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The Maid (Molly the Maid, #1)

Nita Prose

Start date: November 7, 2022

Finish date: December 7, 2022

Discussion: Buddy Reads 2022

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What Members Thought

Mar 22, 2022 fleurette rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery

I'm a little disappointed. After the popularity of this book, I expected something spectacular.

It was not easy for me to connect with this story. And I'm not sure why. I don't think it was due to the main character's, Molly’s, social disability. Although I admit that her behavior sometimes really frustrated me, and I don't think that was the author's intention.

I think part of the problem is that it's a rather slow story. The dead body of Mr. Black, a regular guest of the hotel, are found in the I'm a little disappointed. After the popularity of this book, I expected something spectacular.

It was not easy for me to connect with this story. And I'm not sure why. I don't think it was due to the main character's, Molly’s, social disability. Although I admit that her behavior sometimes really frustrated me, and I don't think that was the author's intention.

I think part of the problem is that it's a rather slow story. The dead body of Mr. Black, a regular guest of the hotel, are found in the first chapters. But then, for the next few chapters, nothing really happens. After 30% of this book, the investigation is still not moving forward. In addition, everything else is slowed down by very extensive Molly’s flashbacks. Almost every chapter in this section of the book describes a scene in the past. Admittedly, it allows us to get to know Molly and her relationships with other characters better. But it also slows down the pace of this book very much. I had a hard time focusing on this story. I also believe that you could make an up-to-date plotline to explain the dependencies in Molly's world.

I feel like Molly's health condition serves only to make the main character a fool who completely does not understand what is happening and is unable to correctly assess people's behavior. I was sorry to read about how people gaslight her and use her limitations against her. That was another reason why it was difficult for me to read this story at times and I didn't want to go back to it.

The ending surprised me very pleasantly. Eventually, I found something really interesting in Molly. It is a pity that the author did not take the opportunity to show it for most of the book. There were too few intriguing moments in this book, too few twists. And above all, too little mystery and investigation. I was in the mood for mystery, but here we spend more time getting to know Molly and seeing the world through her eyes than trying to solve mystery. It's only in the last 25% that the story gains a little pace, it begins to unfold, and Molly becomes a truly multi-dimensional character. This last quarter saved this story for me.

The book was fine, but I expected much more. ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2022 Priya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read_in_2022

My favourite part of this book which I read in less than a day was of course Molly, one of the most endearing and loveable protagonists I have ever encountered. The whole book is narrated by her so we see everything from her POV.

Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand hotel, a job she loves and delights in doing perfectly. She is contented with her life though she misses her grandmother terribly and wishes more of her colleagues would be nicer to her instead of whispering behind her back and looki My favourite part of this book which I read in less than a day was of course Molly, one of the most endearing and loveable protagonists I have ever encountered. The whole book is narrated by her so we see everything from her POV.

Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand hotel, a job she loves and delights in doing perfectly. She is contented with her life though she misses her grandmother terribly and wishes more of her colleagues would be nicer to her instead of whispering behind her back and looking at her strangely. All because she is different from them. How is never actually specified so we don't slot her into any particular category but she is neurodiverse in the way she takes everything literally and struggles to read social cues. She is also very straightforward and assumes everyone around her is like that. Many times, I wanted to hug her when she was making a mistake in trusting the wrong person and actually smack the wrongdoer, such is the protective instinct she aroused.
Molly's life is thrown out of gear when she discovers a regular hotel guest, Charles Black, dead in his bed and the investigators end up suspecting she had something to do with it. Unfortunately a lot of seemingly innocent actions of hers ends up as evidence until her real friends stand up in her defense.

This is more of a character driven story though the plot revolves around a death. It is about the growth in Molly and the way she perceives the world and people around her. She's intelligent in the way she can see certain wrongs but doesn't really grasp other things. She is always very polite and so eloquent even in her monologues to herself and the way she expresses things. This is of course a credit due to the author whose language has presented Molly in this way. She did remind me of Eleanor Oliphant, the other fictional heroine who has an old world vocabulary that's so charming in this era of shortened words and text speech.

I enjoyed this journey with Molly and was always rooting for her. Her memories of the only family she ever had, her grandmother, and the way she honours those memories is simply beautiful. This is a book I have been meaning to read for a while now and couldn't put down when I finally did.

It would be so good to read more about Molly because I loved her so much but the way the ending was handled was perfect too. A really enjoyable book that I would definitely say is a must read for Molly alone. ...more

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Feb 21, 2022 Brittany rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, audiobook, 2022-release, read-2022

3.5 stars? I think? Maybe? This is an extremely difficult book for me to review. First let me say it was narrated and written well and it was a unique story to tell. However I struggled listening to it at parts and kept wanting to turn it off. I eventually had to increase the narration speed.

Molly is a very different character who does not understand social cues at all. Nor does she understand expressions and needs a structured life with clear rules for etiquette to get by. She is however an exc ...more

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May 16, 2022 Susan rated it liked it

Shelves: series-im-reading

Nearly gave this book five stars, but had to drop to 3 because of the twist at the end.

SPOILER: Molly’s choice to say nothing about Mr. Black’s true killer was not only an unbelievable “gotcha” moment at the end, it also undermined the moral tone of the story. Molly may have felt she was supporting justice, but in reality she allowed the wrong person to be convicted of murder. Just because he is a bad person who committed crimes does not mean he should take the fall for a murder he didn’t commi Nearly gave this book five stars, but had to drop to 3 because of the twist at the end.

SPOILER: Molly’s choice to say nothing about Mr. Black’s true killer was not only an unbelievable “gotcha” moment at the end, it also undermined the moral tone of the story. Molly may have felt she was supporting justice, but in reality she allowed the wrong person to be convicted of murder. Just because he is a bad person who committed crimes does not mean he should take the fall for a murder he didn’t commit.

As a long-time mystery fan, I prefer protagonists who seek out actual truth, rather than - as Molly puts it - her personal version of truth which ”highlights and prioritizes my lens on the world.”

“Justice is like truth,” says Molly. “It is subjective. So many of those who deserve to be punished never receive their just deserts, and in the meantime, good people, decent people, are charged with the wrong crimes. It’s a flawed system - justice - a dirty, messy, imperfect system. But if the good people accept personal responsibility for exacting justice would we not have a better chance of cleaning the entire world, of holding the liars, the cheaters, the users, and the abusers to account?”

Molly’s views on truth and justice lead her to participate in her beloved grandmother’s choice for euthanasia, to hide key details about her friends from police, to protect a murderer because she felt the victim deserved to die, and to participate in the conviction of the wrong person for murder.

If justice is subjective, then every person gets to decide for themselves whether someone is guilty or not. The justice system may be flawed, but it’s the best we have and it’s far better than letting people decide the fate of others based on their own opinions about those people.

In the end, I felt much the same way at the end of this book that I did about Me Before You. I loved the characters, the writing was good, and the story held my attention. But the moral message was flawed and disappointing. ...more

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