Jodi Bishop is a successful real estate agent, married to handsome novelist Harrison, with two adorable kids. She feels some competition with her sister Tracy, who is effortlessly stylish but can’t seem to settle on a career path. And Jodi has watched for years as her aging father has cared for their mother, Audrey, who has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
As Jodi watches as her mother loses her ability to get around, she encourages her father Vic to hire a housekeeper. She thinks it would be easier on him if they had someone to help with the cleaning and the cooking, and who could also give him a hand with Audrey’s care. Jodi interviews several potential helpers, but none of them seem quite right. And then she interviews Elyse.
Elyse is kind and charming and seems to be just what Jodi was looking for. She is willing to cook and clean, and she has some experience helping someone with a debilitating disease. When Jodi calls her references to check, they give her glowing reviews. Jodi sets up a meeting with her parents, hoping they love her as much as she does.
Elyse makes herself right at home, cooking delicious food for them and helping keep Audrey clean and comfortable. She even offers to look after Jodi’s kids when she has to show a house on a weekend. Everything seems perfect.
Until it doesn’t.
At first, it’s small things. Jodi sees Elyse wearing her mother’s Cartier watch. Elyse explains it away by saying that her watch had stopped and Vic had loaned her that one until she got a new battery in her watch. Elyse happened to see her mother’s green silk blouse in her closet. Elyse explained that she had found it on the floor of her mother’s closet and took it to her room to iron it, and she hadn’t yet had a chance to hang it back in Audrey’s closet. No matter what Jodi finds that makes her radar go off, Elyse has a reasonable explanation for.
Meanwhile, Jodi is struggling at home. Her husband is teaching a summer writing course, and he has one young student in particular who seems very keen on him. Harrison is picking fights with her, accusing her of dumping the childcare on him and caring more about her parents than about him and their kids. Jodi tries to make more of an effort at home, but it is her salary that is paying the bills for the family.
She feels unappreciated and frustrated. And then, when her mother’s condition seems to be going downhill quickly, Jodi starts to worry about the housekeeper that she had hired. She has trouble getting Elyse or her father to answer the phone, and they get irritated with her when she drops by unexpectedly. She tries to talk to Tracy, and her sister agrees that things are strange between the sisters and their parents and the housekeeper, but she doesn’t know what to do about it either.
But will they be able to figure out how to stop Elyse before it’s too late for Audrey and Vic? Or now that she’s in the house, is it already too late?
The Housekeeper is Joy Fielding’s pandemic novel, having written it in less than six months during lockdown. It’s a propulsive domestic thriller that fees into the worst fears of the sandwich generation. Those who are struggling to care for aging parents at the same time they are raising their own kids find themselves in a challenging position, but the thought of accidently hiring someone with evil intent to help out is terrifying. And Fielding takes you right there.
I really enjoyed The Housekeeper. I thought that the characters set up the plot really well, so a lot of it seemed inevitable. But there were some interesting surprises along the way, along with a lovely coup de grace at the end. Loved that ending! But I have to admit that I struggled with some of the relationships through the story, as there was some long-time emotional and mental abuse in that family, and some of it was hard to read. But the writing was beautiful, and I thought the end of the story brought it all together beautifully. Fans of thrillers with lots of tension, then interview The Housekeeper for the job.
Egalleys for The Housekeeper were provided by Ballantine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
