Thriller · Similar reads
Books like The Family Upstairs
The best books like The Family Upstairs are The Silent Patient, The Woman in the Window, and In Cold Blood. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell is about cults and coercive control, inherited trauma, identity and origins. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Silent Patient
01
Alex Michaelides · Thriller
Alicia Berenson, a celebrated painter, shoots her husband five times in the face and then never speaks another word.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Woman in the Window
02
A.J. Finn · Thriller
Anna Fox is a child psychologist who hasn't left her Manhattan brownstone in ten months.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - In Cold Blood
03
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
04
The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
Gavin de Becker · Psychology
Gavin de Becker's central argument is that fear is a gift, not a problem to manage.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Paris Library
05
Janet Skeslien Charles · Historical fiction
The Paris Library moves between two timelines: Paris in 1939–1944, where young Odile Souchet becomes a librarian at the American Library of Paris just as war is approaching; and rural Montana in the 1980s, where a teenage girl named Lily befriends her French neighbor, the now-elderly Odile, and slowly uncovers the history Odile has never spoken about.
Both dig into secrets and silence.
Read the summary → - A Time to Kill
06
John Grisham · Thriller
In Clanton, Mississippi, two white men rape and nearly kill ten-year-old Tonya Hailey.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Along Came a Spider
07
James Patterson · Thriller
Along Came a Spider introduces Alex Cross, a Black homicide detective and forensic psychologist working in Washington D.C., in the case that made James Patterson a bestseller.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Angels & Demons
08
Dan Brown · Thriller
Physicist Leonardo Vetra is found dead at CERN with a symbol burned into his chest: the Illuminati ambigram.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Big Little Lies
09
Liane Moriarty · Thriller
Big Little Lies begins with a death at a school trivia night and then spends its entire length working backward to explain how it happened.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Blacklands
10
Belinda Bauer · Thriller
Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb lives in the shadow of an unresolved disappearance.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Blindsighted
11
Karin Slaughter · Thriller
Blindsighted is Karin Slaughter's debut novel, published in 2001, and the first book in the Grant County series set in fictional Heartsdale, Georgia.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Dark Places
12
Gillian Flynn · Thriller
Libby Day survived the Kansas farmhouse massacre that killed her mother and two sisters when she was seven.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Family Upstairs: quick answers
What are the best books like The Family Upstairs?
The best books like The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell are The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Family Upstairs, such as cults and coercive control, inherited trauma, identity and origins.
What should I read after The Family Upstairs?
A natural next read after The Family Upstairs is The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. A kindred thriller read. Other strong choices are The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker.
What books are similar to The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell?
The Family Upstairs centers on cults and coercive control, inherited trauma, identity and origins. Books with a similar feel include The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, A Time to Kill by John Grisham — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
