Books Like It Should Have Been You
by Andrea Mara
It Should Have Been You is built around a single, ordinary act — a mistaken text message — that detonates into murder and raises the chilling question of who was really meant to die. Andrea Mara stages the book as a twisty domestic thriller: close third-person vantage on ordinary lives, escalating suspicion within familiar households, and a series of revelations that recast prior scenes. The prose privileges small domestic details (voicemails, inboxes, family rituals) as evidence, so the familiar becomes the source of airless menace.
Readers who loved this book are likely to have been hooked for different reasons: the unreliable signals inside marriages and friendships; the pleasurable unease of realizing everyone around you might be hiding more than they say; the structural tricks that reframe motives at the last minute; or simply the propulsive, page-turning unraveling from a single small event to full-blown catastrophe. The list below groups nine close matches by which of those elements they share most directly, so you can pick a follow-up by the specific tension you want more of.
Recommended for fans of It Should Have Been You
The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins
Unreliable narrators and household secrets driving a murder mystery.
Pick this if you were most fascinated by the way intimate memory and perception distort the truth; this shares the unreliable-narrator drive and household secrets that complicate a murder investigation.
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn
Marital lies and shocking twists that upend who you trust.
Pick this if it was the marriage-as-performance and the spectacular reframing of who to trust that hooked you; expect an escalation of control and twisty reversals.
The Couple Next Door
Shari Lapena
A neighborly facade, a missing child and escalating suspicion and danger.
Pick this if you liked how an ordinary social façade quickly becomes fraught with suspicion and danger; this emphasizes escalating stakes among neighbors and parents in the domestic sphere.
Behind Closed Doors
B. A. Paris
Perfect marriage exterior hides a dark, controlling reality and rising menace.
Pick this if the darkest corners of a seemingly ideal marriage were the part you found most disturbing; this book shares that claustrophobic domestic menace and controlling dynamics.
The Wife Between Us
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Multiple perspectives with deceptive assumptions and a major reveal.
Pick this if you enjoyed structural misdirection through shifting viewpoints; this one layers perspectives to create deceptive assumptions that collapse at the reveal.
Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty
Domestic tensions, social facades and a central violent incident unraveling secrets.
Pick this if the social pressure of suburban life and how small lies accumulate appealed to you; this title maps those tensions across a community and centers a central violent incident.
The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides
A shocking, single-act crime and a psychological unraveling with a twist ending.
Pick this if you wanted a novel built around one dramatic act that unravels minds; this keeps the psychological focus tight and ends with a twist that forces reinterpretation.
The Kind Worth Killing
Peter Swanson
A chance encounter, plotting of murder, and shifting loyalties with sharp twists.
Pick this if you were drawn to the plotting aspect — a seemingly small interaction that escalates into deliberation over murder — and to characters whose loyalties pivot in surprising ways.
The Last Mrs. Parrish
Liv Constantine
Obsessive infiltration into a perfect life, revenge, and unexpected betrayals.
Pick this if you liked the idea of someone inserting themselves into another life with an obsessive, revenge-driven agenda; this match emphasizes manipulation and unexpected betrayals rather than a technological misstep.
At a glance
These matches were chosen for their overlap with the seed's principal mechanics: a domestic setting where ordinary communications or encounters trigger a crime, tightly wound perspective and unreliable signals, escalating suspicion among neighbors or spouses, and a late reveal that reframes motives and identities.
| Book | First published | Pages | Closest match on | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins | 2014 | 360 | Unreliable domestic narrator | 95% |
Gone Girl Gillian Flynn | 2011 | 475 | Marital deceit & twist | 94% |
The Couple Next Door Shari Lapena | 2016 | 351 | Neighborly danger escalation | 92% |
Behind Closed Doors B. A. Paris | 2016 | 336 | Perfect marriage facade | 90% |
The Wife Between Us Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen | 2018 | — | Multiple perspectives reveal | 89% |
Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty | 2014 | 512 | Social facades & fallout | 87% |
The Silent Patient Alex Michaelides | 2018 | 352 | Single shocking crime | 85% |
The Kind Worth Killing Peter Swanson | 2015 | 384 | Murder pact & shifting loyalties | 82% |
The Last Mrs. Parrish Liv Constantine | 2017 | 400 | Infiltration & betrayal | 80% |
About It Should Have Been You
It Should Have Been You is a twisty domestic thriller by Andrea Mara; a mistaken text message leads to a murder and forces characters — and readers — to question who the real target was. Mara is a bestselling author known for psychological thrillers that focus on ordinary lives upended by sudden violence and deceit.
Frequently asked questions
Which book should I read next if I liked the mistaken-text setup?+
If the triggering technological misstep and its ripple effects were what gripped you, try The Girl on the Train for misread communications and unreliable memory. For a focus on marital deception that leads to a violent unraveling, Gone Girl is the closest fit.
Are these books all psychological thrillers set in suburbia?+
Most of the list focuses on domestic settings and interpersonal deception, but a few lean into other subtypes: The Silent Patient centers on a single shocking act and psychiatric investigation, while The Kind Worth Killing begins with a chance encounter that escalates into plotted murder.
I liked the way the reveal reframed everything. Which title matches that structural trick?+
Several picks use that device; The Wife Between Us and The Silent Patient are both structured to force readers to re-evaluate earlier assumptions with a major late reveal, much as Andrea Mara does in It Should Have Been You.
Does Andrea Mara have other books like this?+
Yes. Andrea Mara has written multiple psychological thrillers that explore everyday relationships twisted by secrets and sudden violence — readers who want more of her precise domestic focus can look for her other novels.
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