Books Like Bad Sisters: 9 Thrillers Where the Husband Has It Coming

Did you know that women are almost twice as likely as men to listen to true crime? According to Pew Research Center, more than four in ten women who listen to podcasts regularly listen to true crime ones, against fewer than one in four men. Pew asked more than five thousand American adults, and about one in three podcast listeners overall said true crime is a regular habit. So the audience for a bad man getting what is coming to him is mostly women, and Bad Sisters was made for us: a dark comedy thriller that opens two years after the “accidental death” of Grace’s abusive husband.

Sadly, there’s been a lot of infidelity in my family. And one relative described it as an addiction: you keep going back for the thrill that you might get caught. I keep gravitating towards the genre because that addictive rush is sometimes so strong, people are willing to risk everything, hurting the people who love and trust them the most.

Every book on this page starts with that man: he has spent years hurting the people who trust him, and the people around him have finally noticed. The question is who is going to do something about it, and what it costs them. Here are the books like Bad Sisters that get that right:

The Short Version

• If you want the one where the villain is a woman, read Perfect Modern Wife: Audrey, a successful executive, visits her old friend Jessica at a trad wife farm run by their estranged friend-turned-influencer McKinley, and the farm won’t let her see Jessica until the retreat is over.
• For the closest match to the sisters, read My Sister, the Serial Killer: a Lagos nurse keeps cleaning up after her beautiful younger sister, whose boyfriends keep turning up dead. Three so far, and Korede is the one who cleans up.
• When you want the comedy, read Finlay Donovan Is Killing It or Dial A for Aunties: a broke novelist is mistaken for a hitwoman and offered fifty thousand dollars to kill a wronged wife’s husband, and a wedding photographer’s mother and aunties help her hide the body of a date who attacked her.
• For the serious version of the husband who has it coming, read The Favor or Behind Closed Doors: two strangers in abusive marriages, one of whom starts watching the other’s house, and a wife whose husband everyone admires has to get out to save her younger sister.

How I Picked These

Having written a horror-comedy about women being trained to be perfect wives, I have strong opinions about what makes a bad-husband thriller work. Here are my three criteria:

1. The husband has to earn it on the page: You have to watch him do the small things, the money he withholds and the friends he picks apart, long before anybody picks up a shovel. Otherwise I don’t believe he had it coming, and I need to believe it to enjoy the ending.
2. The women have to decide together: What makes Bad Sisters work is the group chat, the sister who says absolutely not and then shows up anyway, and the sheer logistics of getting a whole family to agree on a plan. I want at least two women in the room when the decision gets made, because the argument is the fun part.
3. It has to be at least a little bit funny: Women who have been managed and belittled for years get sharp about it, and the books that let them are the ones I reread. The serious ones are on this list too, and I say which ones.

At a Glance

Nine books like Bad Sisters, and what each one is doing differently.

What Are the Best Books Like Bad Sisters?

Nine books, in three groups. Books one to three are sisters and friends acting for each other, four to six are wives getting out of a marriage everyone else thinks is lovely, and seven to nine are the fixers, who plan it. If you have never read one of these, start with number two, My Sister, the Serial Killer.

Group one: sisters and friends who act for each other. Korede, the Chan aunties and Audrey each step in for somebody else.

1. Perfect Modern Wife by Kristen Van Nest (2025)

Read this if: If you want the women to be the ones with the power, including the one doing the harm, and a best friend who shows up anyway. If you like social commentary on modern trends with a dab of humor.

What you’re getting: A horror-comedy novella. Successful executive Audrey visits her old friend Jessica at a trad wife farm run by their estranged friend-turned-tradwife influencer McKinley, and she can’t help feeling something is off, especially since they won’t let her see Jessica until the retreat is over. Audrey expects organic smoothies and sunset selfies. Instead she finds McKinley crawling across the kitchen floor at 3 AM, hands raw and bleeding, chanting about being the perfect modern wife. Now optioned to become a movie.

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: In most of these books the bad man is a husband and the women are reacting to him. Here the person running the program is a woman, the women pay to attend, and the friend who turns up to get Jessica out is somebody McKinley used to drink way too much tequila with.

What readers say:

“All men ever want is a perfect wife. One that doesn’t get tired. One that does whatever they are asked. A wife that doesn’t nag, doesn’t ask for help, doesn’t spend money, just wants to be home, raise the kids, cook, and clean.” — Nikki B., Goodreads Reviewer.

“Every too-perfect smile feels like it’s hiding a kitchen knife. Audrey’s my kind of heroine, witty, skeptical, but stubborn enough to hope she can rescue her friend from the cult of the sourdough spiral. Bless her heart.” — Julie, Goodreads Reviewer.

“You see how easy it is to get pulled in especially when the world around you rewards perfection and punishes independence.” — Heather, Goodreads Reviewer.

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2. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018)

Read this if: it’s here because one sister keeps doing the dirty work for the other. You want the sister bond with the comedy left in.

What you’re getting: Lagos. Korede is a nurse. Her beautiful younger sister, Ayoola, keeps killing the men she dates, three so far, every one of them in self-defense according to Ayoola, and Korede is the one who cleans up afterward. Kirkus calls Ayoola’s habit exactly that, “this habit of killing the men she dates”, and Publishers Weekly calls Korede “the only person who understands how dangerous her sister is.”

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Korede and Ayoola have their own bad man in the family history: Publishers Weekly describes their father as “a cruel man who met a tragic and accidental death–or did he?”

Fair warning: both reviews are raves. Kirkus calls it “a dryly funny and wickedly crafty exercise in psychological suspense” with “the appealing deadpan voice of the jittery yet world-weary Korede,” so expect a sardonic novel and a body count that stays small.

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3. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (2021)

Read this if: it’s here because when the bad man goes down, five women show up with a plan and a cooler. You want the family version, and you want it played as farce.

What you’re getting: Meddy Chan is a wedding photographer in the family business. Her mother sets her up with Jake, Jake attempts to rape her, and Meddy tases him. He doesn’t wake up, so she turns to her aunts, who store him in a cooler that then gets shipped to the Chans’ next wedding gig. Kirkus says “she’s suddenly grateful to have five women in her life who are willing to help her hide the body.”

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Five Chan women hide one body together, and Kirkus promises “mistaken identity, a gaggle of intoxicated groomsmen, five lovably hilarious sisters, and slapstick humor that leans more toward the film Clue.”

Fair warning: Publishers Weekly is lukewarm: “the Chans are oddly glib as they try to keep Jake hidden, and Meddy’s pining over Nathan feels trite,” and “don’t expect anything with bite.” The death follows an attempted assault, so the set-up is darker than the tone.

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Group two: the wives. Three books where the woman being hurt is the one who has to act, and everyone around her thinks the husband is lovely.

4. Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris (2016)

Read this if: it’s here because the husband everyone admires is the one holding her prisoner, and her younger sister is next. You want the one that will frighten you rather than make you laugh.

What you’re getting: A marriage everybody envies. Jack Angel is a handsome, successful attorney, and Publishers Weekly calls him “a sadistic psychopath.” He has made Grace quit her job, he does not let her out of his sight, and he punishes her every time she tries to leave. Grace’s sister Millie is coming to live with them when she finishes school, and Jack has made it clear that Millie is in for far worse, so Grace has to get out before Millie arrives.

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Grace does it for Millie, the way the Garveys do it for Grace. Kirkus puts it in one line: “Behind the facade of a perfect English marriage, a woman is held prisoner by her dashing husband,” and says Grace “schemes a way to escape Jack’s clutches and save Millie from the same fate.”

Fair warning: Kirkus says Paris “undercuts her own suspense by allowing Jack to, at great length, recount his coming-to-villainy back story” and that “the tension sags”; Publishers Weekly agrees that his “mustache-twirling monologues occasionally sap the story of tension and believability.” Kirkus also says Jack “has a penchant for psychological (and physical) torture,” and Millie, who has Down syndrome, is the target of his threats.

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5. The Favor by Nora Murphy (2022)

Read this if: it’s here because one woman in an abusive marriage decides to do something about another woman’s. You want the serious version, with no jokes to hide behind.

What you’re getting: Two strangers in suburban Maryland. Leah Dawson is a lawyer, McKenna Hawkins is a pediatrician, and both are married to men who hurt them. Leah follows McKenna home and spends several evenings watching through the windows as McKenna’s husband Zack menaces her. Leah’s anonymous 911 call accomplishes nothing, so when Zack’s threats turn to violence, Leah steps in. Kirkus calls it “an unnerving feminist retake on Strangers on a Train.”

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Kirkus says “both of their husbands are domestic abusers who seek to control every aspect of their lives,” and Leah does for a stranger what the Garveys do for a sister.

Fair warning: Publishers Weekly says “the men in Murphy’s story lack dimension.” The book includes a miscarriage, and Kirkus says Leah has “spiraled into nonstop drinking.” Kirkus also warns that the police involvement “doesn’t intensify the nightmare; it just transposes it into a new key.”

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6. The Wives by Tarryn Fisher (2019)

Read this if: it’s here because the women who share a husband decide to compare notes. You want the twisty one, and you don’t mind a plot that goes over the top.

What you’re getting: Thursday is a Seattle nurse who knowingly shares her husband Seth with two other wives who live in another city. Then she learns that one of them, Hannah, is pregnant and, in Kirkus‘s words, “is hiding some bruises that look an awful lot like finger marks.” So Thursday goes to meet the other wives.

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Thursday goes looking for the other wives and, in Publishers Weekly‘s words, “forms some surprising alliances.” Kirkus says “the lengths that her feisty narrator goes to in order to reclaim her life make for salaciously satisfying reading.”

Fair warning: Kirkus‘s verdict is “Derivative and shamelessly manipulative but still a lot of fun,” and it says the narrative “takes a sharp left turn that would be shocking if most genre readers hadn’t already seen similar twists before.” Kirkus also notes the narrator “is still haunted by the loss of a child.”

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Group three: the fixers. Lila stages a suicide, Finlay gets mistaken for a hitwoman, and Jane plans a slow revenge.

7. Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane (2020)

Read this if: you want the killing done early and a whole book about what happens after.

What you’re getting: Lila Ridgefield murders her abusive husband, Aaron Payne, a popular teacher, and leaves him overnight in his car at the Ithaca, New York high school where he teaches, staged to look like a suicide. Then the body disappears. Publishers Weekly asks the question the book is built on: “Has Aaron survived, and is he returning for revenge? Or is someone else determined to take justice into their own hands?”

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Bad Sisters opens after the husband is dead and makes you wait to find out how. Lila does it early, and Publishers Weekly‘s closing question is the pitch: “How far will a woman go when she discovers she’s married to a monster?” PW adds that the answers are rooted in an “evil hiding beneath the peaceful community.”

Fair warning: I could only find one trade review for this one, so the entry rests on a single source. Publishers Weekly calls the debut “intriguing if uneven,” warns that some readers may find “the constant cross-cutting across time frames and points of view feels forced,” and warns that “Those who prefer fair play may feel cheated by Kane’s withholding key characters and events only to introduce them deep in the book.”

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8. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano (2021)

Read this if: it’s here because a wife has decided her husband has to go and simply needs a professional. You want the funniest book on this page.

What you’re getting: A novelist is talking plot with her agent in a suburban Virginia sandwich shop. A woman who overhears her, Patricia, mistakes Finlay for a killer for hire and offers her $50,000 to kill her no-good husband, Harris. Finlay has no intention of doing it, and Kirkus says “a series of unlikely miscues ends with Harris Mickler dead in her garage with every indication that she’s murdered him.” The nanny, Kirkus adds, turns up “ready and eager to help.”

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: The husband earns it: Kirkus describes Harris as “a blackmailer and serial rapist who’s beaten his wife repeatedly.” The comic register is the closest match to the anchor on the page, and Kirkus signs off with “Suspenseful, funny, and even a tad mysterious. More, please.”

Fair warning: Publishers Weekly warns, on Cosimano, that “Finlay’s antics require a suspension of disbelief that some readers may find difficult to sustain, and others may be troubled by seeing issues such as date rape and revenge porn handled with such a light hand.” Kirkus flags a “deeply iffy romance” with the detective on the case.

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9. Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone (2018)

Read this if: it’s here because the woman doing the avenging is a friend, and she is better at it than anyone else on this list. You want the cold, planned version.

What you’re getting: Jane is an attorney who moves from Kuala Lumpur to Minneapolis for one reason. Publishers Weekly calls her “an admitted sociopath,” and she holds Steven Hepsworth responsible for her best friend Meg’s death: he kept breaking up with Meg and wooing her back with promises of marriage. Jane takes a data-entry job at his firm to take away what matters most to him, or, more drastically, to kill him. Kirkus says “Coldly analytical, she fashions herself to be just the sort of woman Steve wants–meek, mousy, and needy.”

Why Bad Sisters fans will like it: Kirkus asks the question the whole page is built on: “which of us wouldn’t at least dream of sweet revenge against those who cause such pain?” Publishers Weekly promises that “Readers will relish Jane’s Machiavellian maneuvers to even the score with the unlikable Steven.”

Fair warning: the engine is a friend’s suicide after emotional abuse, which both reviews state plainly, and Kirkus notes Jane’s “hatred for her abusive family” as well as for Steven. Neither review has a craft complaint.

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Which One to Read Tonight

Three picks, depending on the night:

• You want the women to run the whole thing: Perfect Modern Wife. It is the only one here where the person doing the drawing-in is an old best friend with a very good skincare routine, and the only one that asks “what are you willing to do for your friends?”
• You want to laugh out loud on the train: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, which Kirkus calls “Suspenseful, funny, and even a tad mysterious.”
• You want the one that will actually frighten you: Behind Closed Doors, and read the Fair warning first, because the husband in it is not played for laughs.

If none of those three fits, my list of feminist rage fiction is for when you want the anger without a plot to hide a body, and tradwife thrillers is for when the marriage itself is the program.

FAQ: Books Like Bad Sisters

What Are the Best Books Like Bad Sisters?

These nine, in the order above: Perfect Modern Wife by Kristen Van Nest, My Sister, the Serial Killer, Dial A for Aunties, Behind Closed Doors, The Favor, The Wives, Pretty Little Wife, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It and Jane Doe. They are grouped by who acts, the sisters and friends, the wives, and the fixers, not ranked.

What Is the Bad Sisters Book?

There isn’t one. Bad Sisters is an Apple TV series, a dark comedy thriller that opens two years after the “accidental death” of Grace’s abusive husband. The search for a bad sisters book usually means one of two things: a novel with the same sister-loyalty engine, which is My Sister, the Serial Killer or Behind Closed Doors, or one with the same comic register, which is Finlay Donovan Is Killing It.

What Are the Best Sisters Thriller Books?

My Sister, the Serial Killer is the one to start with, because the sisters are the whole book: Publishers Weekly calls Korede “the only person who understands how dangerous her sister is.” Behind Closed Doors is the other of the true sisters thriller books here, since Grace’s whole plan exists to keep Millie out of the house. If you want the sisters replaced by friends, Perfect Modern Wife by Kristen Van Nest is the one where the friend who comes to get you out and the friend who runs the trap used to be the same group chat.

What Are the Best Thrillers About Bad Husbands?

For thrillers about bad husbands where the husband earns it on the page, Behind Closed Doors and The Favor are the two: Kirkus says both husbands in The Favor “seek to control every aspect of their lives,” and Kirkus has Jack holding his wife “prisoner” behind “the facade of a perfect English marriage.” Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the one where the bad husband is dispatched with jokes.

Which of These Are Irish Thriller Books?

None of the nine, and I checked. The anchor is Irish, but the closest Irish thriller books I found either had no trade review or were about something other than a husband who has it coming, so I would rather tell you that than pad the list.

Which One Is the Funniest?

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, which Publishers Weekly calls “a screwball mystery” and “this romp from a skilled comic writer,” then Dial A for Aunties, which Kirkus says has “slapstick humor that leans more toward the film Clue.” Perfect Modern Wife by Kristen Van Nest is the one where the jokes and the horror share a page: Goodreads reviewer Erika said she “cheered for the women, side-eyed the men, and laughed at the satire threaded through the horror.”

Which One Is the Darkest?

The Favor: Publishers Weekly says “Murphy paints a powerful portrait of domestic abuse,” and it is the most serious book on this list. Behind Closed Doors is the runner-up, and Kirkus warns that Jack “has a penchant for psychological (and physical) torture.”

Which Book Like Bad Sisters Is About Rescuing a Friend?

Perfect Modern Wife by Kristen Van Nest. Audrey goes to McKinley’s farm because Jessica signed up for the program and has not been seen since, and the rule that does all the work is simple: she cannot see Jessica until the retreat is over. McKinley is their estranged friend turned trad wife influencer, and the women on her farm pay to be trained as perfect wives. As Goodreads reviewer Ashley put it: “McKinley is acting weird and Audrey being the best friend that she is wants to find out why her friend is so different.”

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