By: Miranda Rijks
ISBN: 9781837562688
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Publication Date: 10/22/2023
Format: e-book
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
Maria always wanted a family. Now she’s found one.
Imogen has never been so busy – she’s juggling two jobs, has a young family and now she’s pregnant again.
Enter Maria, the perfect housekeeper. Hard working and capable, she seems like the ideal solution to Imogen's chaotic life. But Maria isn’t at all what she seems – she has a sinister agenda of her own.
Little by little, she installs herself at the heart of Imogen’s family – doing the school run, cooking meals, caring for Imogen’s little girl.
But once she has won the family’s trust, Maria starts to do some digging. And discovers that Imogen has been keeping a terrible secret, a secret which Maria threatens to reveal unless Imogen starts to run this home the way Maria sees fit.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Imogen has no choice but to comply.
A terrible mistake. Because as the full scale of Maria’s horrifying plan becomes apparent, Imogen realises that everything she holds dear – her marriage, her family, her friends – all may fall victim to The Homemaker.
The Homemaker – the chilling psychological thriller from the best-selling author of The Visitors and What She Knew.
My Review
Master of domestic suspense, Miranda Rijks (favorite author) returns following The Lodge with her twentieth novel THE HOMEMAKER — a family hires a housekeeper into their home to help out a busy pregnant mom and turns into a terrifying nightmare in this twisty, well-crafted domestic suspense thriller.
Rijks expertly builds subtle menace, creepy and compelling!
Imogen (hotel consultant practice) and Josh (who owns a dental practice) Letwin are a happy couple living in a beautiful old Georgian renovated historical rectory built in 1750 (Fairview House). They have a four-year-old daughter, Ava, and a fifteen-year-old son, Kyle (from Josh's first marriage).
Their house is significant, and they have turned two bedrooms with en-suites on the opposite side of the house with its own staircase into an upmarket bed and breakfast.
Imogen is a busy mom who must serve the guests breakfast each morning, tend to Ava (almost five), and turn the rooms. She is also pregnant and grieving her adopted mom, who has recently passed away. Imogen was unaware she was adopted until her mom's deathbed.
She is hiring a housekeeper to help out. Then Maria Hinks shows up. She has 50s/60s gray hair and fits the bill. Maria seems enthusiastic and explains she can help with the cleaning, cooking, shopping, school runs, and errands. She calls herself a homemaker. She gets around on a bike.
Imogen has two best friends, Danielle (a childhood friend) and Tom, a stay-at-home dad to Ava's best friend.
All goes well in the beginning until strange things begin happening. Kyle does not like Maria and thinks she is like a witch and creepy. Maria seems overprotective of Imogen. She is nosy and intrusive. Maria is lonely and wants a family, but how far will she go to get what she wants?
Maria turns manipulative and controlling and then resorts to blackmail and gaslighting. She will not leave. Maria discovers Imogen has been hiding a terrible secret and threatens her. She wants to run the house the way she wants. Are they safe? Imogen is a ball of nerves.
How will Imogen get rid of her? Then things turn more sinister, and someone winds up dead. Now she is in danger, her husband, friends, and children.
Who is this woman? She cannot believe anything she says. Then things get worse. They must get rid of this psychotic evil woman before she destroys them.
What is Maria after? And how far will she go to get it?
Miranda always gives her readers both good and evil characters, fully developed, and Maria is a piece of work! She is unhinged and terrifying. From suspense, twists, turns, and an unreliable narrator, the author cleverly explores nature vs. nurture and what it is like for an adult to find out they were adopted later in life—where nothing is as it appears.
Miranda is an adept and skillful writer who writes suspense remarkably well. She leaves readers questioning who they can trust and relishing every moment of this nail-biting guessing game. For fans of Joy Fielding's The Housekeeper.
I highly recommend Miranda's books if you enjoy domestic suspense and psychological thrillers. I also appreciate and enjoy the inspiration behind all her books. (I wish all authors would include this).
Thanks to Inkubator Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.
Blog Review posted @
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Oct 22, 2023
My Rating: 5 Stars
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About the Author
Thank you for visiting my Amazon author page. I write psychological thrillers - many of which have been Kindle bestsellers. If you'd like to be the first to know about my new books, win free copies, get a character named after you, or chat about your favourite psychological thrillers, please join my new Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mirandarijks. I'd love you to be part of our thriller reader community!
Before becoming a fiction writer, I helped newbie entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses. In 2015, I was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and everything changed.
I live in Sussex, England with my husband and black Labradors. When I'm not writing, I'm dreaming about living in a chalet on a Swiss mountain, obsessively knitting and painting on my iPad. My books include: The Lodge, The Visitors, The Arrangement, The New Neighbour, The Second Wife, The Other Mother, The Insomniac, The Concierge, Forget Me Not, The Only Child, What She Knew, The Influencer, Roses Are Red, You Are Mine, Deserve To Die, I Want You Gone, Fatal Fortune, Fatal Flowers and Fatal Finale.
Find out more at www.mirandarijks.com and please join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mirandarijks. Thank you for reading my books!
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