The Woman in the House Across the Street from The Girl in the Window, now airing on Netflix, is a darkly comedic sendup of the now-familiar domestic and psychological thriller genres. You know the type—usually centered on an everyday woman who is drawn into solving a mystery or crime that takes place close to, or even inside her home. Common tropes include an unreliable narrator, the mysterious stranger, mistaken identity, a missing person, gaslighting, paranoia, and deception. 

The eight-episode Netflix series pokes fun at the genre while still managing to deliver its own twisty, tense, wine-fueled mystery.  If you've just seen the movies of this genre (most of which are adapted from books!), or you've only read Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, then you've only hit the tip of the literary iceberg. 

The Other Woman's House by Sophie Hannah

Connie Bowskill sees a bloody, murdered woman in the virtual tour of an online real estate listing, but the images aren't there when she shows her husband.

 

 

 

 

 

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement—a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle. Assume nothing.

 

 

 

 

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

An agoraphobic recluse languishes in her New York City home, drinking wine, and spying on her neighbors, before witnessing a terrible crime through her window that exposes her secrets and raises questions about her perceptions of reality.

 

 

 

 

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

26-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust. Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW. It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.

 

The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford

When her neighbor, Celia, is murdered, Dana Catrell, who suffers from a debilitating mania, must clear her name before she descends into madness.

 

 

 

 

 

The Nightwalker by Sebastian Fitzek

Suffering from a bizarre form of somnambulism that renders him violent while sleepwalking, Leon receives successful psychiatric treatments and fears his condition has returned when his wife goes missing under mysterious circumstances years later.

 

 

 

 

A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell

A single mother's life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes, an inexplicable event that prompts her to reach out to her blog readers and the missing woman's handsome husband before nightmarish realities come to light

 

 

 

 

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Finding unexpected support from a new friend while collecting stories from her rapidly vanishing Brooklyn community, Sydney uncovers sinister truths about a regional gentrification project and why her neighbors are moving away.

 

 

 

 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

The secretary of a successful psychiatrist is drawn into the seemingly picture-perfect life of her boss and his wife before discovering a complex web of controlling behaviors and secrets that gradually reveal profound and dangerous flaws in the couple's relationship.

 

 

 

 

Keep Her Safe by Sophie Hannah

A British woman's holiday at an Arizona resort transforms into a dark, obsessive quest for the truth when she becomes convinced that another guest is the woman who disappeared in a sensational headline case years earlier.

 

 

 

 

Into the Sound by Cara Reinard

When her sister, Vivian, mysteriously disappears, Holly Boswell, reminded of their childhood games to escape the mental abuses of their parents, reads between the lines of Vivian’s journals to enter her private world and find answers while someone follows her every move.

 

 

 

 

Losing You by Nicci French

Preparing to leave for a Florida vacation with her two children, Nina Landry anxiously awaits the return of her fifteen-year-old daughter, Charlie, who had spent the night at a friend's house, but Nina begins to worry when Charlie does not come home, and no one—the police, Charlie's friends, even Charlie's father—takes the disappearance seriously.

 

 

 

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Struggling to put her life back together a decade after her beloved teen daughter's disappearance, a divorced woman bonds with a charming single father whose young child eerily resembles the woman's own lost daughter.

 

 

 

 

---

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.