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hellokaley's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
My first (and probably last?) Frieda McFadden book. I wasn’t sure what to expect and honestly am not sure how I’ve read this long without venturing into her library, but the idea of a movie had me intrigued in reading the original.
Overall, this one is fast paced with short chapters that makes it a binge-able page-turner. Many of the chapters ended on a “or is it?!” sort of cliffhanger and with the next chapter being 2-3 pages long, it’s easy to just keep it going.
I don’t really know what to say otherwise- the first part set the scene but you knew all things weren’t quite what they seemed because of the genre. Some things just seemed a bit implausible and dramatic but here we are. Part II took a turn in which I probably would have appreciated reading the content warnings ahead of time. I usually don’t feel like I need to, but the abuse and torture was a little much for me personally.
All in all, a fast read with a bit of a predictable plot and the parts that were unpredictable were quite unsettling to me personally!
Is Frieda McFadden the Colleen Hoover of thrillers?
Overall, this one is fast paced with short chapters that makes it a binge-able page-turner. Many of the chapters ended on a “or is it?!” sort of cliffhanger and with the next chapter being 2-3 pages long, it’s easy to just keep it going.
I don’t really know what to say otherwise- the first part set the scene but you knew all things weren’t quite what they seemed because of the genre. Some things just seemed a bit implausible and dramatic but here we are. Part II took a turn in which I probably would have appreciated reading the content warnings ahead of time. I usually don’t feel like I need to, but the abuse and torture was a little much for me personally.
All in all, a fast read with a bit of a predictable plot and the parts that were unpredictable were quite unsettling to me personally!
Is Frieda McFadden the Colleen Hoover of thrillers?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Torture
Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Infertility
liebs_reads's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse
Minor: Body shaming and Murder
emilyrainsford's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
4.5
This was a total page turner for me, I was hooked. I went into it knowing basically nothing about the story and I definitely think that's the best way.
The basic premise is that a girl down on her luck and desperate takes a live-in housekeeper job with a rich family, but wonders what she's gotten herself into when the woman of the house starts behaving erratically.
This had some good twists and turns, with an ending that was kind of wickedly satisfying. It's definitely a popcorn thriller but I love that shit.
At the end there is an epilogue that teases the next book and I will for sure be reading it.
(Big trigger warning for gaslighting)
The basic premise is that a girl down on her luck and desperate takes a live-in housekeeper job with a rich family, but wonders what she's gotten herself into when the woman of the house starts behaving erratically.
This had some good twists and turns, with an ending that was kind of wickedly satisfying. It's definitely a popcorn thriller but I love that shit.
At the end there is an epilogue that teases the next book and I will for sure be reading it.
(Big trigger warning for gaslighting)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
sophieezreads's review against another edition
fast-paced
2.5
the best features were the short chapters and the fast pacing… but during the majority nothing much happened and i thought i was reading some sort of romance novel. the ending was quite thrilling and sort of satisfying but idk… i‘d say not worth the hype
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Torture, Violence, and Gaslighting
tourmalinequeen's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I read it for book club and I both did and didn't enjoy it. Not my genre but I'm sure it's something that others will enjoy.
The characters serve the plot not the other way around, and the plot surrounds an abusive relationship. It begins with gaslighting and develops quickly to confinement and psychological abuse. If it weren't for the book club I would not have read it. None of the characters are likeable and backstory gets info dumped in awkward expository segments rather than serving the characters or allowing them to develop. Plot is very fast paced and can be enjoyable at times but the unlikeable characters mean I didn't want anyone to succeed in the narrative, there was no sympathetic character even the ones surviving abuse did not come across as sympathetic. It reads like the author wanted it to be a movie or tv show rather than a book.
The characters serve the plot not the other way around, and the plot surrounds an abusive relationship. It begins with gaslighting and develops quickly to confinement and psychological abuse. If it weren't for the book club I would not have read it. None of the characters are likeable and backstory gets info dumped in awkward expository segments rather than serving the characters or allowing them to develop. Plot is very fast paced and can be enjoyable at times but the unlikeable characters mean I didn't want anyone to succeed in the narrative, there was no sympathetic character even the ones surviving abuse did not come across as sympathetic. It reads like the author wanted it to be a movie or tv show rather than a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
myahthebookfiend's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
oh how i love mystery/suspense books. I don't know why I don't read more of them. one thing for sure, though, is that I will be reading more of Freida's books. I absolutely adored this! I condone everything that happened in it. everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infertility, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
maitgr's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Stay away from this book if you are still not recover from abusive/traumatic relationship experiences.
It is a fast-paced story. I thought it would be about something else however after 1/3 of the book I can guess some of the behind story but still I enjoyed it. Some action of the main characters, Millie, I really don’t like but maybe it’s just because of the way she grow up.
It is a fast-paced story. I thought it would be about something else however after 1/3 of the book I can guess some of the behind story but still I enjoyed it. Some action of the main characters, Millie, I really don’t like but maybe it’s just because of the way she grow up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
Minor: Drug use and Infidelity
amess_x's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Fatphobia
emilyvannoy's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Torture, and Gaslighting
annakinsky's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 out of 5 stars
"I miss Cece when I’m at work. I think about her all the time. I had always fantasized that when I had a baby, I would be able to stay home for at least the first six months. Instead, I just took my two weeks of vacation and went right back to work, even though it still sort of hurt to walk"
"It hit me when I saw those two blue lines that my eternal graduate school lifestyle would never provide for me and my unborn child."
"I kept looking for flaws. Nobody could possibly be as perfect as Andy Winchester"
"I haven’t quite come down from my cloud yet. I can’t believe that I have the financial stability to stay home with my little girl."
"I want to be worthy of this incredible life he’s given me."
I finished reading the book in three days—it would have been sooner if I hadn’t been busy. I absolutely loved how it was written; it was easy to read yet incredibly thrilling. The characters were unpredictable, and I could easily imagine it being made into a film. The story is told from the points of view of Millie and Nina, which really helped me get into their heads and understand their thoughts. The ending was fantastic!
The story follows Millie, who is on parole and just wants to get a job after losing her previous one. Homeless, she lives in her car but is eventually hired by Nina Winchester. After only a few weeks working for the Winchesters, Millie notices that Nina behaves erratically, almost like a complete psycho. (The writing captures this so well—if I were Millie, I would’ve left that job long ago!) But Millie stays because she desperately needs the money. Millie is the housemaid, and although she seems fine on the surface, I started to think she might be a little unhinged too, based on the way she thinks and talks to herself. There are also rumors that Nina had been in a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her own daughter.
As time goes on, Millie grows more resentful and angry at Nina for her mistreatment, but she also gets closer to Nina's husband, Andrew Winchester, who helps her whenever she's in trouble. One day, while Nina is away, Millie and Andrew go to the opera together and later visit a hotel that was originally booked for the couple.
But here's the twist: Nina had planned everything. She was trying to escape the real monster—her husband, Andrew. Enzo, the gardener, was the only one who knew this secret and had helped Nina attempt to escape before. When Andrew finally tells Nina to leave, she’s thrilled. However, Millie ends up locked in the attic—just like Nina had been before.
Nina chose Millie with a specific purpose in mind: to kill Andrew. She knew about Millie’s troubled past, including how she went to jail for defending her friend. Nina subtly helped Millie by placing pepper spray and a spare key in the attic. Andrew is eventually locked up, and the twist is that Millie, in her own unhinged way, exacts her revenge by doing to Andrew what he had done to her—inflicting punishment. Andrew dies of dehydration, but not before Millie forces him to pull out his own teeth with pliers. It’s darkly humorous. When Nina returns to the house to save Millie, she discovers Andrew is already dead. She helps cover up the crime, with help from a coroner who happens to be Andrew's ex-wife’s father.
At the funeral, Evelyn, Andrew’s mother, reveals she knew about the teeth-pulling and that she had punished Andrew similarly when he was a child—another crazy twist.
In the end, Millie gets away with everything and maintains her connection with both Nina and Enzo. Nina even refers Millie to her friends—other women who are apparently abused by their husbands. The end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail