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The Housemaid's Secret audiobook vs book: which should you choose?

For most of this book, Wendy Garrick seems to be a victim. One narrator reads both her and Millie, and has to make two very different, misleading accounts convincing.

Read vs Listen·Verdict last reviewed 23 October 2026·5 min read

Short answer: for the The Housemaid's Secret audiobook vs book choice, we say read it on Kindle (65% confidence, leaning). The audiobook is read by Lauryn Allman, solo, and runs 9 hrs 44 mins. A later section retells earlier events from Wendy’s viewpoint, and nothing confirmed points towards audio, so print has a slight edge.

Confidence 65%, which puts it in the leaning band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.

What this book actually is

The Housemaid's Secret is Freida McFadden's second instalment in the Housemaid series, published by Bookouture in February 2023 and continuing the story of Millie and the wealthy Garrick family from book one. It is a contemporary psychological thriller set in a Manhattan penthouse. It has no invented vocabulary or unfamiliar geography to keep track of, just a domestic setting most readers will recognise instantly.

The book is narrated in first person, predominantly from Millie's point of view, with chapters that switch to a second first-person narrator, Wendy Garrick, the wife of the household. A later part of the book retells some of the earlier events from Wendy's perspective, so that what looked like a straightforward victim's story becomes less certain. That is the book's central twist. At first Wendy seems like someone to feel sorry for, and the reveal depends on the reader or listener having believed that.

The case for reading it

The strongest argument for Kindle here is structural. The book does not run in a straight line. A later section goes back over earlier events from Wendy's point of view, retelling part of the story once the reader knows more than they did the first time round. This retelling is the one place print has a real edge, because it is easy to flip back and check exactly what was said, and by whom, the first time. Nothing else about the book pushes towards reading. There is no dense prose to linger over, no cast of names to keep straight, and no typographic tricks in print. Apart from that one structural feature, it is a fast, plainly written thriller.

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The case for listening to it

The case for audio rests on pacing and performance. It keeps the short chapters and cliffhangers of book one. That kind of pacing works best when you let it carry you along rather than study it. With only two narrators in the story, there is nothing to lose track of, even without chapter headings to look at. The bigger case is the unreliable narration. Wendy's chapters are written to read as a victim's account until the later section changes that impression. How convincing that first impression is depends partly on the performance. The narrator's tone and pacing, and the moments she chooses to let a reader's guard down, all shape how strong the later twist feels. A single narrator voicing two first-person leads (Millie and Wendy) also means the listening experience depends on vocal differentiation between them, and if that is handled well it can make the switch between perspectives feel more distinct than it might in print.

The audiobook in detail

The unabridged audiobook is read by Lauryn Allman, who also narrated The Housemaid, and runs 9 hours 44 minutes, coming down to roughly 6 hours 29 minutes at 1.5x speed. It is a straightforward single-narrator production rather than a multi-voice or full-cast recording, so Allman reads both Millie's and Wendy's chapters herself. No awards or particular industry recognition for this specific narration have been confirmed, and there is nothing on record to suggest the audiobook adds sound design, music or any other production element beyond the narration itself.

Who should ignore this verdict

Anyone who simply wants to keep the series moving at the pace book one set and is not fussed about re-checking earlier chapters. The book keeps the short chapters and cliffhangers of book one, which work best when you let them carry you along rather than study them.

Anyone who wants to hear the unreliable narration performed. Wendy’s chapters are written to read as a victim’s account until that impression changes, and the narrator’s tone and pacing shape how strong the twist feels. Lauryn Allman reads both Millie and Wendy, and no award is confirmed for this narration.

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Book three, which keeps the series' focus on plot.

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A dense, lyrical myth with one narrator, which is better read slowly than rushed.

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