Rating: 3.75/5

After everything Millie and Enzo had survived in the first two books, I actually appreciated that The Housemaid Is Watching slowed things down a little. Instead of throwing us straight into chaos, we get to see them trying to build something they have never really had before: a normal family life. They buy a house, move to the suburbs, worry about mortgages, neighbors, schools, and whether their kids are settling in. For me, that domestic side of Millie and Enzo’s relationship was one of the most enjoyable parts of the novel.

The pacing is definitely slower than the previous books, but I actually did not mind that. I found myself savoring it rather than wishing it would hurry up. Watching Millie navigate the strange suburban neighborhood, with Suzette’s fake friendliness and Janice’s unsettling paranoia, built a different kind of tension than the previous novels. It felt more like classic suburban suspense than an all-out psychological thriller.

That said, I never really felt shocked by anything that happened.

Throughout the book, I kept waiting for the creepy noises in the house and the increasingly strange neighborhood dynamics to lead somewhere much darker. I expected something genuinely sinister hiding behind the walls or inside the house itself. Instead, while the mystery was entertaining enough, I never had that “I did not see that coming” moment that made The Housemaid so memorable.

The chapters narrated by the children were another area that did not completely work for me. I understand why McFadden included them, and they certainly helped build suspense, but at times they did not feel quite age appropriate. Their thoughts and observations often sounded more like adults trying to imitate children than actual children. It never completely pulled me out of the story, but it was noticeable enough that I found myself thinking about it several times while reading.

What continues to make this series work, though, is Millie herself. She is still practical, impulsive, fiercely protective, and somehow manages to stumble into danger no matter how desperately she is trying to live a normal life. And Enzo remains one of my favorite fictional husbands. Their relationship feels earned after everything they have survived together, and honestly, I enjoyed seeing that softer, more domestic side of them almost as much as I enjoyed the mystery itself.

Spoilers Below

The biggest surprise for me was actually that there were not many surprises.

I spent most of the novel convinced the strange noises inside the house were building toward something much more sinister than what we ultimately received. Every unexplained sound, unsettling interaction with the neighbors, and suspicious glance had me expecting a payoff similar to the first novel’s massive reveal. Instead, the answers felt relatively straightforward once everything came together.

I also never found Suzette particularly believable as someone capable of completely fooling me. She practically announces from the moment she appears that she is going to be trouble. Likewise, Janice’s paranoia made me expect a much bigger twist involving her, but the story never fully capitalized on that expectation.

Even though the mystery itself did not blow me away, I genuinely enjoyed spending time with these characters again. At this point, I am invested in Millie and Enzo more than I am invested in whatever mystery surrounds them. Their marriage feels authentic, supportive, and refreshingly stable despite the increasingly unbelievable situations they continue to find themselves in.

Overall, The Housemaid Is Watching may not be the strongest book in the series, but it was still an enjoyable one. It trades shocking twists for quieter character moments, and while that means it loses a little of the thriller edge that made the original so addictive, it gains something else in return. It lets readers spend more time with two characters who have become surprisingly easy to root for.

For me, that was enough to earn 3.75 out of 5 stars. I wanted more jaw-dropping moments and a more sinister payoff, but I still closed the book happy I had spent another few hundred pages with Millie and Enzo. Sometimes that is enough.