Intro
If you just finished Verity, by Colleen Hoover, and you’re lying awake wondering who to believe, hang on, because I have a stack of books for you.
These are seven spoiler free picks with the same ingredients: a narrator you can’t fully trust, a marriage with something rotten in it, a house that watches you, and a twist that makes you want to start over. Some are darker, some are quicker, and a couple have less spice, so I’ll tell you which.
A quick note on the order. I’ve put them roughly from classic to modern, not from best to worst, and I’ve added content notes for each, because Verity is a hard book to match for heat but easy to match for tension.
Rebecca
Number one is Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, from nineteen thirty eight. If Verity is a modern gothic, this is the original. A young woman marries a wealthy widower and moves into his enormous country house, Manderley, where everything still belongs to his dead first wife.
It’s quieter than Verity, with no explicit scenes, but the feeling is the same: a house with a presence, a marriage you can’t read, and a woman who doesn’t know who to trust. It’s the best choice if you loved Verity’s atmosphere more than its heat.
The narrator is never given a name, which makes her feel even more alone, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, is one of the great unsettling presences in fiction. Alfred Hitchcock filmed it in nineteen forty. Content wise, it’s mild, with no graphic scenes, just a lot of slow dread.
Gone Girl
Number two is Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, from twenty twelve. On their fifth anniversary, Amy Dunne disappears, and her husband Nick becomes the prime suspect. The story alternates between his account and diary entries in her voice.
If the manuscript was your favorite part of Verity, this is your next stop. Flynn has the same love of nasty narrators and marriages that go wrong, and the same refusal to say who is lying. It’s also sharper and meaner, so brace yourself.
Content notes: there is sex and violence, and a lot of cruelty, but it’s played as a puzzle more than a spectacle. David Fincher directed a film version in twenty fourteen. Read the book first, because the way Flynn reveals things on the page is hard to match on screen.
The Silent Patient
Number three is The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, from twenty nineteen. Alicia Berenson is a painter who is accused of shooting her husband, and then she stops speaking, completely. A psychotherapist named Theo becomes obsessed with making her talk.
It shares Verity’s idea of a woman who says nothing while everyone around her builds a story. It’s short and fast, with a diary at its center, and a twist that people argue about. There’s very little sex, which makes it a good pick if Verity’s spice was too much.
It’s set in a secure psychiatric unit in London, and Theo is as unreliable as anyone. Think of it as a smaller, tidier cousin of Verity, one that wants to be read in a single night: less sex and gore, more psychology, and a final reveal that you’ll either love or accuse of cheating. I enjoyed arguing about it.
Sometimes I Lie
Number four is Sometimes I Lie, by Alice Feeney, from twenty seventeen. Amber Reynolds wakes up in a hospital bed, unable to move or speak, but able to hear everything. She doesn’t know how she got there, and she tells you right away that she lies.
This one is the closest match for the helpless woman in the bed, and for the question of what a person can hear and hide. The chapters jump back and forth in time, which keeps you guessing. It’s a fast read that’s best done in one or two sittings, ideally with the lights on.
She tells you three things about herself on the first page, and the third is that sometimes she lies. Content wise, there’s some sexual content and emotional cruelty, but far less explicit than Verity. If the baby monitor and the hospital bed chills got you, start here.
The Housemaid
Number five is The Housemaid, by Freida McFadden, from twenty twenty two. Millie, who badly needs a job, takes a live in position with a rich family, and finds that the lock on her attic room is on the outside.
It has the same pull as Verity: an outsider in someone else’s house, a husband who seems kind, and a wife who may or may not be what she seems. It’s twisty and quick, with a lot less sex, and it’s a great gateway if you like page turners with plot swerves.
Content notes: it includes abuse and some violence, though the sex is mild compared to Verity. McFadden has written many follow ups with the same formula, so if you like it, you’ll have plenty to read. It’s an easy, addictive airport book.
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Number six is We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver, from two thousand three. It’s told in letters from a mother named Eva to her husband, about their son Kevin and a terrible thing he has done. It won the Orange Prize in two thousand five.
This is the heavy pick. It isn’t a twisty thriller, and the content is very dark, but it’s the closest I know to the part of Verity that asks what a mother is allowed to feel and what she’s allowed to admit. Read it when you’re ready for something serious, and maybe not right after a book with a nursery.
Be warned: it’s disturbing, and it’s a slower, more literary read than the rest of this list. The film, with Tilda Swinton, came out in twenty eleven. I’d put this one on the list for readers who found the motherhood question the most interesting part of Verity.
The Wife Between Us
Number seven is The Wife Between Us, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, from twenty eighteen. It follows a woman watching her ex husband’s new fiancée, in a story where nothing is quite what you assumed.
Like Verity, it uses perspective itself as the trick, and it’s sold on its twists. I won’t say more than that, because the less you know, the better it works. It’s a good one if you want something glossy, quick and clever for the weekend, and it’s the easiest of the seven to hand to a friend who isn’t sure about thrillers.
The setup is a classic: the ex wife, the new fiancée, and a man both of them are connected to. Content wise it’s a standard thriller, with some violence and little explicit sex. It’s a good choice if you want the twist without the heavy topics.
How To Choose
Here’s the short version. If you want atmosphere, pick Rebecca. If you want a nasty marriage and a diary, pick Gone Girl. If you want a woman who won’t talk, pick The Silent Patient or Sometimes I Lie. If you want a quick, twisty read with less spice, The Housemaid is the one.
If you want to do a double feature, I’d pair Verity with Rebecca for a gothic weekend, or with Sometimes I Lie if you’d like to feel trapped in a hospital bed twice in one month.
And if you want more Colleen Hoover, nearly all of her other books are romance, like It Ends With Us, from twenty sixteen. Tell me in the comments which of these you’ve read, and what I missed. Whichever one you pick, check the content notes first, because several of these deal with harm to children and violence in the home. Links are in the description. Thanks for watching, and subscribe for more.
