The Housemaid's Second Act Is a Snore. Here's Why I'm Still Showing Up for The Divorce

By Sara Alba · Bookshelf

Let me be honest with you — because that is, quite literally, what this blog exists for.

The Housemaid's Secret, the second book in Freida McFadden's Housemaid series, is a disappointment. Not a catastrophe. Not unreadable. Just a slow, creeping snore of a book that I have put down three times now and cannot bring myself to finish. And coming from someone who got completely, embarrassingly addicted to the first one, that hurts a little.

How I Got Here: The Freida McFadden Pipeline

I came to Freida McFadden the way most people do — reluctantly, then compulsively, then at 2am lying to myself about "just one more chapter." I've already written about why Freida McFadden reads like a drug you can take in one sitting and I stand by every word. The pacing is ruthless. The chapters are short. The unreliable narrator energy is dialled up to eleven. And the twists land in a way that makes you feel genuinely stupid for not seeing them coming — which is a gift, honestly.

The Housemaid did all of that. It earned my loyalty. Which is exactly why The Housemaid's Secret feels like such a betrayal.

What Went Wrong With The Second Book

The first book worked because Millie was a character you couldn't fully trust, and that tension made every single page feel like a ticking clock. You were always slightly unsure of her. Always waiting for the floor to drop out. That slow creeping dread is what made it so compulsively readable.

The Housemaid's Secret tries to recreate that energy and loses it somewhere around chapter eight. The stakes feel lower. The twists feel telegraphed. The dread that made the first book so unsettling is mostly absent, replaced by something that feels vaguely... procedural.

Sydney Sweeney Is Living Rent-Free In My Head And I Resent It

Here's the other confession I need to make. I watched the movie. Or enough of it to have Sydney Sweeney permanently installed in my brain as Millie, and the actor who played Enzo looking — I'm so sorry — deeply unserious. And now I cannot read a single page without seeing their faces, which completely destroys the whole point of an unreliable narrator.

Half the tension of The Housemaid comes from not knowing exactly what Millie looks like in your own imagination. Once Hollywood casts someone, that's over. Your imagination has left the chat. The movie made $133 million at the box office, a sequel is already confirmed, and I am personally being haunted by the casting every time I try to engage with the sequel. This is not Freida's fault. This is cinema's fault. I am choosing to be annoyed at cinema.

Is She Writing Too Fast?

There is also a larger question lurking underneath all of this. Freida McFadden currently has six books scheduled for 2026 alone. Six. I respect the hustle enormously. I am also a little suspicious of it. When you're writing at that pace, something eventually gives — and with The Housemaid's Secret, I think what gave was the tension. The thing that made the first book feel dangerous and alive.

It is worth noting that McFadden had three of the top twenty bestselling books of 2025, which is genuinely staggering. She is clearly doing something right. But quantity and quality are not always the same thing, and right now I am on the wrong side of that equation with this particular book.

The Movie vs The Book: Does It Even Matter?

If you're trying to decide whether to read the book or watch the movie, I reviewed The Housemaid book vs the movie and my honest verdict is: read the book first, always. The movie is fine. The book is better. But if you've already seen the movie, prepare to have your imagination completely hijacked. There is no un-seeing Sydney Sweeney in a French maid situation. I have tried.

Why I'm Still Pre-Ordering The Divorce

Here's the thing about being disappointed by a second book — it doesn't always mean you're done with the author. Sometimes it just means you're paying attention.

The Divorce drops May 26, 2026, and the premise is exactly the kind of unhinged I need in my life right now. Naomi is living what looks like the perfect life — until her husband kicks her out, hires the best divorce lawyers in the city, drains their accounts, and immediately takes up with someone twenty years younger. Instead of accepting defeat, Naomi fixates. On the girlfriend. And then things get progressively darker in ways that sound both deeply unhealthy and extremely my business.

That is the pitch. It works on me every single time.

It has the obsession element that made the original Housemaid so electric. It has a female protagonist who is clearly about to do something unhinged and arguably justified. And crucially — it is a standalone. No second book waiting to disappoint me. Just one contained, messy, domestic spiral from beginning to end.

I'm pre-ordering it. I am not even slightly embarrassed.

The Honest Verdict: What You Should Actually Read

If you haven't read The Housemaid yet — go read it right now. It is genuinely good. It is the kind of book that reminds you why you got into thrillers in the first place. Sharp, propulsive, and deeply satisfying in the way that only a well-executed twist can be.

Skip The Housemaid's Secret unless you are a completionist who genuinely cannot function without closure. Life is short. Your reading list is longer. There are better books waiting — like Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, which will make you feel things in a completely different direction, or Severance by Ling Ma, which will ruin you quietly and thoroughly.

Mark May 26th in your calendar. The Divorce is either going to prove that Freida McFadden still has it, or confirm that she's writing faster than she should be. Either outcome is interesting. Either way I'll be reading it in one sitting and reporting back on The Bookshelf.

That's a promise. And unlike Millie, I keep mine.