02/09/2026
The Housemaid’s Secret
By Freida McFadden
The cover says “Psychological thriller” and the book delivers.
Reading Experience:
The Housemaid ended with Millie being the maid who helps women trapped in bad marriages and this book continues on those lines.
The prologue already sets the tension and my first instinct was that Millie somehow gets in a bad situation herself while helping another wife in a bad marriage. Then the book starts along the same lines. There is a lot of connection to the first book so I would suggest reading The Housemaid first.
The story moves as expected - a woman trapped in a bad marriage confides in Millie and tries to escape. But she is caught.
Eventually Millie, against her own judgement, shoots the husband.
This is where the story gets interesting. The wife pins the whole murder on Millie. Also, when Millie looks at the photos of the murdered man she realises that he is not the one she shot.
The ending is pretty crazy. Beats all kinds of theories and expectations of the reader.
After the happy ending, it makes me think that the book title says “The Housemaid’s Secret”, but WHAT SECRET? It feels like the book is over but there happens to be no secret. And then in the last page, the author reveals the secret. It’s amazing how the author makes us think with her words.
I would definitely suggest both these books to my fellow readers.