Big Oops!   And Wow!   LOL! 

The Housemaid Is Watching 
by Freida McFadden
Read by Lauryn Allman 9h 46m
Rating: A / mystery-suspense-thriller-
(#3 in The Housemaid series)

I made what is probably a common mistake right now and got the brand- new-on-the-market (this week) 3rd book in Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid series. I’ve seen it advertised over the last couple months, but what I was actually looking for was the 3rd book in Nita Prose’s The Maid series (due out October 1).  

Both books are crime genre, possibly Young Adult ( ?),  and both involve at least 1 1st person.  Also of note, McFadden’s heroine is named Milly,  Prose’s heroine is Molly.  LOL!   There was a lot of blood in the Housemaid #3 Prologue which certainly could have been the opening for a Prose novel, (in fact, I think Prose’s Book #1 opened pretty bloody.

But even with all those similarities, this book I was holding could still be something else – huh?  So I was very confused as I started reading and I stayed that way until about Chapter 7 (?) when I did some checking.  

I finally figured out my mistake and I was like, “Okay fine – I’ve got the 3rd book in Freida McFadden’s “The Maid” series.  It seems okay and from what I’ve read in my checking, this was not a strictly “in order” series. I guess I’ll give it the full try. (I could have returned it as “ordered in error,” but…

After the bloody prologue, it starts out kind of cute and simple, but it slowly grows to end up in the “twisty suspense thriller” category and although to me it seemed flawed in some way, I truly enjoyed it after about 1/2 way.  Yes, it might appeal to YA,  but it also MIGHT NOT be an author I’ll be reading more of.  That said, it’s a suspense novel and the prolific McFadden knows how to jack up and twist the tension.   Bottom line, I gave it an A – lol.  

Milly is a 30-something woman married to Enzo and they have 2 grade school-age children. The backstory (Volumes I and II but reviewed here)  is that Milly served 10 years in prion for killing a man in order to save her best friend from a rapist. Now she’s out of prison and married many years to Enzo, an immigrant Italian hunk, and they just recently moved to their dream home. They are devoted parents.

But following the move Milly grows increasingly suspicious about different things; some are silly, some with good cause. Most are connected to the move.  There are episodes where Milly’s suspicions increase the tension with perfect pitch. She’s suspicious of other characters from a housekeeper to her son to her husband and even the neighbor,  Milly suspects people of lying, stealing, flirting, gossiping, etc. And then there are some almost extreme twists to the very end.

Enjoy –