Author Freida McFadden's real name is somewhat of a mystery, considering the dual brain doctor/author publishes under a pseudonym. But it's no secret why her career has taken off in the past few years: Her thriller novels are real nail-biters with twists you never see coming.
She’s been churning out her eerie tales at a breakneck pace, selling 17 million copies of her 20+ titles to her growing mass of avid readers since making her debut with The Devil Wears Scrubs—and her popularity has only grown since. The Boston-based author’s book-to-movie sensation, The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, was a huge box office hit in 2025, grossing more than $300 million—and there's a sequel in the works.
Needless to say, choosing the most gripping books in McFadden’s collection was something of a Herculean task, but we managed to get the job done. Whether you already consider yourself a devout McFan (the given name for her ever-growing fanbase) or are looking for your next whodunnit or psychological thriller, there's never been a better time to check out her work. Behold, the 15 best Frieda McFadden books, ranked—all of which will keep you guessing until the very end...and sometimes even after.
The Best Freida McFadden Books, Ranked
Having to work near your ex is scary enough, but Brooke’s new gig as a nurse practitioner at a men’s maximum-security prison puts her in direct contact with her former fling Shane, who's behind bars because of her. Trust us: When you think you’ve got their ending figured out, McFadden throws in a curveball you'll never, ever see coming.
As McFadden’s breakout novel, The Ex, had so many twists and turns, even her own mother couldn’t keep them straight. “My mom…still doesn’t get the ending to this day,” the author told The New York Times in a 2024 interview.
Her solution? To write another finale entirely for the originally self-published book. The version that hit shelves in 2020 has a different ending for McFans who weren’t satisfied with how everything played out for heroine Cassie after her new relationship with Joel gets upended by his chef ex-girlfriend, Francesca.
April Masterson seemingly shares her life online for the world to see via her YouTube channel—but there are a few things she’s keeping to herself. Like, for instance, the contents that are buried out in her backyard. Entertaining? Highly. The least predictable of McFadden’s roster? Not quite.
They say if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. And Abby probably should’ve heeded that warning before she agreed to let her personal assistant be her pregnancy surrogate, because Monica hasn’t exactly been truthful about her real identity. Now, she’s got all the leverage she needs to get exactly what she wants—and what she wants will ruin her boss.
To give you an idea of how good this one is, it landed McFadden her first No. 1 hit in the U.K.
Think 50 First Dates, but make it a thriller. Thanks to a recent car accident, Tess wakes up each day unable to remember who she is, let alone anyone else. The man claiming to be her husband seems nice enough—but what if he’s not? Someone is warning her to keep her distance, and she can't remember why. It's not the most satisfying ending McFadden's ever put to paper, but it will keep you engaged.
The premise of this one is quite gripping. It’s about a surgeon named Nora who also happens to be the daughter of a serial killer. He’s in prison, but a copycat’s on the loose, and they’re taking aim at Nora’s patients. Which leads police to wonder: Do murderous genes run in the family? It’s not quite as action-packed as some of McFadden’s other works, but its twisty plot will still getcha in the end.
It’s bad enough that Blake and his fiancée, Krista, are being forced to take on a renter after he gets fired from his job. But Whitney isn’t your average tenant, and Blake’s about to learn the hard way that your home really is your castle…and his has been infiltrated. Read it now before the Prime Video movie adaptation arrives.
In The Wife Upstairs, a tragic accident upends a woman named Victoria's life, leaving her disabled and unable to speak. But will anyone be willing to listen to her and trust what she's written in her diary, which may hold a dark source of truth? Sylvia, who becomes her live-in nurse, wrestles with those questions across this page-turner. While readers have noted the similarities between this book and Colleen Hoover’s Verity, published two years prior, others say it’s entertaining enough to shine on its own.
Considering McFadden’s background as a brain injury doctor, the setting for this 2023 release Ward D—a hospital's mental health unit—couldn’t be more fitting. It’s about a med student named Amy who’s forced into the ward as part of her training. The problem? She has a past here that none of her colleagues know about. Beyond that, her charges and coworkers all seem to be disappearing, one by one…
It’s almost impossible for a sequel to beat its predecessor, and McFadden’s follow-up to her 2022 The Housemaid doesn’t escape the trope. Still, it’s a decent effort, with its main character, Millie, returning with a brand new family to offer her in-home services to. But something’s not quite right here, either…and if these people had any sense, they’d never let Millie find out what it is.
When a girl at Liam’s school goes missing, his mother Erika is forced to take a long, hard look at her child, who just so happens to be the last person to see his classmate alive. And Erika is quickly realizing that she might not like what she sees—or the options she’ll be presented with as a result.
Debbie is not the kind of woman you want to cross. Mess with her garden, her child, or her husband, and you might end up with dead flowers, a dead-end career, or even just…dead. The worst part? You’ll never even see it coming. While it starts stronger than it ends (the twist is so wild, it borders on huh?), it’s still up there on our McFadden mountain.
The perfect guy or a serial dater…and killer? That’s the question on Sydney Shaw’s mind as she contemplates whether her hunky new man could be mixed up with all the deaths making headlines in N.Y.C. as of late. In true McFadden fashion, the answer to her question will blow your mind.
All houses have their secrets, but the ones kept at vanished psychiatrist Dr. Adrienne Hale’s former estate are downright terrifying. And unfortunately for Tricia and Ethan, who are stuck at the property as a result of househunting in a blizzard, they’re about to be exposed. This one's dark, it’s sinister, and it’s a thriller slam dunk according to McFan Reddit subthreads.
2022 was a big year for McFadden: It was the year The Housemaid made its debut on the literary circuit to a whole lotta fanfare, marking the author’s biggest novel to date.
It's centered on two women who aren’t quite what they seem: There’s Millie, only recently released from prison, who has somehow landed a job as a maid in a swanky pad that’s a major upgrade from the Nissan she’s been living in. And then there’s Nina, the woman who just unwittingly hired a criminal, but has plenty of secrets of her own. Needless to say, they’re about to figure each other out, and plenty of drama will ensue.
What Is Freida McFadden's most popular book?
The Housemaid was McFadden’s runaway hit long before Sweeney and Seyfried ever signed on for the film adaptation. It's spent over 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list. According to the outlet, it’s also the book that turned many a normal thriller reader into a McFan, acting like a gateway drug to her complete literary catalog.
Also worth checking out? The 2023 and 2024 follow-ups, The Housemaid’s Secret and The Housemaid Is Watching, which casually debuted at No. 1 and sold a chill 240,000 copies in its first week, per The New York Times.
How to read Freida McFadden's thriller books in order:
The order in which you read McFadden’s novels will depend on your preferences. If you want to read them in the order in which she wrote them, you can go down the list as follows:
- The Devil Wears Scrubs (2013)
- Baby City (2015)
- Brain Damage (2016)
- The Devil You Know (2017)
- The Surrogate Mother (2018)
- The Ex (2019)
- The Perfect Son (2019)
- The Wife Upstairs (2020)
- One by One (2020)
- Want to Know a Secret (2021)
- The Locked Door (2021)
- Do Not Disturb (2021)
- Do You Remember? (2022)
- The Housemaid (2022)
- The Inmate (2022)
- Never Lie (2022)
- The Housemaid’s Secret (2023)
- Ward D (2023)
- The Coworker (2023)
- The Teacher (2024)
- The Housemaid Is Watching (2024)
- Dead Med (2024)
- The Boyfriend (2024)
- The Crash (2025)
- The Tenant (2025)
- The Intruder (2025)
- Dear Debbie (2026)
- The Divorce (2026)
If, however, you choose to read them as part of a series, we’d recommend starting with the Dr. Jane McGill books of The Devil Wears Scrubs and The Devil You Know, followed by the Prescription: Murder series (Dead Med, originally published as Suicide Med) and Brain Damage.
Finally, there's The Housemaid trilogy, which consists of The Housemaid, The Housemaid’s Secret, and The Housemaid Is Watching, to dive into before cracking into McFadden’s standalone novels.
Which Freida McFadden books are being adapted?
2025's The Housemaid—directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor, Bridesmaids) and written by Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Boys)—made 9x its budget. So, it's no surprise that on the heels of its success, several of McFadden’s other novels have been greenlit for adaptations in quick succession.
Inevitably, a sequel to The Housemaid is already in the works, based on the second book in its source material: The Housemaid's Secret. Sweeney will reprise her role as Millie alongside Feig and Sonnenshine. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amanda Seyfried has an executive producer credit on the upcoming film, and, while her character doesn't return in the second book, it's possible she could make an appearance.
"We’re lucky that Freida McFadden has already extended Millie’s journey on the page," Feig said in a statement when the project was announced. According to Forbes, it may be released as soon as fall 2027.
That's hardly the only adaptation McFans have to look forward to. Amazon MGM Studios and producer Scott Stuber secured the rights to The Tenant in June 2025; Also in the works? The Surrogate Mother, which Sony picked up, with Anna Klassen at the helm, and The Teacher, reportedly in development at Apple, is on the way. Few details are known at this time, though McFadden has an executive producer credit on The Tenant and The Teacher.
There is also a TV series in the works: Prime Video optioned an adaptation of McFadden's Dear Debbie. A cast and release date have yet to be announced, but Gina Girolamo (You, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) will executive produce.
Why Trust Us
From #Booktok favorites to acclaimed best-selling authors, we regularly rank just about any book you can imagine. Beach reads? We’ve done our homework. Smutty STEM novels? We've got them covered, too. We’re methodical in our methods: combing through real-life reviews, seeing what fans are saying on Reddit, TikTok, and GoodReads, and, of course, actually reading the books. We simply love to read and keep up with what's trending in the book world—so you can focus on more important things, like devouring every single precious word.
