During a haul of some of the cheapest paperbacks I could find on Amazon, I picked up the much talked about The Maid by Nita Prose. An appealing front cover and the promise of a unique main character pulled me in on this one and had me hoping for a new series to get stuck into (knowing there was a sequel and plans for a third).
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The Maid follows our main character Molly who is an young woman who works at a hotel as a maid (hence the name). One day, on her shift, she discovers the dead body of a husband of a guest she’s very close to in the hotel. When the police begin to unearth new findings, she becomes the number one suspect, despite the fact she’s fairly convinced she had nothing to do with it.
Taking advantage of her innocence and her inability to properly read social cues, people around her start to realise they can make the most of her role as the maid and the person that found this person dead first. But she’s smarter than many of them think!
The Maid plot – 3.75/5
I think the plot of the The Maid was fine! The start was interesting as we were introduced to the premise and the characters that the book would be about. I would say I was really intrigued by everything for about the first half of the book.
The plot was moving at pace, things were being discovered really quickly and I was growing really fond of the characters that were being introduced.
However, a weak final third and an ending that really felt like it was dragged out made me feeling quite empty after the end of it all.
There’s a minor twist which is quite interesting but a little lazily tacked on and I’m not really sure I fell for it as a twist that the author had intended all along.
But, as I said, the characters in this book are really what kept me interested.
The Maid characters – 4.5/5
Molly, our main character is a really interesting protagonist. If you’ve read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and enjoyed Eleanor, then you’ll find a lot to like here.
In the same ilk, The Maid is written from a first-person point of view. Molly, of who’s view we’re reading, clearly has some sort of autism that means she struggles with a lot of social interactions. She doesn’t quite know when people are laughing at or with her, she doesn’t know when people are joking and she’s very strict with some of the “life lessons” her grandmother taught her her growing up.
The creates a very likeable character. Molly has innocence and because of this, you’ll sometimes find yourself laughing at the way Molly interacts with people and growing more attached to her as she learns to adapt.
As well as Molly, there are some other very strong characters in the book. Some of whom you will despise, others of whom you will find endearing and find yourself routing for.
The Maid final rating – 4/5
The Maid is a real mixed bag of a book. I started off really enjoying it. I quickly knew I was going to like the character of Molly and the start of the story was really interesting. However, a weaker final third and an ending that sort of just petered out left me feeling really disappointed. The Maid is a great person-focused story that’s biggest strength is its fantastic cast of characters, so if that’s your bag, you’ll enjoy it. However, if you’re here for a good mystery, you may be left a little underwhelmed.
Great review! I telly like the way you break your conclusions down in this way.