10 Authors Like Freida McFadden for Your Next Twisty Thriller

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If you’ve raced through The Housemaid, Never Lie, The Teacher, or another Freida McFadden thriller and immediately wanted more, you’re definitely not alone.

There’s something dangerously easy to binge about a Freida McFadden book. The chapters are short, everyone seems to be hiding something, and just when you think you’ve figured out what’s really going on—there’s another twist.

So what do you read when you’ve worked your way through your McFadden stack?

If you’re searching for authors like Freida McFadden, these ten writers deliver plenty of psychological suspense, unreliable characters, complicated marriages, dark secrets, and endings that may make you question everything you just read.

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1. Shari Lapena

Start with: The Couple Next Door

Shari Lapena is one of my first recommendations for readers who love Freida McFadden.

Her thrillers tend to begin in places that feel completely ordinary—a marriage, a dinner party, a quiet neighborhood—and then slowly expose all the secrets hiding underneath.

The Couple Next Door begins with a seemingly simple night out that turns into every parent’s nightmare. From there, suspicion moves from one character to another, and it becomes increasingly difficult to know who is actually telling the truth.

Read Shari Lapena if you love: domestic suspense, suspicious spouses, neighborhood secrets, and fast-moving mysteries.

2. Jeneva Rose

Start with: The Perfect Marriage

If the relationship drama in Freida McFadden’s books is part of what keeps you turning the pages, try Jeneva Rose.

The Perfect Marriage follows a successful defense attorney whose husband becomes accused of murdering his mistress.

Yes, his mistress.

And yes, his wife becomes involved in his defense.

Messy enough for you?

The story is packed with betrayal, secrets, questionable motives, and plenty of reasons to distrust just about everyone.

Read Jeneva Rose if you love: dysfunctional marriages, murder accusations, shocking revelations, and messy characters.

3. B.A. Paris

Start with: Behind Closed Doors

Some marriages look perfect from the outside.

Freida McFadden readers already know that this is usually a very bad sign.

In B.A. Paris’s Behind Closed Doors, Jack and Grace appear to have the kind of marriage other people envy. He’s charming and successful. She’s elegant and devoted.

But behind the doors of their beautiful home, things are very different.

This is a darker recommendation, but if you enjoy the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped inside a seemingly perfect household, Behind Closed Doors is an excellent choice.

Read B.A. Paris if you love: sinister marriages, psychological manipulation, secrets behind perfect appearances, and tense domestic thrillers.

4. Alice Feeney

Start with: Rock Paper Scissors

Alice Feeney is a great author to try when what you love most about Freida McFadden is being tricked.

And I mean that as a compliment.

Her stories play with memory, perspective, secrets, and unreliable narrators in ways that constantly make you reconsider what you think you know.

In Rock Paper Scissors, a married couple takes a trip to Scotland in hopes of repairing their relationship. Their remote getaway quickly becomes considerably more disturbing than a romantic weekend away.

And this marriage has a lot of secrets.

Read Alice Feeney if you love: unreliable narrators, isolated settings, marriage drama, and twists that change how you see the story.

5. Lisa Jewell

Start with: None of This Is True

Lisa Jewell is perfect when you want something twisty but a little more psychologically layered.

In None of This Is True, a podcaster meets a woman who shares her birthday. What begins as an intriguing chance encounter turns into something much darker when the woman starts inserting herself into the podcaster’s life.

The deeper you get into the story, the harder it becomes to decide whose version of events you should believe.

This is one of those books where you may finish the final page and still want to talk about what actually happened.

Read Lisa Jewell if you love: obsession, unreliable characters, creepy relationships, hidden pasts, and psychological suspense.

6. Mary Kubica

Start with: Local Woman Missing

Mary Kubica is another great choice for readers looking for books similar to Freida McFadden.

Local Woman Missing centers around several disappearances in a quiet community. Years later, one of the missing people suddenly returns—and old questions begin resurfacing.

The story jumps between different characters and timelines, slowly revealing how the pieces fit together.

Or how you think they fit together.

Read Mary Kubica if you love: missing-person mysteries, neighborhood secrets, multiple perspectives, and big reveals.

7. Kiersten Modglin

Start with: The Arrangement

If your favorite thing about Freida McFadden is how quickly you can fly through one of her books, put Kiersten Modglin on your list.

The Arrangement follows a married couple attempting to bring some excitement back into their relationship by making an unusual arrangement.

Predictably, things do not go according to plan.

Secrets pile up, trust disappears, and the situation becomes increasingly dangerous.

Modglin is particularly worth trying if you want another author whose books feel made for the phrase “just one more chapter.”

Read Kiersten Modglin if you love: short chapters, relationship secrets, rapid pacing, and bingeable thrillers.

8. Daniel Hurst

Start with: The Doctor’s Wife

Daniel Hurst is another strong choice for readers who want quick, twisty psychological thrillers without waiting 200 pages for something to happen.

The Doctor’s Wife has affairs, deception, revenge, and a seemingly idyllic life that is anything but idyllic.

As different characters reveal what they know—and what they’ve been hiding—the story becomes a game of trying to figure out who is actually one step ahead.

Read Daniel Hurst if you love: rapid-fire twists, revenge, marital secrets, and characters with hidden agendas.

9. K.L. Slater

Start with: The Mistake

K.L. Slater writes psychological thrillers centered around seemingly normal people whose lives begin unraveling as buried secrets come to the surface.

In The Mistake, a woman continues to live with the consequences of a tragedy from her past. When new information emerges years later, she begins questioning what she thought she knew about the events that changed her life.

Slater is a good next step if you enjoy the psychological side of Freida McFadden but want something with a slightly slower burn.

Read K.L. Slater if you love: family secrets, past mistakes, psychological tension, and mysteries that slowly reveal the truth.

10. Riley Sager

Start with: The Only One Left

For Freida McFadden fans who don’t mind adding a slightly gothic edge to their thrillers, Riley Sager is worth exploring.

The Only One Left takes place inside a decaying mansion where a caregiver has been hired to look after an elderly woman long suspected of murdering her family decades earlier.

The woman can’t speak—but she may finally be ready to reveal what happened.

The isolated house, questionable history, mounting tension, and constant uncertainty about whom to trust make this an especially fun choice for twist-loving readers.

Read Riley Sager if you love: creepy houses, old murders, unreliable stories, gothic atmosphere, and twist-heavy mysteries.

Which Author Is Most Like Freida McFadden?

If you’re looking for the closest authors to Freida McFadden, I’d start with Kiersten Modglin, Daniel Hurst, Shari Lapena, or Jeneva Rose.

They all offer some combination of quick pacing, domestic drama, secrets, betrayal, and the kind of twists that make it very easy to accidentally read until 1 a.m. Current read-alike recommendations similarly put Modglin, Hurst, Lapena, Rose, B.A. Paris, Jewell, Kubica, Feeney, and others in McFadden’s orbit.

If you want something a little darker or more psychologically complex, try Lisa Jewell or Alice Feeney.

And if you want a creepy setting along with your twists, Riley Sager would be my pick.

What Should I Read After Freida McFadden?

Still not sure where to begin? Here’s the quick version:

If you loved…Try…
The HousemaidBehind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
McFadden’s fast pacingThe Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
Her marriage dramaThe Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
Unreliable narratorsRock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Huge twistsThe Doctor’s Wife by Daniel Hurst
Psychological suspenseNone of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Domestic mysteriesThe Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
Creepy housesThe Only One Left by Riley Sager

The popularity of The Housemaid has also created a particularly strong read-alike category of domestic thrillers built around unreliable narrators, threatening households, hidden relationships, and late-story reversals.

More Books Like Freida McFadden

One of the best things about falling into the psychological-thriller rabbit hole is realizing just how many books there are waiting for you.

Start with one of these authors, stock up on snacks, cancel your plans, and don’t blame me when “just one chapter” turns into finishing the entire book.

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