The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

 

The Housemaid's Secret is the second book in the Housemaid's series by Freida McFadden. I'm a big fan of Freida McFadden and I've read quite a few books by her. I plan to read all of them eventually. I've always felt like The Housemaid is one of her less stellar works, even though it's the most popular one by quite a lot. I slightly hoped The Housemaid's Secret would redeem the series for me, but it didn't.

The Housemaid's Secret continues with the the protagonist from the first novel, Millie Calloway, who works as a housemaid for rich families typically with the wife in abusive situations. After how she "took care of business" in the first novel, she kind of got a reputation and job has been steady. The beginning of the book quickly mentions several clients she worked for (where she "took care of business") and that she's now working for Amber Degraw as the housemaid and babysitter to Amber's baby, Olive.  That is, until one day when Olive wouldn't stop calling Millie mama, angering Amber. Millie is fired on the spot.

Millie with her criminal history (of killing a guy to protect her friend from sexual assault) has limited job options, and she's quickly running out of money for rent. (Plot hole #1. With all the times she's helped super rich housewives, you'd think she'd be rolling in the dough by now?) Anyway. She puts out a job ad for a housemaid/babysitter position again and gets a call from Douglas Garrick, the CEO of Coinstock. Douglas tells her that his wife has a chronic illness so he's trying to hire someone immediately to help with housework. Douglas is rich and handsome. Millie is hired right away and starts working. She notices there's really no mess that he talks about and the grocery requests and recipes she's given to cook for dinners are just all really specific and bizarre, but the money is good so she doesn't ask questions. She's never met Wendy, Douglas's wife, because she's always inside her room and refuse to come out. Douglas claims she's not feeling well. Douglas acts like a concerned and loving husband but Millie suspects he's abusive. 

As time goes on, Millie is getting increasingly certain that Wendy is getting abused, as she hears her crying in her room sometimes, among other evidences. She tries to get Wendy to come out but she wouldn't. The gardener from the first book, Enzo, was dating Millie for a while after the end of the first book, until he had to go back to Italy to take care of his mother. He was hoping he'd be able to return soon-ish but he couldn't, and eventually told Millie to move on. Millie did move on and started dating some rich and handsome and smart lawyer guy named Brock. Brock is head over heels in love and wants Millie to move in with him, which would solve her financial woes but she's reluctant to because she hasn't told him about her criminal history and she's afraid if she tells him, he would dump her. She feels that she can't move in with him until she comes clean on everything. 

She's actively working on a solution to rescue Wendy. One day, she managed to get Wendy to show herself and she can see Wendy's bruises. She tells Wendy an escape plan - Wendy needs to find a friend that Douglas doesn't know about. Wendy finds a friend in Albany but she needs a ride to get there. Millie helps her by renting a car and taking her there, even renting a motel room in Millie's name. In the meanwhile, Millie is followed by some mysterious figure, that turns out to be Enzo, who has returned from Italy and is trying to protect her. Plot hole #2, if Enzo returned and wants to protect Millie, why can't he just call her and tell her? Why following her creepily for no good reason?

Wendy only got to stay in Albany for a few days before Douglas found her and brought her back. Wendy tells Millie she doesn't want to try to run again - she shows Millie a gun she found in Douglas's study. Millie tells her violence isn't the answer. That is, until Millie witnesses Douglas strangling Wendy. Millie grabs the gun and kills Douglas. Wendy convinces Millie to leave and she will take care of it. She would say she found him like this when she got home.

Millie comes home and realizes she's missed her date with her boyfriend again. She's been skipping out on his dinner plans for months now and he just forgives her every time and still wants her to move in with him. Really? Please tell me where this man exists in real life. (Plot hole #3.)

Next day, police shows up and Millie realizes she's been framed for murder. She calls Brock to be her lawyer. Brock is game until the police tells him their theory - Millie's been cheating on him with Douglas and killed Douglas when he tried to break up with her. However, Millie is released on a lack of evidence. Millie watches TV and realizes the person she killed isn't Douglas. 

Next half of the book is told from Wendy's point of view. Wendy recounts how she met Douglas and seduced him. She is a gold digger who was only with Douglas for money. There was a prenup that says she is entitled to $10 million if they divorce. She later started cheating on Douglas with a man named Russell Simonds, just two years into her marriage. Russell is married as well. Eventually, Douglas found out about the affair and cut her off financially. She divorces him and due to a clause in the prenup for cheating, she's left with nothing. Plot Hole #4, did she not read the prenup in detail before she signed it? If she did and was just interested in receiving the $10 million, why didn't she divorce him first before cheating on him? The no cheating clause is rather standard in prenups. My own prenup has the same clause.

As revenge, Wendy plotted Douglas's death. She and Russell conspire together, with Russell pretending to be Douglas. Douglas has already moved out of the apartment so Millie never met the real Douglas. Wendy loaded the gun with blanks so when Millie fired at Russell, he didn't die. (Plot Hole #5, aren't blanks still dangerous at close range? Why would Russell possibly risk his life for this?)

Turns out, Douglas had installed a camera at the apartment that Wendy didn't know about. With this camera's footage, Millie is cleared. Wendy now knows the police is going to come for her. She goes to Russell immediately to come up with a plan, but she finds Russell dead with his throat slit. She thinks it must be Millie, but it's not. Russell's wife Marybeth appears. Marybeth makes her write a suicide note and lets her know the wine she already drank (as celebration with Russell) was tainted with digoxin, fatal at high doses. Douglas takes digoxin for his heart condition. The suicide note makes it look like a murder suicide and the police closes the case.

Millie is back together with Enzo. One day, Brock shows up and asks Millie if she's seen his heart medication (we already knew about Brock's heart issues before, and that was the reason given why he wanted to speed up the relationship). Millie says no. At the end of the book, we learn that it was Millie who told Marybeth everything (from Russell's cheating to their murderous plans) and gave her the digoxin. THE END.

I really liked the story to be honest, but once again, it was plagued by plot holes much like the first book. I would say it was slightly better than the first one, so I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5.