The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Here is the truth: I don’t really enjoy scary books, and this one was somewhat scary, but I wanted to try it anyway.

The Story in Short
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 realise 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…

I got this information here.

My Thoughts
This book was Interesting, although I do not love very scary books, it wasn’t very scary until the very end. I do see the appeal, and I have told my mother that she will probably like this author very much.

There was this scene near the end involving teeth, and it was, I must say, awful. Not to say it was badly written, it wasn’t at all. It’s just nightmare-inducing. I really hate everything to do with teeth.

Throughout, I felt sorry for Nina, up until she put her whole plan into motion. I also felt that Andrew

seemingly turned into a massive jerk for plot reasons. As I suddenly turned evil for evil’s sake, and I understand the reasoning, I just don’t really like it.

At the end of that one line, his mother said was sickening. It’s the teeth you see, I can’t deal with that. I did enjoy that we learned about Milly’s past, and as I already have the sequel, I will read it on the day I have forgotten the thing about the teeth. Surely that day will come.
The book was engaging, and if you like thrillers and want to sit in the garden or in front of a fire with a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon, by all means, it’s fun. But it’s not the best book out there; it doesn’t have to be. It was a tad predictable, but then again, how much surprise can you get from a story like this anyway? Not a lot, I would say. I do think that if thrillers are your thing, this book would be a nice one to pick up.