Review: The Housemaid Is Watching

The Housemaid Is Watching by Freida McFadden
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Have to say this was disappointing. I enjoyed the couple parts before this one dearly but this just wasn't it for me.

Firstly, the insane amount of repetition of the same information bothered me so much. I cannot express the vehement frustration I felt reading about how her husband was insanely handsome, to such an extreme that she was used to women flirting with him, or how ill their financial condition was and the way they couldn't afford a thing, OR how everyone was just so tensed about her blood pressure problem.

Second, I don't like how Millie has been dethroned from the title as the main character of the series, because why is Enzo the hero all of a sudden? It's like she no longer has her own life without involving Enzo in everything now just because she's married to him, and it kills me because this read was supposed to be women-centric fiction or as tagged popularly.

Third, I expected this to be a thriller of course, but I'm surprised by how less of chills I got to experience during the read. Halfway through the book, there's just the ongoing neighbour drama and it's hilarious to me how Millie is worried about Suzette hitting on Enzo when she's almost equally obsessed with Jonathan all the time. The one time she hits on him is when I had to cringe so bad, I took a walk as a break from reading.

Fourth, the 'supposed-to-be' major plot twist, i.e. Ada being the killer, did not sit well for me. I feel the readers have been robbed off Ada's personality throughout the entire book, and the author had to make her the main killer in the end just because of this, attempting to create a major impact/shock but unfortunately, there were no hints dropped in between and nothing. You just have to know that VOILA! Ada is not the quiet, non-violent girl you think she is!

Fifth, Martha killing Mr Lowell made absolutely no sense to me. It just felt like a poor attempt at filling the gap to conclude the story, because it was just so hilariously unfitting. You don't just kill someone on impulse, no matter how much you wish you could, and Martha was nowhere the kind who would slit open someone's throat just because they caught her stealing. This just unnecessarily adds an unscrupulous side to her otherwise innocent character.

Nevertheless, I'm glad I finished all the parts in the series, and no matter how many times I had to touch my palm to my forehead, it was fun.

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