I’m delighted to be sharing my thoughts on The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.
Before I share my thoughts, here’s what the official blurb says
“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…
My thoughts
This book has been popping up on my recommended reads for ages now, so I decided it was trying to tell me something and so I popped it onto my kindle. Let’s just say I was not disappointed! I stayed up for hours reading this, so much so I devoured it in just under two sittings!
A cleverly crafted psychological thriller that just oozes with tension and intrigue as a cast of unreliable narrators have your head spinning like an extra out of The Exorcist!
When Millie moves in as a live in housemaid, she thinks she has landed her perfect job. The Winchester’s home is like a palace and the family seem to have it all but her life with the family is anything but smooth. With trouble brewing between Nina and Andrew Winchester and Nina’s PTA friends being the worst possible snobs ever, Millie thinks she might have made a mistake taking the job. However with her own shady past hovering in the background, she knows her choices are limited so decides to stay until she makes enough to leave but things don’t work out quite the way she planned.
This is one of those stories where it’s really hard to say too much about the plot without giving things away but it really is packed with delicious little twists that will have you shudder and short sharp chapters mean you really cannot put it down once you pick it up! Don’t miss it!
You can buy your own copy here
Scottish Crime Fiction Blogger and Author 