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Spoilers Beyond This Point

“Kit Darling is getting exactly what she wanted. Theater. With Jon and Daisy in the spotlight.”

The Maid’s Diary, Loreth Anne White

Reading this book felt like an immersive theater experience. The three narrators, Kit, Daisy, and Mal, were excellently written, and made me feel like I was experiencing everything with them. Their overlapping interactions made me feel like I was the detective as much as Mal was, trying to piece together all the information I was gleaning from every page.

The book starts with a pretty clear-cut plot. There’s a crime scene that seems to be the result of murder and the police are trying to get in contact with people who might know what ‘s going on. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Kit and Daisy each have much more going on in the background than the police have realized. While Mal is steadfastly working the case, Kit and Daisy are causing more and more trouble.

The three women are compelling in their own ways. Kit, the maid, has some trauma from high school that starts becoming more and more relevant as the story progresses. She works through a lot of the trauma as her storyline progresses, and it’s clear that she’s ready to do anything to get the ending she wants. Similarly, Mal is at an ending point with her career. Her husband has been struggling with dementia, and he’s getting to a point where Mal will need to retire and be his full-time carer. On the other hand, Daisy seems to feel like her life is just beginning. She’s pregnant, she and her famous husband has recently moved back home to be closer to her family, and they’re bought a huge house to raise their child. These women rarely interact in the story, but all three are dedicated, loyal, and willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want.

Spoilers Beyond This Point

“She craves an ally, a real friend. She’s lonely. It’s human nature to share, unburden. But it was a mistake.”

The Maid’s Diary, Loreth Anne White

It’s clear pretty early on that Kit’s high school trauma has to do with Daisy’s husband. The connection is fully made for the reader about halfway through, and Mal discovers it within the last few chapters. Daisy’s husband, along with a group of guys, raped Kit. Daisy not only knew, but she obtained all the proof from that night, brought it to her rich parents, and had them make the problem go away. Then, some 15 years later, Kit discovers she’s been cleaning Daisy’s house, which triggers the beginning of a fantastic revenge plot.

Once this connection had been established and we started learning about Kit’s revenge plan, everything starts falling into place. With the three different viewpoints, there’s a lot of information that has already been mentioned and now makes sense. The first half of the book had felt a little bit like a fact-finding mission because of that, but the second half felt like a thrilling race to the finish line.

I have always enjoyed White’s pacing, but truly love her twists. This book’s true twist is that there is no murder scene, and that Kit has been playing multiple other characters for Daisy’s benefit to set up Daisy and her husband in the murder investigation. As this all unfolds, Daisy is panicking and Mal is determinedly putting the pieces together. The ending involves Mal deciding not to chase after Kit, who has slipped out of their Canadian province and has started traveling the world.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.T he 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.