Random Things Tours: The Maid by Nita Prose

´You´re not a freak. You´re just an old soul. And that´s something to be proud of´.

It was really hard to take my leave of The Maid, the (very) much praised debut novel by Nita Prose. Of course, the main reason I wanted to read and eventually review this book was because of its inclusion into the mystery novel category, not necessarily for the highly appreciative reviews all around the web and back. 

My conclusion: All good things said about this book are very much deserved as the story stands fully to the hype: it delivers a crime story one rarely happens to read those days. As a crime fiction lover, I do read lots and lots of novels, set into our current times or back in times, by debut authors or veterans of the genre. However, not few of them seem to be just in a hurry to follow a certain (successful) writing recipe, in order to deliver the crime and get the culprits and everything is mostly focused on the action and the actual search/investigation/mystery-solving.

This is not the case with The Maid though, although it is built around a mystery plot. The story is elaborated in an out-of-time manner, that does not seem to take into acount any limitations. It´s like you, as a reader, you have all the time in the world to go through all the details of the story, particularly the personality and particularities of the participants. It is like the author created a very elaborated spreadsheet covering all the activities and characters, aiming to do not leave anything uncovered and keeping the track of all the moves, life details, ambiance descriptions etc. surrounding the circumstances of the crime. 

The result of this acribic effort: a complex story was born, which may take you out of your couch on a journey to figure out why Mr Black - ´The Mr. Black´, ´a famous impresario, a magnat, a tycoon´ was killed in his suite at the luxurious 5-star hotel Regency Grand. Who did it? Our companion is Molly, a 25-year old maid who talks like a 70+-year old spinster. She has an old soul, we´ve been told, as per the description of her late beloved granma with whom she grew up, who is her permanent companion throught everyday life. 

I may say that Molly Gray - the storyteller, and accidental detective - is not for everyone. She lives in a world of her own, her way of talking may sound like, again, a spinster´s, and her blind devotion to her maid work is hilarious. ´Once I´m dressed for my workday, I feel more confident, like I know what to say and to do - at least, most of the time. And once I take off my uniform at the end of the day, I feel naked, unprotected, undone´. Efficient, hard worker, discrete but with a good eye for details. Any kind of details, either a change of mood of some of the clients and co-workers, or the chaged details in the room. Oh, and she loves Columbo too, as she used to watch them together with her granny.

Actually, I can see Molly very well. The author feed us, the readers, with all the requested details in order to figure her out as a human being, not as a puppet who is alive only when the authors wants it to. It can exist well beyond our imagination, in the pages of the book. And this is the case with the other characters in the book as well. For me, it sounds like a highly respectful attitude towards the readers. As a reader, I feel cherished and appreciated, feeling I am about to receive the best possible story, the result of the author´s hard work built with the highest attention to narrative details. It is a story that stands alone, as a movie that you will remember for the clarity of the details, the conversations, the characters. Or all at once. 

The search for the culprit, as seen by Molly, is more than a race-against-the clock. It is a process allowing everyone - both characters and readers - to understand the circumstances of the events and the characters that do bring them to life. During the search, doors and windows are opening up, allowing the reader to trepass into a world created by the author herself, that we, as readers, are invited to observe and understand. Maybe get our own version of the crime solving as well. 

I am by principle skeptical about much praised debut novels. After all, how one can be that good from the first try? It takes time and experience and many failures to write a good, very good book. However, The Maid is up to the expectations and, personally, made me nostalgic for classical books where the author is free to write as much he or she wants to, about his or her topic of choice. It is not like the book should be written for the charts, but it looks like the book grew organically and had to be written because no one wrote it before. In just a few words, my literary verdict: The Maid is a stellar debut for all the good reasons.

Now, can I get back to Molly and her Regency Grand world, please....?

PS: Also, the cover is an elegant rendition of the book and deserves a bit of appreciation as well.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own