chymerra
I have a terrible habit of wishing for books on NetGalley, forgetting that I wished for them, and then get completely surprised when I get the email saying, “Your wish has been granted.” That was precisely the case with The Maid. Then I got an email from SMP requesting me to review it. I took that as the universe saying, “You need to read this book.” This was my first 5-star review of 2022. I am glad I did.
Molly Gray is not your typical woman. She has difficulty reading social clues, social nuances, and skills. Molly is very blunt and outspoken but doesn’t understand that sometimes that can hurt people’s feelings. Her Gran would help her with that, but she died, and Molly didn’t have anyone to help her. But, Molly is doing well with her life. She works as a maid at a 5-star hotel, and she takes pride in her work. But, in one day, that changes. Molly finds the hotel’s biggest customer dead. She is then caught up in the police investigation, first as a witness and secondly as the main suspect. Molly is determined to clear her name. Will she be able to do it?
The Maid is a fast-paced book. It takes place over a few days, and it needs to be fast. There was some lag in the middle of the book, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of it. If The Maid had switched to a slower pace at any point in the book, it would have ruined the book.
I thought that Molly was sweet. As the parent of a neurodivergent child (my son has high functioning autism), I saw bits and pieces of him in her character. I liked that I got to see the world through her eyes. There were no shades of grey with Molly. It was either black or white.
The mystery angle of The Maid was well written. I have seen reviews that compared it to being Clue-like. I hands-down agree with those observations. The Maid also kept me guessing at who killed Mr. Black. I did have it narrowed down to a couple of people but was surprised at who it ended up being. I thought it was going to be a different person.
I thought the author did a good job covering different social issues throughout the book. The only thing that disturbed me was how Molly was treated by Detective Spark and the other maids at the hotel. That truly disgusted me. I can’t stand how people treat others that are different from them. Of course, they all got their comeuppance at the end of the book but still.
The end of The Maid was what I thought it would be. Once the police caught the bad guy and various things going on at the hotel were exposed, Molly was vilified. I loved how everything came together for her. Of course, a twist was revealed that made me go, “Really?” Mainly because it didn’t quite go with the rest of the book. But, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment or the star rating that I gave The Maid.
I would recommend The Maid to anyone over 16. There is mild language, no sex, and mild violence.
