The Housemaid
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I read this book for a book club that I basically strong-armed my little sister into letting me infiltrate. I’m now officially in the group chat voting for the next best meeting date, so the ship has sailed! As part of the club, we went around the table giving our roses and thorns of the book, and I figured I would air mine here. These are SPOILER-FREE tidbits; if you want the spoiler-filled morsels, you can keep reading to the end, past my rating.
Roses:
As a thriller, you know there’s a twist. This twist was predictabl-ish (I had an inkling but was iffy on the exact conditions). Regardless of predictability, the twist was good! It scratched my twist itch
In order to pull off the twist, McFadden uses carefully crafted language that’s open-ended enough to be interpreted in multiple ways. I love when an author is dexterous enough to psychologically manipulate us readers.
The story centers around rich people with secret lives and who doesn’t like that trope?
Each character has a degree of sinisterness to them and I like that there’s no one who comes out looking squeaky clean
Thorns:
None of the characters are particularly likeable, so they’re hard to root for
Plot holes with regards to behavior. A couple of characters did things that didn’t align with their end goals. This is occasionally useful to keep the plot chugging, but it’s silly when their end goals are life-or-death vibes
The author’s need to wrap everything up perfectly, tying each loose end. This is annoying to me– it’s usually so forced. Some things can be left to the imagination.
In the process of tying loose ends, some events that unfolded were a little too convenient. I understand a couple of details going the protagonist’s way, but be for real
Overall, I didn’t find it very realistic, but I was still able to dive in and enjoy myself. A thriller is meant to be devoured, and this is certainly devourable. It’s an easy, quick, exciting read, but I won’t go out of my way to recommend it to others. It’s actually book one of a three part series, and I don’t see myself reading the rest, which I feel like is telling. It receives 3 out of 5 flames.
**SPOILERS BELOW:
For those in the know, here’s some more specific thoughts:
Andrew absolutely would have forced Nina to let him adopt Cecilia. He’s a super controlling freak– of course he would have exercised control here
When Millie has to hold the books on her for three hours as part of the torture (not my arrogant ass thinking I could do that no problem), she doesn’t have a way to tell time, so how would she know she hit the three hours?
Continuing with my nit-picky vein, when Millie has Andrew’s phone and he’s in the attic, how would she know his phone password lol
Why is everyone having sex with Enzo, stop being so incestuous
