The Maid

THE MAID

by Nita Prose

 

Award: Goodreads Winner 2022

 

Date Read: February 23, 2023

 

The Maid is a detective novel with an unlikely heroine. Molly is a maid at a hotel, which is her entire life’s ambition. She loves the opulence, the uniform, the routine and returning rooms to a state of perfection. She is, most likely, somewhere on the spectrum. Molly has a hard time reading facial expressions and with personal interaction. But she has carved out a life for herself that she enjoys and provides her purpose.

 

She was raised for her Gran, Flora, since Molly’s mother had died of an overdose. Her Gran gave her the tools to figure out how to live and how to navigate the world. She did not help, however, with figuring out whom to trust. Molly’s once and only boyfriend, Wilbur, ended up stealing all their savings and running off with it. While her Gran was dying, she could never fess up and tell Gran what had happened.

 

Molly lives off her wages and her tips. The richer the client, typically the better the tip. In one of the suites are the Blacks, a rich asshole with a trophy second wife. Gisele befriends Molly, realizing they are more similar than they may realize. Gisele feels trapped in an abusive marriage to a man who is shady AF. When Mr. Black winds up dead in their suite, due to a many circumstances, Molly becomes the primary suspect.

 

Through this ordeal, of being accused and clearing her name, Molly winds up with an even bigger life than she started out with. Due to her honesty and good nature, she survives the ensuing court case, retains her job and then some, and falls in love. Overall, a very fun and satisfying read.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more