So I’m not a huge reader, but I read a book from time to time. I only recently heard about Freida McFadden after her novel ‘The Housemaid’s Secret’ (THS) was voted as best Thriller book of this year on Goodreads. Then once I discovered her name, I kept seeing it on other top book covers in Goodreads. I bought ‘The Housemaid’s Secret’ and was immediately hooked on it and couldn’t stop reading until I was around 2/3 when it became way too predictable.
I liked the book at first as it’s so simple that it felt like I was truly taking a break while reading it. I don’t recall the last time a reading experience was so smooth mainly because the book was just so easy to follow and not the least bit layered. Compared to so many other things I’m having to learn or just things that are going on in my life, this was a breath of fresh air because it was just so easy. Then when it started becoming so predictable, it was not stimulating enough for me to want to keep reading. It’s a short book though, so thankfully I didn’t have to push that hard for it to be over.
There is absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING remotely unique about THS. I would call it a generic thriller book. You can see the plot twists coming from a mile away. Well, all except one, and it wasn’t jaw-dropping or anything. It’s a short book and it has very little depth. The characters are also simple-minded and keep making these unrealistically dumb decisions. One character has a plan in mind which is rather far-fetched, yet it works pretty well considering.
I dunno, I’m just really underwhelmed. Could it be that Goodreads’s members are mainly from a demographic of people in their early teens? Feels to me like it would have been a good book for me to read when I was 13. As a 32-year-old, I feel like I would definitely want more out of my reading experience. If a book is voted as the best thriller of 2023, I would expect depth, realism, and originality AT LEAST. I would also expect to feel some tension when reading, but I didn’t at any point really feel anything close to tension.
What is your opinion of Freida McFadden’s work?
Edit: Accidentally wrote “young adults” and corrected it to “people in their early teens”.
by Loriol_13