The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)

by Freida McFadden

There’s something about this room that’s making a little ball of dread form in the pit of my stomach.

Is there something wrong with me that I am scared this nine-year-old girl is going to murder me?

Signs this will be a good book: Creepy little child ✔️

I’d say there’s at least a twenty-five percent chance she’s going to murder me in my sleep if I get this job. But I still want it.

She doubtless has a creepy doll house in there where the dolls come to life at night. Maybe one of the dolls will be the one to kill me.

If this is the part of the job where I find out Cecelia has actually been dead for ten years and is a ghost, I’m quitting.

Me too 😝

First of all, why would she think her notes were in the refrigerator?

My thoughts exactly! But you can’t rationalize the irrational.

“You can clean up this disgusting mess you left in my kitchen while I fix this problem.”

This job would be so great if not for my boss.

If I had spoken to somebody like that when I was a child, my mother would have smacked my hand and told me to say “please.”

We could be dining at the fanciest restaurant in Long Island, and she’ll order chicken nuggets.”

Truths from my 9YO 😏

He wrenches the freezer open and pulls out a giant family pack of chicken nuggets. “See, these are the nuggets Cecelia likes. Don’t get any other brands. Anything else is unacceptable.”

100% my 9YO. If I buy the wrong brand, prepare to suffer the consequences.

At one moment, she’s hugging me and telling me how much she appreciates having me here. In the next, she’s berating me for not completing some task she never even told me about.

Is Nina more than just an eccentric and demanding boss? Is there something else going on with her? Maybe it’s better if I don’t know.

can’t believe a woman who is taking that many medications is concerned about a few chemicals in a cleaning product.

I know these people 😜

Her white dress glows in the moonlight filtering into the hallway, like she’s an angel. Except for the blood.

“I really don’t know what we would do without you.” She likes to tell me that. Or that she’s going to fire me. One or the other.

Because there simply is no in between. I love you. I hate you.

“I’m Amanda, by the way,” she tells me. “I’m your official tap-dancing waiting-room drug dealer.”

Bring back Amanda!

He is a good, faithful husband. Just because he looked like he was nearly going to pass out when he saw me in this dress, that doesn’t mean he’s not going to be able to control himself.

Looking isn’t a crime.

“You’re such a gentleman,” I remark. He chuckles. “Thank my mother. That’s the way I was raised.” “Well, she raised you right.”

sometimes I can’t figure out how my marriage got this way. Where ninety percent of our interactions are her yelling at me.”

I’m trying so hard to be good, but this dress won’t let me.

Blame it on the dress 😂

I have just made a dangerous enemy.

Will she convince him that I stole her clothes? I am, after all, a convict. You make one mistake in life, and nobody ever trusts you again.

you turn off the light, the world will be pitch black. Turn it on and… well, those ultra-bright lightbulbs are pretty intense, huh?”

He’s almost perfect. And I hate his guts.

He has purchased a wardrobe of itchy, frilly dresses that she hates, that the other children make fun of her for wearing, but she knows if she doesn’t wear them or gets them dirty, her mother will disappear for days (likely naked, to teach me clothing is a privilege). So she obeys.

Next level psycho

I forgave her, of course. She was tricked the same way I was. But it was never the same between us again after that. And I was never able to trust anyone ever again.

Another little person who I will love and want to protect, who he will use to control me for years to come.

“What am I going to do?” I say again. “Is simple,” he says. “We go to plan B.” I lift my tear-streaked face. “What’s plan B?” “I kill the bastard.”

I hate him so much for loving me.

Did Andrew bring them up here and stuff them in the room, thinking I would be moving out of here by the morning and he could convert this room back into a closet again? That’s the only thing that makes sense.

Yes, let’s definitely rationalize such an obvious situation with the most outrageous justifications, to avoid facing reality. The human mind just can’t grasp the level of shock.

How could I have fallen in love with this man? He seemed nice and normal and wonderful. I hadn’t even the slightest clue what a monster he is.

Giving me next level “Who TF Did I Marry?” Vibes.

I hired her to kill him. She just doesn’t know it.

“It’s such a shame,” she says, “that he never really learned. I’m glad you stepped up and taught him a lesson.”

Ok Mama, time to check yourself into an institute and lose the key