92 books like The Flight Attendant

By Chris Bohjalian,

Here are 92 books that The Flight Attendant fans have personally recommended if you like The Flight Attendant. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Sharp Objects

R. K. Jackson Author Of The Girl in the Maze

From my list on mysteries and thrillers set in the Deep South.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer, I consider myself lucky to be born and raised in the Deep South. Although I currently live near Los  Angeles, I continue to draw upon the region’s complex history, regional color, eccentric characters, and rich atmosphere for inspiration. I also love to read fiction set in the South, especially mysteries and thrillers—the more atmospheric, the better! 

R. K.'s book list on mysteries and thrillers set in the Deep South

R. K. Jackson Why did R. K. love this book?

Before her mega-hit Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn penned this diabolical noir set in the deep South. It’s an edgy story, presenting a gallery of disturbed characters—including the deeply troubled protagonist, a journalist who returns to her hometown to report on the murders of two young girls.

Some books I forget a week or two after reading, others just stick with me for a year or more, and some leave bootprints in my mind forever. This is one of the latter.

By Gillian Flynn,

Why should I read it?

14 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 A Murder at Rosamund's Gate

Amy M. Reade Author Of Cape Menace: A Cape May Historical Mystery

From my list on mysteries that make you wish you had a time machine.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a lover of historical mysteries ever since I realized it’s possible to read mystery fiction and learn history at the same time. Every time I pick up a mystery set in the past, whether it’s the ancient past, the more recent past, or somewhere in between, I know I’m going to be intrigued and challenged by a great story and come away with a greater understanding of the people, culture, customs, and events of that time period. It’s a win-win. I write historical mysteries because I want to share with readers what I’ve learned about a particular time or place in a way that’s compelling and engaging. 

Amy's book list on mysteries that make you wish you had a time machine

Amy M. Reade Why did Amy love this book?

I picked up this book because I loved the cover (who says we don’t choose books by their covers?) and shortly thereafter found myself completely immersed in a 17th-century English Restoration mystery. I would visit that era in my time machine provided it’s fully stocked with soap and hand sanitizer (this time period being the one during which the Great Plague took place). 

Main character Lucy Campion is a chambermaid in the home of a London magistrate. Her days are filled with the drudgery of servant duties—that is, until a murder claims the life of a servant in the household and someone Lucy holds dear is accused of the crime. Knowing that person can’t possibly be the killer, Lucy sets out to find out whodunit. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I’ll stop there. 

I learned more about 1660s England reading this book than I ever did…

By Susanna Calkins,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Murder at Rosamund's Gate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Susanna Calkins's atmospheric debut novel, a chambermaid must uncover a murderer in seventeenth-century plague-ridden LondonFor Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and someone she loves is wrongly arrested for the crime. In a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren't permitted to defend their clients, and--if the plague doesn't kill them first--public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she…


Book cover of I Am Providence

Armand Rosamilia Author Of Keyport Cthulhu

From my list on tentacled horror.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading and writing horror for more than forty years and am prolific in both aspects. Show me a book with a tentacle and I’ll show you my newest purchase. 

Armand's book list on tentacled horror

Armand Rosamilia Why did Armand love this book?

Cool cover, right? What’s the book about? When it comes to this great author, it could be anything in the scary realm of horror. This book is amazing, with perfect doses of Lovecraftian horror, pulp fiction, and riveting characters. Still a favorite. Well-written and turns up not only the horror but well-defined characters, this author never misses the mark. A great book to introduce yourself to his work, too.

By Nick Mamatas,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An author's murder during an H. P. Lovecraft fan convention reveals dark secrets beneath the printed page in this biting murder-mystery satire.

At the Summer Tentacular, murder is non-fiction.

For fans of legendary pulp author H. P. Lovecraft, there is nothing bigger than the annual Providence-based convention the Summer Tentacular. Horror writer Colleen Danzig doesn't know what to expect when she arrives, but is unsettled to find that among the hobnobbing between scholars and literary critics are a group of real freaks: book collectors looking for volumes bound in human skin, and true believers claiming the power to summon the…


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

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,176

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in murder, murder mystery, and alcoholism?

Murder 1,071 books
Murder Mystery 564 books
Alcoholism 108 books