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A review by anovelbeauty
The Maid by Nita Prose
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
Note: I received an eARC of this book in order to provide an honest review.
Book TW: assisted suicide, murder, ableism, IPV, physical abuse, drug trafficking, drug use, manipulation, police interrogation, immigration, infidelity, terminal illness, abandonment
The Maid is sort of an interesting mystery that tows the line between a traditional mystery and a cozy one. As you can see from the TWs, it deals with a variety of serious topics, but it’s generally in a fairly detached way, with certain exceptions. Another piece that makes this unique among mysteries is that our MC, Molly, has trouble interpreting and processing social situations. While no specific diagnosis is mentioned in the book, if you want a general idea, I would say that Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder would be a decent fit. So what that means for the story is that you as a reader will probably catch most of the plot threads early on and have to watch in mild horror as all the bad guys take advantage of Molly’s differences in functioning and betray her trust repeatedly. You will know this almost immediately... Molly won’t. This left me pretty uncomfortable for a good portion of the book, even though the tone gave me a pretty good feeling that it would all work out in the end. The general theme of the book is a good one (and is clearly stated): don’t assume what is “normal” functioning for you is how everyone perceives the world.
Fortunately there are redeeming characters that watch out for Molly and Molly herself has a lot of agency and does her best to continue learning. She is extremely caring and detail oriented and rule-following. She is also still grieving the death of her grandmother, her only close relationship, prior to the start of the story. It’s nice to have a character that does have differences in how they function also be dynamic and interesting.
I should note that because Molly’s social impairments are at the heart of the story, there’s a lot of ableism and derogatory statements and intentions toward her throughout, which are more intense because it is narrated in first person. Additionally, the police interrogations in particular (I think) have the potential to be triggering as the detective in the story views Molly’s mannerisms/differences with deep suspicion. So if that is a sensitive topic for you, it might be good to choose a different book. However, it may help you continue if you know that like most mysteries, it has a happy ending and the overall theme is to uplift Molly’s differences.
Where I think sometimes the story struggled was in formatting/placement of flashbacks, as they would often make the reading experience a bit confusing. Also, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the final twist, which makes Molly seem a bit more like an unreliable narrator than I think she was meant to come off as.
That being said, it was a pretty quick read and different enough from a normal mystery that I think I could recommend it to other mystery lovers. However, it definitely had a few problems, so it’s not a new favorite for me by any means. It’s just a decent, quick mystery and if that’s what you want (and pay attention to the TWs) then give it a read.
Book TW: assisted suicide, murder, ableism, IPV, physical abuse, drug trafficking, drug use, manipulation, police interrogation, immigration, infidelity, terminal illness, abandonment
The Maid is sort of an interesting mystery that tows the line between a traditional mystery and a cozy one. As you can see from the TWs, it deals with a variety of serious topics, but it’s generally in a fairly detached way, with certain exceptions. Another piece that makes this unique among mysteries is that our MC, Molly, has trouble interpreting and processing social situations. While no specific diagnosis is mentioned in the book, if you want a general idea, I would say that Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder would be a decent fit. So what that means for the story is that you as a reader will probably catch most of the plot threads early on and have to watch in mild horror as all the bad guys take advantage of Molly’s differences in functioning and betray her trust repeatedly. You will know this almost immediately... Molly won’t. This left me pretty uncomfortable for a good portion of the book, even though the tone gave me a pretty good feeling that it would all work out in the end. The general theme of the book is a good one (and is clearly stated): don’t assume what is “normal” functioning for you is how everyone perceives the world.
Fortunately there are redeeming characters that watch out for Molly and Molly herself has a lot of agency and does her best to continue learning. She is extremely caring and detail oriented and rule-following. She is also still grieving the death of her grandmother, her only close relationship, prior to the start of the story. It’s nice to have a character that does have differences in how they function also be dynamic and interesting.
I should note that because Molly’s social impairments are at the heart of the story, there’s a lot of ableism and derogatory statements and intentions toward her throughout, which are more intense because it is narrated in first person. Additionally, the police interrogations in particular (I think) have the potential to be triggering as the detective in the story views Molly’s mannerisms/differences with deep suspicion. So if that is a sensitive topic for you, it might be good to choose a different book. However, it may help you continue if you know that like most mysteries, it has a happy ending and the overall theme is to uplift Molly’s differences.
Where I think sometimes the story struggled was in formatting/placement of flashbacks, as they would often make the reading experience a bit confusing. Also, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the final twist, which makes Molly seem a bit more like an unreliable narrator than I think she was meant to come off as.
That being said, it was a pretty quick read and different enough from a normal mystery that I think I could recommend it to other mystery lovers. However, it definitely had a few problems, so it’s not a new favorite for me by any means. It’s just a decent, quick mystery and if that’s what you want (and pay attention to the TWs) then give it a read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Murder, Drug abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Grief, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Infidelity and Abandonment