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emaan0920_ 's review for:
The Maid
by Nita Prose
Molly Gray is a maid at the swanky Regency Grand Hotel. Known for her limited social skills, she is simply struggling to get by after the death of her beloved grandmother a few months prior. One Monday when cleaning the Black suite, she finds Mr. Black dead in his bed. And eventually, Molly becomes the primary suspect.
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, and I am currently in a mystery/thriller phase, so I took it. Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me.
The biggest problem was that it was hard to get into and I got stuck often due to the slow pacing in the first half. There is so much filler and unrelated focus on cleaning and memories of her grandmother, and not much to do with the mystery until halfway through.
I also had a bit of a problem with how Molly was written. It’s constantly mentioned that Molly has problems understanding social cues and nuances, and is obsessed with neatness. All the signs point to her being on the autism spectrum, but that’s not the issue I have. It’s never directly stated that Molly is autistic, but she felt more of a caricature of one. It’s as though the author picked the autistic traits that would suit the story and then exaggerated them. Further, this characterization is inconsistent. From scene to scene, Molly would go from being naïve and lacking in common sense to suddenly being more astute and focused, and back again. The latter is especially so in the final 45% of the book, after Molly gets out on bail.
Juan Manuel, the dishwasher at the hotel, also felt like a caricature (of an immigrant).
I guess the final issue I had was that it was predictable. I could sense Rodney’s involvement chapters before it was revealed, so when the actual revelation came, I didn’t feel that shock.
To me, 3 stars is akin to saying “this was okay, but not memorable.” I still enjoyed the writing but everything else just wasn’t for me.
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, and I am currently in a mystery/thriller phase, so I took it. Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me.
The biggest problem was that it was hard to get into and I got stuck often due to the slow pacing in the first half. There is so much filler and unrelated focus on cleaning and memories of her grandmother, and not much to do with the mystery until halfway through.
I also had a bit of a problem with how Molly was written. It’s constantly mentioned that Molly has problems understanding social cues and nuances, and is obsessed with neatness. All the signs point to her being on the autism spectrum, but that’s not the issue I have. It’s never directly stated that Molly is autistic, but she felt more of a caricature of one. It’s as though the author picked the autistic traits that would suit the story and then exaggerated them. Further, this characterization is inconsistent. From scene to scene, Molly would go from being naïve and lacking in common sense to suddenly being more astute and focused, and back again. The latter is especially so in the final 45% of the book, after Molly gets out on bail.
Juan Manuel, the dishwasher at the hotel, also felt like a caricature (of an immigrant).
I guess the final issue I had was that it was predictable. I could sense Rodney’s involvement chapters before it was revealed, so when the actual revelation came, I didn’t feel that shock.
To me, 3 stars is akin to saying “this was okay, but not memorable.” I still enjoyed the writing but everything else just wasn’t for me.