The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

338 pages

Thriller

4.1/5*

Available Formats: Physical Book

“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…

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!

Frieda McFadden has become increasingly popular, especially in the Book Tok community, and I can say that I really enjoyed The Housemaid. There are quite a few trigger warnings, so before you read be sure to look those up! My boss suggested this book to me, and all I can say is that I saw nothing coming and my jaw is still on the floor. This book was filled with suspense, psychological terror, and of course mystery. The Housemaid starts out with Millie Calloway, a woman with a criminal past who is living in her car while trying to make ends meet. She snags an interview with the Nina Winchester, a very wealthy woman living with her husband and daughter in Long Island, and the interview goes surprisingly well for a girl with a criminal past. Next thing we know, Millie is offered the job as well…you guessed it…a housemaid in the Winchester home!

            It all seems perfect and amazing right from the beginning, but then Nina Winchester starts showing her true colors and a bit of a split personality, which begs the question “Who really is Nina Winchester?”. Although some of what was happening throughout the book was a bit predictable, I still found myself glued to the pages and wanting to keep reading more. The ending has a very surprising twist (or two…or three) that I did not see coming, which leads us right into book two, The Housemaid’s Secret (yes, please read these in order).

            The Housemaid reminded me a lot of a recent book that I picked up called Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, so if you have read Hidden Pictures, you will love this book. If you are a lover of Freida McFadden or just thrillers in general and have yet to pick up The Housemaid, I highly suggest that you do! Overall, I give this book a 4.1/5!

For more book recommendations please tune in to Off the Books with B&S Podcast on any of your preferred podcasting platforms; new episodes air every other Thursday.

Samantha