99 books like The Unbelieved

By Vikki Petraitis,

Here are 99 books that The Unbelieved fans have personally recommended if you like The Unbelieved. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Big Little Lies

Jack Heath Author Of The Wife Swap

From my list on books that make you suspicious of your husband.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been writing for 20 years, and the more I learn about the craft, the less interested I am in big, bombastic thrillers about the end of the world. Now I'm more impressed by books that do a lot with a little. Some talented writers can spin a gripping story out of nothing more than two people in a room (Stephen King's Misery is one of my all-time faves). The domestic noir genre lends itself to this kind of minimalism. Sure, serial killers are scary, but not as scary as the thought that your spouse might not be who they seem.

Jack's book list on books that make you suspicious of your husband

Jack Heath Why did Jack love this book?

Okay, you've almost certainly heard of this one. You might even be thinking that The Husband's Secret is a more obvious choice for this list. But I'm including BLL anyway because I couldn't believe how enthralling it was (even though I've been a Liane Moriarty fan since The Hypnotist's Love Story).

Many of the entries on this list have depicted a marriage that looks perfect from the outside but is rotten within. This book inverts this formula, or at least complicates it—Celeste thinks her marriage is perfect (or is telling herself she thinks that), but it's obvious from the reader's outside perspective that her husband is an abuser.

There are many intriguing threads woven through this story (all coming together in a showdown so satisfying that I read it several times), but the scenes with Perry are the most impressive. They left me sick with fear.

By Liane Moriarty,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked Big Little Lies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*Published as BIG LITTLE LIES in Australia and the United States*

Liane Moriarty, million copy selling author of The Husband's Secret brings us another addictive story of secrets and scandal.

Jane hasn't lived anywhere longer than six months since her son was born five years ago. She keeps moving in an attempt to escape her past. Now the idyllic seaside town of Pirriwee has pulled her to its shores and Jane finally feels like she belongs. She has friends in the feisty Madeline and the incredibly beautiful Celeste - two women with seemingly perfect lives . . . and their…


Book cover of Bitter Wash Road

Sherryl Clark Author Of Mad, Bad and Dead

From my list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading crime fiction as a teenager, so maybe it was inevitable that one day I would start writing it. I began with short stories, but then found an idea for a novel that wouldn’t let me go. One small paragraph about a tape recording left by a dead man. The books I love reading now are often set in small towns and communities, like the one I grew up in, where normal people tend to hide the worst secrets! Hidden motivations and seeing how the past plays out in the present are two elements I love in crime fiction—they help to work out who the killer is.

Sherryl's book list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat

Sherryl Clark Why did Sherryl love this book?

Tiverton, the setting for this book, is a typical outback small town—derelict houses, one pub, a harsh landscape, and a policeman back in uniform after a corruption scandal back in the big city. Hirsch’s patrol area is huge and he’s often as much a social worker as a police officer. He’s an outcast in all senses of the word, but his dogged determination to do his job right leads him into all sorts of trouble. I love the setting, the endless roads, the eccentricities of people living in the back of nowhere, and the murder mystery that takes you where you (and Hirsch) least expect it.

By Garry Disher,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Bitter Wash Road as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Disher shows that he is a top-class writer' - THE TIMES

'Vivid and visceral, combined with Disher's usual deft plotting' - GUARDIAN

'One of Australia's most admired novelists' - SUNDAY TIMES
________________________________________

ONE DEAD-END POSTING. ONE DEAD BODY.
A TRAGIC ACCIDENT? THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK...

Constable Paul 'Hirsch' Hirschhausen is a whistle-blower. Formerly a promising metropolitan detective, now hated and despised, he's been exiled to a one-cop station in South Australia's wheatbelt. So when he heads up Bitter Wash Road to investigate gunfire and finds himself cut off without backup, there are two possibilities. Either he's found…


Book cover of The Night Whistler

Sherryl Clark Author Of Mad, Bad and Dead

From my list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading crime fiction as a teenager, so maybe it was inevitable that one day I would start writing it. I began with short stories, but then found an idea for a novel that wouldn’t let me go. One small paragraph about a tape recording left by a dead man. The books I love reading now are often set in small towns and communities, like the one I grew up in, where normal people tend to hide the worst secrets! Hidden motivations and seeing how the past plays out in the present are two elements I love in crime fiction—they help to work out who the killer is.

Sherryl's book list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat

Sherryl Clark Why did Sherryl love this book?

I love a good historical crime novel that’s set within a time I almost remember. It’s 1966 and Mick Goodenough arrives in Moorabool, demoted and depressed to be back. We all know killers often start by killing animals, so a dead, tortured dog raises Mick’s alert level, even though it’s dismissed by the other cops. A lone woman starts receiving weird, whistling phone calls and from there, the tension gradually racks up. Mick Goodenough has all the qualities I enjoy in a detective—intelligence, good hunches, and he loves his dogs.

By Greg Woodland,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The summer of 1966–7. Hal and his little brother have just come to live in Moorabool. They’re exploring the creek near their new home when they find the body of a dog.

Not just dead, but killed.

Not just killed, but horribly maimed.

Constable Mick Goodenough, recently demoted from his big-city job as a detective, is also new in town—and one of his dogs has gone missing. Like other pets around the town.

He knows what it means when someone tortures animals to death. They’re practising. So when Hal’s mother starts getting late-night phone calls—a man whistling, then hanging up—Goodenough,…


Book cover of Clear to the Horizon

Sherryl Clark Author Of Mad, Bad and Dead

From my list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading crime fiction as a teenager, so maybe it was inevitable that one day I would start writing it. I began with short stories, but then found an idea for a novel that wouldn’t let me go. One small paragraph about a tape recording left by a dead man. The books I love reading now are often set in small towns and communities, like the one I grew up in, where normal people tend to hide the worst secrets! Hidden motivations and seeing how the past plays out in the present are two elements I love in crime fiction—they help to work out who the killer is.

Sherryl's book list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat

Sherryl Clark Why did Sherryl love this book?

I’ve never been to Broome in northwest Australia, but it’s renowned for the heat, the flies, and the beaches—but look out for crocodiles. I enjoyed Warner’s previous novel based on a series of murders in Perth in the 90s that, back then, had never been solved, so it was great to see his two detectives get together on a case that eventually circles back to the Perth killings. There’s something about the past catching up with us that I enjoy as a plot and character strength, and this book moves between past and present really effectively. The landscape is so barren that it’s almost like being on another planet!

By Dave Warner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Clear to the Horizon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1999, a number of young women go missing in the Perth suburb of Claremont. One body is discovered. Others are never seen again. Snowy Lane (City of Light) is hired as a private investigator but neither he nor the cops can find the serial killer. Sixteen years later, another case brings Snowy to Broome, where he teams up with Dan Clement (Before It Breaks) and an incidental crime puts them back on the Claremont case. Clear to the Horizon is a nail-biting Aussie-style thriller, based on one of the great unsolved crimes in Western Australia's recent history. Its twists…


Book cover of Messy Business: Some Secrets Can't Be Swept Away

Sherryl Clark Author Of Mad, Bad and Dead

From my list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading crime fiction as a teenager, so maybe it was inevitable that one day I would start writing it. I began with short stories, but then found an idea for a novel that wouldn’t let me go. One small paragraph about a tape recording left by a dead man. The books I love reading now are often set in small towns and communities, like the one I grew up in, where normal people tend to hide the worst secrets! Hidden motivations and seeing how the past plays out in the present are two elements I love in crime fiction—they help to work out who the killer is.

Sherryl's book list on Australian crime to have you on the edge of your seat

Sherryl Clark Why did Sherryl love this book?

Humour done well in crime fiction is rare, I think, and this novel has plenty. I think you would call it a caper, with things constantly going wrong for Jac, the main character, in bizarre and amusing ways, but Draga, her Croatian housekeeper is hilarious. Draga’s solutions to fixing things are not what any sensible person might agree to, but Jac is desperate. She even resorts to using Draga’s favourite broom herself at one point. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat, yes, but you might also fall off it laughing. I’m hoping there will be a sequel.

By Lucia Nardo,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The week begins like any other in Jacqueline Burne's messy life. And it just gets worse. Jac's business is in trouble, her husband is up to no good, and her eccentric housekeeper, Draga, is nagging her with unsolicited advice. Then Jac's annoying teen stepson lands on her doorstep and wants to stay. 

Jac devises a plan to regain control of her life, but Draga jumps in to help and it goes horribly wrong. They soon find themselves on the wrong side of the law, where handcuffs and prison jumpsuits become a real possibility. As Jac juggles her many problems, dark…


Book cover of Pieces of Her

Jenna Kernan Author Of The Nurse

From my list on psychological thrillers with a jaw-dropping twist.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a certified crime junkie beginning with Helter Skelter and, more recently, FBI profiler Jack Douglas’ Mindhunter. This genre is a passion, but here’s the kicker, I started my writing journey in Western historical romance. I know, right? Then I had this wild idea: a psychologist who’s got a secret – her mother is a notorious serial killer on death row, and someone is imitating her crimes. Just like that A Killer’s Daughter was born! Now I’m always reading and listening to thrillers and true crime podcasts. Check out my newsletter to see what’s grabbing me. 

Jenna's book list on psychological thrillers with a jaw-dropping twist

Jenna Kernan Why did Jenna love this book?

I had the opportunity to listen to Karin Slaughter speak at the Bouchercon Conference in St. Pete, Florida and this was her new release.

The book sounded wonderful, and my signed copy is on my keeper shelf. Pieces of Her has a crazy, explosive opening and breakneck pace with questions that pile on questions, and we hold on for dear life. I was so enthralled by this story that I bought a second copy for a friend and put it in her hands saying, “You have to read this.” She loved it and so did Netflix because it is now a series. 

By Karin Slaughter,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Pieces of Her as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Seven Sisters

L.A. Larkin Author Of Next Girl Missing

From my list on suspense and mystery about women who fight back.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in gaslighting began when I watched the movie, Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman. Until then, I hadn’t understood how someone who appears charming and caring can use someone’s love to control, manipulate and undermine them, to such an extent that the victim doubts their own perception of reality. I started to read accounts of victims of gaslighting. I then realized that someone I knew was going through this. Fiction is a powerful means of creating awareness of issues and injustices, and I hope my new series character, Sally Fairburn, will inspire women to seize back their lives. 

L.A.'s book list on suspense and mystery about women who fight back

L.A. Larkin Why did L.A. love this book?

The premise of the crime-thriller is fascinating: an all-female therapy group meets to share their pain at the abuse and murder of their sisters by their partners/husbands.

The justice system failed to prosecute the killers and the women pursue their own form of justice. They hatch a plan to kill the men who murdered their sisters. The author masterfully establishes how the female victims of abuse find themselves trapped and isolated by their abuser and why they find it so hard to leave them, even when their life is in danger.

Will the sisters who want revenge get away with it?

By Katherine Kovacic,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Men get away with murder all the time. Now it's our turn ... A twisty, intriguing crime novel for fans of The Mother and The Family Doctor.

Naomi started grief counselling prepared to run for cover as soon as her therapist, Mia, pulled out a crystal or tried to align her chakras.

When Mia suggests that she join a support group, Naomi is sceptical: how could she begin to describe what it felt like to lose her sister, Jo? How could she possibly share her loss and rage to a room full of people? How could she express her helplessness…


Book cover of The Marriage Secret

L.A. Larkin Author Of Next Girl Missing

From my list on suspense and mystery about women who fight back.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in gaslighting began when I watched the movie, Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman. Until then, I hadn’t understood how someone who appears charming and caring can use someone’s love to control, manipulate and undermine them, to such an extent that the victim doubts their own perception of reality. I started to read accounts of victims of gaslighting. I then realized that someone I knew was going through this. Fiction is a powerful means of creating awareness of issues and injustices, and I hope my new series character, Sally Fairburn, will inspire women to seize back their lives. 

L.A.'s book list on suspense and mystery about women who fight back

L.A. Larkin Why did L.A. love this book?

Holly appears to have a perfect life, living in a beautiful house, lunching with friends, married to handsome Zach, a hospital doctor.

But gradually we discover that Holly’s life is one of fear: she is a victim of gaslighting. If Holly dares to cross Zach, the cruel, sadistic narcissist shows itself. One of the chapters that sent shivers down my spine was when Zach punishes Holly when she is at her most vulnerable – in the birthing suite.

He sabotages the delivery of their daughter, causing Holly to need a C-section, all because, earlier, Holly left some shoes on the floor and Zach tripped over them.

For much of the book we wonder if Holly will ever be free of her abusive husband, but the author creates a wonderful ending which had me clapping my hands with delight.

By Carey Baldwin,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

He married me despite my darkest secret. But am I safe now that I know his?

From the outside, my marriage to Zach was perfect: dream home, a perfect baby girl and passionate, all-consuming love. When we met, I confessed my darkest secret to him and he never judged me for it. Instead, he vowed to always protect me whatever the cost.

But as I cradle my gorgeous baby, I have to accept that the husband who used to be my everything, has changed. At first it was little things: expecting me to keep to a strict schedule, picking out…


Book cover of Stiff

Paul Burman Author Of Night-night, Sleep Tight

From my list on crime mysteries with an extra twist of character.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm the author of three novels, several short stories, and quite a few articles about writing and literature. While I haven't aimed to write for a specific genre—all three of my novels are different in this respectmy plots usually focus on a mystery. I enjoy novels with strong, credible characters, which are based in a recognisable, everyday reality, but where bizarre events can turn the world upside down.

Paul's book list on crime mysteries with an extra twist of character

Paul Burman Why did Paul love this book?

This laugh-out-loud crime mystery has a special place for me because I read it not long after migrating to Australia and, through the lead character, Murray Whelan (a political staffer who spends his time digging himself in and out of holes), I was not only introduced to Australian humour but also to a new way of viewing Melbourne, its politics, establishments, and suburbs. In Stiff, as with Shane Maloney's other books in this series, the city landscape is as much a character as Murray Whelan himself, and this sense of place adds a richness to the story that would be missing if it were merely treated as a backdrop.

By Shane Maloney,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Don’t you just hate it when someone tries to kill you and you don’t know why?

Single father Murray Whelan thinks the life of a parent and political operative is complicated enough. His ex is staking out the moral high ground for a custody battle, and rumors of an early election are starting to fly in the upper echelons of Australia’s Labor party. When a Turk is found snap-frozen in a local meat plant, Murray cops the job to head off possible fallout for his boss, Charlene Wills, a member of Parliament and the Minister for Industry. But the meat…


Book cover of Down Under

Clinton Walker Author Of Stranded

From my list on music from Australia.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an art school dropout and recovering rock critic who, since 1981, has published a dozen books on Australian music and popular culture, plus worked extensively in television and as a freelance journalist. I'm too old to be called an enfant terrible, but with the way I still seem to be able to court controversy, I must remain some sort of loose cannon! Sydney’s Sun-Herald has called me "our best chronicler of Australian grass-roots culture," and that’s a tag I’m flattered by but which does get at what I’ve always been interested in. I consider myself a historian who finds resonances where most don’t even bother to look, in our own backyard, yesterday, and the fact that so much of my backlist including Inner City Sound, Highway to Hell, Buried Country, Golden Miles, History is Made at Night, and Stranded are still in print, I take as vindication I’m on the right track…

Clinton's book list on music from Australia

Clinton Walker Why did Clinton love this book?

Sometimes a book comes completely out of nowhere. Such was the case with Trevor Conomy’s Down Under. Conomy was not an author with a pedigree in music journalism or anything like that, but when Down Under came out, in 2015, it spoke for itself. The life story of a song – Melbourne pub band Men At Work’s “Down Under” – what makes the book compelling is not so much the story of its fluky success, when in 1982 it become a huge hit all round the world, but rather the aftermath: How more than a quarter-century later the song went to court against a copyright infringement claim. That it lost the case was a travesty and a human tragedy, and Conomy’s short, punchy little book reveals why in all its gory detail.

By Trevor Conomy,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

This is the biography not of a person but of one of the most loved and controversial songs in the history of Australian music.

Originally released as a B-side in 1980, 'Down Under' made Men at Work the biggest band on the planet. The song became an alternative Australian anthem and its video (recorded on the sand dunes of Cronulla) became an image of Australia recognised the world over.

Even when Men at Work suddenly disappeared, 'Down Under' remained in the national psyche. Nearly three decades later, Spicks and Specks innocently revealed a link between the song and the tune…


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