Skip to main content

Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

The Housemaid 

(The Housemaid #1)

By Freida McFadden 


Published Year: 2022

Page Count : 287 pages 

Medium Used: Kindle PW 

Genre : Mystery, Murder, Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Fiction, 2024-read. 

Rating : 5/5 




God!! What a book! What a story! I got up this morning and my first thoughts are to recapture where I left off the story last night! I got addicted to the two women characters - Millie and Nina. What appears on the surface is definitely not what lies beneath. This story proves it. Do we really know the people, who hold infinite grace and charm, enough to trust them? This story makes us question our convictions twice! If something feels too good to be true and real, probably it isn't! The most normal looking families could be the most dysfunctional. An unsuspecting and naive newcomer might have the surprise of their life when they learn the truth! I sincerely hope that this book doesn't put thoughts into already some sick, perverted minds out there. 


I thought what I have been reading is crazy, insane but then I wasn't prepared for what's to come. Millie Calloway is a special character. She is akin to Lisbeth Salander from the Steig Larsson's books - only minus the IT/software hacking skills. I dont know how to write a review to this book without giving out much of the mystery. I went into the book without any background knowledge. I didn't even read a blurb on Goodreads or Google. And that really helped in blowing my mind .. more than if I had had a peek into the plot. 


This plot has multiple jaw dropping, heartbeat skipping twists. No one is what they seem to be. The characters are so, so, so well developed. They are sick,convoluted and surreal. 


The story opens to a beautiful and happy family of three - Nina, Andrew and Cecilia. They are filthy rich and have anything they could possibly want. Enter into the setting - Millie. She is the newly hired hosuemaid with a dark past hanging round her neck. She thinks her new employers dont know it ..  oh, but they do. Her first impressions about the family turn to be wrong. They knock her world upside down. She thinks Nina,the wife, is high maintenance, rich and snooping and psychotic. And She is - by all evidence. Andrew comes off as a down to earth, kind and compassionate husband who loves his wife despite the publicized flaws in her high strung nature. Cecilia is a selfish brat,spoiled by her equally callous mother. But Millie couldn't be more wrong. She is looking at the stuff all wrong. She is dancing to someone else's tune. She is stepping into all the preset puddles and making the right splashes without her knowledge. And when it is revealed to her .. bam!!


As we are barraged with twists after twists and motives, ulterior motives .. the excitement mounts to a crescendo! 


 There is no element of smut in this plot and I feel relieved. I think it would have made the story so yuck instead of entertaining. Why don't the fellow authors take a note from Freida and skip all the romance/smut scenes from their books? This is good. This book will entertain. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough book review

The Thorn Birds  By Colleen McCullough  Rating 3.75/5 Genres : Australia, Vatican city, Cardinal, Romance, Generational fiction, Historical fiction  Bah. I dont know. I felt this is just an ok sort of book. The only aspect that stirred me and struck a chord with me is the all encompassing, soul level love between Maggie and Father Ralph de Bricassart. Everything else - no matter how juicy,emotional or dramatic just failed to make an impact. The story covers the lives of three generations of women of the Cleary/Armstrong family line - their cherished dreams and dashed hopes, their hurts and heartbreaks over unrequited, failed loves..their finally getting what they wanted but it not being fully enough.. well, it sounds and feels like a roller coaster.  And whats more..there is plenty of repeat in the events of their lives..what has happened to the mother, happens to the daughter and so on..  Coming to the story. Maggie Cleary is brought up with a bunch of brothers in a very p

Book Review : The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

 The Perfect Couple  By Elin Hildebrand  (Nantucket #3) Published Year : 2018 Page Count: 347 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Drama, Crime, 2024-read.  Rating : 4/5  The ending is such an anticlimax and a let down for me - it almost feels like being cheated. I got so high and invested in the narrative..I lost sleep for most of last night and was reading all day since I got up this morning. The character development is ooof .. the characters are filled with life, credulity and fly off the page into the reader's mind space. I loved the layout of the narrative. I loved the writing.  I would have liked if the mother of the family was a bit on the negative side as well. I mean, really, having Nicole Kidman play the role and making it all cute, nice and kind, compassionate is like wasting enormous talent. I picked this book because I saw an ad that there is a limited series coming up on Netflix starring Nicole Kidman and other in

If he had been wih me by Laura Nowlin Book Review

 If he had been with me  By Laura Nowlin Published Year: 2013  Page Count : 385 pages  Medium used : Paperback  Genre : Romance, Young Adult, Teenage Love, 2024-read.  Rating : 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠 This is a well written, cute, little love story. I felt very warm and fuzzy reading it .. until realization dawned on me on how it is going to end. It is definitely a sad ending but also holds some hope and promise for the future. The writing is utterly captivating. I congratulate the author on her amazing writing skills that brought this story to life!  To get to the rest of my review, click the link to wordpress.com below.  Read My Full Review Wordpress  Or Find the same review on Wix.com below Read Full Review on Wix