I am a big fan of thriller books, including more "low-brow" tastes. But given the hype it has gotten, I expected The Housemaid to be better written. Why are there so many "foreshadowing" hints that just give away plot twists early on? It feels like the author doesn't believe the reader is intelligent and needs to spell everything out for you. I know we're always walking a fine line between spelling it vs letting the reader figure it out for themselves (and ensuring the twist or mystery reveal isn't totally out of left field), but this just felt like it didn't do it well.
I am curious what others think. Does it deserve the hype it has gotten?
by Sniktau28
21 Comments
Idk I hated it.
I felt the same. Kind of like a Mystery 101 book. Maybe great for someone whose never read mysteries before to kind of get the hang of it but if you’re a seasoned mystery reader it was annoying, to say the least.
McFadden has a pretty specific formula to her books, which her devoted readers love.
If you’re not one of those aforementioned devoted readers, you’ll usually be lukewarm at best towards McFadden’s works. Very similar to Dan Brown, they both write a very specific kind of book that appeals to a very broadly-swept description of the “general audience.”
And that’s not a bad thing, if you’re the type of person who loves those authors that’s totally cool. But it just means that they won’t typically be anything ground-breaking, and will simply exist on the shelves of stores like Target and Walmart where lots of copies will sell because they’re cheap and accessible.
I’ve noticed a pattern in recent years that hugely popular novels from authors with frequent (1-2+ annually) releases do the same thing. There’s so much hinting that anyone who is paying attention, or even reading and writing often, is going to unravel every mystery easily and early.
I think if this is all you read (which is going to be the case for lots of casual readers) it’s great! If you read more widely or more complex books, it ends up feeling a bit hollow.
One of the worst books I’ve ever read. Frida MacFadden’s writing is terrible. She bounces from one thought to the next like a 5th grader writing a story.
Man I hated this book. I’m somehow a little excited to hate-watch the movie though 🤭
It’s a very easy book for people who don’t read much. My colleague from work loved it. I thought it was awful
My book club read it for our first-ever meeting. Its poorly written and I don’t think it deserves the hype *but* our club mostly enjoyed it. To me, its like a cheesy action movie, where you’re reading it because its fast and stupid and ridiculous and kinda fun.
The way you describe it makes me think it may have been written as a second screen show – where typical viewers are expected to be using their phones while watching. Their attention is split but they still want to be able to follow along, and understand what they’re ‘watching’, so there’s little to no room for subtlety or subtext – just on the nose dialogue and flagged foreshadowing.
I haven’t seen it so reserve the right to be absolutely wrong.
Always remember that intelligence and reading comprehension vary wildly. If you consider yourself “average” that means half the world needs easier reads than you do. And they deserve books that work for them. Those books just may not work for you.
I bought it and the sequel for $2 at a thrift store on vacation. I think that is the perfect way to enjoy books like this. The writing isn’t good but the story is so ridiculous and wild that you want to know what happens.
I have seen this series described as “airport books” because of how repetitive the writing is, it’s very easy to put the book down and come back to it without feeling lost.
Because the writing is very approachable and it has a big twist, I think it just caught fire at the right time.
Freida McFadden is a very poor writer. She writes garbage dessert books. But some people really enjoy that because you don’t really have to think. If it was 2007 all her books would be lined up at WalMart.
It does NOT deserve the hype. I liked the first one, easy fun read. Saw a clear loophole that pissed me off, but it’s fine. I’m easy to please.
The second one, though, was the stupidest thing I’ve read all year. Rage inducing garbage.
Just like The Maid series, this is just being pushed and shoved all over bookstores by marketing. Short, easy to read, might as well spend the $10 or so.
Frieda has two different types of books. The ones like The Housemaid where anyone paying attention can figure out all of the twists without a problem. And then she has some where you couldn’t figure out the twist with a gun to your head because the twist is “character who was only mentioned once in the first half is actually the big bad killer.” And both types anger me.
Her books are for people who want easy, quick reads with low stakes (for a thriller) just to kill time.
It’s just literary junk food. The novel equivalent of a can of Pringles. All of McFadden’s novels are. They’re great for half-paying attention to on a flight or in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. Frustrating if you’re looking for a mystery with any sort of polish or depth, though.
On vacation currently and seen a few people reading this. I think it is probably easy reading for a lot of people. No better or worse than one of these Netflix thrillers that are largely easy watching and inoffensive
It’s a quick and easy read with a big twist. Most of Freida’s books can be devoured in a day or two even for people who don’t read much. I read all genres and this was available on kindle unlimited so I read it in a few hours. Her books are very fast paced and helpful to get out of a reading slump so I get why their popular even if they’re not the best written.
Because it’s a fun, mindless, popcorn-style read. Sometimes that’s what people want – even people who normally read “literature” want to turn off their brains sometimes. Some people aren’t movie or TV folks and instead of a guilty pleasure trashy TV show it’s a book. Nothing wrong with that.
It was truly the worst written book I read this year.
The best way I can describe it is if McDonalds and Walmart had a literary baby.
I do not even remotely understand the hype. There are so many better written books that are much better and don’t have endless repetition and foreshadowing as if you have never read a book before.
Tbh i loved the series, the first book was really really good, the remainder were just okay but good enough to recommend to others
Couldn’t agree more. Read it for one of my book clubs and most of the women really enjoyed it, but I guessed the twist in the first 1/3 of the book. I also enjoy thriller content, and just getting back into reading. Do you have any thriller author or book suggestions?