Many great things have come out of the U.K.: Princess Kate, for one, and the Spice Girls, for another. But for lovers of the mystery-thriller book genre, the country’s greatest export might be Lisa Jewell.
The romance-novelist-turned-suspense-queen has penned 23 novels to date (soon to be 24 with the release of her highly anticipated new book, Don’t Let Him In), selling more than 15 million copies worldwide and dominating the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Fans are routinely blown away by her uncanny ability to weave seemingly unrelated storylines together through multiple points of view and time frames, particularly since she got her literary start writing rom-coms about young roommates living out their single dreams.
Even more incredible, Jewell famously flies by the seat of her pants when it comes to her prose, chucking conventional plot outlines in favor of a good old-fashioned freewrite. “I come to the page with nothing. I've done no research. I've barely actually thought about what it is I'm about to start doing. I'm not a planner," she has said.
Whether you're a fan of her most notable titles or are looking for your next page-turner, her books are worth adding to your TBR stack. Below, find the 10 best Lisa Jewell books ranked.
Though Jewell’s Invisible Girl came several years ahead of both Then She Was Gone and The Night She Disappeared, it’s not quite as strong as the latter two, which share similar themes of young women vanishing into thin air. That doesn’t mean it’s not compelling, though. Jewell executes a deep psychoanalysis on all of the characters, including Saffyre Maddox, who turns up missing shortly after developing an obsession with her former therapist. That's more than enough to keep you up all night.
The House We Grew Up In was Jewell’s first true foray into the suspense genre, though not in the traditional sense. Centered on a dysfunctional family riddled with mental health issues and beneath-the-surface struggles, it’s less murderous, more emotional. (Read: This tearjerker is not for the faint of heart.) Still, it’s a good sneak peek into the twists and turns of Jewell’s novels to come.
Straddling Jewell’s past works of literary fiction with her current thrillers, this is rooted more in mystery than the edge-of-your-seat suspense she’s come to be known for, but it’s still a gripping read. The book centers around the titular Melody Browne, who is now in her 30s, but can’t remember what happened in her childhood after being caught in a traumatic fire. After she undergoes hypnosis, memories begin to flood in—and she has more questions than answers about what she recalls.
Fans all but demanded a sequel to 2019's The Family Upstairs, and Jewell delivered with 2022’s The Family Remains. While the first novel's cast of characters, including Lucy, her children, and her brother Henry, are back for round two, perhaps more compelling is the mysterious plot surrounding the death of Michael, Lucy’s abusive ex, and his new wife Rachel. As with most sequels, it’s not quite as good as the original, but it’s still top-10 worthy.
This one’s like the Netflix series and books by Caroline Kepnes, You, but instead of one sociopath (ahem, Joe Goldberg) doing the “watching,” there is a whole neighborhood’s worth. Joey is obsessively watching her cute neighbor Tom, Tom’s son is clocking her fascination with his dad, and Tom’s student Jenna is watching his suspicious behavior around her BFF. Oh, and did we mention one of them is a murderer? Told through multiple perspectives, it jumps back and forth in the timeline, so if you prefer a linear read, this won’t be for you, but overall, it’s a solid Jewell pick.
Jewell does her thing when it comes to the characters of this book. The backstories are deeply developed for all of them: Alice, a single mom who lets a lost stranger into her home, “Frank,” the man who has appeared at her door, Lily, whose husband has gone missing, and Gray and Kirsty, two teens on a summer holiday. The pacing here is a bit slower (even for Jewell, a master of the slow burn), so we recommend moving along if it's action you seek. However, once it's clear what the story is that ties them all together, you'll be hooked.
Over a million of Jewell’s books sold came from her most recent endeavor, None of This Is True (which is soon to be adapted into a Netflix film). The premise—two middle-aged women meet by chance in a bar, bond over their shared birthdays, and become enmeshed in each other’s lives to chilling results—was a unique one for Jewell that fans ate right up. "I wanted to do a stalker novel, a little bit of a Single White Female-y thing because I'd never written about that,” she told PEOPLE. Considering that it has notes of the true-crime case of Ruby Franke, we'd say she nailed it.
Of Jewell’s books, Then She Was Gone may have made the biggest splash. Not only has it sold more than two and a half million copies, holding its No. 1 spot on the NYT Best Sellers list for nearly two months, but it will hit the big screen soon with actress/writer Catherine Steadman onboard as the screenwriter. As the title indicates, it’s about a mother whose teenage daughter goes missing. When a new man comes into her life with a teenage daughter who looks just like the one she lost, boy, do shockers abound.
The Night She Disappeared is told from different perspectives: Kim, whose 19-year-old daughter Tallulah has just turned up missing, and Tallulah, whose narrative is key in piecing together the events leading up to her disappearance, as well as several others, who only add to the mystery. Though it’s been described as a reworking of Then She Was Gone by Goodreads reviewers, it’s also got a higher reader rating, indicating that Jewell perfected the vanishing trope with this one.
Then She Was Gone and None of This Is True may be more well-known, but dive into some of Reddit’s book threads, and The Family Upstairs wins in a landslide among Jewell fan favorites. (Seriously, even Colleen Hoover devoured this in one sitting.) Centered on an abandoned mansion in Chelsea, it switches back and forth between the present, our protagonist, Libby Jones, inherits it, and its dark past, which begins when the previous owners unwittingly let a sociopath into their home. Beyond the captivating plot, the twist is especially good.
In what order should I read Lisa Jewell books?
Of Jewell’s 23 novels, 11 fall into the suspense genre. Some may prefer to read them in the order they were released, which is as follows: The House We Grew Up In (2013), The Third Wife (2014), The Girls in the Garden (2015), I Found You (2016), Then She Was Gone (2017), Watching You (2018), The Family Upstairs (2019), Invisible Girl (2020), The Night She Disappeared(2021), The Family Remains (2022), and None of This Is True (2023).
Alternately, you may skip the less popular titles to get to the best of the best, in which case we recommend using our ranking as your guide.
