Audiobook Review: The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden
The Wife Upstairs
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrator: Angie Kane
Published: March 23, 2020
Audiobook: 9 hours 46 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 22-28, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Victoria Barnett has it all: a great career as a nurse practitioner, a handsome and loving husband, a beautiful home in the suburbs, and a plan to fill it with children. Life is perfect—or so it seems. Then she’s in a terrible accident…and everything falls apart. Now Victoria is unable to walk. She can’t feed or dress herself. She can’t even speak. She is confined to the top floor of her house with 24-hour care.
Sylvia Robinson is hired by Victoria’s husband to help care for her. But it turns out Victoria isn’t as impaired as Sylvia was led to believe. There’s a story Victoria desperately wants to tell…if only she could get the words out. Then Sylvia discovers Victoria’s diary hidden away in a drawer. And what’s inside is shocking.
Jessica’s Review:
Yes, there are similarities to The Wife Upstairs and Verity: An injured wife, a young woman hired to take care of her, a secret diary and many things that are not as they appear. Otherwise, they are different novels. A huge difference is that The Wife Upstairs is not sexually explicit and Verity is. In some ways I wish I had read The Wife Upstairs before Verity, but this wasn’t the case for me.
The narrator Angie Kane did a great job with her performances of both Victoria and Sylvia. I did have issues trying to understand when Victoria was attempting to talk to Sylvia, but that is what would happen in actuality with Victoria’s handicaps. I did find myself wishing I had a physical copy to see what she was trying to say.
The novel goes between Sylvia’s POV and Victoria’s diary. As with McFadden’s other novels, The Wife Upstairs is a quick and easy to read. I enjoyed it and like usual did not see the ending coming! I am still working on McFadden’s backlog of novels, while listening to her newer ones that keep coming out.
Audiobook Review: The Intruder by Freida McFadden
The Intruder
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrators:
Patricia Santomasso
Tina Wolstencroft
Jo Hempel
Published: October 7, 2025
Audiobook: 8 hours 19 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: October 15-19, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Who knows what the storm will blow in…
Casey’s cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she’s a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.
She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.
The girl won’t explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.
The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.
Jessica’s Review:
Freida, it really is time to take a break! Her last couple of books have just been average for me. I know she has her legion on superfans who finish her books the day it is released and must have her next book now even though the release is still months away. And they have ‘read all her books and don’t know what to do now’.
The Intruder is a darker novel that deals with child abuse and extreme hoarding. It also has an extreme YA feel, but that is because we are dealing with the past childhood of Casey and Ella is a teenager. Yes it will have that YA feel, which McFadden had to have taken from her teenage daughter.
The premise was intriguing for me but the delivery and ‘big twist’ just didn’t work. McFadden’s next book comes out the end of January 2026 and I am just thinking that it won’t be what I want it to be. I will listen to it at some point, but won’t be in a hurry for it.
Again, Freida: Take a much-needed break! Your legion of superfans will still be there, hungry for more.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The Surrogate Mother by Freida McFadden
The Surrogate Mother
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrator: Alyson Krawchuk
Published: October 10, 2018; **Being re-published August 19, 2025**
Audiobook: 7 hours 46 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: August 14-16, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Abby wants a baby more than anything.
But after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future. That is, until her personal assistant Monica makes a generous offer that will make all of Abby’s dreams come true.
Or all of her nightmares.
Because it turns out Monica isn’t who she says she is. The woman now carrying Abby’s child has dark, twisted secrets.
And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
Jessica’s Review:
This is another audiobook I got through in just a few days! But Freida McFadden will do that to you: Once you start you really can’t stop! I am slowly going though her backlog of self-published novels which are being edited again and republished by her new publisher. I listened to the older version before the re-release.
Surrogacy is used a lot in thrillers, and I would recommend for anyone with pregnancy related issues/fears or someone going through IVF/adoption/surrogacy, be advised to skip this one, as it could be triggering.
Alyson Krawchuk is the narrator and she did a great job with her narration. She is another narrator I look for with audiobooks!
The Surrogate Mother is a bit farfetched, but was a fun read for me. I enjoy guessing what will happen with McFadden’s novels knowing that I will be wrong, and I was yet again with this one! Maybe one day I will figure one of her novels out… Or maybe not!
Purchase Links:
**The re-release is tomorrow, August 19, 2025**
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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