The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden | Book Summary & Review (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
We all know the first book in this series feels like the author’s interpretation of The Last Mrs. Parrish. Funny enough, I preferred The Last Mrs. Parrish over The Housemaid, but I actually liked this book more than The Next Mrs. Parrish. I don’t think it was necessary to set this in the same universe, but it’s nice to see Millie doing well.
The story picks up 13 years after the events of “The Housemaid’s Secret.” Millie is now a social worker and is married to Enzo, a landscaper. They have two kids: 11-year-old Ada and 9-year-old Nico. The family has just moved into a new house on a quiet cul-de-sac, which they bought 10% below the asking price.
Their neighbors include Janice, a single mom with a son named Spencer who’s in Nico’s class. She’s very nosy and even keeps her son on a leash. Then there are the Lowells — Suzette and Jonathan. Suzette immediately takes a liking to Enzo and offers to help promote his landscaping business.
Meanwhile, Millie keeps hearing odd scratching noises in the house, as if something or someone is trying to get out. They eventually discover a small hidden room in the house.
Nico starts acting out, getting into fights at school and during little league games. Enzo spends more and more time with Suzette, leading Millie to suspect he might be cheating on her. Her suspicions peak when she discovers that Enzo has secretly withdrawn $1,000 from their joint account.
The Lowells have a housemaid named Martha. Enzo hires her to clean for them twice a month. Millie catches Martha red-handed, stealing a necklace from her jewelry box. Martha blackmails Millie, threatening to tell Suzette about Millie’s past in prison if she reports the theft.
One day, Millie comes home to find Enzo missing. Worried and suspicious, she heads to Suzette’s place to look for him. Instead of finding her husband, she stumbles upon a horrifying scene: Jonathan Lowell, lying dead with his throat slit.
The police arrive and Enzo becomes the prime suspect. The evidence seems incriminating: Suzette had recently increased her life insurance payout, and Janice tells the cops she saw Enzo at Suzette’s house just two hours before Jonathan’s estimated time of death. Janice also called the police after hearing yelling from the Lowell house. Enzo insists he’s innocent, claiming the missing money was to help Martha escape her abusive husband.
The police search Millie and Enzo’s house and find a pocket knife with traces of Jonathan’s blood on it. Enzo confesses to Millie that he killed Jonathan.
After Enzo is arrested, Ada confesses that she was the one who killed Jonathan, and Enzo is covering for her. She explains that Mr. Lowell had been forcing Nico to visit their house to “play” in a hidden room, similar to the one they have. Ada, trying to protect her brother, confronted Mr. Lowell. When he wouldn’t let her leave, she stabbed him with a pocket knife Enzo had given her for protection.
Millie’s old friend, NYPD detective Benito, reveals — the DNA of a local missing boy was found in the Lowell home. Millie and Benito confront Suzette, giving her an ultimatum: confess to murdering her husband, or face charges for the missing boy’s murder since her DNA was also found in the hidden room. Cornered, Suzette confesses to killing Jonathan, claiming she discovered his heinous acts and took matters into her own hands.
In the epilogue, we learn that while Ada did stab Jonathan, she didn’t deliver the fatal blow. Martha, the housemaid, finished the job. She had returned to steal a few things and stumbled upon the wounded Jonathan. Seizing the moment, she sliced his throat, sealing his fate.
Martha does escape her abusive husband. She was scared of what he would do if she got fired for stealing, which is why she blackmailed Millie. She also scared away other potential buyers from the house, hoping Millie would help her escape.
So, in the end, the housemaid did kill in this one.
Honestly, how did Enzo not notice Ada, Millie, Martha, and Jonathan all wandering around while he was in the garden? I am also not really sold on Martha escaping justice.
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