PLOT: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT: 4/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 OVERALL: 4/5
“It’s easier than you ever think: to be in plain sight if you remain largely invisible. That’s what I learned from being a maid. ‘
– Maid, Nita Prose
Have you ever asked about hotel / resort house staff? How many rooms do they clean, and what do they find when they clean the rooms? What is missing in the rooms and how do they organize the cleaning materials in the trolleys?
Well, I’ve always been fascinated by their trolleys, small bottles of shampoo / soap, tea bags, etc.
And to be honest, this is the main reason I received The Maid.
Plot
Molly Grant is not like everyone else. The neurodivergent is struggling to understand social skills, and misreads what others mean and intend.
Until recently, it was her grandmother who helped her interpret and understand the world and its people, but she later dies, leaving Molly alone to understand the complex human nature and her confusing tendencies.
Employed as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel as a maid, adapting to her love and cleanliness, habit and obsession with protocol, making her the perfect job, Molly’s life changes only when she enters the suite of the super rich Charles Black. finding her dead in bed.
Before fully knowing what is happening, the police arrest him and consider him the prime suspect.
But what really happened in that hotel room?
Will Molly be framed for not doing it?
Will the real killer be caught before it’s too late?
My thoughts
I enjoyed reading The Maid, the atmosphere of the book and the views on the life of the hotel maids were refreshing to read.
My reading was a combination of an audiobook and a paper book, but I liked the audiobook more because the narrator did a good job of portraying Molly as a neurodibergent character.
I admit it took me a while to understand Molly’s mind, but once the story started, I hooked up with the audiobook.
It was more of a mystery than a thriller and it was pretty obvious what happened to Mr. Black and who could be responsible. There was a tour, (one more appearance, actually) that I hadn’t anticipated.
But for me it wasn’t the most remarkable thing to know how or what happened to Mr. Black, it was Molly and how she navigated situations. Some are arguably a little overflowing, but some are also fun. Due to the lack of social signals, he is not deliberately trying to be sarcastic, but boy, does he give it punctually in some cases!
I would definitely recommend this to people who want to hear or read a pleasant mystery with the central character who is lovable but eccentric in his own way. The unique setting and the unique professional character of a hotel maid are complemented by some heartwarming relationships that help save the day.
Can’t wait to read it? Buy a copy of The Maid using the link below.
This review was done by Dr. Nitisha Shah. Nitisha is a 37-year-old homeopathic medical consultant based in Mumbai. You can connect with her on her Instagram page @our_readingjourney, which she started in January 2021 to talk about her and her 7-year-old daughter’s reading journey.
