The Housemaid

Author: Freida McFadden

Genre: Physiological Thriller, Suspense

Pages: 325

Other books: Do Not Disturb, Never Lie, The Inmate , Do You Remember?, The Coworker

Star Rating: 4.0 = Very Good

Nina Winchester is looking for a housemaid to help with house chores and her daughter Cecelia. Millie, recently lost her job and applied for the position. As they walk through the house to explain daily chores Millie can not but notice how wealthily the family is. It is hard for Millie to not judge Nina as she has everything at her fingertips. If she doesn’t work how can she not have the time to clean or take care of her own daughter? Millie is currently living in her car so anything is an upgrade. Once the walkthrough is over, Millie is hoping she will get the offer but worried she wouldn’t because of her background check.

The next day Millie is offered the job with a start date the very next day.

For Millie, this is a new beginning. She has been up and down with jobs and she feels this is her last chance to do well. Excited to start the next day, Nina and her run through the house again showing her living quarters. She will be staying in the attic of the house, 3 stories up. As they walk up to the room, Millie has an eerie feeling. Maybe it’s the draft in the room, the staleness or no natural air. Then she notices that there is a lock on the outside of the room not inside. Nina tells her it use to be a closet and Millie will get her a spare key so no need to worry. As uncomfortable as Millie feels, a bed to sleep in is all she needs, she can’t complain but she can wonder.

After living there for a couple of days, Nina is a different person than Millie has thought she was, she is rude, bossy and crazy! She will tell Millie one thing and mean the complete opposite driving Millie insane. All Millie wants to do is do a good job but when Nina blames Nina’s mistakes on her, Millie is running in circles. She hears rumors from neighbors and Nina’s friends that she might be psychotic. Then she heard that Nina was sent to a mental institute when Cece was a baby. She almost killed her own daughter! Millie doesn’t know if she can keep working for her but what choice does she have? She is on parol, if she leaves on bad terms with Nina she can go back to jail.

Nina’s husband, Andrew, is the complete opposite of Nina. He is loving not only to his wife but also Cece who isn’t even his own child. He cares about how Millie is and tries to help Millie out if Nina has a request that Millie can’t fulfill. Andrew is not only kind and helpful but he is not bad on the eyes either. He is the full package, according to Millie.

Time goes by and Nina’s demands get more intense so Millie starts to rely on Andrew. They even spend an evening together to show appreciation for all Millie’s hard work at a broadway show. Andrew and Millie start to have feelings for one another. Millie is so infatuated with Andrew and knows how mean Nina is, can one night together really hurt?

Once they are intimate with each other, Millie is panicked that Nina will find out about Millie and Andrew. Once she finds out what will Nina do? Nina has a record for overreacting, how would she take this? Can Andrew and Millie pull off being around each other?

As she continues to work for Nina, one day she finds a playbill for the broadway show her and Andrew went to on her bed, she didn’t put it there, Andrew is at work. Nina knows…

The events that happen after are unpredictable. A must read! If you liked being surprised this is the book for you. Highly enjoyed the unpredictably factor of the book. I don’t think I would have imagined the events that happened next but may have guess who the foe is. I appreciate the Part 1-3 in the book to break the characters up but might have liked longer parts to the book. I wouldn’t have minded longer stretches of suspense. In all, recommend for suspense lovers!