This book was definitely darker and more unsettling than I was expecting from the title. Thrillers about maids are having a moment right now and the other ones I've read have been fast-paced, twisty, and fun.

The story here moved along quickly and did have some pretty decent twists. I wouldn't call it a fun read though.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

A well written psychological thriller. There were many twists and turns and you are kept gripped without.

Will look out for more from this author.

Someone is found dead in a luxury hotel & a little girl is missing. Then there’s the hotel maid who’s receiving mysterious letters saying ‘I know who you are’.

3 stars from me. Good book, tad predictable about 75% through. Few different character’s stories you have to keep straight (and for my one brain celled mind, it was hard at times).

This book starts off being about the maid at a hotel, but it soon ventures into dark spaces. The subject matter is difficult and dark. I enjoyed this book. I was interested and intrigued. I found myself very curious about what would happen at the end. A convoluted story that was full of secrets, lies, and twists! The characters and their secrets created such depth to this dark and twisted thriller. I will read more by this author in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and author Michelle Dunne for the advanced reader copy of this book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Trigger warning: suicide, murder, child abuse, pedophilia, self-harm

The Hotel Maid was a good read that gripped me early on, although I was uneasy about the subject matter. It's another book that's built on the premise of what the Irish Mother & Baby homes did by stealing children from unwed mothers and sending them off to be adopted. This one is much darker, though, as these events have a generational impact.

June Calloway is a maid at the prestigious Cedarwood Manor, a prestigious hotel for the wealthy. She flies under the radar most of the time as the people who stay there don't "see" the help. This lets her see and hear many different things that she tells her roommate, an elderly woman named Tess. They live in a flat and don't have much money aside from June's salary as a maid.

Mia is a ten-year-old girl who lives in a big house with her Mammy, Daddy, and brother. Both of the children are treated as slaves by Mammy, who expects to be catered to. Every few weeks, she visits Cedarwood Manor to spend some time alone for a few days.

You'll have to read the book to figure out how June and Mia are connected. I'll admit, it took me greatly by surprise.

June is painted as someone who may or may not have a learning disability, but she's clever and conniving when she needs to be. While she is at work, she receives an "I know what you did" note that frightens her. There's not much about her background until the end, and then it all makes sense. As the notes continue to pile up, June fears someone may have discovered her past, but who among her coworkers could it be?

The characters here are well-honed and have quite a bit of depth to them. Even the ones who seem to be supporting players have distinct personalities and contribute to the story. The main characters are all interesting, whether they are around June or around Mia. June herself is a remarkable person and dedicated to her job at the hotel. She polishes the brass and tables in the lobby every day as if they are filthy. It also gives her the opportunity to overhear things, which is part of what drives her.

Mia is young and only understands what she's been told. Her background slowly is told as she learns it herself. She has no idea that children in other homes don't act like servants to their parents as she's kept away from school as well. Mammy's idea of education is having her read the newspaper every day. Still, as she's getting older she's starting to question things and seek out more than what Mammy has allowed her to know.

Everything comes together nicely, or not so nicely. This is really a sad book in many ways as there are no real winners in the end. June is so troubled and finds out the person she thought was on her side for a long time actually had an ulterior motive. It doesn't seem like anyone really likes her for who she is, and it's a very lonely existence.

The Hotel Maid was a good character-driven dark thriller. Overall I did enjoy the read, but it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. It will keep you guessing until the end.

I read something else by this author and had high hopes. It started out engaging, with June, maid who discovers a dead body. She lives with Tess, an older woman. There is Mia, a child who is abused and told that she is stupid. As the novel unfolds, we learn about the relationships between the characters, and who committed the murder. The book is very dark, increasingly so, which made this a challenging read. It is also easy to get confused and it was hard to connect to the characters. As a teacher, I find it very difficult to read bad things about children and I almost gave up on the book.
Thanks to Net Galley and Storm Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I would consider this book OK. I found it confusing through most of it. I kept getting all of the people and names mixed up. It did come together in the end, but I had pretty much figured it out by that point so it was kind of predictable.

Michelle Dunne's The Hotel Maid is a compelling psychological thriller that delves into the life of a seemingly inconspicuous hotel maid, June Calloway, and unravels a dark and intricate mystery set against the backdrop of the opulent Cedarwood Manor hotel.

The novel opens with a portrayal of June Calloway, who embraces her role as a maid with meticulous dedication. The luxury of Cedarwood Manor and the anonymity of her job provide her with a sense of comfort, allowing her to navigate the hotel’s corridors and rooms without drawing attention. Her anonymity is both a shield and a prison, as it allows her to maintain her secrets while keeping her true identity and past hidden from the guests and staff.

The story takes a dramatic turn when a woman is found dead in her room and a young girl goes missing from the hotel. The sense of dread is heightened when June receives a cryptic note suggesting that someone knows her hidden secrets. This note sets off a chain of events that forces June to confront her past and the precariousness of her carefully constructed facade.

Dunne excels in crafting a suspenseful narrative, using the luxurious yet confining setting of Cedarwood Manor to amplify the story's tension. The hotel, with its grandeur and isolation, becomes a microcosm of June’s own entrapment. The juxtaposition of the hotel's opulence and the dark secrets that unfold within its walls creates a gripping atmosphere that keeps readers on edge.

June Calloway is a well-developed protagonist whose complexity is revealed through her actions and internal monologue. Initially presented as a diligent and reserved maid, June’s character is gradually peeled back to reveal layers of vulnerability and psychological depth. Her interactions with the hotel staff, especially Malcolm Levy, the hotel security guard who seems to be one of the few who notices her, add further intrigue to her character. The dynamics between them, fraught with tension and unspoken history, contribute significantly to the novel’s suspense.

The plot of The Hotel Maid is intricately woven, with Dunne skillfully building suspense through a combination of red herrings and psychological manipulation. The mystery surrounding the woman’s death and the missing girl is interlaced with June’s own secrets, creating a narrative that is both engaging and unpredictable. As June races against time to clear her name and uncover the truth, the reader is drawn into a web of deceit, danger, and psychological tension.

Supporting characters are also richly portrayed, each adding depth and potential motives to the unfolding drama. The interactions between the staff and guests of Cedarwood Manor are laden with intrigue, contributing to the novel's suspenseful atmosphere. The tension between the desire for anonymity and the fear of exposure is a recurring theme, explored through June’s relationships and the unfolding mystery.

Fans of psychological thrillers will find The Hotel Maid particularly engaging. The novel’s exploration of themes such as identity, secrecy, and the impact of past trauma is handled with skill and nuance. Dunne’s ability to create a palpable sense of suspense, combined with well-developed characters and a tightly plotted narrative, makes this a standout in the genre. The luxurious yet insidious setting of Cedarwood Manor adds a layer of psychological complexity that enhances the thriller’s impact.

The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne is a gripping psychological thriller that masterfully combines suspense with intricate character development. The novel’s compelling plot, rich setting, and nuanced exploration of identity and secrecy make it a must-read for fans of the genre. Dunne’s skillful storytelling ensures that readers will be captivated from the first page to the last, eagerly unraveling the secrets of Cedarwood Manor alongside June Calloway.

The Hotel Maid had me hooked from the beginning. Dunne has readers captivated in a story of secrets, hidden agendas, aliases, and revenge.

June Calloway is the best hotel maid the resort has ever seen. Her attention to detail comes only second to her ability to remain invisible to the VIP guests that frequent the place. But when someone starts leaving June notes hinting to her secret past everything changes.

Although the twist in this story didn’t come out of the blue, the way Dunne wraps everything up in a bow at the end for readers has me wanting more.

This was creepy and twisted, it went through a lot of different triggering type issues through out the story. I was really into the story at first though it just kind of dropped off midway for me. I feel it’s still a good read though if you are triggered it may not be for you.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Storm publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne.

June Calloway is a maid at the prestigious Cedarwood Manor Hotel, one who takes pride in her work, keeps her head down, and shows her love for the hotel in the way that she cares for and cleans it’s possessions. June’s coworkers find her to be a bit odd, but some depend on her trustworthiness and work ethic. One morning June enters room 208 to give it a good cleaning, but she is halted by the discovery of a woman’s body. The story then rewinds back six weeks in time to everything that leads up to finding one of Cedarwood Manor Hotel’s most frequent guests, Mrs. Kelly, murdered on the floor of her suite.

During the novel, readers will meet Mia and Tess, through different timelines. Mia is a young girl who is mentally abused by the woman who takes care of her. Her story is troubling and heartbreaking. Michelle Dunne really made Mia’s life come alive through my reading and tugged at my heart strings. Tess is an older woman who shares a small apartment with June. Tess’s own story is a bit mysterious to June. June does some digging to attempt to find Tess’s truth.

Michelle Dunne does a great job of making the reader “feel” the characters through her use of imagery. At certain points of the book, I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, reading what the characters were going through in their lives, but this is a sign of the author doing his/her job through his/her storytelling. Although there are some tough topics the book covers, such as self-harm, mental abuse, child neglect, and murder; I did find that Dunne’s new novel was one worth reading. I am a reader that enjoys reading different types of stories and understand how some happenings add to the story’s plot; however I want to be fair and mention the topics that come up in the book in case that is not something readable for the person reading my review. This book was out for publication on August 23rd. 4 stars.

These books just continue to get more and more exciting! You would think this genre and type of book would get old but authors like this continue to hit the mark.

Trying to get back to reality after reading this book. Several stories at different times run seamlessly together, winding tendrils of confusion - just as the reader gets to grips with one scenario, the stage changes and new actors appear. Only, they're not new actors, are they? Very well done, and lovely to have a story based in Cork.

I'll be honest in saying that I put this book down several times not wanting to finish.
I couldn't connect with the character, the different POVs and the time lapse. It eventually came together towards the end.
It seemed slow paced with not much happening. It was more about the hotel guests and the staff and I kept waiting for all the pieces to connect.
The maid sure had a lot of secrets that made the story turn quite dark.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Storm Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
The hotel maid is June, she keeps herself to herself, she moves around the hotel almost as if she is invisible, she watches everyone, staff and residents included. June is a self harmer, she lives with Tess who is 80, they are not related, they know very little about each other, both of them keep secrets.
The story turns darker as Mia who is 10 years old narrates her story, she is physically and mentally abused, treated like a maid by those who are suppose to care for her.
I was constantly trying to work out how everything would come together, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, but the plot held my attention and it comes together very cleverly at the end.
Well deserving of 4 stars

This was a definite page turner. So binge worthy! It's dark and twisty. The characters are great. Told by different POVS on different timelines so you are sure not to get bored. Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

The story line was a bit slow at the beginning but towards the middle of the book it really picked up and became interesting. The “plot twist” was very easy to figure out early on, but the storyline itself was very interesting and the book overall was well-written. There are a lot of triggers in this book. Mental and emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, self-harm, and murder. So that’s important to mention.

June appears like a normal, quiet, reserved young woman to most. But on the inside, she’s anything but. As a hotel maid at one of the most luxurious manors in Ireland, she takes pride in her job everyday. But she sees and hears things, that she often turns a blind eye to. The Cedarwood Manor staff is full of drama, scandal, betrayal and secrets. But the one dark, deep seeded secret of them all falls within June. What is her secret? And what lengths is she willing to go to keep it hidden?

Overall, it was a good read. The plot twist was predictable, but otherwise a good read that kept my interest!

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Release Date: August 23, 2024
TW: Suicide, self-harm, child abuse

This story flips back and forth between two POVs:
June Calloway- a maid at the Cedarwood Manor hotel. She prefers to stay invisible as she appears to be hiding secrets of her past.
Mia Kelly- a 10 year old girl who is verbally abused and has been made into the “Cinderella” of the family.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and Michelle Dunne for an ARC copy of this book!

I’m honestly not to sure how I felt about this one. It didn’t blow me away, but I was also intrigued enough to see how everything turned out. I didn’t really like most of the characters-sometimes even June, but my heart did ache for little Mia. This book is definitely on the dark side and some of the trigger warning themes were definitely hard to read.

👍🏻:
-Pacing was good enough to keep me intrigued
-The suspense of how everything turned out/intertwined

👎🏻:
-dark themes that were hard to read
-unlikeable characters
-reveal wasn’t mind blowing

The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne

The Hoel Maid is my first read by this author. This is a fast paced psychological thriller told from different points of views. From the very beginning of the book, the author grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. While the plot twists were definitely see able, some still caught me off guard, The book goes between points of view which is irritating at times.

The book should definitely contain trigger warnings as the book goes into darker territory. The characters were well developed. This was a very fast read. The events moved quickly keeping you drawn in waiting to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed the book finding it hard to put it down until the very end. Fans of Freida McFadden or Nicole Trope will love this fast paced dark. Thriller mystery.

I must admit I did have to skip over a number of pages and I did wonder if I would be able to finish it. However, I was interested to see how it all panned out and I was glad that continued reading until the end. There are a number of twists and turns and some surprises. I wouldn’t say that any of the characters are particularly likeable but they all have interesting backgrounds. I can say that it all comes together neatly and left me feeling satisfied with the conclusion. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.