Becca Reviews: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

This book certainly isn't about to change your life but it's summer so you could read it ... if you wanted to. If you go in thinking, okay hit me with a holiday read, a bit of mystery, and go heavy on the trash then GREAT (sorry). Luckily I started reading with this in mind and I found this story solidly okay. We have a twist, which everyone says they saw coming, (I didn't oops) and then some juicy revenge so it's not all bad.

Some of the writing frustrated me as the descriptions felt forced and overly detailed to no end. 'I shake her elegant, manicured hand..', yeah we understand that she's rich and fancy pants. On that note I felt babied with some of the language, e.g. someone's in an attic room far away from anyone and we're told, 'I could scream and yell all I wanted, and nobody would hear'... yep we know that much because you're in an attic room far away from anyone - it quickly became tedious.

Lots of the plot elements are deeply flawed, a language barrier that could have been solved with Google, concerns that would have been solved by simply walking away, and questions that could have been solved with, um questions, just any communication at all would have helped.

It will be one of those books you read and continue to read (no quitters here!) just because you want to know the ending and if xyz character gets their comeuppance. Unfortunately, there really is only the one plot line, no side characters, no side quests, and no secondary mysteries, whilst this keeps the pace snappy, it did feel a little two dimensional.

I will give props to McFadden's writing of gaslighting. It can seem over the top when read on a page like this because we are sat on the side-lines looking in, but think back to a time you were gaslit (hopefully you can't) in hindsight it does seem unbelievable and obvious that you were being treated terribly but in the moment it's easy to be blindsided.

Of course I was a fan of the Part 1 and Part 2 element, borrowed from a favourite book of mine - those twists honestly always get me! The story is split into Millie's perspective, our protagonist who is hired as a maid by a wealthy family, and Nina's perspective the wife in said family. Both perspectives are quite diary-esque, Millie's is more casual and blunt, whereas Nina's is more contained and formal which matches their characters respectively.

What is missing for me, and quite crucially, is Andrew Winchester's backstory. We are given very small insight into this, such as his parents and their behaviour but I would have liked to know more as these features MUST, at least in part, be the reason for his personality and behaviour (no spoilers). His actions are too specific and seem as though they're linked to a past event or childhood trauma, for example, which I kept expecting to be a big reveal but I was left wanting.

Overall, I won't read it again, I won't even confidently recommend it to friends unless I know they particularly enjoy this genre. BUT did I read the sequel... and am I planning to read the third... yes and yes. Now, this is mainly because I was loaned all three books together BUT also, yes, I do want to see where Millie ends up - SUE ME.

Read: 02/07/2024

Published: 26/04/2024

ISBN: 9781408728512

Price: £5.50 (GBP)