Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Published by: Bookouture
Publication date: 27th April 2023
Content warnings: gaslighting, mental illness, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, torture, infertility

Other books in The Housemaid series:
The Housemaid’s Secret
The Housemaid’s Wedding
The Housemaid is Watching

“From behind closed doors, she sees everything.”

Ooooff, yep… I definitely understand the hype now 😂 I am not sure why it’s taken me so long to read this but I loved it!! This was one of those rare occasions where I watched the film adaptation before reading the book, and I so wished I’d read the book before. Freida can write, and I felt that sense of dread, that claustrophobic feeling so intensely, so deeply in my bones that I feared it would scar me for life. I mean, the sign of a good thriller, right?! I’m so happy to share my review for The Housemaid by Freida McFadden!

About the book

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…

The beginning

I don’t tend to reach for the popular books, the ones that are overly hyped. But as soon as I started this one, I could see why everyone goes mad for it. I could not get enough of it!! It was strange imagining Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried in every scene, but I also kinda liked it 😂 Millie Calloway is desperate for work. She’s living in her car, eating sandwiches for every meal and applying for jobs left, right and centre, but she can’t catch a break. After her interview for a live-in housemaid position at the Winchester’s stunning home, she thinks it’s too good to be true… until she gets the job offer. However, soon after starting work, things aren’t as dreamy as they appear on the surface. This book grabbed me instantly and Freida’s writing is superb. It’s the kind of book where you’re suspicious of everyone and trust no one, and I instantly connected with Millie. There are hints of a dark past and she is desperate for a new start, but Nina Winchester is something else. The friendly, welcoming side to her Millie experienced in her interview is gone. And the real Nina soon comes out to play…

“I wonder if she would feel the same way about me if she knew I spent the last ten years of my life in prison.”

The more we learn about Nina, the crazier she seems. She blames Millie for things going missing, she’s a gaslighter, she has wild mood swings, and she’s nothing like the Nina who interviewed her that day. Her creepy daughter, Cecelia is also annoying, yet Nina’s husband, Andrew, seems to be used to her outbursts and knows how to handle her. You can’t help but like him, to almost feel sorry for the life he has with her, even though it’s clear he loves his wife. These characters were excellent and I loved how strongly I felt for them already. There was so much to always keep you gripped to this story, and as well as Millie’s role as housemaid for the Winchesters, we also slowly begin to learn more about her past, her time in prison. What did she do all those years ago? And why did she do it? I found myself really drawn to Enzo too, the ‘sexy Italian landscaper’ who seems to be afraid of the Winchesters, despite working for them. I loved knowing that something bad was going on, the story always making you ask questions and theorise. It was super addictive already!

The middle

It doesn’t take long for Millie to realise she has feelings for Andrew Winchester. Oh boy, of all the men she could pick, it had to be Nina’s husband. No matter how much she tries to get him out of her mind by avoiding him in the house, or attempting to flirt with Enzo instead (both pretty unsuccessful) he is the one she comes back to. And it’s clear he feels something for her too. This relationship build up was delicious and the secretiveness made me feel nauseous at times. Nina was so cunning, so clever, always one step ahead, and she was bound to work everything out. When Millie manages to get tickets for a show Nina wants to see, she is impressed with herself. Surely she’d be in Nina’s good books now. But of course, classic Nina blows everything up, accusing her of choosing the wrong date, a date she is away. But this just leaves Millie and Andrew alone together. And let’s just say there was no going back from that evening… The way their relationship progressed was wild. So wild, in fact, that Nina is banished. Andrew has had enough. He wants a life without her in it.

“There’s something about this room that’s making a little ball of dread form in the pit of my stomach.”

This book had well and truly sucked me in by this point. I was lost to it. Gone. I was completely engrossed in Millie and Andrew’s whirlwind romance, but of course, something started to feel off. Yes, another reason why I wished I’d read the book before watching the film is that at this huge moment, I already knew what was about to happen. But, saying that, I was still SO excited to see it all play out again! And when it does, the book cleverly flips perspective, and in part two of the book, we read from Nina’s POV. I loved how we see a whole new side to Nina, how we go back in time to when she and Andrew first met, how we experience just how different their relationship was. I loved getting so deep into this, to see for myself where the cracks started to show. I’d pretty much hated Nina throughout the entirety of the book so far, and it blew my mind how quickly my thoughts started to change. I just could not put this down. Nothing else mattered. Sleep didn’t matter. I just had to get to the end! I was very keen to see the differences between the book’s ending and the film’s!

The end

There are frustrating and sickening accusations, and as the reader, finally knowing the truth changed everything. The intense feeling of claustrophobia was palpable and my hatred for one particular character was off the scale. But it seemed there was no escaping the horrors of this house. And knowing what had happened there, what continued to happen, had me feeling sick to my stomach. I really wanted Enzo to come out of his shell and my GOD this was his moment. Such a brilliant character who takes an unexpected path in the plot. I loved seeing his interactions with Nina before Millie even came on the scene, and his scenes with Millie made sense after this. We follow Nina’s experiences right up until she hires Millie, and this is where the third and final part of the book began. I loved reading from Nina’s POV, but I was so excited to get back to Millie, to that cliffhanger we were left on at the end of part one. The suspense seems to grab you by the throat and does not let you go all the way through, and I was here for it. I needed this ending!

“There’s something in his expression that sends a chill down my spine. And then he shakes his head, almost imperceptibly. Almost like he’s trying to warn me. But he doesn’t say a word.”

As everything unravels and the pieces of this wild puzzle effortlessly slot into place, I couldn’t help but admire Freida’s meticulous plotting, how everything just works so bloody well. It’s clever, it’s so tightly woven together, with nothing as it seems on the surface. I loved characters, I hated characters, and was rooting for Millie always, even after learning what she did to land herself in prison all those years ago, maybe even more so! As tension-filled as the ending was, it was also incredibly satisfying to experience. There were a couple of details that felt a bit meh to me, but I really am struggling to find anything else to moan about. It was all just wonderfully put together and I need more! I am so glad there are already more books in the series out in the world, which I suppose is a plus of reading a book like this three years late, and I am already so keen to see what horrors we uncover in book two. If you’re like me and avoid overly popular books, I am happy to report that this one absolutely deserves your time. Let me know your thoughts if you’ve read this! And let’s see if book two is just as good 👀

Overall thoughts

The Housemaid is one of those books that you just want to read all the damn time. There is a biiig addictive quality to it that I only find in a handful of books and my god I never wanted to part with this 😆 It’s not overly complex, and at times you can probably guess where the plot is going, but I didn’t care. I ate this up and left no crumbs. It was so easy to binge! Millie Calloway is desperate for a job, and after living in her old car and eating cheap sandwiches every day, she is shocked when the Winchesters offer her a housekeeping job at their stunning mansion of a home. Nina Winchester is a piece of work and her husband Andrew is doing his best to keep her and their daughter calm and happy, but it becomes clear that this house is hiding a massive secret. Nothing is what is seems, and if you’ve not read it, oh lawd. Just you wait. It’s chaotic, it’s wild, it’s horrifying. But I could not get enough of it.

I loved the deep secrets embedded into the lives of these characters, I loved how there are characters we love to hate, and I loved the level of unhingedness. Is that a word? If not, it is now! It’s such an easy to read thriller, but at the same time, the storyline is pure excellence. I’m honestly not surprised this book is as huge as it is. This is my first taste of Freida’s writing, and I just know I’m going to pick up the other books in this series and any other book she writes. I am officially on the Freida train and I’m not getting off any time soon 🚂😂

You can grab your own copy of The Housemaid right now over on Amazon* or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Freida on Instagram for more updates!

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