“That’s the other thing: I have a snooping problem. I mean, we all get a dopamine-adrenaline kick when we glimpse something that wasn’t meant for us to see, right? Don’t pretend you’re above it. We scroll through social media, hunting for the train wrecks happening in real time, and we cannot look away.”
The Maid’s Diary, Loreth Anne White
I’ll confess, I read 7 Loreth Anne White books last year. The main draw for me is always the twisted nature of each story and the addictive pacing. The Maid’s Diary did not disappoint on either front. The opening had me hooked, and I never looked back. The plot is told through a variety of viewpoints, including a slew of potential suspects and the detective trying to clear a crime scene, in a variety of timelines. All five of the narrators are intimately involved in the story, and are all well-written. The main narrators are the three women: Kit the maid, Mal the detective, and Daisy the wife. These women are complete and unique characters, with emotional depth and backgrounds that permeate every decision they make. Weaving together these multiple viewpoints could have resulted in a convoluted, trying-to-be-clever, mess. But instead, the pacing allows for reveal after reveal that pushes the story forward into a full sprint to the finish line. The ending was satisfying in a way that’s hard to achieve. All my questions were answered, but the mystery still stuck with me for days afterwards.
Ready for my full review (with spoilers)? Continue reading here!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The twists were surprising and entertaining, without verging into the ridiculous. The characters are passionate and complicated. With most thrillers, I would’ve rushed through it, desperate to get to the ending. But this book, as with most White books, is so well-written that I found myself taking my time reading it.
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