The Surrogate Mother

She was promised a miracle. She got more than she bargained for.

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 to serve as a surrogate. It's an offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true.

But soon, strange things start happening. And it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is. The woman now carrying Abby's child has an unspeakable secret.

And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a page turner that will redefine what it means to be in the family way…

#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a physician who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida is the winner of the International Thriller Writer Award for Best Paperback Original, the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller, and was honored as one of TIME 100’s most influential people in the world for 2026. Her novels have been translated into more than 45 languages.

​ Freida lives with her family and cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

To hear Freida talk about herself more in the third person, check out her website freidamcfadden dot com.

The story introduces Abby, a woman whose entire existence has become consumed by an all-encompassing desire to become a mother. After enduring years of grueling, heartbreaking infertility treatments, agonizing miscarriages, and the crushing disappointment of adoptions that fell through at the last minute, Abby is on the verge of losing hope. Her marriage is straining under the immense emotional and financial weight of their fertility struggles. Just as she begins to accept that her dream of having a family might never materialize, a miraculous lifeline is thrown her way. Her personal assistant, a young, vibrant, and seemingly sweet woman named Monica, makes an unbelievably generous offer: she volunteers to act as a surrogate for Abby and her husband. Overwhelmed with gratitude and blinded by the prospect of finally holding her own child, Abby eagerly accepts the proposal, believing Monica to be a selfless savior.

With the arrangement officially underway and the pregnancy confirmed, Abby's initial joy begins to sour as the boundaries between employer and employee blur and eventually disappear. Wanting to ensure the safety of her unborn child and provide Monica with the utmost comfort, Abby invites her assistant to move into their beautiful home. This decision quickly proves to be a catastrophic mistake. Almost immediately upon moving in, Monica’s sweet, accommodating demeanor vanishes, replaced by a sense of entitlement and subtle manipulation. She begins to act less like a guest doing a monumental favor and more like the rightful woman of the house. Monica becomes overly demanding, dictating her own rules, and inserting herself into every aspect of Abby's domestic life. Worse, Abby begins to notice a disturbing shift in Monica's behavior toward her husband. Monica frequently wears revealing clothing around him, orchestrates situations where they are alone together, and subtly undermines Abby's authority and confidence in her own home.

As the pregnancy progresses, the atmosphere in the house becomes suffocating and toxic. Abby finds herself relegated to the sidelines, feeling increasingly like an intruder in her own life while Monica plays the role of the glowing, expectant mother. Abby's husband, meanwhile, appears frustratingly oblivious to Monica's manipulative tactics. He often takes the surrogate's side to avoid stressing the woman carrying their baby, gaslighting Abby into believing that her concerns are just manifestations of her own insecurities and jealousy. Driven to the brink by paranoia and a gnawing sense that Monica is hiding something sinister, Abby begins to dig into her assistant's past behind her back. What she uncovers is chilling. Monica is not the innocent, altruistic girl she portrayed herself to be. Abby discovers a trail of lies, forged references, and a dark history that suggests Monica specifically targeted Abby for this role long before the topic of surrogacy ever came up.

The suspense reaches a boiling point when the true nature of the conspiracy is finally laid bare. In a classic twist characteristic of the author's psychological thrillers, the narrative reveals that Monica's presence in their lives is not a coincidence, nor is it a simple case of a dangerous obsession. The devastating truth is that Monica and Abby's husband have been involved in a passionate, illicit affair since long before the surrogacy was ever proposed. The entire arrangement was a meticulously crafted, cruel scheme orchestrated by the two of them. Knowing that a divorce would be financially ruinous for him due to a strict prenuptial agreement, the husband conspired with his much younger mistress to use the baby as leverage. Their ultimate goal was to slowly drive Abby out of her own mind, framing her as unstable, paranoid, and unfit to be a mother, thereby allowing them to take control of her wealth, the house, and the child, leaving Abby with absolutely nothing.

However, just when it seems the treacherous lovers have won and Abby is entirely backed into a corner, the story delivers its final, jaw-dropping counter-twist. Abby is far from the fragile, helpless victim she appears to be. She had caught onto their deception and uncovered their affair much earlier than they realized. Instead of confronting them immediately in a fit of rage, she decided to play the part of the unhinged, paranoid wife, using their own arrogance and constant underestimation of her against them. Abby methodically orchestrates a brilliant, ruthless trap of her own. She uses the time they spend plotting against her to quietly secure her own assets, gather undeniable evidence of their conspiracy, and set a deadly stage for their downfall.

In the explosive climax, Abby turns the tables with absolute precision. She confronts them with the full weight of their betrayal, but not before ensuring that their plan implodes spectacularly. The trap she springs completely neutralizes the threat they pose, punishing them for their boundless greed and cruelty. Abby manages to secure the one thing she wanted all along—the baby—while simultaneously ridding herself of her backstabbing husband and his deceitful mistress. She emerges from the wreckage of her marriage not as a victim, but as a fiercely protective mother and a formidable survivor who outsmarted the very people who tried to destroy her, walking away completely free to build the family she sacrificed everything to have.