Looking for books like The Housemaid by Freida McFadden? These 12 twisty domestic thrillers deliver the same trapped-in-the-house dread and jaw-dropping twists.
The best books like The Housemaid include The Housemaid’s Secret and The Teacher by Freida McFadden, The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris, The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine, and Verity by Colleen Hoover. Each pairs an unreliable narrator with a slow-burn power struggle and a twist that rewrites everything.
Freida McFadden became a word-of-mouth sensation with The Housemaid, a domestic thriller about Millie Calloway, a young woman with a hidden past who takes a live-in cleaning job for the wealthy, volatile Winchester family. The locked attic room, the cruel employer, and a mid-book reveal that flips victim and villain made it a TikTok phenomenon and a book club staple. If you tore through it and need that same claustrophobic tension and gotcha ending, the 12 thrillers below will keep you up well past your bedtime.
For more page-turning recommendations, you might also enjoy our guide to the best psychological thriller books, books like Gone Girl, and our deep dive into authors like Freida McFadden. Browse our full author guides to find your next obsession.
Table of Contents
Open Table of Contents
- Books Like The Housemaid
- 1. The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden
- 2. The Teacher by Freida McFadden
- 3. Never Lie by Freida McFadden
- 4. The Coworker by Freida McFadden
- 5. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
- 6. Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
- 7. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
- 8. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
- 9. Verity by Colleen Hoover
- 10. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- 11. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
- 12. The Maid by Nita Prose
- Why These Books Capture The Housemaid’s Appeal
Books Like The Housemaid
1. The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden
The direct sequel picks up with Millie taking a new cleaning job for the wealthy Garrick family, whose wife never leaves a locked bedroom. McFadden reuses the formula that made the first book a hit: an outsider inside a controlling household, drip-fed warnings, and a reveal that detonates in the final third. It is the most obvious and satisfying next read if you simply want more Millie.
2. The Teacher by Freida McFadden
In this standalone, a high school scandal involving a teacher and a student spirals into something far darker, told through alternating perspectives that constantly shift your loyalties. McFadden delivers the same short, cliffhanger-tipped chapters and the same “wait, what?” gut-punch ending. Fans of the moral ambiguity in The Housemaid will love how thoroughly this one pulls the rug out.
3. Never Lie by Freida McFadden
A newlywed couple snowed in at a remote mansion discover the case files of the home’s missing former owner, a psychologist whose secrets refuse to stay buried. The locked-room dread, the unreliable narration, and the steady accumulation of menace make this peak McFadden. If the claustrophobic Winchester house was your favourite part of The Housemaid, this one cranks that isolation to the maximum.
4. The Coworker by Freida McFadden
This office-set thriller pairs two very different coworkers, one socially awkward and one polished, when one of them goes missing and the other becomes a suspect. McFadden swaps the household for a workplace but keeps her signature misdirection, with chapters engineered to make you suspect the wrong person right up to the twist. It is a fast, propulsive read in the exact same vein.
5. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
A jealous ex-wife appears determined to sabotage her former husband’s engagement to a younger woman, but nothing about that setup is what it seems. This is the gold standard for the twist that retroactively rewrites every page you have read, and the power dynamics around a controlling, wealthy man echo the Winchester marriage in The Housemaid. Essential reading for twist lovers.
6. Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
Grace and Jack Angel look like the perfect couple, but behind their immaculate front door Grace is a prisoner of her charming, sadistic husband. Paris builds suffocating tension out of a marriage that the outside world admires, then lets her trapped heroine plot her way out. The themes of domestic captivity and a victim turning the tables map almost exactly onto The Housemaid.
7. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
A young makeup artist signs up for a psychology study that pays well and asks intrusive questions, only to find herself manipulated by the unsettling Dr. Shields. The cat-and-mouse manipulation between an ordinary woman and a wealthy, controlling figure delivers the same uneasy power imbalance McFadden exploits. Hendricks and Pekkanen are masters of the slow reveal, and this one keeps you guessing to the last page.
8. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
A scheming social climber sets out to steal the perfect life of a glamorous, wealthy wife, until the story flips and you realise who has really been playing whom. The lavish household, the toxic husband, and the mid-book perspective switch that recasts the whole story are pure catnip for Housemaid fans. It is one of the most satisfying “the prey was the predator” thrillers around.
9. Verity by Colleen Hoover
A struggling writer is hired to finish a bestselling author’s series and moves into the family home, where she finds a hidden manuscript that may be a confession. Hoover blends domestic thriller with obsession and an ending so divisive that readers are still arguing about it. The unreliable-narrator dread and the unsettling household secrets make it a natural companion to The Housemaid.
10. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
After a famous painter shoots her husband and then refuses to speak, a psychotherapist becomes obsessed with making her talk and uncovering why. Colder and more literary than McFadden, Michaelides still lands one of the most talked-about twists in recent thriller history. If you loved being completely blindsided by The Housemaid, this delivers the same jaw-on-the-floor finale.
11. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
A young woman inherits a London mansion and uncovers the horrifying history of the family who once lived there, told across timelines that slowly converge. Jewell specialises in dark family secrets, sinister houses, and reveals that reframe earlier chapters, all hallmarks of the Housemaid experience. The eerie, secret-filled home at its centre will feel instantly familiar.
12. The Maid by Nita Prose
Molly Gray, an endearingly literal-minded hotel maid, becomes the prime suspect when she discovers a guest dead in his suite. This is the cosier, warmer cousin of The Housemaid, swapping menace for charm while keeping the cleaner-as-amateur-sleuth hook and a satisfying whodunit twist. It is the perfect palate cleanser if you want the closed-house mystery without the darker dread.
Why These Books Capture The Housemaid’s Appeal
These twelve novels succeed because they understand what made The Housemaid impossible to put down: a powerless outsider inside someone else’s home, a controlling figure who is not what they seem, and a twist that forces you to reread the whole story in your head. Each one trades on the same domestic claustrophobia and the same delicious moment when victim and villain swap places.
Whether you want more of Freida McFadden’s breakneck, cliffhanger-driven style in The Teacher and Never Lie, the rug-pull mastery of The Wife Between Us and Behind Closed Doors, or a gentler take like The Maid, this list keeps the twists coming. They prove that the appetite for twisty domestic thrillers is stronger than ever, and that the best ones reward a single greedy weekend of reading.
For your next late-night binge, any of these will keep you turning pages long past midnight, just as The Housemaid did when you first stepped inside the Winchester house and realised something was very wrong upstairs.