The Maid: A Novel  by Nita Prose

I’m four for four this year. Four great books. This book features justice and redemption. It’s a fabulous book and a fun read. Molly Gray or Molly the Maid is a wonderful character. She is as literal as they come. Sheltered. Cannot pick up on nuance. The world outside her little niche of the Regency Grand Hotel completely confuses and befuddles her. As if that’s not hard enough, she finds herself embroiled in some nefarious criminal activity, completely unaware at the beginning of what is going on.

The most fun part about this book is seeing the world through Molly’s eyes through the first-person point of view. The reader gets what’s going on, but Molly doesn’t. As the book goes on, she grows in her understanding and watching her journey is fascinating.

I’m sure we all know people somewhat like Molly. Many reading this may like her in many ways. But Molly is an extreme example and that’s what makes her so enjoyable. She’s intelligent, has a large vocabulary and precocious memory, but just doesn’t get people. The world should be black and white in her mind.

There is a mystery embedded in this story as well. Most of it the reader will see way before Molly does. But the epilogue throws in a surprise. I didn’t see it coming. I had a different idea of what Molly wasn’t telling anyone. There are several other surprises throughout the book.

The challenge I have with this book is that this is book number one of a series. For me, the best part was where Molly started and then her getting to where she does. I’m not sure I want to read another book with her starting where she ends. Just not as interesting to me.

The book was a huge bestseller last year and I can see why. What surprises me is the average rating is under four stars. This is a five-star book in my opinion. It kept me engaged. I didn’t want to put it down and as I mentioned earlier, there were many times I laughed out loud (softly, though).

The book is fairly clean. Some profanity, but not much. No sex. No violence. A wonderful character and a delightful read.

The top three books are so close together, it’s hard to separate them. I’m going to put this as number three only because the message isn’t quite as strong as The Samaritan’s Patient. But I highly recommend all four I’ve read so far this year.

1. The Record Keeper by Charles Martin
2. The Samaritan’s Patient by Chevron Ross
3. The Maid by Nita Prose
4. A Vanishing Act by Edwina Kiernan
   

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