By: Freida McFadden
“Those are the four most beautiful words in the English language. You can go now.”
Freida McFadden, The Housemaid
*This post contains spoilers for The Housemaid
Overview:
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.
The Housemaid
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…
We’re All Here for the Twist
The Housemaid doesn’t build, it punches you right in the face with the gaslighting and tension.
Millie barely has time to walk in the door before she is tested by Nina’s odd demands and disturbing behavior.
Right away, you as the reader know there is something going on behind the scenes but you don’t know what. The book doesn’t hide this whatsoever, even putting it on the cover that a big twist is inevitable. Of course, this is not going to be a story of a husband leaving his wife for a younger model. That would be too simple.
I always try to figure out the twists ahead of time and I honestly didn’t see it going the way that it did. My assumption was that Nina’s odd actions were a game that her and Andy played together. I thought they were in on this trap together and possibly that this is something they do as a couple.
The realization that Nina was a victim and Andy the big bad was interesting.
However, I did have a problem with how quickly Andy revealed himself to Millie. Nina did not see Andy’s true nature until after they were married. He made sure that she had no other options before beginning her abuse and trapping her indefinitely. Andy trapped Millie as soon as he had the chance.
That time frame loses it a little for me. Perhaps, the escalation is due to Millie being such a vulnerable target? Nina made sure she picked someone who was desperate and didn’t have anything or anyone. It does make sense that Andy couldn’t resist such a perfect target. Still, I would have liked to see a little bit more of a build or even a bit of a time jump to really solidify Millie with Andy before he turned.
Overall,
The Housemaid is not a genre changing read. It is not emotional or thought provoking…but it is trashy and fun. Sometimes that’s all you need in a story. You just want to read about rich people doing bad things and getting what they deserve in the end.
At the end of the day the story is about three maniacs living in a house together. You slowly learn what everyone is capable of and the line between victim and villain is blurred constantly.
Rating: 4/5 stars
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