Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid has everything readers want from an addictive domestic thriller: a desperate protagonist, a wealthy family with secrets, a dangerous house and a twist that changes how you see the story.
I gave The Housemaid 3.5 out of 5 stars. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing style, but I understood why the novel became so popular. The short chapters, constant tension and escalating reveals make it incredibly easy to keep reading. Sometimes you simply want a thriller that moves quickly and leaves you questioning every character.
If that is what brought you here, the books below should be on your reading list. Some offer the same rich-family intrigue, while others feature toxic marriages, unreliable narrators or endings designed to catch you completely off guard.
The Best Books Like The Housemaid at a Glance
| Book | Author | Read it for |
|---|---|---|
| The Last Mrs. Parrish | Liv Constantine | The closest overall match |
| Behind Closed Doors | B. A. Paris | A perfect marriage hiding something terrifying |
| The Wife Between Us | Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen | Assumptions that keep changing |
| The Turn of the Key | Ruth Ware | A live-in job inside a dangerous house |
| Verity | Colleen Hoover | A disturbing manuscript and morally messy suspense |
| The Perfect Marriage | Jeneva Rose | Marriage, murder and courtroom deception |
| Rock Paper Scissors | Alice Feeney | A remote setting and a marriage built on secrets |
| The Couple Next Door | Shari Lapena | Fast chapters and nonstop revelations |
| The Silent Patient | Alex Michaelides | A psychological puzzle with a major reveal |
| Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | Dark marital warfare and unreliable narration |
| The Woman in Cabin 10 | Ruth Ware | Claustrophobia and a narrator nobody believes |
| The Family Game | Catherine Steadman | Wealth, power and a dangerous family tradition |
1. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
Best overall book to read after The Housemaid
Amber Patterson is tired of being overlooked. She wants the wealthy husband, beautiful home and privileged life that Daphne Parrish appears to have, so she carefully inserts herself into Daphne’s world.
That setup immediately creates the same kind of class tension that makes The Housemaid so entertaining. An outsider enters a rich family’s private space, studies the people inside it and discovers that appearances have been carefully constructed. The novel is filled with envy, manipulation and shifting power.
This is the closest match on the list because it gives readers more than a shocking turn. It also changes the meaning of what came before it. If you enjoyed watching your assumptions about Nina, Andrew and Millie fall apart, start here.
The book is also the beginning of the Parrish series, so readers who enjoy it can continue with The Next Mrs. Parrish.
2. Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
Best for a seemingly perfect couple with a horrifying secret
Grace and Jack Angel look like the ideal married couple. He is charming and successful, while she appears elegant and completely devoted to him. Their friends admire their beautiful home and polished life, but they rarely see Grace without Jack beside her.
Behind Closed Doors takes the disturbing-marriage element of The Housemaid and pushes it to the center of the story. The tension comes from realizing that a relationship everyone envies may actually be a prison.
This is a darker and more upsetting recommendation than some of the others on this list. Readers should expect themes of coercive control and domestic abuse. However, anyone fascinated by the gap between the Winchester family’s public image and private reality will find a lot to appreciate here.
3. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Best for readers who love making the wrong assumptions
At first, The Wife Between Us appears to be a familiar story about a jealous former wife, her replacement and the man caught between them. The novel actively invites the reader to decide who is bitter, who is innocent and who should be believed.
Those early conclusions do not remain comfortable for long.
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen build the suspense by withholding context and forcing readers to reconsider the roles assigned to each woman. That makes this a strong follow-up for anyone who enjoyed how The Housemaidrearranged its characters’ motives midway through the novel.
It is slightly more patient than McFadden’s thriller, but the payoff depends on the same pleasure: discovering that the story you thought you were reading was never the whole story.
4. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Best for another live-in employee trapped in a dangerous house
Rowan Caine accepts a nanny position with a wealthy family in a remote, technologically advanced home. The salary seems too generous to refuse, but the house soon feels less like an opportunity and more like a trap.
This may be the most natural recommendation for readers drawn to the physical setting of The Housemaid. Both novels place a woman in someone else’s home, where employment, shelter and safety become tangled together. Rowan must care for children while dealing with absent parents, strange noises and technology that watches nearly everything she does.
Ruth Ware gives the premise a more atmospheric, gothic treatment. The result is slower and moodier than The Housemaid, but its combination of isolation, suspicion and a live-in job gone terribly wrong makes it an excellent match.
5. Verity by Colleen Hoover
Best for dark secrets, dangerous attraction and a divisive ending
Struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh is hired to finish a bestselling series after its author, Verity Crawford, is left unable to work. Lowen moves into the Crawford home to study Verity’s notes and discovers a manuscript that may reveal horrifying truths about the family.
Like Millie, Lowen enters a wealthy household because she needs a job. She becomes increasingly involved with the husband, increasingly suspicious of the wife and increasingly uncertain about what is real.
Verity combines psychological suspense with romance and contains more explicit sexual content than The Housemaid. Its final revelations have inspired years of debate, making it a particularly good choice for a book club. This is the book to pick when you want something dark, fast and morally uncomfortable.
6. The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
Best for readers who want murder mixed with marital betrayal
Sarah Morgan is a successful defense attorney. Her husband, Adam, is a writer whose career has stalled. When Adam’s mistress is murdered at the couple’s lake house and he becomes the prime suspect, Sarah decides to defend him.
The premise creates instant tension: a wife must use her professional skills to save the husband who betrayed her. Alternating perspectives reveal a marriage filled with resentment, unequal power and secrets.
Readers who loved the speed and shock value of The Housemaid should feel at home here. The Perfect Marriage prioritizes dramatic reveals over subtlety, and its appeal lies in wondering how much each narrator knows and what each might be hiding.
7. Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Best for an isolated setting and an unhealthy marriage
Adam and Amelia Wright win a weekend at a converted chapel in the Scottish Highlands. They hope the trip will repair their marriage, but someone may have brought them there for another reason.
Snow, isolation and years of marital secrets turn the getaway into a claustrophobic puzzle. Adam has face blindness, Amelia has kept things from him, and anniversary letters reveal how differently the couple understands their shared history.
Alice Feeney is especially good at planting information that seems harmless until later. This novel takes longer to assemble its trap than The Housemaid, but it delivers the kind of late revelations that make readers flip back through earlier chapters.
8. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
Best for short chapters and nonstop twists
Anne and Marco Conti leave their baby sleeping at home while they attend a dinner party next door, checking on her throughout the evening. When they return, the baby is gone.
The disappearance brings police attention, media scrutiny and family secrets into the open. Nearly everyone has withheld something, and every revelation changes the investigation.
Of all the books on this list, The Couple Next Door may come closest to McFadden’s pure page-turning rhythm. The prose is direct, the chapters move quickly and the plot rarely stays still. It is ideal for readers who finished The Housemaid in a day and want another thriller built to be binged.
9. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Best for a psychological mystery with a memorable reveal
Alicia Berenson shoots her husband and then refuses to speak. Theo Faber, a psychotherapist fascinated by her case, becomes determined to understand her silence and uncover the motive behind the crime.
This story does not share the domestic-worker premise of The Housemaid, but it offers a similar reading experience. Both books encourage a quick judgment about a woman before gradually exposing the information missing from that judgment.
The pace is more controlled, and the focus is psychological rather than purely domestic. Still, readers who choose thrillers for one major perspective-changing reveal should put The Silent Patient near the top of their list. It is also one of my favorite modern psychological thrillers.
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Best for morally gray characters and an unforgettable toxic marriage
When Amy Dunne disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, suspicion falls on her husband, Nick. His lies, strange behavior and the couple’s troubled history make him an easy target for the police and the public.
Gone Girl helped define the modern domestic thriller. Gillian Flynn uses competing narratives to examine performance, resentment, marriage and the versions of ourselves we create for other people.
It is sharper, darker and more interested in character psychology than The Housemaid. It is also less interested in giving readers someone uncomplicated to support. If your favorite part of McFadden’s novel was the shifting balance of power, Gone Girl is essential reading.
11. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Best for an isolated narrator nobody believes
Travel journalist Lo Blacklock is aboard a luxury cruise when she believes she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard. There is one major problem: every passenger appears to be accounted for.
The setting replaces the Winchester mansion with an exclusive ship, but it creates the same uncomfortable contrast between luxury and danger. Lo is surrounded by people with money and influence while her credibility steadily erodes.
This is a strong choice for readers who liked seeing Millie trapped in a situation where the truth was difficult to prove. The ship’s limited space gives the novel a locked-room feeling, while Lo’s uncertainty adds another layer of psychological tension.
12. The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
Best for wealthy-family secrets and escalating danger
Novelist Harriet Reed is engaged to Edward Holbeck, heir to an enormously wealthy and powerful family. Meeting the Holbecks should be a step toward her new life, but Edward’s father gives Harriet a disturbing confession and draws her into the family’s dangerous traditions.
The appeal for Housemaid fans is immediate: an outsider crosses the threshold of a rich family and realizes that privilege can conceal cruelty. Harriet must decide whom to trust while learning that the Holbecks play by their own rules.
This recommendation adds a seasonal, game-like atmosphere to the formula. It is a good final pick for readers who want wealth, family pressure and a protagonist who has secrets of her own.
Which Book Should You Read First?
If you want the closest possible match, read The Last Mrs. Parrish. It has the wealth, manipulation, domestic setting and shifting perspectives that made The Housemaid such a phenomenon.
Choose The Turn of the Key if the live-in-job premise was your favorite element. Pick The Couple Next Door if speed matters most, Gone Girl if you want more complex writing and darker character work, or The Silent Patient if you mainly want a memorable final reveal.
Readers who want another uncomfortable story about a perfect-looking marriage should begin with Behind Closed Doors, while Verity is the best option for those who want suspense mixed with romance and a truly divisive ending.
Final Thoughts
The best books like The Housemaid do more than deliver a last-minute twist. They place ordinary people inside relationships and homes where appearances cannot be trusted. A beautiful marriage may hide cruelty. A dream job may become a trap. The character who looks powerless may know far more than anyone realizes.
That is why these stories are so addictive. They make us suspicious of everyone—and then reward or punish us for choosing the wrong person to believe.
My first recommendation is The Last Mrs. Parrish, but readers looking for a faster thriller should try The Couple Next Door. For a more layered and literary take on marital deception, Gone Girl remains difficult to beat.
Which thriller gave you the biggest surprise: The Housemaid or one of the books on this list?
Frequently Asked Questions
What book is most similar to The Housemaid?
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine is the closest overall match. Both novels feature a woman entering the world of a wealthy couple, hidden motives, marital secrets and a major shift in perspective.
What should I read after the Housemaid series?
Start with The Last Mrs. Parrish, Behind Closed Doors or The Couple Next Door. All three are fast domestic thrillers built around secrets, deception and escalating twists.
Is Verity similar to The Housemaid?
Yes. Both follow a financially struggling woman who accepts work inside a wealthy family’s home and becomes entangled in the couple’s dangerous relationship. Verity contains more romance and explicit content.
Are these recommendations spoiler-free?
Yes. The descriptions explain why each book appeals to Housemaid fans without revealing its ending or central twist.
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