Read it with the lights on. And maybe double-check that your bedroom door locks from the inside. is available now in paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Freida McFadden has done it again. Hot on the heels of her viral sensation The Housemaid , McFadden delivers a sequel that somehow manages to be darker, tighter, and more psychologically sinister. The Housemaid’s Secret (2023) picks up with our favorite morally grey protagonist, Millie Calloway, but transplants her from the suburban gothic nightmare of the Winchesters to the glossy, high-altitude hellscape of a New York City penthouse.

However, the prose is sharper. The dialogue is snappier. And the ending is infinitely more satisfying. Without giving away the final chapter, McFadden sets up a third book ( The Housemaid Is Watching , due out in 2024) that promises to bring Millie full circle. Rating: 4.5/5

The catch? Millie is strictly forbidden from entering the second bedroom. And she is never, ever to interact with Mrs. Garrick.

The final 50 pages are a masterclass in escalating dread. McFadden turns the penthouse from a cage into a killing floor, and the alliances shift so fast you’ll get whiplash. Yes—with one caveat.

The Housemaid had a slow-burn tension that felt organic. The Housemaid’s Secret is more of a thriller rollercoaster. It sacrifices some realism for sheer entertainment value. You have to suspend your disbelief about how easily Millie gets away with breaking and entering, and how incompetent the NYPD apparently is.