off the rails, I couldn’t look away 🫣.

My Recommendation

Although I wasn’t thrilled (😉) by the story, I know that my opinion is part of a minority. Also, keep in mind this is my first book by this author. If you haven’t read this book yet, you should probably give it a try. I read the Kindle edition and tried the audiobook also; either is fine.

Have you read this book?

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Read Between the Spines

The housemaid.

Freida McFadden

This book was definitely a one that I read after being heavily influenced by fellow bookstagrammers. I have seen rave reviews for it, including the audiobook. I decided to give it a try on my long holiday drive. I am proud to say that this is actually the first fiction audiobook I have listened to in its entirety.

Quick Synopsis

A maid with a criminal past begins working for a rich family only to find out they have secrets of their own.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

Book Review

The Housemaid is a domestic psychological thriller about a live-in housemaid with a secret past who discovers that her new employers have secrets of their own. It heavily relies on several tropes, but the ends redeems the story a bit.

I found that The Housemaid took more than half of the book for anything much to happen. There are small events in the first half but nothing very exciting. I thought it was a long slog to the first real twist. When the story does pick up, it goes off the rails and throws all kinds of craziness at you. The last quarter of this book along with the ending is by far the best part. It is the only portion that had me invested and rushing to find out what happens. I will say that this is one thriller that requires a complete suspension of belief to enjoy its unhinged storyline.

The Housemaid was ultimately a fun read but not groundbreaking. Perhaps I have read too many thrillers, but this plot was unoriginal. I have read several books like it, and I knew the plot twist very early on.

This book lacked character development, although that is not unusual for thrillers, particularly tropey ones. Millie, the main character and narrator, was definitely the most developed.

The writing is not going to win any literary awards, but that made it an easy listen. I did enjoy the bits of dark humor sprinkled throughout the book.

Other than the unoriginality, the thing I struggled with the most in The Housemaid was the depiction of mental health. I am tired of thrillers creating unreliable characters through misrepresentation of mental health issues. I especially expected more from an author who is a medical professional. In addition, there were some inaccuracies in calling prison jail and vice versa. Finally, there was also an unnecessary romance towards the end that did not add anything to the story. Instead, it just brought up a lot of questions and seemed to be out of character or at least confused a character’s intentions.

Overall, The Housemaid is a popcorn thriller that is a quick, easy read. Despite the fact I did not find it the most original, I can not deny that this was a fun and enjoyable read. The sequel will be published in February 2023, and I will be picking it up because I find Millie an interesting character and can always use more fun in my life.

Overall Rating

Character Development

RECOMMENDED

Genre Thriller

Publication Date August 23, 2022

Storygraph Rating 4.25 stars

Goodreads Rating 4.37 stars

Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Publication Date: August 23, 2022

Genre: Thriller

Emma’s Rating: 5/5 (?????)

The Verdict: Solid domestic thriller

The Housemaid Synopsis

Millie works as a domestic worker for the Winchesters family. She cleans the house, picks up the daughter from school, and cooks meals for the family. Despite their luxurious lifestyle, Millie observes the tension and dysfunction within the family. Millie also expresses a sense of envy towards the wife, Nina, but reassures themselves that the family doesn’t know their true identity or capabilities. A suspenseful and gripping read, similar to other books such as “The Woman in the Window,” “The Wife Between Us,” and “The Girl on the Train.”

***The Housemaid book SPOILERS***

The Housemaid Book Review

I am a true sucker for domestic thrillers. I know many of them are published and can be structurally similar, but they always keep me on my toes. The Housemaid was the same for me. I chose it as my first book for 2023, and I could not be happier. It was a quick-paced story, and I could not put it down. Fortunately, it’s a series, and the next book is coming out on February 20, 2023.

The way Nina was constantly gaslighting Millie had me fooled the whole time. As typical as it is that it turned out to be the husband, I still was in shock. I fully believed that Nina was clinically insane, and Andrew was doing his best to keep things under control.

As the story unraveled and we learned more about Andrew’s sick, twisted ways of locking Nina up, I became more invested. It’s unbelievable how he used Cecilia, Nina’s daughter, as a pawn in his operation. While he never hurt her, he threatened Nina multiple times that he would not be afraid to rope her into his schemes.

The Housemaid was a solid book, and I’m excited for the next book in the series. I hope we get some updates on how Nina is doing now that she has escaped Andrew’s hell.

P.S. Andrew’s mother is insane; that is a fact.

As of January 2023, there’s an option to borrow The Housemaid on Kindle Unlimited.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden book review

I picked up The Housemaid because it was dirt cheap on Amazon – I’m talking £2.50 for a brand-new copy of the paperback. After finishing The Return of the King, I thought I’d pick something up a little lighter that didn’t require quite as much time and effort to read/listen to. Enter The Handmaid .

Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the products.

However, little did I know that this would be one of the most gripping and enthralling thrillers I’d read for a very long time. I was expecting it to be a fairly weak reading experience but an easy story to consume and though the latter may be true, it most certainly was not a weak thriller.

The story covers the tale of Millie, our protagonist housemaid who starts work at a posh house after recently being released from prison. She’s hoping to keep her past from her new employer and earn enough money to move out of living in her car and start a real life for herself. However, her boss, Nina Winchester is incredibly odd and begins to behave eratically convincing Millie something else must be going on it in this family. But then everything flips on its head!

The Housemaid plot – 4.5/5

I must admit, whenever I start reading a book, I’m always looking and waiting for the moment when it’s going to suddenly get good. However, from the very early pages, this book had the perfect plot and chapter endings to keep me engrossed throughout. It starts off with a lot of intrigue as Nina’s odd personality begins to come out with some wild accusations of Millie and as the reader it really grabs you in.

There is a massive turn in the middle of the book which I honestly didn’t see coming which is a real testament to the way that McFadden has not only written the book but also written these characters. It’s a twist that if any of your interest has waned will draw you right back in again.

People often describe books as “unputdownable” and I rarely use this term as my ADD means I can easily drop an activity and go and do other things. However, The Housemaid is one of those books where I genuinely wanted to read as much of it as possible in one sitting each time I could. And again, I usually struggle to read when anything else is going on but it’s easy writing and my desire to know what was coming next had me engrossed.

The Housmaid characters – 4.25/5

Often in thrillers, the characters suffer with little personality as the plot is the main focus for the author. Often, to be able to pull off the twists and the sweeping chapters and plotline, the main character just has to go through the motions, causing a rather underwhelming character. However, in The Housemaid , Millie is a perfectly likeable main character with genuine motivations and personality traits.

The real star of the show is Nina though. McFadden has portrayed her personality perfectly (meaning more the further you read) as this woman who has become so comfortable in this perfect “housewife” life that she’s begun to become slightly mad.

As a reader, you begin to grow a real dislike for her and other characters who later are introduced too. Those you’re supposed to like, you like and those you are supposed to despise, you despise.

The Housemaid final rating – 4.5/5

I was a huge fan of The Housemaid and everybody I’ve spoken to about it online was also. Not only does it hit all the perfect notes required of a thriller but it has a a genuinely shocking twist that you won’t see coming along with some truly detestable characters. It’s clever and, not avoiding the cliche term at all, truly unputdownable. If you’re looking for a genuinely gripping new read that could very well surprise you with how much you enjoy it, The Housemaid would be right near the top of my recommendations list at the moment.

Buy The Housemaid here.

6 thoughts on “ The Housemaid by Freida McFadden book review ”

Awesome review, Luke. I got my daughter hooked on her books, lol! Have a lovely weekend!

Sorry about the writing mistake, I’m half blind.

I’ll definitely have to pick up some more of her books!

I was looking for a book to take on holiday with me next week and I think I just found it. Thanks for this excellent and informative review!

Good to hear! Enjoy Martin!

“The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden is a gripping and thought-provoking novel that takes readers on a rollercoaster of emotions. Set in the backdrop of a wealthy suburban neighborhood, the story follows the life of Emma, a young and ambitious housemaid who finds herself entangled in a web of secrets and deceit. McFadden’s writing style is captivating, immersing readers in the vivid descriptions of the extravagant houses and the glamorous lifestyles of the characters. The character development is remarkable, particularly with Emma, as we witness her transformation from a naive and innocent young woman to a resilient and determined fighter. The author tackles important themes such as social class, power dynamics, and the price one is willing to pay for success. The suspenseful plot keeps readers on the edge of their seats, eagerly turning each page to uncover the truth behind the dark secrets lurking behind closed doors. “The Housemaid” is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a thrilling and thought-provoking novel that delves deep into the complexities of human nature.

Your insightful review captures the essence of the books beautifully. Your attention to detail and thoughtful analysis truly enriches the conversation around it.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – Book Review

The book cover of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Warning – possible spoilers! (Tiny ones, though, and I’ll try to avoid even those; I swear I’ll give my best not to ruin it for you… :-))

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – Book Details

TITLE – The Housemaid

SERIES – The Housemaid

AUTHOR – Freida McFadden

CATEGORY/GENRE – thriller , mystery , suspense

YEAR PUBLISHED – 2022

PAGE COUNT – 332

MY RATING – 4.5 of 5

RATED ON GOODREADS – 4.38 of 5

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden in exchange for an honest review.

What It Is About

I don’t love going up there. I don’t have any crazy phobias about attics, but the staircase leading up there is kind of creepy. It’s dark, and the stairs creak with every step. As I follow Andy up the staircase, I stay close to him.

Millie is desperate to get a decent job, and fast. When she gets a job offer by Nina Winchester to be a housemaid in the Winchester’s beautiful home, she is more than happy to overlook all the small issues that come with the position.

But once settled in, the piling mess of all the things that don’t add up are getting harder and harder to ignore. The fact that the doors to her room only lock on the outside. Nina’s demands growing more and more ridiculous. The groundskeeper who looks at Millie as if he is pitying her but refuses to say anything concrete.

Still broke and homeless, Millie is not exactly in a position to quit. And with her growing attraction to Nina’s handsome husband Andrew, she’s not even sure she’d wanted to.

But offers that seem too good to be true are usually exactly that, as Millie is about to discover.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – My Review

If I leave this house, it will be in handcuffs. I should have run for it while I had the chance. Now my shot is gone. Now that the police officers are in the house and they’ve discovered what’s upstairs, there’s no turning back.

Well. I didn’t see that coming.

And I was so sure I knew where this was going! Don’t you just love when a good twist slaps you right in the face!

Freida McFadden was a name that kept popping up to me, especially since I’ve gotten much more into thrillers lately. I always had a vague plan to maybe probably see what she’s all about sometime, when I had more time.

But then I saw the ARC of her newest book, The Housemaid, and it seemed like just the kind of thriller I usually prefer – chill and intriguing, dramatic and surprising. Just something you can relax and have fun with without overthinking everything.

Plus, who could resist that cover? Who wouldn’t want to take a peep through that keyhole?

So, of course I had to pick it up, and it didn’t disappoint. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden was a quick, easy read. Nothing spectacular, but every time I put it down, I couldn’t wait to get back to it.

This book was thrilling enough to keep me intrigued without being too heavy and on-page gory, making me want to look the other way (like, say, Karin Slaughter ). It actually reminded me a bit of A.R. Torre ’s thrillers. Immersing and juicy but not too intense. Twisted but not way out there.

Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own.

I also like when my thrillers have some of that rich-people-problems element. Hey – if a murder is about to occur, why not place it in a beautiful villa?

And when Millie first steps into that place, even being a maid in that household seems like a dream came true. But too soon it gets painfully clear everyone in that house are somewhat broken in one way of another.

The secrets. The lies and inconsistencies. Nina’s mood swings.

Her daughter Cece’s strange behavior.

Andrew looking more and more burdened but staying devastatingly loyal to his wife.

The groundskeeper who looks like he’d like to warn Millie of something, but what?

Plus that prologue featuring a police investigation that clearly suggests a dead body has been found.

It all made for an intriguing read that kept me glued to the page.

And – it got me! Not completely, but still – it actually freaking got me, which almost never happens to me with thrillers.

Maybe I’m just getting rusty. But, even though I caught pretty early on a general direction the story was heading and even though the storyline was something you could already see many times in psychological thrillers, there was still enough twists and revelations I didn’t see coming, and I couldn’t be any happier about it!

I really appreciated how everything was wrapped up in the end. It didn’t real-world make sense, but as far as mysteries and thrillers go, I thought it was done really well.

I turn away from the window to look at Mrs. Winchester’s smiling face. I still can’t quite put my finger on what’s bothering me. There’s something about this room that’s making a little ball of dread form in the pit of my stomach.

Out of the whole thing, I only didn’t like a few tiny details that felt over the top and one smaller part of the resolution. But considering how much I enjoyed the rest, I accepted it gladly.

So, if you are looking for your next thriller for lazy afternoons in a warm early summer weather with a glass of cool lemonade nearby, here’s a good option. The simple narration, good pacing and the general vibe – all perfect to kill some time with, especially if you don’t expect from your thrillers to be perfectly plausible, life changing experiences.

I know we all have different tastes, and do keep that in mind. But to me, this is how a good, captivating thriller should look like.

After The Housemaid, I will definitely be checking out more of Freida McFadden’s books. In fact, I’ve already bought a couple and all I’m waiting for is a little bit of free time.

I will also try to get the audio copies of them. I listened to The Housemaid on audio (narrated by Lauryn Allman), and in my humble opinion – that’s the way to go about it. I’m sure my enjoyment just wouldn’t be the same if I’ve read it physically.

READ NEXT: The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden

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(4) comments.

But why not use his phone as a proof of innocence

I mean, I agree, it’s just that to me that goes into the basket of small nuisances I’m willing to ignore if I enjoyed the book enough. (But, I’ve read this a while ago; I think I remember what you are talking about, but I’m not a hundred percent sure.)

I read one review that stated it was like a copy of The Last Mrs. Parrish. Do you agree? Have you read The Last Mrs. Parrish?

Sorry, I haven’t read that one. Did you like it? Should I give it a try?

Book Review: THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden

THE HOUSEMAID

Author : Freida McFadden Year : 2022 Edition : 2022 Paperback Pages : 325 Genre : Thriller Additional info : #1 in The Housemaid series

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…

Every day I clean the Winchester’s beautiful house top to bottom. I pick up their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband, Andrew, seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. the walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband…

I try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

Why I chose to read this book I love thrillers, and this one seemed so full of secrets. I was excited to get a glimpse into wealthy folk’s lives through the eyes of their housemaid. I just knew it would be juicy and salacious!

Thoughts & Opinions

The Housemaid was a fun read! Full of suspense, twists and turns. Very easy to read and entertaining. Millie, the protagonist, finds herself in a very difficult situation; she has a boss from hell. And because of her past, it’s almost impossible for her to find a job so she has to keep this one. There are so many instances where her boss, Nina, demonstrates how unhinged and psychotic she is but Millie is desperate and this job is the best alternative for her. Nina lies, omits important details, and makes Millie look like a fool and incompetent in front of others. I was so enraged by her actions! Her daughter, a majorly spoiled brat, doesn’t fall far from the tree. She is rude, impolite, undisciplined and obviously mimics her mother’s behavior with “the help”. Makes you wonder why Andrew, Nina’s perfect husband, stays with her.

Although Millie needs this job, sometimes what the heart wants is stronger than common sense and she starts to play a dangerous game with Andrew, fully knowing Nina could go nuclear.

The switch in POV from Millie to Nina is enlightening and shocking.

What I fault in this book however is the two POVs weren’t distinct enough in terms of vocabulary and personality. Nina and Mille come from very different backgrounds yet they express themselves the same way. It’s like it was narrated by the same character. For me, it took away from the experience of having two POVs.

Check out my other thriller reviews:

American Dirt

Crimson Summer

Danger in Numbers

Gray Mountain

Please Join Us

The Night Shift

The Paris Apartment

When No One is Watching

Discussion Points

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think?
Did you figure out the twist before the switch in POV?
I’d love to discuss this book with you in the comments below, looking forward to reading you!
Which book should I review next?

Book Reviews

In 'the maid,' a devoted hotel cleaning lady is a prime murder suspect.

Bethanne Patrick

The Maid by Nita Prose Ballantine Books hide caption

Devotees of cozy mysteries, rejoice: Nita Prose's debut, The Maid, satisfies on every level — from place to plot to protagonist.

In a fancy urban hotel, a guest lies dead, and the main suspect is Molly Gray, a member of the cleaning staff whose devotion to her work is matched only by her love for her deceased grandmother.

Let the locked-room hijinks begin!

The above storyline would be enough for a solid read, but Prose dials up the tension by creating a realistically different heroine. Molly Gray is neurodivergent, and may even have Autism spectrum disorder, not that Molly uses either of those terms. She tells us how she copes with the world. "I like things simple and neat," says Molly, who cleans "twenty-plus rooms" at the Regency Grand, "a five-star boutique hotel."

"Never in my life did I think I'd hold such a lofty position in a grand hotel," she says, also sharing that without Gran, "It's as though all the color has been drained from the apartment we shared." Work remains a respite, a place where Molly has responsibilities and a routine. "I love cleaning, I love my maid's trolley, and I love my uniform." Prose makes a wise choice in Molly's first-person narration, allowing readers to enter Molly's world, where a well-stocked maid's trolley is "a portable sanitation miracle." You'll nod at Molly's observations about the proper order in which to tackle a suite ("from top to bottom") and using different cloths for sink and toilet.

Molly knows that she sees things differently. "The truth is, I often have trouble with social situations; it's as though everyone is playing an elaborate game with complex rules they all know, but I'm always playing for the first time," she says. All of this information about Molly is important to have before the actual murder, because Molly's "trouble with social situations" will both complicate matters, and result in her eventual triumph.

A word about the location of the Regency Grand before we proceed. Nita Prose is vice president and editorial director at Simon & Schuster Canada (one reason why her mastery of voice and plot is so assured; she's clearly an excellent editor). We're never explicitly told that The Maid takes place in Toronto; understanding its author's Canadian background will help readers understand why Molly's Gran is decidedly British in tastes and diction, but no one ever questions those things.

One of the reasons Molly loves her job so much is that it allows her to bypass her social miscommunications and "blend in." Even the day after her beloved Gran dies, she heads into work. But nine months later, on one of Molly's shifts, she finds a Mr. Black "very dead in his bed."

Everything that happens next will occur because Molly follows her strict rules and does not clean the Blacks' bathroom, as Mrs. Black (Giselle) was taking a shower. Remember: Molly does not pick up on cues easily. The fact that Giselle Black hopped in the shower just after Molly arrived, and before Molly discovered Mr. Black dead, doesn't register. "I did not allow her behavior to interfere with the task at hand," says Molly.

While some readers may guess who the killer is immediately, it doesn't really matter, as the book is more about Molly — who does not. There are other things happening around Molly that she misses, too, including a crime ring that relies on an undocumented immigrant's fears of deportation. Molly takes things at face value, which costs her something. However, taking things at face value is also one of Molly's strengths, and it ultimately allows her to help authorities catch a killer and a kingpin. So what if her idea of haute cuisine is a Tour of Italy platter from The Olive Garden? Molly takes her pleasures at face value, too, and knows that something cheese-y isn't always cheesy.

The delight of reading The Maid lies partly in watching a hectic cast of characters unravel (take special pleasure in watching Rodney Stiles, the hotel head bartender on whom Molly has a crush) as the crime is properly solved. It also lies in seeing Molly learn that thinking differently does not equal giving up friendship or high standards. What begins as a sprightly murder mystery turns into a meaningful, and at times even delicate, portrait of growth.

The Maid will start your 2022 reading off right. Here's hoping Molly Gray, the smart and affecting hotel maid, appears in a new book soon.

Bethanne Patrick is a freelance writer and critic who tweets @TheBookMaven .

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Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

The best words to describe The Housemaid by Freida McFadden are twisty and bingeable.

Go in blind and go get it on Kindle Unlimited .

Genre: Psychological Thriller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5

🗝️Fast-paced 🗝️Bingeable 🗝️Short Chapters 🗝️Go in blind

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The Housemaid By Freida McFadden Book Review

Welcome to my review of The Housemaid By Freida McFadden. This is one of those tricky books to review, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I was initially attracted to the outstanding cover and the excellent marketing effort put in by Bookouture, making this sound like the most incredible book.

Click me to go to my Review

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of …

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window , The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!

#1 Amazon bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

To hear Freida talk more about herself in the third person, visit her website .

The plot is quite clever. Millie lives in the back of her car, having been out of jail for only a year and being sacked from her last job flipping burgers. So she goes for an interview for a job as a ‘housekeeper’, a cleaner with a few extra chores for Nina, her husband Andy and her nine-year-old daughter, Cecelia. While she doesn’t think she stands a chance to work at this beautiful, huge house, Nina calls to offer her the role a few days later.

We follow their journey through the eyes of Nina and Millie, and there are some clever, brilliant twists. I knew something was coming, but not that, not in a million years. This demonstrates the excellent imagination of Freida McFadden. I enjoyed the plot and following their journey, surprises and all.

The characters were well-drawn, I felt I knew them well, but ultimately, I didn’t like them. I felt sorry for some of them; I was intrigued by their story and had guessed the most significant thing about Enzo, the gardener, though not his whole story.

Millie appears to have come through ten years in prison with no street smarts, she comes across as very naïve, and you wouldn’t guess her background from her actions. There is nothing to suggest why she has been in prison for most of the book, and her point of view is very diary-like. It reads much like, I cleaned the kitchen for three hours, I have no idea how they make so much mess and then I fantasised about Andy for a while before making dinner.

Nina is a highly complex character; she spins on a pinhead, it’s like a rollercoaster ride, and as you get through the rest of the book, you will understand why. She is confused, disliked by those around her and seems quite unlikeable.

Cecelia is nine and a complete spoilt brat. Her words and actions towards Millie, in particular, are abhorrent but often mirror what she sees of her mother at her worst. Cecelia appears near the end of the book, and you are left wondering what happened to her. So much is made of her misbehaviour, but then it’s completely gone and doesn’t quite match up.

Andy is a very cleverly written man. Rich, handsome, well-dressed, high-powered job and a beautiful home. What more could you want in a husband?

Finally, there’s Enzo, the gardener. He is strong and handsome but doesn’t speak a word of English. He is at the house a considerable amount for a gardener though, and welcomes Millie with a sharp warning.

I liked the ending, though, again not as I expected but not terrible. This was a slightly strange read, I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened and where it would all end, but at the same time, I didn’t feel anything from reading it, just indifferent. I wouldn’t be likely to recommend it, but at the same time, I wouldn’t say to someone not to read it either.

I would try one of the author’s other novels. But unfortunately, this didn’t connect with me the way I had hoped.

Overall, my ambivalence toward the book means that it sits around a three-star read for me.

Thanks to Freida McFadden, Bookouture and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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The Maid: A Novel

By Nita Prose
Ballantine Books
Reviewed by Tara Laskowski
January 10, 2022

This cozy whodunit is a joy from the first page to the last.

The work that goes into an immaculate hotel room often goes unnoticed. One walks into the finished product and appreciates its elegant simplicity, everything crisp and delightful and new.

This is how I feel about The Maid , Nita Prose’s short-but-memorable debut crime novel. It’s such a pleasure to experience, readers won’t realize all the behind-the-scenes hard work that goes into crafting such a fun and surprising mystery.

Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel and loves her job. And when I say loves, I mean loves . There’s nothing, it seems, that she adores more than to return dirty rooms to “a state of perfection.”

“Every day of work is a joy to me,” she tells us early on. “I was born to do this job.” And indeed, her descriptions of the wonders of cleaning make me want to bust open the cabinet under the sink and start disinfecting everything:

“There’s nothing quite like a perfectly stocked maid’s trolley…The crisp little packages of delicately wrapped soaps that smell of orange blossom, the tiny Crabtree & Evelyn shampoo bottles, the squat tissue boxes…And last but not least, the cleaning kit, which includes a feather duster, lemon furniture polish, lightly scented antiseptic garbage bags, as well as an impressive array of spray bottles of solvents and disinfectants, all lined up and ready to combat any stain, be it coffee rings, vomit — or even blood.”

Unfortunately for Molly, her attention to detail when it comes to cleanliness doesn’t extend to understanding social cues or knowing how to navigate the complex waters of conversations or relationships. Molly the Maid is seen as a “weirdo” by her co-workers, who don’t appreciate or comprehend her boundless desire to do her best at her job. Her closest friend was her grandmother, who has recently died, leaving her alone in the apartment they once shared. And she is easily duped by conniving people.

When she enters the penthouse suite at the Regency Grand one afternoon to return it to perfection, she finds very much the opposite: The most prized hotel guest, Mr. Black, is collapsed dead in his bed, murdered. Sadly, because of a series of unfortunate events that I won’t detail here because they’re incredibly amusing to uncover as a reader, Molly finds herself the prime suspect in his killing and the center of a swirling scandal threatening not only the reputation of the hotel she adores but also her own livelihood.

Channeling the quirky cast of “Clue” and gentle, wry humor of Douglas Adams, The Maid hits all the right notes in these crazy times. With the world seemingly in more disarray every day, it’s refreshing to meet a character who just wants to make everything orderly again. Molly’s voice is distinguishing from the very first page: “Every day in every way” and “Need a tissue for your issue?” I loved her unique take on life and her plucky optimism.

The Maid is such an enjoyable read that I was sad when it ended. Author Prose does a superb job of building this small but complete world. Even the secondary characters are interesting and memorable, from the cranky landlord to the weary but prudent hotel manager. It’s obvious from the outset who the friends and foes are and which are the wolves in sheep’s clothing, but we go along for the ride because we want to watch Molly figure it out for herself.

The Maid is, to use one of Molly’s favorite words, a “delight” from beginning to end.

Tara Laskowski is the author of the suspense novels The Mother Next Door and One Night Gone , the latter of which won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards for best debut novel.

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The Maid: A Novel (Molly the Maid) Hardcover – January 4, 2022

Purchase options and add-ons.

Book 1 of 3 Molly the Maid
Print length 304 pages
Language English
Publisher Ballantine Books
Publication date January 4, 2022
Dimensions 6.3 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10 0593356152
ISBN-13 978-0593356159
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The Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel (Molly the Maid)

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A dead body is one mess she can’t clean up on her own;the maid;thriller;book club book;mystery;debut

Editorial Reviews

I am well aware that my name is ridiculous. It was not ridiculous before I took this job four years ago. I’m a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, and my name is Molly. Molly Maid. A joke. Before I took the job, Molly was just a name, given to me by my estranged mother, who left me so long ago that I have no memory of her, just a few photos and the stories Gran has told me. Gran said my mother thought Molly was a cute name for a girl, that it conjured apple cheeks and pigtails, neither of which I have, as it turns out. I’ve got simple, dark hair that I maintain in a sharp, neat bob. I part my hair in the middle—the exact middle. I comb it flat and straight. I like things simple and neat.

I have pointed cheekbones and pale skin that people sometimes marvel at, and I don’t know why. I’m as white as the sheets that I take off and put on, take off and put on, all day long in the twenty-plus rooms that I make up for the esteemed guests at the Regency Grand, a five-star boutique hotel that prides itself on “sophisticated elegance and proper decorum for the modern age.”

Never in my life did I think I’d hold such a lofty position in a grand hotel. I know others think differently, that a maid is a lowly nobody. I know we’re all supposed to aspire to become doctors and lawyers and rich real-estate tycoons. But not me. I’m so thankful for my job that I pinch myself every day. I really do. Especially now, without Gran. Without her, home isn’t home. It’s as though all the color has been drained from the apartment we shared. But the moment I enter the Regency Grand, the world turns Technicolor bright.

As I place a hand on the shining brass railing and walk up the scarlet steps that lead to the hotel’s majestic portico, I’m Dorothy entering Oz. I push through the gleaming revolving doors and I see my true self reflected in the glass—my dark hair and pale complexion are omnipresent, but a blush returns to my cheeks, my raison d’être restored once more.

Once I’m through the doors, I often pause to take in the grandeur of the lobby. It never tarnishes. It never grows drab or dusty. It never dulls or fades. It is blessedly the same each and every day. There’s the reception and concierge to the left, with its midnight-obsidian counter and smart-looking receptionists in black and white, like penguins. And there’s the ample lobby itself, laid out in a horseshoe, with its fine Italian marble floors that radiate pristine white, drawing the eye up, up to the second-floor terrace. There are the ornate Art Deco features of the terrace and the grand staircase that brings you there, balustrades glowing and opulent, serpents twisting up to golden knobs held static in brass jaws. Guests will often stand at the rails, hands resting on a glowing post, as they survey the glorious scene below—porters marching crisscross, dragging suitcases behind them, guests lounging in sumptuous armchairs or couples tucked into emerald loveseats, their secrets absorbed into the deep, plush velvet.

But perhaps my favorite part of the lobby is the olfactory sensation, that first redolent breath as I take in the scent of the hotel itself at the start of every shift—the mélange of ladies’ fine perfumes, the dark musk of the leather armchairs, the tangy zing of lemon polish that’s used twice daily on the gleaming marble floors. It is the very scent of animus. It is the fragrance of life itself.

Every day, when I arrive to work at the Regency Grand, I feel alive again, part of the fabric of things, the splendor and the color. I am part of the design, a bright, unique square, integral to the tapestry.

Gran used to say, “If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.” And she’s right. Every day of work is a joy to me. I was born to do this job. I love cleaning, I love my maid’s trolley, and I love my uniform.

There’s nothing quite like a perfectly stocked maid’s trolley early in the morning. It is, in my humble opinion, a cornucopia of bounty and beauty. The crisp little packages of delicately wrapped soaps that smell of orange blossom, the tiny Crabtree & Evelyn shampoo bottles, the squat tissue boxes, the toilet-paper rolls wrapped in hygienic film, the bleached white towels in three sizes—bath, hand, and washcloth—and the stacks of doilies for the tea-and-coffee service tray. And last but not least, the cleaning kit, which includes a feather duster, lemon furniture polish, lightly scented antiseptic garbage bags, as well as an impressive array of spray bottles of solvents and disinfectants, all lined up and ready to combat any stain, be it coffee rings, vomit—or even blood. A well-stocked housekeeping trolley is a portable sanitation miracle; it is a clean machine on wheels. And as I said, it is beautiful.

And my uniform. If I had to choose between my uniform and my trolley, I don’t think I could. My uniform is my freedom. It is the ultimate invisibility cloak. At the Regency Grand, it’s dry cleaned daily in the hotel laundry, which is located in the dank bowels of the hotel down the hall from our housekeeping change rooms. Every day before I arrive at work, my uniform is hooked on my locker door. It comes wrapped in clingy plastic, with a little Post-it note that has my name scrawled on it in black marker. What a joy it is to see it there in the morning, my second skin—clean, disinfected, newly pressed, smelling like a mixture of fresh paper, an indoor pool, and nothingness. A new beginning. It’s as though the day before and the many days before that have all been erased.

When I don my maid uniform—not the frumpy Downton Abbey style or even the Playboy-bunny cliché, but the blinding-white starched dress shirt and the slim-fit black pencil skirt (made from stretchy fabric for easy bending)—I am whole. Once I’m dressed for my workday, I feel more confident, like I know just what to say and do—at least, most of the time. And once I take off my uniform at the end of the day, I feel naked, unprotected, undone.

The truth is, I often have trouble with social situations; it’s as though everyone is playing an elaborate game with complex rules they all know, but I’m always playing for the first time. I make etiquette mistakes with alarming regularity, offend when I mean to compliment, misread body language, say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It’s only because of my gran that I know a smile doesn’t necessarily mean someone is happy. Sometimes, people smile when they’re laughing at you. Or they’ll thank you when they really want to slap you across the face. Gran used to say my reading of behaviors was improving— every day in every way, my dear —but now, without her, I struggle. Before, when I rushed home after work, I’d throw open the door to our apartment and ask her questions I’d saved up over the day. “I’m home! Gran, does ketchup really work on brass, or should I stick to salt and vinegar? Is it true that some people drink tea with cream? Gran, why did they call me Rumba at work today?”

But now, when the door to home opens, there’s no “Oh, Molly dear, I can explain” or “Let me make you a proper cuppa and I’ll answer all of that.” Now our cozy two-bedroom feels hollow and lifeless and empty, like a cave. Or a coffin. Or a grave.

I think it’s because I have difficulty interpreting expressions that I’m the last person anyone invites to a party, even though I really like parties. Apparently, I make awkward conversation, and if you believe the whispers, I have no friends my age. To be fair, this is one hundred percent accurate. I have no friends my age, few friends of any age, for that matter.

But at work, when I’m wearing my uniform, I blend in. I become part of the hotel’s décor, like the black-and-white-striped wallpaper that adorns many a hallway and room. In my uniform, as long as I keep my mouth shut, I can be anyone. You could see me in a police lineup and fail to pick me out even though you walked by me ten times in one day.

Recently, I turned twenty-five, “a quarter of a century” my gran would proclaim to me now if she could say anything to me. Which she can’t, because she is dead.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books; First Edition (January 4, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593356152
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593356159
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.11 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 1 x 9.5 inches
#422 in Domestic Thrillers (Books)
#637 in Murder Thrillers
#1,618 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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About the author

Nita Prose is the author of THE MYSTERY GUEST and THE MAID, which has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and was published in over forty countries. A #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and a GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick, THE MAID won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, the Fingerprint Award for Debut Novel of the Year, the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Barry Award for Best First Mystery. THE MAID was also an Edgar Award finalist for Best Novel. Nita lives in Toronto, Canada, in a house that is moderately clean.

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When the Flower Finishes Blooming: “Madama Butterfly” Opera Review

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Arts & Entertainment

When the Flower Finishes Blooming: “Madama Butterfly” Opera Review

As Spring makes its return this year with blooming cherry blossoms, Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” welcomes its arrival with a haunting yet beautiful display of loss and heartbreak set in the early 1900s of Nagasaki, Japan. The story centers on Cio-Cio San (played by soprano Corinne Winters), a 15-year-old Japanese girl who is married off to Pinkerton (played by tenor Adam Smith), a U.S. naval captain whose poor choices lead him to abandon her. With the set design focused on the house of Cio-Cio San, the stage is adorned with everything from bright cherry blossom petals to melancholy lighting that softly mimics the rise of a new day. To top off the perfection, the San Diego Symphony’s live music, conducted by Yves Abel, combines swelling and touching scores to support a powerful performance that will surely bring tears to your eyes.

Before I stepped into the San Diego Civic Theatre to see “Madama Butterfly,” many of my concerns had not yet been ailed. Not only was this my first opera, but the basic plot summary I had quickly googled beforehand had me worried about many things — and for good reason. Despite knowing that this story was quite dated for contemporary society, I was still concerned about watching a production that featured a young girl being taken advantage of by a much older man, let alone the fact that this girl is a minor. Would the production endorse this, or worse, romanticize it? Moreover, considering that representation is a crucial matter for any production that showcases people of color, what would this production look like by having nearly all white opera singers playing Japanese roles?

It is safe to say that my worries were laid to rest. I was relieved to see that the opera did not try to conform to being “authentic” to Japan, focusing only on the fact that it took place in Nagasaki and avoiding any use of the Japanese language in the dialogue. The story also maintained its criticism of American imperialism, advocating that Pinkerton was the villain rather than the hero. The image of Pinkerton love-bombing Cio-Cio San and taking advantage of her innocence right before turning around and throwing her away is the near-perfect representation of colonialism, symbolizing how easily Western powers take advantage of colonies before leaving them in shambles. What’s even more exciting is to see how Cio-Cio San displays her sheer passion and strength by taking the reins of her life and choosing her path despite what others around her say. Even while her family members and closest friends outright shame her for thinking that her American husband will return one day, Cio-Cio San remains headstrong in her beliefs and reminds the audience of what love can do to an innocent, young soul like hers. Sure, one can argue that the choices she makes are not the most logical ones (i.e. waiting three years for a man who could care less about her), but the tragedy of her circumstances is what makes the audience adore her. She is full of life throughout the production and sees hope even when everything around her is bleak. My favorite moment, in particular, was during “Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio” (The Flower Duet), when Cio-Cio San and her maid, Suzuki (played by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche), await Pinkerton’s arrival with hope as they scatter cherry blossoms around their home. It was breathtaking to watch the pink petals rain down as the two women sang — a scene that I wish I could watch over and over again.

Even while leaving the theater, I yearned for more. The show filled me with laughs and tears, making my first opera an unforgettable and special experience that will surely not be my last. I hope that more young audiences will occupy the theaters of upcoming operas and get to experience something like this, and the legacy of “Madama Butterfly” continues even after the last of the cherry blossom petals fall.

Image courtesy of SDopera

Madama Butterfly Opera

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Late-night garage moments in All the Good Things You Deserve.

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Come Here to This Gate by Rory Waterman; Are You There by Samantha Fain; Silver by Rowan Ricardo Phillips; All the Good Things You Deserve by Elaine Feeney; Poems 2016-2024 by JH Prynne

Come Here to This Gate Rory Waterman Carcanet,

Come Here to This Gate by Rory Waterman ( Carcanet, £11.99 ) Waterman’s fourth collection opens with a series of elegies. “The sheep-tracks of your mind were worn to trenches”, he writes as alcoholic dementia takes hold of his father and language deserts him. Rueful, tender and utterly scarifying, these are among the very best father elegies since Michael Hofmann’s Acrimony. A central section addresses the upheavals of midlife: invited by a social media site to revisit his memories, he decides he would rather not (“No. Click the little X again. / Forget that we were ever there”). With his carefully weighed retrospection, Waterman is the most Hardyesque of modern poets, forever sniffing out the might-have-beens beneath mere actuality. Never merely solemn, Come Here to This Gate is a wise and deeply satisfying book.

Are You There by Samantha Fain (Bad Betty, £10.99) Readers may recognise the title from the Netflix “idle” screen. Its combination of technology and vague distress is in keeping with the explorations of the self on show in this wittily knowing work. “In poems, we echolocate / the feelings”, Fain writes, thinking of whales and feeling her way uncertainly into the space where “a poem exists / as several selves”. Fain coins the neologism “delinger” for her attempts to overcome inertia, but the bracketing of authenticity and pain represents a potent threat to wellbeing (“In aching I am mine”). The exclamation mark in “Some Sundays I want to live a heartless life!” recalls the effervescence of Frank O’Hara, but even as Fain titles a poem Against Feeling she remains aware that “Grief is fact”. “It’s easy, deleting my way out of myself” comes the conclusion, as she backs into the limelight of these drolly personable poems.

Silver by Rowan Ricardo Phillips (Faber, £12.99) “The first and final poem is the sun”, writes Phillips in the first and again in the final poem of Silver. Dialogues with Wallace Stevens, Wordsworth and Coleridge situate the collection within a reimagining of the Romantic sublime. “What forms / First, a thing or its form?” Phillips asks, holding out for a space beyond the controlling ego, somewhere poetry can be “the breath your breath takes before you breathe”. The human sphere and the godly zone of art jostle uneasily. Commemorating a bard’s rash challenge to a god, The Immortal Marsyas begins “O silver-lyred Apollo” before ending, at the foot of the page, “Gimme that”. The centrepiece of the collection is the longer poem Child of Nature, a freewheeling and delightful ars poetica that compares Matthew Arnold to Pink Floyd, and in which Phillips pronounces poetry “séance and silence and science”.

All the Good Things You Deserve Elaine Feeney Harvill Secker

All the Good Things You Deserve by Elaine Feeney (Harvill Secker, £12.99) “It’s nice being alone / not having to worry about my arse over the bar stool like dali’s clocks”, Feeney writes in Darling / I Have Written You a Surprise Poem About Love. Like those barstools, these poems have an over-the-top quality. In the typical Feeney poem, desire is the shot and bathos the chaser (“Love, laugh, live, whatever the fuck”). Unfortunately, the long title poem is far from the strongest thing in the book. More affecting is a wistful piece where Feeney imagines a couple buying convenience food at a garage before a late-night film, before inserting herself as their hypothetical garage-server (“I’ve done those shifts”). The caustic love poems that show Feeney at her best spill down the page with the energy of rushing tides that “cannot / tell if they were once the river / or are now the sea”.

Poems 2016-2024 by JH Prynne (Bloodaxe, £25) “Here is something I can study all my life, and never understand,” announces a character in Beckett’s Molloy, a phrase that would fit well on the cover of JH Prynne’s Poems 2016-2024. While one might have expected an update of Prynne’s already monumental Poems, the arrival of more than 700 pages of new work is a remarkable turn of events. A good place to start is Snooty Tipoffs, in which Prynne enters a wholly unexpected Noël Coward phase (“Music in the ice-box, music by the sea, music at the rice-bowl, for you as well as me”). (Ab)normal service is resumed in other, less forthcoming sequences, with titles including Torrid Auspicious Quartz and At Raucous Purposeful. As for what it’s all about, we are probably best off showing “no anger now, childish first near finish /up in debt beyond reason or meaning”. Here is a book to keep us busy for a very long time.

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Critic’s Notebook

Why Is ‘Baby Reindeer’ Such a Hit? It’s All in the Ending.

The Netflix stalker series combines the appeal of a twisty thriller with a deep sense of empathy. The conclusion illustrates why it’s become one of the most-discussed shows of the year.

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By Noel Murray

This article includes spoilers for all of “Baby Reindeer.”

The mini-series “Baby Reindeer” arrived on Netflix on April 11 without much advance hype, but it quickly became one of the most talked-about TV shows of 2024.

It’s not hard to understand why. Based on the Scottish comedian Richard Gadd’s award-winning 2019 one-man stage show, “Baby Reindeer” baits its hook in the first episode, which introduces Martha (Jessica Gunning), an emotionally fragile middle-aged woman who appreciates the kindness shown to her by Donny (Gadd), a struggling stand-up comic who offers her a free drink in the pub where he works.

By the end of that first episode, Martha’s neediness has begun to shade into creepiness. And by the time Donny discovers that his new friend has a history of stalking, she’s already begun what will eventually become a torrent of abuse, as she floods his email and social media with poorly spelled messages that insult his character and sometimes threaten sexual violence.

What makes “Baby Reindeer” so effective is that as Martha pushes further and further into Donny’s personal life — attending his comedy shows, befriending his landlady, calling his parents — the audience shares his mounting feelings of powerlessness and frustration, cut with flashes of pity for the woman who is ruining his life. The show has the “slow-motion train wreck” appeal of a twisty true-crime documentary, but balanced with empathy for two profoundly broken people.

A story as dark and uneasy as this one needs a proper ending, though. “Baby Reindeer” has one that is satisfying in its particulars, if haunting in its implications.

Gadd (who wrote every episode) plants the seeds for the finale in the penultimate episode, the sixth, which ends with Donny having a career-altering meltdown while competing in a stand-up comedy contest. Donny’s comic style is highly conceptual, involving corny props and awkward jokes, designed to leave his audience wondering whether or not they’re meant to laugh. He’s like a Scottish (and much less effective) version of Steve Martin in his “Wild and Crazy Guy” days. (Or, as Donny puts it: “I’m a comedian when they laugh, a performance artist when they don’t.”)

When the crowd can’t get on his wavelength at the competition, Donny ditches his props and just talks, sharing with a stunned audience the story that we have been watching for the previous five episodes. He tells them about how when he was a young and inexperienced comedian, he took an unpaid gig working for Darrien O’Connor (Tom Goodman-Hill), a well-respected TV writer who repeatedly drugged and sexually assaulted him. He tells them about his transgender girlfriend, Teri (Nava Mau), whom he’s too embarrassed to kiss in public.

And, of course, he tells them about Martha, the angel and the devil on his shoulders: sometimes telling him how sweet, funny and handsome he is, and sometimes calling him a weak-willed, talentless degenerate.

As the show’s seventh and final episode opens, a video of Donny’s train-wreck performance has landed on YouTube (under the title “Comedian Has Epic Breakdown”), bringing him viral fame and new opportunities. The pressure of that higher profile — coupled with Martha’s ceaseless string of threatening voice mail messages — prompts Donny to confide in his unexpectedly sympathetic parents about being raped. All of these confessions feel liberating.

Not too long after, one of Martha’s threats is dire enough to get her arrested — and eventually jailed. Gadd brings the conflict between Donny and Martha to a logical conclusion, with Martha finally acknowledging the harm she’s done by pleading guilty.

So Donny lives happily … but not for ever after. More like for a day or two.

The unsettling ambiguities of the “Baby Reindeer” epilogue — the real ending, which comes after Martha is safely locked away — are a big part of what has made the show a word-of-mouth hit.

First, Donny finds himself going back over Martha’s old messages, and turning every one of their past interactions into pieces of a puzzle that he then pins up on his wall — like a detective trying to crack a complicated case. His inquiry even leads him back to the doorstep of the man who molested him, where Donny falls into an old pattern of deference and eagerness to please.

Then, in the series’s knockout closing scene, a bartender gives a teary-eyed Donny a free drink, echoing what Donny once did for Martha. What makes Donny so upset? Take your pick: He’s still processing what Martha and Darrien have done to him. He’s furious with himself for not standing up to his abuser. He attained the fame he always craved and found that it didn’t solve his problems.

The final trigger comes when, as he listens to one of Martha’s old messages, he hears her explain that she always calls him “reindeer” because he reminds her of the stuffed toy that comforted her during a rough childhood. For a moment, this former terrifying nuisance goes back to being a person worthy of understanding and even grace. Or maybe, again, it’s actually empathy: Donny ending the story in the same state in which he first encountered Martha makes manifest the bond between them.

Part of the global popularity of “Baby Reindeer” is no doubt a result of the web sleuth dimension — the online rush to identify the real figures behind Martha and Darrien. Gadd has discouraged such speculation , and innocent people have been accused.

But much of the show’s distinctive appeal comes from how, at a time when trauma narratives almost have become cliché in high-end TV drama, “Baby Reindeer” presents a more nuanced version of one. It authentically depicts trauma and mental illness as confusing, unpredictable and deeply personal, all of which is underscored by the emotional ambivalence of its conclusion.

“Baby Reindeer” relies a lot on its subjective point of view. Donny’s voice-over narration dominates every episode, recounting in vivid detail his disgust with himself. The series’s two directors, Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch, often keep the camera trained on Donny’s face, capturing his feelings of disorientation as even his best moments are disrupted by Martha’s constant intrusions. Viewers are drawn deep into Donny’s neuroses, which include, he and we begin to understand, an addiction to being the object of one woman’s obsession.

But while this show holds close to Donny’s perspective, in a way it also sees the world through Martha’s eyes — or at least to the extent that Donny identifies with her. She’s out of his life by the end of the finale, but he still has to live with that part of himself that feels exactly how she feels.

Throughout “Baby Reindeer,” Donny struggles to explain why he’s not more proactive when it comes to Martha. Why doesn’t he warn his friends about her? Why does he take so long to get the police involved? Why doesn’t he freeze her out the first time she turns weird?

The answer is that, on some level, he gets it. He too is lost, lonely and awkward much of the time. That’s why there is no real triumph in besting Martha. For Donny, it’s like defeating himself — something he already does nearly every day.

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The Housemaid By Freida McFadden Book Review
Book Review
Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid Book Review
Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid book review

COMMENTS

The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1) by Freida McFadden
"The Housemaid" had gotten numerous high reviews so I decided to try it. The book started off very good and had me hooked from the beginning. It tells the story of Millie a recent parolee who is homeless and in need of a job. When she gets hired by Nina and Andrew as a live-in housemaid/nanny she believes she has found her dream job ...
The best recent crime and thrillers
The Maid by Nita Prose (HarperCollins, £14.99) If you have already trashed your new year's resolutions, you could do a lot worse than console yourself with this delightful cosy mystery. The ...
Summary, Spoilers + Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid is an extremely fast read, partially because the book itself is on the shorter side and also because the chapters are short and to the point. So, this would be a great book to read if you're trying to dig yourself out of a reading slump. The plot is uncomplicated, but has enough drama and twists to keep things interesting.
Review With Spoilers of The Housemaid
The book is a "quick and easy read". The lack of "fluff". The snappy voice and dialogue. Critics of The Housemaid complain about: The lack of believability and character motivation. Plot holes. The absence of "fluff" i.e. world-building and character development. The similarities between McFadden's books AND the similarity of some ...
Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
Unfortunately, I found the Housemaid by Freida McFadden not as addictive as the blurbs claims this thriller to be. The first part was really boring and dragging and the third part was qrapped up way to quickly. The second part was the most interesting, but to be fair this book already lost my interest. The writing style is easy and accessible ...
r/books on Reddit: I just finished reading "The Housemaid" by Freida
This review contains spoilers. I wrote my thoughts down about the book as I went, in chronological order. ''The Housemaid" (on page 160 right now or about to begin chapter 32) - up to this point some things have been pretty predictable like I knew Millie and Andrew would end up sleeping together.
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (2022): An Absolutely Thrilling Read
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is one of the chart buster bestselling novels of 2022 according to the Wall Street Journal. Millie is making a clean break from her troubled history. Millie has responded to an ad for a housemaid posted by the Winchesters. Nina Winchester arranges to meet with Millie at her house.
Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is a fast-paced dark thriller full of secrets and deception. Available on Kindle Unlimited. This book is part of My Fall 2023 Reading List. My Overview. Millie, recently released from ten years in prison, is unemployed and living out of her car.
The Housemaid
Book Review. The Housemaid is a domestic psychological thriller about a live-in housemaid with a secret past who discovers that her new employers have secrets of their own. It heavily relies on several tropes, but the ends redeems the story a bit. I found that The Housemaid took more than half of the book for anything much to happen.
Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid Book Review. I am a true sucker for domestic thrillers. I know many of them are published and can be structurally similar, but they always keep me on my toes. The Housemaid was the same for me. I chose it as my first book for 2023, and I could not be happier. It was a quick-paced story, and I could not put it down.
The Housemaid's Secret (The Housemaid, #2)
February 26, 2023. "The Housemaid's Secret" by Freida McFadden is another classic psychological thriller that will have everyone talking about it in 2023. A little backstory, "The Housemaid" was the first novel I read by her and I was instantly hooked.
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden book review
The Housemaid plot - 4.5/5. I must admit, whenever I start reading a book, I'm always looking and waiting for the moment when it's going to suddenly get good. However, from the very early pages, this book had the perfect plot and chapter endings to keep me engrossed throughout. It starts off with a lot of intrigue as Nina's odd ...
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
SERIES - The Housemaid. AUTHOR - Freida McFadden. CATEGORY/GENRE - thriller, mystery, suspense. YEAR PUBLISHED - 2022. PAGE COUNT - 332. MY RATING - 4.5 of 5. RATED ON GOODREADS - 4.38 of 5. A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden in exchange for an honest ...
New Best Sellers Run the Gamut From Escapist to Galvanizing
Our Coverage of the Capitol Riot and its Fallout. The Events on Jan. 6. Timeline: On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump raided the U.S. Capitol. Here is a close look at ...
Book Review: THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden
Thoughts & Opinions. The Housemaid was a fun read! Full of suspense, twists and turns. Very easy to read and entertaining. Millie, the protagonist, finds herself in a very difficult situation; she has a boss from hell. And because of her past, it's almost impossible for her to find a job so she has to keep this one.
"The Housemaid" by Freida McFadden
It is riveting, and would make an awesome movie. There are two main narrators at play here, and each has a distinctive and uniquely engrossing tale to tell. Millie, the ex-con maid is in her late twenties, is desperate to keep her position as housemaid to the Winchester's. Nina, the wealthy, spoiled wife, is prone to mercurial moods, and she ...
Book review: In Nita Prose's 'The Maid' a cleaning lady is a murder
The Maid by Nita Prose. Ballantine Books. Devotees of cozy mysteries, rejoice: Nita Prose's debut, The Maid, satisfies on every level — from place to plot to protagonist. In a fancy urban hotel ...
The Housemaid Series by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid 2 Book Set The Housemaid & The Housemaid's Secret Paperback - JUNE 14 2023 by Freida McFadden. by Freida McFadden. 4.51 · 270 Ratings · 13 Reviews · 3 editions. Welcome to the family," Nina Winchester says as I …. Want to Read.
Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid is a totally addictive domestic noir! Secrets, lies, twists and suspense—everything you need in a psychological thriller. I loved it! Go in blind and go get it on Kindle Unlimited. Genre: Psychological Thriller. 4.5/5. Fast-paced. Bingeable. Short Chapters.
The Housemaid By Freida McFadden Book Review
The plot is quite clever. Millie lives in the back of her car, having been out of jail for only a year and being sacked from her last job flipping burgers. So she goes for an interview for a job as a 'housekeeper', a cleaner with a few extra chores for Nina, her husband Andy and her nine-year-old daughter, Cecelia.
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Housemaid: An absolutely addictive
The Housemaid had me drawn in since the beginning, the little teaser we get before the events of the book was an intriguing start to the novel. Our main character Millie is certainly an interesting one, it was really fun to read from her perspective during the time she works for the winchesters.
The Housemaid: An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a
New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Amazon bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear ...
The Maid: A Novel
This is how I feel about The Maid, Nita Prose's short-but-memorable debut crime novel. It's such a pleasure to experience, readers won't realize all the behind-the-scenes hard work that goes into crafting such a fun and surprising mystery. Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel and loves her job. And when I say loves, I mean loves.
Minority Rule review: rich history of America's ...
A ri Berman's new book is a rich history of America's ambivalent attitude toward majority rule. The founding document declared "all men are created equal", but by the time a constitution ...
The Maid: A Novel (Molly the Maid) Hardcover
The New York Times Book Review ... ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The Guardian, Glamour, Elle, PopSugar, Newsweek, Mental Floss, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews. ... A #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and a GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick, THE MAID won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, the Fingerprint Award ...
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Weekly reviews of new Australian books from Guardian Australia. ... Australian book reviews. Thursday 2 May 2024. Excitable Boy by Dominic Gordon review - punchy tales of masculinity, sex and ...
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New Cold Wars review: China, Russia and Biden's daunting task ... In the opening scene of the book, at a posh Virginia golf club on a balmy evening in July 2015, Morris, 38, turns a gun on ...
When the Flower Finishes Blooming: "Madama Butterfly" Opera Review
As Spring makes its return this year with blooming cherry blossoms, Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" welcomes its arrival with a haunting yet beautiful display of loss and heartbreak set in the early 1900s of Nagasaki, Japan. The story centers on Cio-Cio San (played by soprano Corinne Winters), a 15-year-old Japanese girl who is married off to Pinkerton (played by tenor Adam Smith), a U.S ...
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Why Is 'Baby Reindeer' Such a Hit? It's All in the Ending
The Netflix stalker series combines the appeal of a twisty thriller with a deep sense of empathy. The conclusion illustrates why it's become one of the most-discussed shows of the year.

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What are readers’ questions About the Housemaid?

Why would Andrew, an abusive husband, allow his wife to hire Millie?

Why the coincidence of the pulled out teeth?

If Enzo witnessed Andrew’s abuse of Nina, why didn’t he do anything?

If Enzo knew that Andrew was dangerous, why didn’t he keep a closer eye on Millie?

Is The Housemaid a retelling (or inspired by) The Last Mrs. Parrish (2017)?

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The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (2022): An Absolutely Thrilling Read

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is one of the chart buster bestselling novels of 2022 according to the Wall Street Journal.

Related Post: The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden (2020)

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The second part is just… WOW!

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Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

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The Housemaid by Freida McFadden book review

The Housemaid plot – 4.5/5

The Housmaid characters – 4.25/5

The Housemaid final rating – 4.5/5

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The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – Book Review

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Book Review: THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden

THE HOUSEMAID

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