The Chef

by K. L. Slater, Annabel Scholey (Narrator), Laura Aikman (Narrator)

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

When private chef, Isla Merrin accepts a summer position at Maplehurst Manor, she's not there for the prestige or the pay. She's there because her twin sister Clemmie worked in these kitchens and weeks after leaving, took her own life.

Nestled in the exclusive hills of the Cotswolds, behind Maplehurst's honey-stone walls and manicured lawns lies a darker truth. Staff members flee in terror. Young women disappear into silence. And all the while, the show goes on.

As Isla uncovers a pattern of abuse hidden beneath layers of wealth, surveillance and privilege, she realises Clemmie wasn't the first victim and won't be the last. But exposing the truth means playing a dangerous game with people who are always one step ahead.

Some secrets are worth dying for. Others are worth killing to protect.

From international best-seller, K L Slater comes another gripping psychological thriller about power, complicity, and one woman's quest for justice, narrated by Annabel Scholey (RIVALS, THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR) and Laura Aikman (GAVIN & STACEY).

Genres: Audiobook, Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller

Audible Audio

Published July 9, 2026

Reviews

[Coffee And Tales · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very fast read but I wanted it to be twistier and darker when it came to the rich family secrets.

[Nada · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this 0 stars, I would. I don’t tend to write reviews when I am angry, but I did not DNF this thinking it might redeem itself but who am I kidding? The ending was even worse.
So many unexplained plot lines … ridiculous plot. The house is made into this big mystery but it was literally so so so predictable! I kept telling myself it can’t be this really predictable storyline …. It had to have more substance to it but nooooo.

I loved one book by K.L Slater, but every other book after that was a super let down. It’s time for me to give up on this author.

Spoilers:

How the fuck are they twins but no one could see the resemblance??? Is everyone stupid or blind? She actually points her sister out in one of the pictures and still… no one can recognize that they are siblings???? Let alone tWIns? 🥰
Why do they both have different last names ? Never explained.
How did this top security super secretive and private estate hire Isla without running a simple background check on her? :)
So stupid so anticlimactic.
The ending was the worst. Isla kills James and gets away Scott free. Great the bastard is dead but there is no way on earth she could have walked away free afterwords.

Let’s also forget that no one edited this. One scene Isla tells Alice about her sister. And then suddenly it’s “omg how did Alice know we were sisters omg??😱 “ FFS….
Also what was that diary entry all about?? What did this prove? What did it add to the plot? Was it resolved? Haha ofc not.

[Evelyn Wambui · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a few books with this premise so nothing new for me.

Isla takes up a job at Maplehurst Manor as chef so she can figure out what happens to the previous chef, Clemmie, who killed herself 10 days after leaving the job. Isla hopes she can get justice for Clemmie who happens to be her twin sister.

She goes in, blends in and figures it out and in the end justice is served . Open and shut story with no major twists and turns. Felt bad that Alice died though - she was one of my fave characters in there…

Decent read

[Lindsay Nixon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started interesting but I lost interest by halfway so I skipped ahead to the last few chapters and was glad I didn’t continue knowing how it ends.

Included with audible

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this audible original was a letdown. Looking for an audiobook to kill time and just want to figure out why then this is the one, otherwise pass it by.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

• Audible

[Christen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Exactly as everything seems.

[Abishi · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPOILERS: ok wtf man in the prologue it talks about a woman and we all know the woman ends up being a girl named "zoe" the part that is a head scratcher the most is that although we know it is zoe in the prologue part of the prologue talks about how she grabbed a "half heart necklace" so that she could feel in a better place, once you listen to the story more you know that Zoe did not die but she ended up being paid off by James to stay silent. it's just that there's a plot hole in the whole half-hearted necklace because in the prologue it features Zoe talking about the necklace but in the epilogue isla puts two half-hearted necklaces (one necklace belonging to her sister supposedly) together when opening the shop in the end of the story so it begs the question why did we learn that Zoe had a half-hearted necklace in the prologue I guess the only right answer is that the author made a mistake because nobody died in the prologue isla's sister ended up committing suicide because of revealing photos that James took to blackmail her so we know she definitely was not in the prologue. that mistake just sticks with me because the prologue is where all the big questions start forming in your head it's a very big piece of the puzzle that was unfortunately done very terribly.

If someone believes I am mistaken please comment back because as far as I know I don't think this story was proof read by the author if you go to chapter 32 Sophie who was the girl who used to work at the house where James stayed was describing a scenario with a girl named Zoe which actually matches the prologue. Sophie says that Zoe was out of it that was in the prologue because in the prologue a woman talks about how something must have been in her drink, then Sophie talks about how she tells James she is not in the mood and that is also in the prologue because the woman in the prologue talks about how she's not in the mood and she wants to take things slow. And then Sophie talks about how she slips and falls and there is a lot of blood that is also in the prologue and then in the prologue it talks about how after the woman slipped and fell she says that she hears shouting. When we go back to chapter 32 Sophie talks about how after she saw Zoe fall she starts to tell James that they need to call the police so I'm guessing that part falls back into the prologue when the girl says that she hears people screaming(the screaming has to be Sophie telling James they need to call the police). Yeah but the story is pretty poor and why do isla and her twin sister have two different last names and it's not explained and then the ending was so mundane the ending did seem pretty rushed. I have to be honest you don't have to listen to this unless you really want to waste some time but you probably won't enjoy it. And one more thing, isla kills James by feeding him peanuts with chicken making him go into a type of shock and he ends up dying, now we get to the part where we talk about a rushed ending because she had to kiss James to put the peanut laced chicken into his mouth. It would be way too easy for forensics to find her DNA in his mouth at the time of her death........ Come on now the ending is very poor in this story....... Like I said you guys can skip this one.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

At Maplehurst Manor, revenge is a dish best served cold

Another binge-worthy triumph from the brilliant K.L. Slater and narrated to perfection by the talented Annabel Scholey and Laura Aikman, “The Chef” is a twisty thriller that serves up shock after delicious shock. I’m a longtime Slater fan with a vast collection of her audiobooks. The narration? Exquisite. Scholey and Aikman deliver every line with nuance, tension and a slow-burn suspense that had me hooked throughout. When private chef Isla Merrin takes a summer post at Maplehurst Manor, it’s not for the money or the prestige. She’s there because her twin sister, Clemmie, worked those same kitchens and weeks after walking out, she was dead. Maplehurst hides something rotten. Staff vanish overnight. Young women go silent. And the dinner parties? As Isla peels back layers of wealth, surveillance and privilege, she uncovers a pattern of abuse that’s older and deadlier than she imagined. Clemmie wasn’t the first. She won’t be the last. But in a house where the powerful are always one step ahead, exposing the truth could cost Isla everything. Some secrets are worth dying for. Others are worth killing to protect. A gripping psychological thriller about power, complicity and one woman’s relentless quest for justice is brought to vivid life by Scholey and Aikman. “The Chef” is Audible Plus gold. Thank you, Ms. Slater. Craving more. Highly recommended and worth a credit. Epic, indeed!

💥🎙️✍️🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟✍️🎙️💥

[Bodies in the Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this novel while doing some admin, and it kept me entertained.

Three stars from me means that I believe the author achieved their aims and it's a good book but that I personally didn't fall in love with it. In this case, I'm not keen on the solution to what happened to Clemmie being something we find out through the confession of someone involved in her going missing, so while it solved the mystery, it wasn't in the most satisfying of ways for me.

If you're not bothered by this mechanism, then you may well love this novel, which is centred on a sister's quest to know what happened to her sister when she went to work on a creepy estate owned by an ever creepier family.

[DeAndra (divinedopeness) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I impulsively chose this as my July Audible pick & honestly, it could have been better used for another title.

Would rate it 3/5. It was suspenseful but also extremely predictable. It fell flat in the end for me. I thought this story might have a similar plot line to movies: The Menu or even What You Wish For which is why I chose it on a whim, but it just didn’t get as dark as I was anticipating. The aftertaste of this one is reminiscent to when I listened to Nobody Knows You’re Here, which was way darker but still didn’t hit for me. Neither were as impactful as I expected. This was my introduction to the author & I’d still give her another shot. Could be a one off.

[Callie Kakascik · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read a K. L. Slater book, and I've always enjoyed them, so I figured this one would be another in a long line. And it was. It started out a bit slower for me than I recall from a lot of her others. But once it finally picked up, it got flowing nicely.

It's got some "good" bad characters. Like pretty much all of them, but they are good at being bad; that is for sure. It's got some fun banter between the sarcasm, and the characters know how to irritate each other.


It's a fast-paced thriller that is just the right length.

3.75 stars

[Paula P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve become a real fan of K.L. Slater’s books, and The Chef didn’t disappoint. The story is well written, with plenty of twists that kept me listening and wanting to know what would happen next. The narration was excellent and really brought the characters and tension to life, making it an easy and enjoyable audiobook.

While it wasn’t quite my favourite by this author, it was still a gripping listen and another solid psychological thriller. I’m looking forward to working my way through more of K.L. Slater’s books.

[Maria Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book but overall I probably wouldn't read it again. The ending in my opinion was unrealistic in a lot of ways. I also wouldn't truly classify this as a thriller while the aspect of finding out what happened to her sister kept me intrigued the overall conclusion of everything that kind of lost me (because it was unrealistic). I was also hoping for more food mentioning but there wasn't really any. I didn't feel connected with basically any of the characters if I'm being honest.

[Jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

K.L. Slater wrote a predator so genuinely detestable and calculating that I spent half the listen with a knot in my stomach and my blood absolutely boiling.
The entire story gives you this desperate, furious need to see the bad guy get absolutely dismantled. It’s a total psychological tightrope that keeps you hooked, frustrated, and entirely addicted, purely driven by the high-stakes tension. If you love a thriller that gets under your skin and makes you feel the rage, add this to your queue.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 2.5 Stars *** Long sigh. Started off interesting enough but then it gets bogged down and it quickly becomes boring. I did skip 30 seconds here and there to move along. I didn’t really connect with or like any of the characters. I’m rounding up because it did move on the scale but was never a four.

[Sarah Marrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read with great narration, but was hoping for more family secrets amongst the Bowman-Kerrs. I also wanted more backstory on Jess and how she became interested in Maplehurst and all of its drama.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy her books, but this one was just ok. It was very slow and unfortunately it never picked up, and the ending was just not exciting. Although the storyline seemed like it did have potential, I had to power-through it…

[Jessica Lively · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, but wanted a little more out of the secrets and with isla and James. I think she could’ve drawn the buck out a little more and gone into way more detail with those two or way more of a storyline.

[Colin Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was rather predictable with stereotypical characters. The story was drawn out and became rather tedious and boring. As for the ending - seemed rushed to try and wrap things up nearby but really …. not realistic

A quick beach read at best

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was boring. Clemmie is a dreadful name, just use Clementine FFS, it is so much nicer. Every time they used “Clemmie” it just made me think of “clammy”. Kind of like this story… damp, cold, and blah.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest I stayed for the pomeranian and then skipped to the end to be disappointed. I thought it would be darker. My only question by the end was, what did her restaurant name mean, or was it just to have it be similar to her sister name.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great thriller, the mystery surrounding Clemmie kept me interested. We all know the villain from the start and there’s nothing like a bit of girl power to put an entitled man in his place!

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always enjoy a K.L. Slater thriller!

[Landa · Rating 4 out of 5]

👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[Danah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another banger from Slater. Although fairly predictable, I enjoyed the ride to get to the ending.

[Courtney Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay, not as good as her others

[Kerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Great narration

[Darcey 👍 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[VP · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 rounded down.
What a crappy story.