Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

                                                                

Print Length: 329 pages

Publisher: Bookouture (April 26, 2022)

From Goodreads.com: “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…

  

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My Rating: 1 star out of 5

Man oh man, I don't even know where to begin with this one.  For all of the 4 and 5 star reviews, to the praise from other authors about this book, I almost shelved it as a did not finish several times. 

To begin with, something about this whole story seems very... stilted. In fact, I would not be surprised to find out that the author used AI for parts of it as even the conversations between characters felt very unnatural. 

One thing that sticks out in my mind is a scene where Nina catches Millie and her husband watching TV together at one in the morning in the family room. It wasn't Nina's jealousy that didn't make sense (although it was a little out of place), it was when she goes on to berate Millie for wearing her pajamas in the living room at one in the morning. She then proceeds to tell her that she has to "stay up in the attic after bedtime" and how "the rest of the house is for family".  This struck me as off for two reasons, first of all - Millie isn't a child with a bedtime. She is a fully-grown adult so for Nina to speak to her that way was just confusing. Secondly, Millie LIVES with them, so why shouldn't she be allowed downstairs when everyone else is asleep? I understand what Nina was up to (trying to make Millie hate her), but despite knowing Millie's circumstances (she's an ex-con who was living in her car), how did she know Millie wouldn't just quit? 

Another thing that annoyed me about this story was the repetition of things that had happened especially since it was done in a way that seemed more like a "previously on chapter 1" instead of finding a way to seamlessly blend it into a character's thoughts. Nina's hot and cold attitude and willingness to talk about Millie as if she's not right there, as well as insult her in front of others (as she did when she had her PTA friends over), did nothing to endear me to her, not even when the truth comes out about everything she went through. 

Sadly, all of the characters were very flat and one-dimensional, and the majority of the time, their reasoning made no sense. Going back to Nina, the reader is informed that everything she has ever done has been to keep her daughter Cecelia safe, and yet at the very last moment she is willing to risk throwing everything away for Millie? Someone she doesn't know? Who would take care of her daughter then? 

 But of course, as implausible as the entire ending turned out to be, it is somehow all swept under the rug by law enforcement in some kind of convoluted revenge scheme (or something? I don't even know) for something that happened several years before. 

I don't know why this story was hyped up as much as it was, but all I can say is at this point I am not interested enough to continue on with this series (although I will admit that a part of me is curious how the author intends to set up in the next completely implausible book).