The Housemaid – I don’t trust NYTimes bestsellers anymore

I was wondering if there is a way to distinguish books that are written like trashy teen-fiction? I saw a lot of praise for The Housemaid, it was on NY times bestseller for over two weeks. I bought the paperback, and I was cribbing about the writing the whole time while reading it! So illogical — it felt like the author had done ZERO homework, she just wrote whatever came to her mind, and used the word “probably” like a billion times. 

I usually buy books based on reviews and ratings, and literally everyone on Goodreads said it was a page-turner, an addictive, brilliant mystery and I couldn’t disagree more!! The plot was a little bit creative, but the writing ruined it. 

Of course, when I googled the reading age for the book, and saw that it was tagged 12 years and up, I realised that I shouldn't be complaining as much. Is there like a tag for these books (so I can steer clear of them)? I’ve read other beach-reads and they’re not this bad.

I just want to make myself clear — I'm not against easy reads. I don't look for rich vocabulary, or amazing plots in a book. I'm not complaining that it was predictable — that's ok. What I didn't like in The Housemaid is that the writing was awkwardly kiddish, and even the dialogues were highly unrealistic. All the characters think and talk in a similar way — complete lack of originality.

The author was also trying to spoon-feed to the readers about how creepy the house is, by repeating the same sentences a dozen times, which was unnecessary. I can take a hint, I am not a child!

And the "oh I'm so beautiful but I'm trying so hard to look unattractive" trope could have also been taken down a notch.

I thought the mystery would make up for the writing, but I was wrong. But yes, I totally see why it can get one out of a reading slump. You simply want to keep turning the pages until you get to the end, even if its annoying the hell out of you xD