Freida McFadden: The Housemaid Is Watching

The Housemaid Is Watching (affiliate link) is the third book in Freida McFadden's The Housemaid series.

Millie and Enzo move with their children to a house that is too expensive for their budget. The new neighbors are of course suspicious and unpleasant. Then something shocking happens.

There is a fair amount of consensus among readers about this book, that it is a completely pointless effort. Many have been disappointed, and hope that the series will end. Like many others, I did not recognize these characters. Nothing really exciting happened or was happening.

Personally, I never like it when "thrillers" focus only on boring everyday life and home life.

The Housemaid Is Watching takes place 11 years after the previous book. Quite a leap in time. And of course, everyone always wants that idyllic family life in the suburbs. Even those who have previously lived a slightly more unconventional life.

 

 

Colette: The cat

Colette's The Cat (La Chatte) tells the story of a love triangle, where one of the involved is of course a cat. In the end, everything culminates in a terrible act.

Even now, the cat smelled of mint and geranium and hedgerow. Alain kept it there, a trusting and fragile creature who had perhaps been promised ten years of life. And he suffered thinking about the brevity of such a great love.

I learned about the existence of this book from the book "Famous Cats and Their People", which I believe hasn't been translated into English. I was also lucky, The Cat was first published in Finnish in 2025.

But I was cursed with The Cat. When I wanted to reserve it from the library, I couldn't do it because it was on the shelf, but when I went to the library, it wasn't there. When I left the library, it wasn't on the shelf, but when I returned home from the library, the book had appeared on the shelf. It even happened that once the book was in the library, but not on its own shelf and I couldn't find it anywhere else, even though I went through all the display tables and shelves.

And for some reason this paperback novella is really expensive in stores, ranging from 38.20 euros to 47.95! The book is hard to find in English, it's not even on Amazon.

Considering how obsessed I was with this book for half a year, I was disappointed (of course). Colette's narration is long-winded and too descriptive.

The Finnish print of this book is absolutely full of typos. Apparently the publisher can't afford a proofreader.

 

 

PLOT SPOILERS BELOW

One reviewer wrote: "How could you not love a book where a woman asks a man to choose between herself and her cat, and the cat wins?" Except that what woman would want to win over that misogynist?
 

A small, innocent creature, blue as the most beautiful dreams. A small soul. Faithful, capable of dying quietly, gracefully if what she has chosen betrays her. You held it in your hands, empty... And you opened your hands. You are a monster. I don't want to live with a monster.

 

Book Review: Chill Factor by Sandra Brown

In Sandra Brown's book Chill Factor (affiliate link), a serial killer is rampaging in a small town. Suspicion falls on Ben Tierney, a writer of articles about outdoors life. Tierney and Lilly, who has just divorced the town's police chief, end up trapped in a mountain cabin in the middle of a blizzard. A struggle for life and death begins.

Numerous parties try to get to the cabin. Some to save Lilly, some to lynch Tierney. But is he guilty of the murders?

And what other immoral things are going on in the small town?

My biggest problem with this book was the cold. Just when the weather was getting colder, I didn't feel inspired to read about the blizzard and its effects. I guess it would have been better to read this book in the summer heat.

 

 

 

PLOT SPOILERS BELOW, BEWARE!

It was clear from the beginning that Tierney couldn't be guilty because he was the romantic hero of the story. I wanted to get to the end of the book to see how all the evidence against him was explained. And it was explained well.

The culprit is of course an incel. An ugly man who can't stand not being good enough for good-looking women. An ugly man who can't stand it when an ugly woman tries to hit him. Surely an ugly woman should be killed if she dares to try to hit a man?

 

Robin Cook: Blindsight

Robin Cook's Blindsight (affiliate link) is the first Cook book to feature Laurie Montgomery, but Jack Stapleton has yet to appear.

Forensic pathologist Laurie is courted by two men, homicide detective Lou and high-income eye surgeon Jordan (cough cough Robin Cook himself). Young and successful people are dying of cocaine overdoses, and Laurie begins to suspect that something is wrong. At the same time, seemingly random people are being executed mafia-style. Does the mafia boss under the eye surgeon's care have something to do with it?

As always, Robin Cook's older hospital thrillers keep me entertained. I don't like his newer work, though.