The Housemaid - Freida McFadden

[goodreads]

Title: The Housemaid
Author: Freida McFadden
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 329
Date read: July, 2024

“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...


A 2.5 star review. I thought it better than just "ok" (which is goodreads' translation of 2 stars), but definitely wouldn't go so far as to say I liked it. It was very well written, and impossible to put down - but made for a VERY unpleasant read! Kinda like "Behind Closed Doors" by B.A. Paris, actually.

I was fascinated during the first half - really couldn't figure out what was going on, and why Nina was blowing hot and cold the way she was. When the twist finally came? I had NOT seen it coming, even though I definitely should have. There were hints enough, if I had been smart enough to catch them.

But unfortunately the second half was deeply unpleasant to read. Still well written, but that doesn't make up for such a frustrating read. So I won't be reading any more in this series, and will probably eventually get rid of my physical copy of this book too.