This extremely popular psychological thriller was recently turned into a film (which I haven’t seen). I found it predictable and mediocre. I was promised a jaw-dropping twist… my jaw stayed firmly closed! The first half of the story is told by Millie, a young woman who has been in prison, we’re not told what for. She’s living out of her car and is so desperate for a job that she accepts a housemaid role with the wealthy Winchester family, despite thinking there is something off about them from the start. After the halfway point, we switch to the viewpoint of Nina, her employer, whose erratic and cruel behaviour is then explained. In the prologue, there is a body in the attic, and I guessed correctly whose it was, very early on. One of my problems with the book, aside from the lack of thrills and twists, is that the only other McFadden book I’ve read is her parody novella, The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie. I enjoyed that book because it poked fun at the genre and was deliberately over-the-top. The non-parody book, in contrast, was not as good. It was quite a horrible story of domestic abuse. However we do have a decent message to take from it, which is not to judge people by appearances, social status or indeed the contents of their medicine cabinets.

Published in 2022 by Bookouture.