The Housemaid Is Watching

Freida McFadden’s “The Housemaid is Watching” is a superb thriller. It is the fourth and final volume in a series about a kind woman who has helped many battered women and established a reputation among ladies in need of her assistance. She is married to a very handsome man who ran from Italy to the US after killing a man who murdered his sister. The two of them saved many women in the US. They are now married and have two children. The youngest, age 9, is very active and sometimes gets into mild problems, such as accidentally breaking dishes because he is not careful, and hitting another boy while they are in the third grade. His older sister, by a couple of years, is just the opposite. She is very caring, always makes her bed, and dotes on her younger brother. The family moved to Long Island and met their neighbors in their cul-de-sac.One is an older woman with a son who is in our protagonist’s class. She is a busybody who spies on everybody. She is overprotective of her son. She is unmarried. Another couple consists of a wife who our protagonist sees constantly trying to enchant her husband; she always touches him. Her husband does not seem to care what she is doing to another woman’s husband.Our protagonist’s husband hires a maid despite having financial difficulties, claiming he does so to help his wife. She dislikes the woman because the maid always looks at her strangely. She catches the maid stealing from her and fires her.There is a murder.The book is filled with red herrings, numerous twists, and people often misinterpret things.

There’s a line in the book, told with a wink, about how a third novel in a series is never as good as the first two. Not true in this case. This was just as good as the other Housemaid novels.For background on Millie and Enzo, it definitely helps if you’ve read the first two novels. This one is set a decade later, in which Millie has 2 children, and is no longer a Housemaid. She’s a social worker, which - though maybe a bit unrealistic given her prior years in prison- is a perfect job based on her willingness to help other women in need.The first half of the book is somehow both fast-paced, and also a slowish burn. I felt there was some repetitiveness in Millie’s thoughts about Enzo’s secrets, especially his possible infidelity. It’s exciting to read, but just when you think the plot’s going to really move, the author pulls back, and it only inches forward. Normally building this type of suspense is great, but I think the author did it a few too many times.The other thing I found a bit puzzling was the hesitation between Millie and Enzo to communicate with each other about what they were separately doing. If you’ve read the other 2 books you know that, both separately and together, Millie and Enzo have done a number of criminal things (even though they were done to protect themselves, or others). Their unwillingness to truthfully communicate - mostly from Enzo’s side - after having gone through so much together, felt a little out of character.Those two areas are why I gave this book a 4 instead of a 5.Otherwise, this book was terrific. An attentive reader might guess some things, but would be unlikely to figure it all out. As the book progresses, the pages fly by. You can’t stop reading. Millie is, and always has been, a very likable and sympathetic character. Enzo is more of a mystery, but also very likable (and apparently VERY hot, which contributes to driving the plot). And Millie’s 2 very different children, Nico and Ada, are written realistically, with the mix of doubt and happiness that children aged 11 and 9 normally have.If you’ve read and liked the previous Housemaid books, you’ll like this one. If you haven’t, go back to read the first 2, and then come back to this one.

SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEWIf you make it that far in the book, that seems to be some foreshadowing that this one is not on par with the rest of the series or McFadden's other books. I usually enjoy her books as a fast, entertaining read with 2 (or more!) sides to every story and an interesting twist at the end that at least I don't often see coming. This book was slower getting started and never really gained speed. There was a LOT left unexplained and at the end, even the plot twist was a big "ummm, what??" moment.So we are to believe Nico was horribly traumatized because he had to play with toys in a room? So traumatized that he started beating up other kids, flushing pet insects, not eating and acting up? I thought maybe this was not so stated pedophelia but TBH, the vagueness took away from the credibility. And he’s so traumatized that his sister felt compelled to stab the person doing this? And then other references (ok, maybe 2) to what a horrible person Jonathan was but no previous evidence? The no details about the other kid who went missing 3 years ago but nothing until all of a sudden there’s a boy in the neighborhood? The weird Martha stuff all throughout... The weird 11 year old boys stuff in Ada's part? There really were far too many odd little tangents that didn’t line up, make sense, or get resolved.I dunno, this one just didn't work for me. I finished it but it all left me scratching my head because it just didn't make much sense.