Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Official Synopsis: 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…

For all of you who saw the title of this review and said "Maggie, how did it take you this long to read this book, everyone has been talking about it forever!". I know, I am aware, but this book definitely doesn't fall into my normal reading genre, but after reading many, many, hockey romances I needed something a little bit different. The need for something else, mixed with seeing the movie trailer and my sister having told me to read this for the past several months it finally felt like time. (It was also on KU, which I have for like five more days so I figured I would take advantage).

The Housemaid is an adult mystery/thriller that follows Millie Calloway after she takes a job with the Winchesters, a well off family in need of a maid. Millie has recently been released from prison, for reasons that aren't shared with us until later in the story, and is having trouble finding a job. After sleeping in her car and living off sandwiches for a while, she is shocked with Nina Winchester calls her to offer her the job, especially since she most likely did a background check. Millie is more than happy to take the job, the house is big, it pays well and there is a room for her there. All Millie needs to do is survive a few months in this surreal world, save up enough, and she can move onto something else.

Nina Winchester just seems like a desperate housewife, one who doesn't have time to keep up the house even though she is home all day, and is spending her time making sure everything around her is perfect. Millie and Nina get along right away but after a few days, Nina seems to be forgetting things, things that she keeps blaming on Millie. When Millie comes downstairs to find Nina tearing through the kitchen, looking for notes that she definitely didn't touch, or when Nina doesn't tell Millie about her daughter's peanut allergy and threatens to fire her...Millie is starting to wonder if more is going on with this family then they are letting on.

Then there is Andrew Winchester, Nina's husband, who is overly caring and sweet, even in the moments where Nina seems to having a breakdown. Millie can't help but notice how attractive Andrew is, and catches him staring when Nina isn't around quite a few times. But Millie knows to ignore it, Nina has the ability to destroy her second chance at life and she needs to play it safe. But the more Andrew gives Millie attention the more she struggles to ignore his advances...and the weirder Nina seems to get. Now Millie is waking up in the middle of the night to find the door to her small room locked from the outside, Andrew and Nina keep fighting and things in the house seem to be growing with tension.

Now, to avoid actually spoiling this story because, man, there is a lot to say, I'm going to stop there with my synopsis and try to keep everything as spoiler free as possible (wish me luck). I like to think I am good at predicting endings of books, or at least coming close to guessing what could possibly happen, but wow did this book catch me off guard at certain points. There were moments where I thought the 9 year old daughter might have actually been the insane (which is wild, but trust me). You never seem to know who might be at fault for things, and in the second and third parts of the book we expand who's POV we are getting, which adds a completely different layer to this story. This book has a lot of things happening at all times, there never seems to be a moment of 'rest' as the book quickly moves through all the events and twists. This book also has a lot of dark moments, especially when you start to see what has happened to Nina and Andrew in the past.

I found all of the character's very intriguing and they are definitely all calculating. I though the twists made sense, and the more information we got as the reader the more I would freak out. (Ask my sister, she was getting texts as I read the book). Having not read over Freida McFadden books I have nothing else to compare it to, but I can say it definitely put me through the ringer. I usually enjoy my thrillers to have more of a paranormal aspect, which this does not have but it definitely didn't need to since apparently real life with a happy, well off family can be just as scary.

Overall, I am excited to see the hype around this book and finally understand it. It is crazy to me that Freida McFadden frequently writes book with this many plot twists, dark moments and even darker characters. I really enjoyed the book and am very happy I was able to start and finish it without needing sleep because I'm not sure I would have (I'm a giant baby).

I rated The Housemaid 4 out of 5 stars!

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