Audiobook Review: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid
Series: The Housemaid #1
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrator: Lauryn Allman
Published: April 26, 2022
Audiobook: 9 hours 46 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: July 11-14, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: The Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of…
Jessica’s Review:
Freida McFadden is another author who is getting a lot of attention since last year, so I was leery of reading her. The first book of hers I listened to was Never Lie and I gave it four stars, but I wasn’t blown away like people were saying about her books. But I love my thrillers, and decided to give The Housemaid a try and see if the book lived up to the hype for me.
What I can say is WOW. It is a very quick read and if I had been reading it I would not have wanted to put it down, but I listened to the audiobook during my commute for work. For most of the book I would say that I was very engrossed in the novel. I figured some things out along the way, but wasn’t sure where it was going to ultimately go. In fact, I texted my friend Devin when I had about 3 hours left that I wasn’t sure about it. Her answer was, “Let me know at the end!” It wasn’t that I wasn’t enjoying it, but none of the characters was likeable!
THEN… I get to the ending and whoa: Mindblown! I loved it so much that I started the second one right away! It has a lot of everything that thriller lovers enjoy. Even if you start it and are not sure about it… keep going! This one does definitely deliver!
It’s got the thriller/ suspense to it along with some dark humor as well.
The narrator is Lauryn Allman and she is remarkable! I would have thought we had two narrators, but she was able to distinguish between Millie and Nina in distinct voices. She really showed how Nina is just a nightmare to work for! Her narration of Millie with that ‘Yankee/ New York/ New Jersey accent was spot on for me!
Here’s to going into book two!