Freida McFadden’s Housemaid books have quietly turned into a go-to for a lot of thriller readers. They track Millie Calloway, a woman with a record who keeps drifting into live-in maid jobs with rich families and, somehow, trouble finds her. Or maybe she walks toward it. Hard to tell.
Table of Contents
What Makes This Series Stand Out
It starts small. Millie needs a paycheck but carries a felony, which tends to shut doors. When the Winchesters offer a housemaid position, she says yes. Survival first.
Only, these stories don’t stay simple.
In the first novel, *The Housemaid* (2022), Millie moves in with Nina and Andrew Winchester and their daughter, Cecelia. On the surface, they read as normal. Moneyed, polished. Maybe a bit glossy.
Then she sees it. Her bedroom door locks from the outside.
The Dark Truth Behind Closed Doors
What looks like a job turns into a slow tightening. Psychological games, cruelty that hides behind smiles. Andrew Winchester, who seems devoted at first, keeps control by punishing Nina, shutting her in an attic room when she “fails” him.
Enzo, the landscaper, tries to nudge Millie toward the truth. She misses the signs, or refuses them, until things tilt.
The plot snaps in quick beats. Millie sleeps with Andrew. Nina gets pushed out. And Millie ends up in the attic herself, learning exactly what that room is for.
Here’s where McFadden’s work really lands. The reveal: Nina chose Millie because of her past, because someone with a harder edge might be able to deal with Andrew in a way the courts never would. It isn’t pretty, but it tracks.
How Book One Ends
Millie acts. Pepper spray, a reversal of the attic routine, and Andrew is the one locked away. She leaves him there, effectively leaving him to die.
The police treat the death like an accident. Afterward, Millie, Nina, and Enzo begin helping other women get out of cages that look like houses. It feels messy, a bit vigilante, and strangely humane.
The Series Continues
*The Housemaid’s Secret* landed in 2023. Millie is still job-hunting under the weight of her record. Douglas Garrick, a well-heeled CEO, brings her in to assist his wife, Wendy.
Something feels off again. Wendy stays tucked away in a guest room. Sounds come through the door that Millie can’t quite explain. Patterns echo, but the books keep shifting the ground under your feet.
As of now, there are four installments. Best to read in order; Millie changes in ways that make more sense when you’ve seen where she started.
Why Readers Love These Books
McFadden leans into psychology rather than spectacle. These aren’t just bad-boss thrillers; they press on domestic abuse, control, trauma, and the odd alliances survival can require.
They read as plausible. Wealth can hide rot. Women do get cornered in their own homes. And sometimes the person with a complicated past is the one willing to step in when polite society looks away. Not a comfortable idea, but believable.
The Film Adaptation
A film version is slated for 2025. The premise stays familiar: a woman on the ropes takes a maid job with a rich couple, and the walls start talking. Whether the movie nails the book’s claustrophobic mood is hard to predict. Could go either way.
Should You Read Them?
If psychological tension appeals more than gore, this will likely hit the spot. The suspense grows through conversations, small discoveries, and the slow drip of secrets rather than big set pieces.
The prose stays clean and unfussy. McFadden tends to prioritize momentum over ornament, keeping readers guessing about loyalties and motives. It isn’t high-literary on purpose, which suits the material.
The themes are heavy: abuse, manipulation, survival. There’s also a thread of women helping women that keeps the darkness from swallowing everything. Not neat, but it gives the stories a pulse.
Millie Calloway isn’t a spotless lead. She carries a record, makes risky choices, and occasionally does the wrong thing for reasons that feel painfully human. That edge is part of why the series sticks. Even when you don’t fully agree with her, you keep turning pages.
