The Housekeeper: 5 stars

Natalie Barelli's novel, The Housekeeper is a psychological thriller that follows the story of Claire Peterson. A once Manhattan elite turned broke, struggling secretary. Claire has one person to blame for her fall from grace, the loss of her parents, and the destruction of her life, but is she blaming the right person?

Below I'll give a brief summary of Barelli's novel as well as my thoughts on the plot, characters, and story.

Summary

Claire Peterson had it all, loving parents, a great group of friends, and money. Lots of it. One day, Claire's world begins to crumble when their previous housekeeper, Hannah Wilson makes false allegations against her Father.

What follows are a series of unfortunate events that leave Claire parentless and penniless. The only thing she has to hang on to is her hatred for Hannah Wilson and her thirst for revenge.

Several years later Claire finally gets her chance as she poses as a Housekeeper for Hannah and her new family. Claire plots her revenge. This time, it will be Hannah who will lose everything. She will know what it's like to suffer.

After several weeks posing as the housekeeper, Claire learns she is not the only one with secrets, she's not the only one who is lying. Has she bitten off more than she can chew? Has her quest for revenge clouded her thinking? Has her hatred for Hannah blinded her to the truths in her Father's case? Has she morphed reality into a narrative that she wants to be true? Or, is she right?

My thoughts

I'm always a fan of psychological thrillers. The story moved quickly, and Barelli quickly lets you get inside Claire's head and her twisted way of thinking.

She writes in a way that makes you not like Claire at first. She's obsessed and blinded by hatred. However, as the story progresses we find out Claire is a victim of trauma. She is hit with numerous traumatizing events in very close succession. When all this happened she was quite young, so her view and understanding is distorted. Her hatred and yearning for revenge are the two main things keeping her going.

We start to get more of an understanding for Claire and I personally started to feel bad for her. This is a young woman who hasn't been shown very much love throughout her life. She's told herself that no one likes her. She's a liar. She's deserved everything that has happened to her because she's a horrible person.

Something that separates this thriller from others I've read is the ending. A lot of other thrillers, in my experience, have had unsettling endings. I was pleasantly surprised at the end of this novel. We see Claire's vision uncloud as she finally starts to ask questions about the past and realizes the story she's been telling herself and the way she remembered events are untrue.

With the truth revealed she is able to let go of her hatred and build relationships she had previously severed. I think there is a great lesson for everyone who is holding on to negativity, grudges, or even hatred. Let it go. How is it affecting your life to hold on to these things? Is it consuming you? Is it really worth it? We saw what it did to Claire, I hope I can speak for everyone when I say, we don't want to be like Claire.

Last piece of advice, if you're ever considering pretending to be a housekeeper under another alias in order to get revenge, don't.

Thank you for reading my book review of The Housekeeper by Natalie Barelli. I appreciate your support!

Leah Lawrence