The Housemaid: An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist

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Every day she cleans the home - it's gleaming and spotless. That is until Nina comes down and makes a mess and makes Millie clean it up again. Millie can't help but wonder why. Then there is the groundskeeper who warns her of danger when she first arrives. But Millie shakes it off. She can deal with one spoiled housewife. Her spoiled daughter is another issue, but Millie tries to win her over. Then there is Andrew - the achingly handsome husband who must put up with a demanding and erratic wife. Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester said as she greeted Millie, her new housekeeper. Millie desperately needs a new job. She doesn't have too many choices and one that provides her with a place to live, sounds like heaven as she has been sleeping in her car. As Nina ups the ante in an attempt to drive Millie into total despair and insanity, the latter isn’t ready to go down without a fight. As a matter of fact, she has a bit of a trump card up her sleeve, one she was hoping never to reveal again. The Winchesters don’t truly know who she is or what she’s capable of, and she’s about to show them how deep her claws can really cut. The Complex Rivalries of The Housemaid Pros: you'll keep reading because you don't know if you like it or hate it, awesome dark humour, great ending There is a dark humour underlying Millie’s narration, I liked those random funny moments even when the proceedings were not hilarious at all.

Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes. But her cold stare gives me chills… PLOT: Millie really needed a job. She interviewed for a housekeeper position with Nina Winchester, who has a husband and a daughter. Never in her wildest dreams, did she ever think that she would get the job.

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And what about the "translating apps" that Millie mentions in the very beginning of the book, hoping that they'll help her communicate with Enzo, except then she never uses them, never mentions them again and spends the rest of the novel complaining that she has no way of communicating with Enzo? 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.

Cleverly plotted, complex and multi-layered, Millie discovers that she is not the only one whose life is built on secrets and lies and comes face to face with a master manipulator. Will she be able to turn the tables? I'm upgrading my rating from 4.5 stars to a solid 5, thanks to the clever twists, and eagerly looking forward to delving into more of the author's twisted tales sooner rather than later. As always, not much to say about a thriller without spoiling anything (that would just be bad), but let's sum up the thoughts.

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I was all about the five star on this one, but I moved it down to 4.5 and rounded down because of three things. Now, before I jump into my review, I want to let you all know about two trigger warnings in case they could affect you while reading. McFadden does a phenomenal job not describing anything in any kind of detail which is great but there are insinuations of violence against women and self-harm. Again, nothing is too detailed or graphic, just insinuated so I wanted to give everyone a heads-up about that. McFadden gets major props from me for not going into any specifics in both potential trigger warnings. 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. thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. It was a wonderful reading experience as I wish every novel I read was like this! There was no alcoholic in this domestic thriller. Thank you for not using that trope, dear author. I am so fed up of reading thrillers with unreliable narrators who can’t control their addition to booze.

The first person works well in this story. While there is a little rambling (one can't escape that entirely in first person povs, unfortunately), it reveals the thoughts and intentions of the characters well and also creates a nice mystery about the speaker of the prologue. 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🙈 Millie is introduced to Nina's little girl, who looks like she jumped out of a Children of the Corn movie with her weird baby doll dress, white-blond hair, and spoiled brat attitude that rubs her the wrong way. Then there's the father, the breadwinner of the family, the overly handsome Andrew Winchester, who seems like Prince Charming and whom Millie can barely stop herself from drooling over. Nina seems to be delusional, even crazy at times. She loves her husband and her daughter Cece but for some reason, can’t stand Millie. 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.

There are also a few convenient coincidences. (Then again, these are found in almost every thriller, which is why I don’t read much of this genre.) 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...

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. 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, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ There are some interesting twists along the way. Though any regular thriller reader would be easily able to spot most of those, they were still penned in a way that I enjoyed them. Millie's POV is straight up "dear diary" style. As in, "I spent 7 hours cleaning the house and I thought about Andy Winchester's bangin bod the entire time. He is so dreamy. Does he like me too????" It's also giving me "rages to riches" fanfic written by a tween vibes. BUT AT THE SAME DAMN TIME... the book was legit funny in parts???? Like great dark humour throughout????The story covers the tale of Millie, our protagonist housemaid who starts work at a posh house after recently being released from prison. She’s hoping to keep her past from her new employer and earn enough money to move out of living in her car and start a real life for herself. However, her boss, Nina Winchester is incredibly odd and begins to behave eratically convincing Millie something else must be going on it in this family. But then everything flips on its head! The Housemaid plot – 4.5/5 There was a scene (without going into specifics) that was so wildly reminiscent of Kevin Smith’s movie ‘Holidays’ (the Halloween portion). It just didn’t seem very original when I felt it had major potential to be.