The Housemaid: An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist

Product Information

We have become more accustomed to portrayals of emotional abuse on television of late, with everything from Dominic Savage’s I Am … series to Coronation Street depicting relationships that feature coercive control. Maid also mines this vein, emphasising how difficult it is to prove this type of abuse is taking place. Later, a guardian angel is dangled in front of Alex in the form of Nate, a Nice Guy who wants to help … until he doesn’t. Offering a kind of generosity bound up with expectations of sexual entitlement, his behaviour towards Alex is almost as insidious as that of her ex. She gives Millie a tour of the house and outlines Millie’s duties, which amount to light housekeeping and meal preparation. Nina takes Millie up to the attic and shows her the bedroom she’ll be sleeping in. The daughter Cece is a capital B.R.A.T. and later in the book the mom’s just like ‘oh, you know…that’s just how she is!’ But then an ad has been posted for a live-in maid with light duties. Millie interviews with the elegant wife/mother in her elegant house with her elegant handsome husband. Against all odds, Millie gets the job. But Nina, her new boss, is a bit "off". Nina has spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. She spins on a dime from day to day. Cecelia, nine years old, is spoiled rotten and lights up Millie every chance she gets. Millie feels sorry for Andrew, the husband, who is caught in this emotional blender on high speed.

The film opens with a bustling city street, where a young woman commits suicide by jumping from a building ledge to her death. Eun-yi, who works in a restaurant, persuades her coworker and roommate to drive her to the scene of the suicide, and she stands distraught over the chalk outline where the woman's body had lain. The next morning, an older woman by the name of Byeong-sik visits her small apartment and later expresses interest in giving her a job. Lee, Hyo-won (2 November 2009). "Jeon Do-yeon Cast in The Housemaid". The Korea Times . Retrieved 9 June 2010.Listen, I understand the intent behind a character like this. I’m not saying it’s necessarily offensive, but it sure as hell isn’t cute. And the idea of a gaggle of privileged, upper-middle class book club women reading and gigging at a character like Molly being framed for murder because she ‘doesn’t understand how people work’ makes me feel kind of weird. Molly appears as a caricature, dreamed up by someone who’s only exposure to ND people has been Rain Man and Eleanor Oliphant.

But Molly is also written as neurodivergent in some never-specified way. I’ve seen a couple of weird arguments by people saying the author has not confirmed this, but she doesn’t have to. I read it; the writing is not exactly subtle. And I did not love the way she was depicted at all, to be totally honest. I can only guess that Nita Prose was trying to capitalize on that ‘ quirky female main character who whoopsie-daisies her way into some trouble’ trend from like 5ish years ago. And frankly, she missed the boat. This isn’t a fresh, compelling character idea—and in the case of The Maid, it wasn’t even well done.All in all, this is still gripping enough to provide an entertaining ride. I liked the first book much better as it had plenty of dark undertones. This one offers standard fare in comparison. There's a general atmosphere of unease at Highwood Hall, from the narrow tunnels laced throughout the sprawling house, to the abandoned north wing, rumoured to be haunted. It's easy to imagine the secrets hidden within these walls, like the secrets I hold close. My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Housemaid”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Stark, a woman detective has been called and wants Molly to accompany her to the police station to take a statement of what she had seen. There again Molly over-explained everything she had noticed during her duties that day, but suppressed some things that she feels might incriminate Giselle, who had always been friendly towards her and had even told her that she suffered from her husband’s tyranny. Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

Moon, So-young (19 April 2012). "Bae Young-whan spotlights Korean social woes". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012 . Retrieved 19 April 2012. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link) I'm upgrading my rating from 4.5 stars to a solid 5, thanks to the clever twists, and eagerly looking forward to delving into more of the author's twisted tales sooner rather than later.Lol yeah, maybe one day I’ll be the person who can just rate and move on but today is not that day! And I am not that guy. Let's not even mention how far-fetched the twist about the policeman's daughter is, and how it would be absolutely impossible to simply drop an investigation like that, even if a random policeman decided to. Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. Millie soon finds herself the target of Nina’s erratic behavior. Millie is the victim of Nina’s gaslighting, and she is also falsely accused of something. Cecelia, Nina’s eight-year-old daughter, is also not a saint. Millie has been met with strong distaste from both of Millie’s parents. It's funny because everything about the movie shouts "true filmmaking". Nevertheless, the narrative simply touches upon the characters' struggles and that's it. This movie isn't here to teach people not to do certain things and it isn't here to thematically stir audiences emotions; this movie is simply here to tell its narrative, which is much of the case for a profuse amount of Korean films, but ever more so with "The Housemaid". Once the credits roll, it seems nothing more than just a shallow but twisted movie that is easily forgotten except for its credible filmmaking craftsmanship.

The characters are not what they seem. Millie has been living in her car. Recently out of prison and fired from her job at a fast-food place. She is overjoyed to be hired as a live-in housekeeper at the lavish home of the wealthy Winchesters. Nina Winchester becomes increasingly volatile, fluctuating from sweetness to anger, blaming the innocent Millie for things, that were not her fault. Her gorgeous husband Andrew tries to diffuse Nina's hostile behaviour, causing Millie to wish she were in Nina's place with her upscale home and her pleasant, agreeable, wealthy, and handsome husband. Millie is concerned as she has learned that Nina had been confined to a mental hospital in the past. Could she be in danger from Nina? There are some interesting twists along the way. Though any regular thriller reader would be easily able to spot most of those, they were still penned in a way that I enjoyed them. We all loved The Housemaid, it had everything a true thriller novel should have and more. I was building up so much anticipation for this book that I think I let myself down. In no means at all is it bad, its great actually but I feel The Housemaid was so much better. The first half of this book was a little boring and felt openly annoyed with Millie and her choices. The second half, were it all comes together is good. Some of it a little far fetched but hey, that's FICTION! I also love that the tone is set for another book, but I would expect greatness from it to pull it through. So 4 well deserved stars for writing style, plot style and that really great second half! Two films screened in competition to mixed notices, but which I thought were very good indeed. Im Sang-soo's The Housemaid is a remake of a classic 1960 South Korean film, in which a malign and predatory woman destroys the family that has employed her as a maid. Im's remake is a big, brassy suspense thriller set in the household of an arrogant, super-rich businessman; his house, specially built for the film, is reportedly the most expensive set in the history of the country's cinema. The film conceives the maid, played by Jeon Do-yeon, as a far more sympathetic, ambiguous character; a woman who is sexually exploited by her boss, but who appears to be consenting in their affair. The final scenes are arguably a little too melodramatic, but this was a sleek and watchable picture.Then the creepy neighbor comes around her apartment and she must protect herself. If only Enzo were here. Then she senses someone is following her.