91 books like The Flight Attendant

By Chris Bohjalian,

Here are 91 books that The Flight Attendant fans have personally recommended if you like The Flight Attendant. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Sharp Objects

Alex Dolan Author Of The Euthanist

From my list on female protagonists who you hate to root for.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m obsessed with the exploration of what it means to be a human being. We’re coming into an era where we see more characters who aren’t good or evil but both—they possess the potential to save someone from jumping off a bridge one day and beating someone the next. We’re all capable of the greatest acts of kindness and the most abominable atrocities imaginable. I believe we need to be reminded of that fact so that when there comes a time when we can decide whether to hurt or to help someone, we become the better version of ourselves and make the right decision.

Alex's book list on female protagonists who you hate to root for

Alex Dolan Why did Alex love this book?

I’ll always read Gillian Flynn, for the simple reason that her writing style is the closest thing to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood written by a modern writer. She’s just that good.

This book is my favorite because of how it explores taboo topics (see the theme here?) and because she creates richly complex characters that showcase the range of what people are capable of—the greatest kindness and the darkest cruelty.

By Gillian Flynn,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Sharp Objects as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW AN HBO® LIMITED SERIES STARRING AMY ADAMS, NOMINATED FOR EIGHT EMMY AWARDS, INCLUDING OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds…


Book cover of The Call of Cassandra Rose: A gripping psychological domestic thriller with a shocking twist

Catherine Yardley Author Of Ember

From my list on explore childhood trauma.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated by people and I love stories. All we are is who we are to each other. Our childhoods are such a formative time and they echo into our future. We never really leave them behind. If we have a childhood wound we have to fix it. Childhood trauma and recovering from it is such a fascinating topic. Psychology has always intrigued me. We can suppress memories and then, boom!, they hit us and we have to deal with the fallout. I have read so many books on the topic and I look forward to reading more in the future. 

Catherine's book list on explore childhood trauma

Catherine Yardley Why did Catherine love this book?

The Call of Cassandra Rose is also about childhood trauma and healing from it. I could not read this book fast enough. I was desperate to know what happened. Sophia Spiers is such a brilliant writer. This book is harrowing in places and the character can be unlikeable, just like mine. But really, they are just being human. Human beings are messy and complicated and nothing is harder than family. 

This book had me enraged at how unfair Annabelle is treated and I really rooted for her. Just as I hope people root for Natalie, even though she can be erratic and stubborn as hell. Annabelle is struggling with motherhood and is in a terrible marriage. She hopes her hypnotist can fix her, but can she? Is life really that simple?

By Sophia Spiers,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Call of Cassandra Rose as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Hypnotic, chilling and harrowing. Spiers has delivered a fabulous debut thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.' J.A. Corrigan, author of THE NURSE

Annabelle seems to have it all. The perfect house, a successful husband, a darling son. But Annabelle is troubled.

Trapped in an unhappy marriage, failing at motherhood, and at odds with her new privileged lifestyle, Annabelle begins to self-harm, a habit resurrected from her traumatic past.

When she meets the alluring and charismatic hypnotherapist Cassandra Rose, she is offered a way out.

Through hypnosis, Annabelle is encouraged to unearth her painful repressed memories and…


Book cover of Ripple Effect

Catherine Yardley Author Of Ember

From my list on explore childhood trauma.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated by people and I love stories. All we are is who we are to each other. Our childhoods are such a formative time and they echo into our future. We never really leave them behind. If we have a childhood wound we have to fix it. Childhood trauma and recovering from it is such a fascinating topic. Psychology has always intrigued me. We can suppress memories and then, boom!, they hit us and we have to deal with the fallout. I have read so many books on the topic and I look forward to reading more in the future. 

Catherine's book list on explore childhood trauma

Catherine Yardley Why did Catherine love this book?

Ripple Effect has the perfect title as it shows how the things that happen in our past ripple through into our adulthood. N. A. Cooper does such a superb job of telling the story of Erin who had an affair with a teacher when she was only fifteen years old. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, her past starts to haunt her after she is attacked in the park and left notes about what happened all of those years ago. 

Haunted by her past and unable to allow herself to be happy Erin gets in her own way. Can she learn the truth about what really happened? I loved this book.

By N.A. Cooper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ripple Effect as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Outstanding . . . one of the best books I have read.” —Beechclose, five stars

A long-ago illicit relationship continues to upend lives in this taut psychological suspense novel . . .

Fifteen years ago, teenage Erin had an affair with her teacher that led to tragedy and changed Erin’s life. Today, she’s a married woman who keeps to herself and stays close to home, still scarred by the experience.

When she’s attacked while running in the park, Erin doesn’t tell her husband—but she does confide in Nick, the man who came to her rescue. Then letters start to arrive,…


Book cover of The Daughter

Catherine Yardley Author Of Ember

From my list on explore childhood trauma.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated by people and I love stories. All we are is who we are to each other. Our childhoods are such a formative time and they echo into our future. We never really leave them behind. If we have a childhood wound we have to fix it. Childhood trauma and recovering from it is such a fascinating topic. Psychology has always intrigued me. We can suppress memories and then, boom!, they hit us and we have to deal with the fallout. I have read so many books on the topic and I look forward to reading more in the future. 

Catherine's book list on explore childhood trauma

Catherine Yardley Why did Catherine love this book?

This book had me completely gripped. It is absolutely brilliant. Hannah’s mother was murdered when she was younger and now she’s not sure her father didn’t do it. Her father has dementia and as she starts to resemble her mother more the truth starts to come out. She is estranged from her television star brother and caring for her father. She is scarred from her childhood and has never reached her potential. 

She becomes determined to find out the truth about what happened to her mother. As childhood trauma goes, your mother being murdered is right up there and this book is so compelling and beautifully written. I could not put it down. It’s perfect.

By Liz Webb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I lean in and whisper the question I have never let myself utter in twenty-three years.
"Dad, did you murder Mum?"

Hannah Davidson has a dementia-stricken father, an estranged TV star brother, and a mother whose death opened up hidden fault lines beneath the surface of their ordinary family life.

Now the same age that Jen Davidson was when she was killed, Hannah realises she bears an uncanny resemblance to her glamorous mother, and when her father begins to confuse them she is seriously unnerved.

Determined to uncover exactly what happened to her mum, Hannah begins to exploit her arresting…


Book cover of The Layover

Emem Uko Author Of Notice Me

From my list on ‘opposites attract’ young love romance.

Why am I passionate about this?

My debut novel was geared toward Young Adults because I’m fascinated by young people discovering themselves in different environments. Although I enjoy reading and writing other genres, I'm arguably more interested in YA. This is a genre that is in need of good writers because it is like an introduction to youngsters who pick up novels that they deem safe for their ages and consumption. It is a fun and exciting genre. I’m trying to contribute to it and hopefully lessen the bad reviews out there for YA books. 

Emem's book list on ‘opposites attract’ young love romance

Emem Uko Why did Emem love this book?

Flight attendant, Ava, finds herself in the most amazing destination ever because of a layover. She embarks on more than most people accomplish on a layover. This is such a fun book and a little on the Rom-com cliche side, but some perspectives are original because the author is a real flight attendant. 

By Lacie Waldon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Layover as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game in this breezy debut romantic comedy about life--and love--30,000 feet above the ground.

After ten years as a flight attendant, Ava Greene is poised to hang up her wings and finally put down roots. She's got one trip left before she bids her old life farewell, and she plans to enjoy every second of it. But then she discovers that former pilot Jack Stone--the absurdly gorgeous, ridiculously cocky man she's held a secret grudge against for years--is on her flight. And he has the nerve to flirt with her, as if he doesn't remember…


Book cover of Hostage

Frank Romans Author Of Warriors of Ameraulde

From my list on keeping you turning the pages in anticipation.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love a book that pulls you into the story, one where maybe you see yourself in the characters. As a boy, I loved to read and would lose myself in books. I find I am drawn to many different types and genres, but especially military or crime dramas. My favorites include historical references and in my own writing I often place characters in an actual historical event, but with a fictional outcome. The most important thing to me is creating a character who is interesting enough to make the reader want more. My personal military experiences were used to begin my first novel while the characters came to life.

Frank's book list on keeping you turning the pages in anticipation

Frank Romans Why did Frank love this book?

I can’t heap enough praise upon this nail-biting thriller. Every page turn has you asking, oh my god, what now? The suspense builds as you keep asking yourself how would you handle the continually increasing pressure? The slap-in-the-face surprise at the end is outrageously brilliant. This book will remain in your head every time you board a plane in the future.

By Clare Mackintosh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hostage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Feels like a blockbuster movie."—Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone

"Mackintosh is a pro...the final scene in the book almost made me sick as I read it. I mean that as a compliment of the highest order."—The New York Times

You can save hundreds of lives. Or the one that matters most...

From New York Times bestselling author Clare Mackintosh comes a claustrophobic thriller set over 20 hours on-board the inaugural nonstop flight from London to Sydney.

Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems with…


Book cover of I'm the One Who Got Away: A Memoir

Michelle Brafman Author Of Swimming with Ghosts

From my list on addiction and transcending painful legacies.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve collected family stories. My late grandmother told me that I had “nose trouble.” I can’t help it. I’m fascinated by the psychic ghosts that both haunt us and light us up. In researching my most recent novel about the generational ripples of family addiction, I read more than 50 books and talked with dozens of addicts in various stages of recovery. All my books, though, feature humans who seek to mend ruptures of the soul and in turn liberate themselves from the troubles that define them. These are my favorite stories to read and to tell. 

Michelle's book list on addiction and transcending painful legacies

Michelle Brafman Why did Michelle love this book?

Oh my gosh, there’s a brilliant chapter in this memoir about a friend divorce that I’ve reread about a dozen times.

With ruthless honesty, Jarrell describes the deep intimacy of her relationship with her best friend from college and her role in sabotaging it. She compares her flaws to those of her father who "swam darkly in his own alcoholic brew.” And yet, despite the rawness of Jarrell’s story, this book beams out hope and light.

While the author ended up marrying an alcoholic, she did “get away” or escape her family legacy. She even credits addiction, or maybe learning to manage it, with putting her and her husband “on a path to saving themselves.”  

By Andrea Jarrell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I'm the One Who Got Away as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As featured in the New York Times "Modern Love" column * a Redbook Magazine must-read * Harper's Bazaar * Yahoo! Style, InStyle, Rumpus, Hello Giggles, Bustle, and Southern Living magazine Fall book pick

Fugitives from a man as alluring as he is violent, Andrea Jarrell and her mother develop a powerful, unusual bond. Once grown, Jarrell thinks she's put that chapter of her life behind her-until a woman she knows is murdered, and she suddenly sees that it's her mother's choices she's been trying to escape all along. Without preaching or prescribing, I'm the One Who Got Away is a…


Book cover of Allegedly

Katherine Higgs-Coulthard Author Of Junkyard Dogs

From my list on surviving your family if they're trying to kill you.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I read Flowers in the Attic as a preteen, I’ve been fascinated with the idea that the family that is supposed to nurture you might actually mess you up. Like, beyond the normal dysfunction that most of us experience. That theme keeps coming up in my writing, especially in my current work in progress. It started out as a ghost story with some creepy paranormal elements, but when an editor asked “Yeah, but what really scares you?” the whole story shifted. It became much more horrific when I started examining how the main character’s family was contributing to her fear through their disbelief and her discovery of dark family secrets.

Katherine's book list on surviving your family if they're trying to kill you

Katherine Higgs-Coulthard Why did Katherine love this book?

Mary is described on the first page of Allegedly as “just born bad, plain and simple.”

When readers learn that Mary has been incarcerated since the age of nine for killing a baby, the claim is easier to believe. Yet, as the story unfolds, the reader learns that Mary’s mother is an abusive narcissist and the actual events of the death are put into question.

This story brings up important issues about nature versus nurture, mental illness, and a justice system predicated on the assumption that to be Black is to be born guilty.

By Tiffany D Jackson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Allegedly as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Orange Is the New Black meets Walter Dean Myer's Monster in this gritty, twisty, and haunting debut by Tiffany D. Jackson about a girl convicted of murder seeking the truth while surviving life in a group home. Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn't say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? There wasn't a…


Book cover of The Nothing Man

Rachael Tamayo Author Of Crazy Love

From my list on psychological thrillers to turn your head inside out.

Why am I passionate about this?

When it comes to dark and twisted books with jaw dropping twists, I can’t get enough. I love them. I crave darkly creative books that make you think. Anything but your standard, everyday domestic thriller with the traumatized alcoholic main character. As a child I watched Law and Order and Masterpiece Theater mysteries with my mother. I loved a good British thriller. I suppose I got it from her, it was always something we shared. I veered clear of darker reading growing up, you don’t want to freak your parents out, of course. But now as an adult, I love it. No gore, no graphic shock horror for me. Psychological thrillers all the way. 

Rachael's book list on psychological thrillers to turn your head inside out

Rachael Tamayo Why did Rachael love this book?

This book is so original. We follow an old man, a retired serial killer, on his journey to read his own newly published true crime story. He stumbles on the book while doing his security rounds and can't resist picking it up, and over the next week finds himself more and more obsessed with reading it, growing fears that he will be discovered after twenty years, and with the author, his only surviving victim- who was a child at the time and is now an adult twenty years later. 

I enjoyed this book, it's original in the sense that the killer is an ordinary, cranky old bastard that no one likes. He's just a guy, who doesn't stand out, hasn't been good at anything all his life, a mediocre man that falls into the crowd. The only thing he's ever been able to succeed at was being The Nothing Man,…

By Catherine Ryan Howard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Nothing Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

· · THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER · ·

I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man.Now I am the woman who is going to catch him...

At the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.

Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man—the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family’s killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim’s…


Book cover of Phantom Evil

Kelly Moran Author Of Ghost of A Promise

From my list on paranormal romances with a ghostly twist.

Why am I passionate about this?

I adore all things ghostly, from TV shows to books to movies. I immerse myself. For me, I think it began as a young girl with poems from my grandmother’s favorite book and films or programs we’d watch together. The what-if factor and the vast unknown is addicting. It chronically makes us think or sit at the edge of our seats. I’ve even visited haunted locations before and had a couple of experiences. Romance ties into that for me. We all strive for it and hope to find it. It can be as elusive as fog. By combining the two genres, readers like me get the best of all worlds. 

Kelly's book list on paranormal romances with a ghostly twist

Kelly Moran Why did Kelly love this book?

So, I watch paranormal investigation programs. Religiously. The boo factor, the unknown? Yes, please! I devoured this book because it was the first of its kind to have a team of investigators like those shows with the added bonus of characters falling in love. Not to mention, it takes place in New Orleans! So much history, legend, and folklore there. It inspired me to write my own series like it. Also, Heather is one of the nicest, friendliest, down-to-earth authors I’ve ever had the chance to meet. We’ve done a few events together. The whole series is a must-read.

By Heather Graham,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Phantom Evil as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Return to where it all started: New Orleans, the birthplace of the Krewe of Hunters, the FBI’s elite paranormal investigation unit. Rediscover the first case in book 1 of the New York Times bestselling series, only from Heather Graham.

Though haunted by the recent deaths of two teammates, Jackson Crow knows that it’s the living who commit the most heinous crimes. As a police officer using her sometimes-otherworldly intuition, Angela Hawkins already has her hands full of mystery and bloodshed.

Under the oversight of Adam Harrison, Jackson and Angela will join a newly formed unit of the FBI, with the…


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