Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
Reading the first Housemaid book feels like a distant memory. At this point in time, I’ve heard little bits and pieces about the production of the second movie, including the fact that Kirsten Dunst has joined the cast. While Sydney Sweeney and Michele Morrone are set to reprise their roles from the first film. Filming hasn’t started yet, so that gave me a time advantage when it came to this review.
As you can probably imagine, the success of the first film has increased popularity in the books, and I joined quite the waiting list when I requested to borrow The Housemaid’s Secret from the library.
We catch up with Millie a little time after the events of the first book. There is zero mention of the Winchesters, but Millie has made a bit of a reputation for herself by working as a housemaid, and she has been covertly helping women escape from abusive relationships. She is also working her way through a college degree, with the aim of becoming a qualified social worker. Then she can help women through more legitimate means. She also has a new boyfriend. Brock is a high-flying lawyer. He seems like a perfect man. Millie can’t find one flaw with him. He’s keen for them to move in together, settle down, and have kids. But Millie is reluctant largely because she hasn’t told Brock anything about her past.
Millie begins working for the Garricks. Douglas is a tech billionaire, while his wife, Wendy, lives the socialite lifestyle. Douglas is the one who hires her. He tells Millie that his wife is very sick and needs a lot of help around their penthouse apartment. Millie doesn’t even initially meet Wendy for a while. She is told that Wendy is so sick that she is constantly sleeping in the guest bedroom. Millie busies herself with the list of chores that Douglas leaves for her, but something feels off.
One day, when Douglas is out, Millie knocks on the guest bedroom door and refuses to leave until she sees Wendy. What she sees shocks and horrifies her to the core. Wendy appears to be another abused woman who needs help escaping from a toxic relationship. Is Millie the one to help her? And will either of the women’s lives ever be the same again?
First off, I will say that was a gripping and easy read. The pages flew by, and I was hooked throughout. I was constantly in a place of needing to know what happened next. It helps that I already knew the Millie character, and it was also easy to picture Kirsten Dunst in the role of Wendy. I can already imagine that this will be a great film when it comes out. I predict it will be as loved as the first one and people will flock to see it.
However, as much I enjoyed it, there were times when I had to leave reality at the door. There is a scheme at the heart of this book, and the scheme relies very heavily on happenstance and certain characters in the story not doing any research at all. Maybe that’s me being nitpicky. Some people probably won’t mind that at all. I will still say it’s a great book, and I will carry on with the rest of the series.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)
