Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Housemaid

I’m sitting here, nodding my head, almost like a physical agreement with myself that I did enjoy this book. I finished it in a day and wow, wow.

There were a couple things I was able to guess correctly from the start:

that the prologue was in the POV of Nina, the wife; that Enzo would end up in a relationship with one of the women; and that Millie would somehow find herself locked in the room at some point

.

Things I enjoyed:

Freida does a great job, I think, of building out characters in a way that provokes an emotional reaction to them. In most of her stories, I’m able to get into her characters’ heads and really picture what they’re experiencing - which means I’m more invested in how things end. She also has a habit of gently leading you to believe one thing and then pulling back the curtain - et voila!!
I was trying like crazy to guess what would happen, and I think I got there a couple times from the heavy hints - but Freida also loves dropping red herrings that I fall for
The complexity of this story to document
domestic abuse (to the extremes)
and the toll it takes on the person who stays - how hard it is to escape
I know it took halfway through the book for the plot to start plotting, but I think it felt genius, because when Part II hits, you begin to question everything you read and how you interpreted it, and I LOVE this feeling
The ending. I do not condone
murder
at all, but the comeuppance felt like the story was fully completed. I’m super curious to see where the second books takes off from, now that we’ve been introduced to this new role Millie can play. I’m really glad Freida chose to have
Nina protect Millie, even if she needed cajoling, because it’s true, Millie didn’t deserve to be set up for this just because she had a prison record
Just wow - at one point, I literally said
“I think there’s a plot hole, they never mentioned where the daughter went, she disappeared”
AND THEN I LEARNED
The reveal felt like everything. I had to close this book multiple times and just gasp because it felt like a long time coming, but then to finally see how it played out???? Couldn’t have predicted the twist, even though everything felt like it made sense in the story world, especially the smaller reveals in the last few chapters
THE PEANUT BUTTER

Things I didn’t enjoy as much:

Some of the writing around “foreigners” and accented English - although I think it was played up to reflect the stereotype of rich people being rude? But I was a bit sensitive to this
Again, comments about
“I deliberately put on weight so I wouldn’t be sexually desirable”
How bratty CeCe was - and it was never really fully explained why she acted this way with people who weren’t her mother

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading the rest in the series!

Content Warnings

victoriasutherland's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

ynaiita_5896's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

🗝️ This book has everything a good thriller asks for: times suspense, a tense environment, an exhilarating thrill and a sense of mystique and an ominous ambience that pulls you into the plot. McFadden is a genius and this book deserves all the laud and popularity it received.

🗝️ This book met all of my expectations. Which is why I read it in less than a day. The plot twists were perfectly introduced, in a way you'd never expect. The characters were not lovable in the traditional and obvious way. But they came with a level of intrigue so strong and convincing that you're hooked.

Content Warnings

sickler2014's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Content Warnings

nialiversuch's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

erinsbooknook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Well this book was a wild ride. I have never cussed so much while reading a book. The amount of times I said WTF was astounding. I do recommend this book as a thriller. None of the main characters were all that likeable, except Enzo, but it made a pretty good story and I couldn’t put it down. The twist was a slow burn, which was cool. I read 110 pages in one day and almost 100 on another day, that is rare for me as a slow reader. Pick this one up.

Content Warnings

annabelleg's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I found the first part of this book really hard to get through, it definitely felt like it dragged a little. Part two was a lot more thrilling and grabbed my attention. By the time I got to part two the plot of the book became pretty predictable and I knew how the story would end. I still enjoyed the story and as it was a quick read I didn’t mind that it dragged a little.

Content Warnings

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Damn! This book hooked me. It was written in a way where I craved for more. Highly addictive to say the least. I couldn't stop reading. This is my third book from Freida and I thoroughly enjoyed this one more than the other two. Nina and Millie were both smart women who fell for the wrong guy. Good thing Enzo helped out. I thought he was undercover or something. Lol. God. It turned so dark, I had chills. Men like Andrew disgusted me. Who does that? Oh, one thing I wasn't crazy about was the police turned out to be Andy's ex's father. It was a bit too coincidental. But oh well, because of him, the women were free. Dear Cece will never be punished by a monster. The abuse stopped when he died and he turned that way because of Evelyn, his mother. And Millie's mission to help more women continues to the next book. I can't wait to read more. Thank you, Doc. (I heard in a book group on Fb that she's a doctor)✨

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