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….
Do you know what I like about Freida McFadden? She’s found her formula and she’s sticking to it. McFadden doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel with The Housemaid’s Secret. While it’s not a complete carbon copy of the first book, Secret is very similar, but it is also every bit as engrossing and fantastically batshit as its predecessor.
We left Millie just as she was about to begin her journey rescuing housewives being abused by their husbands. Fast forward a few years and Secret finds Millie in a completely different life. She’s left behind the business and her partner in crime, Enzo. Now, Millie is juggling cleaning and nannying as well as further education whilst also dating a hot-shot lawyer eager to lock her down. She’s a busy bee!
However, when her latest gig ends abruptly, Millie secures a last minute job looking after wealthy and influential business magnate, Douglas Garrick’s penthouse. There’s just one problem, Jane Eyre. The mad wife in attic. While Millie swears she won’t get entangled in domestic drama again, once she realises that Wendy Garrick is likely being abused, Millie knows what she has to do.
On the whole, Secret is an exciting, easy-to-read thriller. I charged through it in an entire day – McFadden’s writing really is that addictive. Was it implausible? Yes. But I’ve come to expect that from Freida McFadden. Her plots for The Housemaid series are literally an EastEnders episode on steriods! The pacing was slower than the first book, but there are plenty of creative twists and red herrings that will keep you on your toes.
The series continues to be an action packed, cat-and-mouse game. Despite my enjoyment of these books, I am weirdly indifferent to the main characters. Millie is a morally grey lead and while I love following the chaotic situations that she gets herself into, I wouldn’t say that she’s the standout part of the series for me. The appeal is McFadden’s tumultuous writing and unbelievable plots. The more interesting characters, for me, tend to be the ones involved in the domestic drama. Wendy Garrick: iconic. I have to admit that I loved seeing Millie being outsmarted!
I will, of course, be reading The Housemaid is Watching when it comes out later this year. It’s odd because I wouldn’t say that I’m eagerly anticipating it and can’t wait to get my hands on it. Yet, I know that once I do, I will probably be every bit as obsessed and hooked as I have been for the past two. It’s not a series that tops my list of favourite books ever but my god, is it a lot of fun.
I have no doubt that McFadden will probably stay close to her tried and tested formula and I’m not sure how much more she can up the craziness until it becomes entirely inconceivable, but I’m craving a little bit more than the saving housewives plot that we’ve seen in the last two novels.
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