A review by readingwannie
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

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

2.5

This was my first thriller, which I was recommended by a friend! Despite not loving this book, I don’t think this was my last thriller. I really enjoyed the story and overall it was a great book. Certain plot-points were slightly predictable but I didn’t expect the ending and I had a good time reading this. I think this book in general would deserve a higher rating, but there’s one thing that bothered me immensely in the first part of the book, that pushed the rating down quite a lot. 

Light spoilers + ranting incoming:
As someone who struggles with body-image and has had a very troubled relationship with food and weight, there were certain expressions about Nina’s appearance that really made me uncomfortable. I can understand that there is a huge stigma around being overweight, and a lot of people consider fat and ugly to be synonyms (they’re not), but the talk about how Nina had let herself go, how she was so ugly and fat, and looked pregnant, and how her husband could do so much better, really did not sit right with me. As I got to the second half of the book, it was obvious that Nina gaining weight was deliberate, and she wanted to appear ugly and unattractive, and although it made sense for the story that people pointed out her lack of discipline, it still doesn’t diminish the fact that a lot of people actually have these thought about fat people. I already spend a lot of time worrying about what people think about me when they look at me, and I didn’t need a reminder on how horrible people can actually be. Which is why this book went from 4 to 2.5 stars for me…

It was a good book though, and if you don’t mind the things I’ve mentioned above, I think this is definitely worth a shot! Like I said, this will not be the last thriller I read, and I’m honestly thankful to have made my first trip into this genre. 
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