The Housemaid

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I really appreciated how everything was wrapped up in the end. It didn’t real-world make sense, but as far as mysteries and thrillers go, I thought it was done really well. I can see people really enjoying this or really hating it. Do not expect this to be a literary masterpiece. You will not be mentally stimulated in any way. This is your standard popcorn thriller but not as annoying as Unmissing, Stay Awake, etc because of the dark humour. This is the type of book you read after My Dark Vanessa rips your heart out and stomps all over it. The blurb doesn’t do justice to the book and totally misrepresents it. It also contains minor spoilers. Thankfully, I read the blurb only after completing the book. do you know those movies about the scary cult of, like, creepy kids who can read minds and worship the devil and live in the cornfields or something? well, if they were casting for one of those movies, this girl would get the part. they wouldn’t even have to audition her. they would take one look at her and be like, yes, you are creepy girl number three. A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden in exchange for an honest review. What It Is About

I was impressed by how the author could take such a typical plotline and develop it into a captivating story. Right from the prologue till the end, I couldn’t keep the book aside. This, despite the fact that the story was disturbing, creepy, weird, even OTT. Let's not even mention how far-fetched the twist about the policeman's daughter is, and how it would be absolutely impossible to simply drop an investigation like that, even if a random policeman decided to. my mysterious italian man🦋freida knows how to write a fictional male character😋i won’t say anything else hehe you just gotta read about him😏😏 All in all, this is still gripping enough to provide an entertaining ride. I liked the first book much better as it had plenty of dark undertones. This one offers standard fare in comparison.

Toys

Someone has ended up dead in the prologue of the novel. Is it one of these three? Or was one of them the murderer? What happened in the Winchester household after the new maid was appointed? I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve. Excellent and totally entertaining . . .The most interesting (and endearing) main character in a long time.” —Stephen King Anyway, the two of them hatch a plan to save Wendy. Blah blah some stuff happens and Millie shoots Douglas and he’s dead. Clearly, this woman is in an abusive relationship and is afraid of her husband. She must help her. Something sinister is going on. She cannot allow this man to kill his wife.

But she soon realizes she's made a mistake. The strict housekeeper, Mrs Huxley, watches her every move, emerging from the shadows when least expected. Lord Howard’s son, Alex, takes an interest in her, and as a former addict, she finds herself drawn to him. There’s a general atmosphere of unease at Highwood Hall, from the narrow tunnels laced throughout the sprawling house, to the abandoned north wing, rumored to be haunted. It’s easy to imagine the secrets hidden within these walls, like the secrets she holds close. Millie makes frequent comments about how Andrew couldn’t want to be with Nina because he wants more kids and she’s having trouble conceiving. It was mentioned about 3 times and it kind of seemed like a triggering statement to keep making if the reader has problems conceiving. This is supposed to be the protagonist but it’s really a horrible thing to say and I couldn’t really forgive the statement after the third time. But I soon realise I've made a mistake. The strict housekeeper, Mrs Huxley, watches my every move, emerging from the shadows when least expected. Lord Howard's son, Alex, takes an interest in me, and as a former addict, I find myself drawn to him because I know he's bad for me.bone chilling. i would not survive a single minute in freida’s mind, but i’d still pay to live a day in there anyways. she’s an absolute genius. at one point i was like: is this a romance or a mystery/thriller? the whore in me when it comes to romance will never go away🙈 I finally have the chance to use a phrase so many of my reviewer-friends do: it’s a popcorn thriller! Treat it as such than as a literary classic. As long as you read it with your logical side kept aside, you can have fun with it.

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. After thoroughly enjoying the first installment, I eagerly dove into this book, hungry for another whirlwind adventure in the world of Millie the maid. I can't help but keep my hopes high for the next installment, perhaps one where we follow Millie the social worker, assisting individuals caught in tumultuous relationships and dealing with dangerous spouses who mistreat their significant others. Personally, I'd love to see the narrative shift to focus on a husband's perspective in the second half of the book. 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. The more we learn about the two women, the more their inner worlds become nuanced, and the more difficult it becomes to accurately determine who’s really good and bad between the two of them. They both have their reasons for doing what they do, as well as their fare share of skeletons buried in their personal graveyards. Funnily enough, it almost seems like the more they clash against each other, the more their similarities become unveiled. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don't know who I really am. They don't know what I'm capable of...I enjoyed The Housemaid and generally think McFadden’s books are fun popcorn reads, but this sequel was godawful. Clunky, repetitive writing. Cringey dialogue. Predictable plot with a “twisty” part 2 retelling the same boring story from another perspective. Skip this. If you have not read, The Housemaid, I highly recommend it. This book does work nicely as a standalone but reading the first book gives you more insight into Millie and her need to help others. Millie is an interesting and fully fleshed out character. She has a prison record and takes whatever jobs she can to make ends meat. She it tough and vulnerable at the same time. She also tends to get into some interesting and tense situations. AMAZING!!!!!!!!… I absolutely loved it… I will remember it FOREVER!… Get ready for the ride of your life in a novel that you won’t want to end!!!!!” NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

McFadden knows exactly how to consistently raise the stakes in her novel, always keeping them in sight and never letting us forget the seemingly constant danger our characters are in. The fact she found a way to make two cunning enemies inhabit the same house only benefits the plot, doing wonders in maintaining a tense atmosphere with little room for respite. At the end of the first book, she embarks on a journey to work in special homes, thanks to the highly-regarded references from Nina. Her mission is to aid housewives who have endured abuse at the hands of their husbands. 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... But offers that seem too good to be true are usually exactly that, as Millie is about to discover. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – My Review Nina & Andrew Winchester have the perfect home Andrew has his dream job & they have a daughter Cecilia who goes to a private school, they both decide to hire a nanny to take care of their huge home & Cecilia, so Nina interviews Millie who has been living in her car& finding it hard to make ends meet she was fired from her job at a burger joint& thinks the nanny job would suit her down to the ground. She gets the jobNina welcomes her to the family she is delightful at first but Nina has a dark side that when you cross her things start to go to hell.Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel for an honest review. It has been published in April 2022. I will concede the first half of the book does move a little more slowly, largely to give the author the chance to drum up the mystery to her liking, to leave clues laying about for our benefit, and naturally, to create expectations which will subsequently be shattered. The author obviously takes great pleasure in misdirecting her readers and getting them caught up on red herrings, to the point where it felt as if she was challenging me directly. Millie is desperate to get a decent job, and fast. When she gets a job offer by Nina Winchester to be a housemaid in the Winchester’s beautiful home, she is more than happy to overlook all the small issues that come with the position. If you know your domestic thrillers, you'll know that the above character analysis will change over the course of the novel. The characters were unbelievable at times. In spite of this, I enjoyed their idiosyncrasies. A thriller can’t be twisty without characters who generate mixed feelings in you. It’s boring to have thrillers with clearly delineated good or bad characters. The characters in this book will test your loyalties towards them. So then we have part 2, told from Wendy’s perspective. Turns out, Wendy is a gold-digging skank who only married schlubby Real Douglas for his money. She has an affair with Fake Douglas, who is married to Real Douglas’s secretary, Marybeth. Wendy and Fake Douglas make a plan to kill Real Douglas for his money… and to frame Millie for his murder, which really seems like a lot of trouble to go through.