Review of The Housemaid by Freida Mcfadden

 I'm a librarian and despite what many people might think this does not involve much reading. 

This summer however me and some coworkers are presenting three new books each for an audience of predominantly older women. Since I have to go through the work of finding, getting, reading and forming an opinion on these books I might as well post it here as well. With the added bonus that I can be brutally honest here. 

The plot

After ten years in prison Millie is finally free. Unfortunately she's unemployed and living in her car. And with her criminal record getting a job is hard. But she at long last does manage to get work as a housekeeper for the wealthy Winchester family. Even better it provides both a salary and room, so says yes despite it being slightly unnerving. 

It doesn't get less worrying when on the first day the Gardner Enzo warns her about danger but he doesn't speak English so she isn't sure what exactly he means. 

Inside the pristine house from the interview has, in just a week, turned into a pigsty and when she gets to her cramped attic room she realize that the door only locks from the outside. 

And that sets the tone for her employment. Nina Winchester is inconsistent, acting like they are the best of friends on moment and the threaten to fire her the next. Berating her for not completing jobs she hasn't been asked to do. Calls in a panic and asks to pick up kid from school even if other parent takes kid to karate lessons acts as if never asked. And being jealous if Millie so much as talks with her husband Andrew.

For Millie it's a nightmare as she slowly realize that Nina is not just "a bit temperamental" like her husband says but that something is seriously wrong. But she can't leave because leaving means being homeless and worse her probation is dependent on her having a job and home. So even when she comes down to Nina throwing dishes on the floor, lying about her daughters allergies or when Millie suspects she is violent. She still has to stay.

My thoughts

I want to preface this by saying that it's not a bad book (at least not in the first 100 pages which is all I read). Millie is sympathetic and her being stuck in a bad situation where she is powerless with an inconsistent, gas-lighting boss. The slowly dread and uncertainty is well written. 

Mostly I just don't like it, I don't particularly like this kind of thrillers. I don't like People being stuck in bad situations and not doing anything they can to get out of it. Don't get me wrong I understand Millie's choices there literally isn't any better option for her. That's most of the reason I'm not throwing the book away in annoyance. But with every chapter I know something bad is going to happen I just don't know what or how bad and that feeling of uncertainty and helplessness isn't something I'm looking for (I have plenty of that already).

That being said there are some less subjective critiques as well. I don't like the way it villainizes mental illness if I was to attempt to diagnose her I'd say less evil more narcissist and depressed. Even so Millie looking trough her medicine kind of crosses a line. 

Also one of the "weird" things Nina does is being jealous of her husband. She don't want them to talk or even be in the same room. This is considered weird because Andrew is so obviously in love with her.

 But at the same time Millie constantly thinks about how hot he is and clearly wouldn't mind becoming the new Mrs Winchester. Similar thought is expressed by side characters so it's not like Nina doesn't have any reason for it.

As for Millie a part from knowing that she spent several years in prison we don't really know anything about her. Not what she was in prison for or where she is from and though its possible that this is revealed later in the book in the parts I read there's nothing. This feels like a missed opportunity. The slow reveal of her past, what she did and why could have been an interesting second plot point.

I said that Millie is stuck and forced to work there but that doesn't mean that she can't do anything. While the threat of homelessness is real the problem of her parole could be lessened. In a meeting with her parole officer she lies and say that it's fine. This serves no purpose the rules of the parole states that she has to have a place to live and a job. Side thought: is this accurate to real life because thinking about it it seams unreasonable. Anyway she has to have a job, no one said she has to like it and explaining the situation might give her some leniency if she has to leave.   

All in all for someone who likes thrillers this would probably be a good fit but its not for me.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Housemaid.

Review of The three lives of Alix st Pierre by Natasha Lester

I'm a librarian and despite what many people might think this does not involve much reading. 

This summer however me and some coworkers are presenting three new books each for an audience of predominantly older women. Since I have to go through the work of finding, getting, reading and forming an opinion on these books I might as well post it here as well. With the added bonus that I can be brutally honest here. 

The plot

It's 1947 in Paris and Alix is back to start her new job for the then relatively unknown Christian Dior. She got her start writing for fashion magazines in Paris but had to shift focus during the war when move to USA where she grew up. Back in Paris and again working with fashion she ruminates about the differences, Paris bears the scars of war and rationing and she herself has changed by the part she played in the war working for the secret service.

Her first job for Dior is to make sure journalists actually show up for the fashion show. This is Made harder by it being held a week after everyone else and after all the international reporters has left. But by reviving old contacts and using knowledge and tricks she learned as a spy she manages to make some headway. This does mean repeatably running into one Antony March. He's a reporter for the New York journal and son of the newspapers owner. He is also antagonistic and seemingly knows more than says, asking question about not only her but also Bobby, her fiance who died during the war. His death weighs heavy on her conciseness because it her plans, her lying informant that lured them into a trap.

Reminded of the deaths she decides to find the informant and get revenge for Bobby and the other eight that died that day. Until a note is left on her desk in telling her to leave Paris. There is only one explanation the informant who's name she doesn't know knows her. And she must figure out who he is and who to trust in a city where everyone has secrets.

My thoughts

I don't really care about fashion but there are little hints about the thing that happened. Something that she did during the war. Something she still feels guilty about. The hints that there might be spies does carry me through the early part. Until it becomes clear that it will probably be the majority of the plot. 

So plot-wise it's fine, at least for the first hundred pages that I read, but the dialog is clunky. Actually all the text... none of it flows like I want. This makes it hard to get to know her and it's the same with location descriptions. Though all of this might just be because I read a bad translation. 

Alix also repeatably makes some pretty wild leaps of logic that always seems to pan out, but really shouldn't. case in point: someone has stolen and released some fashion drawings Anthony remarks that people one has helped are more likely to betray you (are they though?) and Alix just immediately knows who it is. That's not how you do detective work. 

If you have read it, What did you think? If not the it can be bought here Three lives.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

So this is what I had been hoping for when I read Assistant to the villain. Vulcano lairs, secret meetings, lasers and also cats. 

But I get ahead of myself. The story follows charlie. He had taken time off/been laid off from being a journalist to care for his sick father until his death. He is now living in his father's old house which his half siblings want to sell. Working as a substitute teacher while looking for any journalism or even writing job. It's not going well. 

At the start of the story he's attempting to buy a local pub to break the stalemate (except he can't get approved for a loan). When he is informed that his uncle Jake has died. His uncle was a billionaire but they haven't had any contact since Charlie was a child so he is surprised when he is asked to help with the funeral. He is even more surprised when he finds out he has inherited his uncle's estate and that his uncle was not only the owner of  the country's third largest parking garage company but also ran a villainous empire complete with a volcano lair.

Unfortunately he has also inherited his uncles enemies.

My thoughts

I generally like scalzi's books a lot, they are funny, exciting and clever. Starter villain is no different and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. But with the latest two (starter villain and Kaiju preservation society) have taken a turn to be more relatable. At least to me... and I suspect any other millennial in an unsatisfactory work and/or living situation. In this case it's not so much his money trouble but the soul crushing feeling of sending job application after job application into the void and getting nothing back. Of living in a town I didn't like because of circumstances not because I actively chose it.

At the same time it takes the tropes and asks how would that work in reality. So you have the problem of trillion of dollars sitting unused in a bank because moving it would raise all the red flags. The reasons why you can't drown someone in lava and genetically engineered dolphins going on strike.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Starter villain.