The Maid

 

I do not recall how I found out about The Maid however since I worked as a housekeeper in a hotel as my first job I was intrigued to see that job field represented in a novel. 

Molly is a maid in a fancy hotel and adores her job. I will admit it does take a special person to enjoy cleaning up after others. I have seen people who love to do it and people who just do it for the money however never once did I see someone who was enthralled to turn a room back into a state of perfection. That part of the story bothered me a bit, Molly never seemed to have issues with the messes people made unless she was thoroughly questioned about her feelings. Since the story deals with a lot of thoughts and flashbacks I did expect resent about messes to appear at some point which sadly never happened. 

Also it is unclear if Molly was autistic or not. One moment she is totally clueless about and the next she is digging deep into issues surprising the reader. Is Molly so smart that she fools everyone into thinking she is not by her proper speech, lack of knowing social norms, and clueless demeanor when it suits her or is it due to a first time writer learning their way around building a character? I am honestly not sure. 

Overall I did enjoy the story and was surprised several times by the turn of events. Some things were left a mystery that can clearly be interpreted differently by every reader. The writing flowed smoothly and the grammar was spot on which does not surprise me since Nita Prose use to be an editor. I would not say not no to trying a future book by Mrs. Prose.