The Housemaid is Watching (#3 in series) by Freida McFadden

 "The third [book] in a series usually isn't that great."

That's a quote directly from this book and sums up my thoughts. 

In fact, this was such a let down and a horrible way to end the Millie and Enzo story but I'd never read another even if Freida McFadden tried to redeem the couple. Their move to Long Island and description of their lives in the new neighborhood 11 years into married life with two children was slow, boring, and deadly dull. Everything fun about Millie and Enzo is way gone.

Right when things start to be not OK in their marriage, with their kids, and because of the weird neighbors, they don't talk to each other? Come on Millie and Enzo. You two have been through everything and now they have problems and their interaction was terrible. No one for an instant thought Enzo was doing anything bad so how could Millie even entertain any ridiculous suspicions even though Enzo was acting like a total idiot. 

Then the big reveal and that's when this narrative went totally off the rails from semi interesting to ridiculous, over the top, and completely unbelievable. A sting of coincidences that strains credulity. Everything could have turned out differently if the people in the family would have talked to each other. The worst part of the book for me was when Ada took over the narrative point of view. I also quit reading and DNF but I guess I wanted to torture myself just a bit more. My advice: if you're thinking that you want more of the Millie exploits and are tempted to read this, just give it a hard pass and remember her how she was. 

I listened to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. I had to wait a long time for the audio format to come up at the library so that's why I am reading so late after publication. The main narrator, Lauryn Allman, voices the character of Millie and she does a fantastic job with the accent. Her performance has always made that character come to life and seemed to embody the spirit of Millie. Ina Marie Smith is the second narrator.

This is the third book featuring Millie and Enzo and should not be read without having read the other 2 in the series. If you must.

Genre - mystery, abuse, sexual abuse, murder