درباره کتاب First Lie Wins (دروغ اول برنده می شود)
ایوی پورتر، شخصیت خیالی خلق شده توسط یک رئیس مرموز، وظیفه دارد به یک شهر نفوذ کند و رایان سامنر را هدف قرار دهد. زمانی که او با شهر و رایان ارتباط بیشتری برقرار می کند، ایوی به زندگی متفاوتی فکر می کند، اما گذشته او تهدید می کند که همه چیزهایی را که ساخته است از بین می برد. ایوی باید هویت دوگانه خود را دنبال کند و برای اطمینان از آینده خود از گذشته خود جلوتر باشد.
Thriller Mystery
January 2, 2024
Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
The identity comes to Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the target: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.
Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes--especially after what happened last time.
Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to—her real identity—just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn't be higher--but then, Evie has always liked a challenge...
درباره کتاب None of This is True (هیچ کدام از اینها درست نیست)
لیزا جول با رمان هیجان‌انگیز روان‌شناختی جدید درباره زنی که خود را سوژه پادکست جنایی واقعی خودش می‌بیند بازمی‌گردد. آلیکس سامرز با جوزی فر که تولدشان در یک روز است، ملاقات می کند. جوزی به پادکست‌های آلیکس گوش می‌دهد و می‌خواهد در آن حضور داشته باشد. آلیکس شیفته زندگی مرموز جوزی می شود. جوزی راه خود را به زندگی و خانه آلیکس پیدا می کند. ناگهان جوزی ناپدید می شود و میراث هولناکی را فاش می کند. آلیکس متوجه می شود که هدف پادکست جنایی واقعی خودش شده است و خود و خانواده اش را به خطر می اندازد. سوال باقی می ماند: جوزی فر کیست و چه کرده است؟
July 20, 2023
Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
درباره کتاب Local Woman Missing (زن محلی گم شده)
مردم بدون هیچ ردی ناپدید نمی شوند.
شلبی تباو اولین کسی است که ناپدید شد. چندی بعد، مردیث دیکی و دختر شش ساله اش، دلیلا، چند بلوک دورتر از جایی که شلبی آخرین بار دیده شده بود ناپدید می شوند و ترسی را در جامعه زمانی صلح آمیز آنها ایجاد می کنند. آیا این حوادث به هم مرتبط هستند؟ پس از یک جستجوی گریزان که بیشتر سؤالات را به همراه داشت تا پاسخ، سرانجام پرونده متروک می شود.
حالا، 11 سال بعد، دلیله به طرز تکان دهنده ای برمی گردد. همه می خواهند بدانند چه اتفاقی برای او افتاده است، اما هیچ کس برای چیزی که پیدا خواهد کرد آماده نیست.
در این رمان مهیج هوشمندانه و مهیج، استاد تعلیق و نویسنده پرفروش نیویورک تایمز، مری کوبیکا، اسرار داخلی را به سطح جدیدی می برد و نشان می دهد که برخی از مردم برای مدفون نگه داشتن حقیقت دست از سر هیچ چیز نمی کشند.
Local Woman Missing
Fiction
HarperCollins Australia
June 1, 2021
320
People don’t just disappear without a trace… Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find… In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
درباره کتاب The House Across the Lake (خانه‌ای آن سوی رود)
دریاچه لز یک تابوت دربسته هم تاریک‌تر است. این چیزی بود که مارنی همیشه می‌گفت، قبلا وقتی بچه بودیم، و مدام می‌کوشید مرا بترساند. راستش را بخواهید، این حرف اغراق‌آمیز است، اما نه زیاد. آب دریاچه گرین تیره است، حتی با وجود عبور نور از آن.
The House Across the Lake
Fiction
National Geographic Books
June 21, 2022
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Named a most anticipated summer book by USA Today, People, E! News, Cosmopolitan, PureWow, CNN.com, New York Post, CrimeReads, POPSUGAR, and more The bestselling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night is back with his “best plot twist yet.” (People, "Best Summer Books") Be careful what you watch for . . . Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is powerful; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous. One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey immediately suspects Tom of foul play. What she doesn’t realize is that there’s more to the story than meets the eye—and that shocking secrets can lurk beneath the most placid of surfaces. Packed with sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy plot twists, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake is the ultimate escapist read . . . no lake house required.
درباره کتاب The Maid (خدمتکار)
مولی گری مثل بقیه نیست. او با مهارت های اجتماعی دست و پنجه نرم می کند و منظور دیگران را اشتباه برداشت می کند. مادر بزرگش توسط قوانین ساده ای که مولی می توانست براساس آن زندگی کند، دنیا را برای او تفسیر می کرد.
از چند ماه پیش که مادربزرگ درگذشت، مولی به تنهایی با پیچیدگی های زندگی روبرو می شود.
او با ذوق و شوق کارش را به عنوان خدمتکار هتل انجام می دهد. شخصیت منحصر به فرد او، همراه با عشق وسواس گونه ی او به نظافت و آداب مناسب، او را تبدیل به یک فرد مناسب برای این شغل می کند. اما زندگی منظم مولی از روزی که وارد سوئیت چارلز بلک بدنام و ثروتمند می شود، به هم می ریزد، اتاق را در وضعیت آشفته ای و خود آقای بلک را مرده در رختخوابش می یابد…
The Maid
Fiction
Ballantine Books
January 3, 2023
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • “A heartwarming mystery with a lovable oddball at its center” (Real Simple), this cozy whodunit introduces a one-of-a-kind heroine who will steal your heart. “The reader comes to understand Molly’s worldview, and to sympathize with her longing to be accepted—a quest that gives The Maid real emotional heft.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “Think Clue. Think page-turner.”—Glamour In development as a major motion picture produced by and starring Florence Pugh Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection. But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late? A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.
درباره کتاب The Paris Apartment (آپارتمان پاریس)
کتاب «آپارتمان پاریس» رمانی نوشته «لوسی فولی» است که اولین بار در سال 2022 به چاپ رسید. «جس هدلی» پس از کنار گذاشتن آخرین شغلش در انگلیس، به آپارتمان شیک برادرخوانده اش، «بن دنیلز»، در پاریس می رسد. اما «بن» آنجا نیست و صبح روز بعد نیز خبری از او نمی شود. وقتی «جس» از سایر ساکنین در مورد برادرش می پرسد، آن ها همگی از جواب دادن طفره می روند. «جس» هنگام جست و جوی خود برای یافتن «بن»، درمی یابد که ساکنین ساختمان، اعضای یک خانواده هستند و اسراری برای پنهان کردن دارند. وقتی یکی از همکاران «بن»، نگرانی «جس» را در مورد ناپدید شدن او جدی می گیرد، جزئیات آن اسرار شروع به برملا شدن می کند، و همزمان، تصویری ملموس از خانواده ای با زخم هایی عمیق آشکار می شود.
The Paris Apartment
Fiction
William Morrow
February 22, 2022
368
Jess needs a fresh start. Her half-brother Ben didn't sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn't say no. Only when she shows up he's not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother's situation, and the more questions she has. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it's starting to look like it's Ben's future that's in question. Everyone's a neighbour. Everyone's a suspect. And everyone knows something they're not telling. Author of "The Guest List." Print run 300,000.
درباره کتاب A Flicker in the Dark (سوسویی در تاریکی)
وقتی کلویی دیویس دوازده ساله بود، شش دختر نوجوان در شهر کوچک او در لوئیزیانا ناپدید شدند. در پایان تابستان، پدر خودش به جنایات اعتراف کرد و مادام العمر کنار گذاشته شد، و کلوئه و بقیه اعضای خانواده اش را رها کرد تا با حقیقت دست و پنجه نرم کنند و سعی کنند در حالی که با عواقب بعدی روبرو می شوند، پیش بروند.
اکنون بیست سال بعد، کلویی یک روانشناس در باتون روژ است و برای عروسی خود آماده می شود. در حالی که در نهایت درک او از شادی ای که برای رسیدن به آن تلاش کرده است، شکننده است، گاهی اوقات احساس می کند که کنترل زندگی خود را به اندازه نوجوانان مشکلی که بیماران او هستند، از دست داده است. بنابراین وقتی یک دختر نوجوان محلی ناپدید می شود، و سپس یکی دیگر، آن تابستان وحشتناک از بین می رود. آیا او پارانوئید است، با دیدن شباهت‌هایی از گذشته‌اش که در واقع وجود ندارد، یا برای دومین بار در زندگی‌اش، آیا کلویی قصد دارد نقاب یک قاتل را بردارد؟
Thriller, Mystery
January 11, 2022
When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?
In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.
درباره کتاب Never Lie (هیچ وقت دروغ نگو)
تریشیا و ایتان که تازه ازدواج کرده اند در یک طوفان شدید زمستانی در خانه ای دور افتاده به دام افتاده اند. تریسیا یک اتاق مخفی را با رونوشت های صوتی بیماران دکتر هیل کشف می کند و به تدریج زنجیره ای از حوادث را که منجر به ناپدید شدن مرموز روانپزشک می شود، کشف می کند. همانطور که تریشیا به نوارها گوش می دهد، دروغ های دکتر هیل فاش می‌شود و نوار کاست پایانی حقیقت وحشتناک را آشکار می کند.
Mystery, Thriller & Horror > Suspense
September 19, 2022
Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.
In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.
Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.
And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.
The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.
درباره کتاب Wrong Place Wrong Time (زمان اشتباه، مکان اشتباه)
واخر اکتبر. بعد از نیمه شب. شما منتظر پسر هجده ساله خود هستید. او از منع رفت و آمد گذشته است. همانطور که از پنجره تماشا می کنید، او ظاهر می شود و متوجه می شوید که او تنها نیست: او به سمت مردی می رود و او مسلح است.
وقتی می بینید که او این کار را می کند، نمی توانید باور کنید: پسر نوجوان بامزه و شاد شما، او یک غریبه را همان جا در خیابان بیرون خانه شما می کشد. نمیدونی کیه نمیدونی چرا شما فقط می دانید که پسر شما اکنون در بازداشت به سر می برد، آینده او درهم شکسته است.
آن شب با ناامیدی به خواب می روی. همه چیز از دست رفت.
تا زمانی که بیدار شوی . .
. . . و دیروز است
و بعد دوباره بیدار میشی . .
. . . و همین دیروز است.
هر روز صبح یک روز زودتر از خواب بیدار می شوید، یک روز دیگر قبل از قتل. با فرصتی دیگر برای متوقف کردن آن. جایی در گذشته پاسخی نهفته است. محرک این جنایت – و شما چاره ای جز پیدا کردن آن ندارید. . .
Fiction
HarperCollins
August 2, 2022
374
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK “It’s perfection, every word, every moment. A masterpiece . . . One of the best books I’ve ever read.” —Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author “Absolutely AMAZING. The plot is astonishing—original and ingenious. But it’s much more than that; the love Jen has for her son and her husband is beautiful. The stakes are so high because they’re so meaningful.” —Marin Keyes, internationally bestselling author “A brilliantly genre-bending, mind-twisting answer to the question How far would you go to save your child?” —Ruth Ware, #1 New York Times bestselling author “Daring, inventive, exhilarating, twisted. This is virtuoso storytelling. Please dive in. It’s the right place and the right time.” —A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author “A work of such genius it leaves you in awe. Wrong Place, Wrong Time is impossibly clever, daringly original and heart-rending. Exceptional.” —Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End From UK bestselling author Gillian McAllister comes an astonishing, compulsively twisty psychological thriller about a mother who witnesses her teenage son stab a man and then seizes on an unconventional way to try to save him, deemed “clever, original, and so addictive it should come with a warning” by Alice Feeney, bestselling author of Rock Paper Scissors Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened? Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your eighteen-year-old son. He’s past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed. You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered. That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost. Until you wake . . . . . . and it is yesterday. And then you wake again . . . . . . and it is the day before yesterday. Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime—and you don’t have a choice but to find it . . . “Another ingeniously plotted genre-bender… McAllister succeeds in making us care, and the result is a tour de force.” — The Guardian “This entertaining look at motherhood and memory will resonate with many." — Publishers Weekly
درباره کتاب The Housemaid’s Secret (راز خدمتکار خانه)
در ادامه کتاب The Housemaid
“به اتاق خواب مهمان نرو.” وقتی داگلاس گاریک در را با نوک انگشتش لمس می کند، سایه ای روی صورت داگلاس گاریک می افتد. “همسرم… او خیلی بیمار است.” همانطور که او همچنان آپارتمان پنت هاوس باورنکردنی خود را به من نشان می دهد، احساس وحشتناکی نسبت به زن پشت درهای بسته دارم. اما نمی‌توانم این شغل را از دست بدهم، نه اگر بخواهم تاریک‌ترین رازم را پیش خودم نگه دارم…
Bookouture
February 20, 2023
"Don't go in the guest bedroom." A shadow falls on Douglas Garrick's face as he touches the door with his fingertips. "My wife... she's very ill." As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can't risk losing this job-not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe... It's hard to find an employer who doesn't ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want. It's almost perfect. But I still haven't met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I'm sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I'm doing laundry. And one day I can't help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything... That's when I make a promise. After all, I've done this before. I can protect Mrs Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe. Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It's simply a question of how far I'm willing to go... This absolutely explosive and shockingly twisty sequel to international bestseller The Housemaid will keep you racing through the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose, The Woman in the Window and Gone Girl will be totally hooked! This book can also be enjoyed as a standalone. Read what everyone's saying about The Housemaid's Secret: "OMG!!! MIND ABSOLUTELY BLOWN!!!! Love, LOVE, LOVED this absolute page-turner!!... OMG the twists just kept on coming again and again!!!... I absolutely devoured it in one sitting!!... Addictive, mind-blowing page-turner that will keep you up with a racing heart until you've finished!!!" Bookworm86, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "An amazing psychological thriller!!... will grab you literally from the first line... Hold on to your jaws, because they will drop... Loved. It. So. Much!!" Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "OH YEAH!!!... I flew through the pages like a bat out of hell. So, so good!! I absolutely loved every second of it!!... Will lead you down one path until you are completely turned around and screaming WTF?!" Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I DEVOURED this book quicker than I ever read any other book... I was sucked in... I loved every second of it... I will forever recommend this book." Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Made my whole year!!... This book is AMAZING!!! Twists on twists on twists!... I absolutely devoured it!" Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
درباره کتاب The Last Thing He Told Me
کتاب «آخرین چیزی که به من گفت» رمانی نوشته ی «لارا دیو» است که نخستین بار در سال 2021 چاپ شد. «اوئن مایکلز»، برنامه نویسی شاغل در یک شرکت بزرگ، درست قبل از دستگیر شدن رئیسش به اتهام فساد، ناپدید می شود و بیش از نیم میلیون دلار پول نقد را برای دختر شانزده ساله اش «بیلی» به جا می گذارد. «بیلی» و مادرخوانده اش «هانا هال»، رابطه ی نزدیکی ندارند، اما حالا با هم در تلاش هستند تا بفهمند چه چیزی باعث شد «اوئن» فرار کند. با این حال «هانا» نسبت به بی گناهی «اوئن» مردد است و پس از این که به خاطر می آورد مردی قبلا گفته بود «اوئن» را از زمان دبیرستان خود در «تگزاس» می شناخته، در حالی که خود «اوئن» ادعا می کرد اهل منطقه ی «ساحل شرقی» است—«هانا» و «بیلی» به آنجا می روند تا شاید «بیلی» بتواند خاطراتی را از دوران کودکی اش به یاد آورد و گره از معمای ناپدید شدن پدرش بگشاید.
The Last Thing He Told Me
Fiction
Simon and Schuster
May 4, 2021
320
The instant #1 New York Times bestselling mystery and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick that’s captivated more than two million readers about a woman searching for the truth about her husband’s disappearance…at any cost. “A fast-moving, heartfelt thriller about the sacrifices we make for the people we love most.” —Real Simple Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated. With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a riveting mystery, certain to shock you with its final, heartbreaking turn.
درباره کتاب The Housemaid (خدمتکار خانه)
کتاب خدمتکار (The Housemaid) اثر فریدا مک‌فادن (Freida McFadden)، رمانی مهیج و پیچیده در ژانر جنایی، معمایی و ترسناک است که از صحنه‌ی قتلی در یک خانه‌ی مجلل شروع می‌شود. شخصی در اتاق زیر شیروانی خانه به قتل رسیده که هویت مشخصی ندارد. میلی کالووی، خدمتکار خانه، درباره‌ی همه‌چیز اظهار بی‌اطلاعی می‌کند. داستان کتاب خدمتکار گریزی به سه ماه قبل می‌زند، زمانی که نینا وینچستر، خانم خانه، با دختر جوان فقیری که سر و وضع مناسبی ندارد در نشیمن بزرگ خانه مصاحبه می‌کند تا تصمیم بگیرد که آیا می‌تواند او را به عنوان خدمتکار در منزلش استخدام کند یا نه. دختر جوان میلی کالووی است که یک ماه گذشته را بی‌خانمان بوده و تمام این مدت را در ماشینش زندگی می‌کرده است، ولی حالا با دست‌کاری رزومه‌اش ناامیدانه سعی در پیدا کردن یک شغل دارد. میلی که فکر می‌کند این خانه با تمام مزایا و دستمزدش چیزی ورای شایستگی اوست، امید چندانی به قبولی در این کار ندارد، ولی باز هم امیدش را از دست نمی‌دهد.
The Housemaid #1
January 1, 2022
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own....
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband, Andrew, seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out...and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: The Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of....
