How to read Shari Lapena books in order

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If you’re looking for an enjoyable thriller that you absolutely cannot put down, Shari Lapena books are perfect for you! Shari Lapena is truly the queen of the quick read that keeps you guessing, and I cannot recommend her books enough to everyone looking for a fun thriller!

Shari Lapena’s books include tons of twists and turns, characters with at least one or two things to hide, and so many possible outcomes to the thrilling story unfolding that you’ll be guessing the entire time trying to figure out what is going on.

Shari Lapena’s first two books are some of her earlier work that’s a bit different from her later work, and The Couple Next Door really kicked off her long and continuous run of un-put-downable thrillers!

List of Shari Lapena books in order

Below are all of Shari Lapena’s books in chronological order of publication date:

1. Things Go Flying (2007)

2. Happiness Economics (2011)

3. The Couple Next Door (2016)

4. A Stranger in the House (2017)

5. An Unwanted Guest (2018)

6. Someone We Know (2019)

7. The End of Her (2020)

8. Not a Happy Family (2021)

9. Everyone Here Is Lying (2023)

10. What Have You Done? (2024)

11. She Didn’t See It Coming (2025)

12. Getting Away with Murder (2026)

Shari Lapena book tips & news

• Shari Lapena’s books are all standalone novels and can be read in any order
• The Couple Next Door was my first Shari Lepena read and definitely had me hooked onto her books immediately!
• Book to screen adaptation news: The Couple Next Door was adapted into a TV series on Starz

1 of 12: Things Go Flying (2007)

Synopsis for Things Go Flying:

Harold Walker, desperately average, is in the throes of a mid-life depression. His wife Audrey clings to an illusory sense of control—over their home, their teenaged sons, Dylan and John, and her own explosive secret. The death of a long-estranged friend triggers a series of perturbing events that catapults Harold out of his La-Z-Boy and throws the household into chaos. Things go flying when the dead begin communicating with Harold, leaving Audrey’s secret vulnerable to exposure, and Harold more confused than ever. What these familiar voices from the afterlife ultimately reveal is just how little the living know about living.

2 of 12: Happiness Economics (2011)

Synopsis for Happiness Economics:

Will Thorne is a slightly published, stalled poet, married to Judy, a successful celebrity economist who doesnt understand him, or poetry, at all. Pressured by a fellow poet, Will starts The Poets Preservation Society, a genteel organization to help poets in need. But in order to persuade his high-powered wife to get him the necessary funding, Will must make a devils bargain with her: he will write advertising slogans so that he can, in Judys words, contribute to society. Writing slogans for toilet paper and spending his free time on the administrative work for the society, Will has neither the time nor the inspiration to finish his novel in poems. But when Will meets his muse, the enigmatic and athletic Lily White, he becomes inspired not only to write poetry, but to take guerrilla action in support of poets everywhere. Poetry meets parkour and culture clashes with commerce in this hilarious look at how we measure the value of art. Happiness Economics is a comic novel about a poets heroic struggle to create, in the face of cultural and domestic impediments.

3 of 12: The Couple Next Door (2016)

Synopsis for The Couple Next Door:

It all started at a dinner party. . .

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors—a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night, when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately lands on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they’ve kept for years. 

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of  deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

4 of 12: A Stranger in the House (2017)

Synopsis for A Stranger in the House:

In this neighborhood, danger lies close to home.

Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.

There’s a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.

The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes.  Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good. 

Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won’t stop asking questions.

Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.

5 of 12: An Unwanted Guest (2018)

Synopsis for An Unwanted Guest:

A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the perfect getaway . . . but when the storm hits, no one is getting away

It’s winter in the Catskills and Mitchell’s Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing–maybe even romantic–weekend away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery.

So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity–and all contact with the outside world–the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.

Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead–it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.

Within the snowed-in paradise, something–or someone–is picking off the guests one by one. And there’s nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm–and one another.

6 of 12: Someone We Know (2019)

Synopsis for Someone We Know:

Maybe you don’t know your neighbors as well as you thought you did . . .

“This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out.”

In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses–and into the owners’ computers as well–learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too.

Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets?

In this neighborhood, it’s not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . .

You never really know what people are capable of.

7 of 12: The End of Her (2020)

Synopsis for The End of Her:

A long-ago accident—and a visitor from out of the blue. . .

Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin girls. The babies are a handful, but even as Stephanie struggles with the disorientation of sleep deprivation, there’s one thing she’s sure of: she has all she ever wanted.

Then Erica, a woman from Patrick’s past, appears and makes a disturbing accusation. Patrick had always said his first wife’s death was an accident, but now Erica claims it was murder.

Patrick insists he’s innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. Still, Erica knows things about Patrick–things that make Stephanie begin to question her husband. Stephanie isn’t sure what, or who, to believe. As Stephanie’s trust in Patrick begins to falter, Patrick stands to lose everything. Is Patrick telling the truth–is Erica the persuasive liar Patrick says she is? Or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?

How will it end?

8 of 12: Not a Happy Family (2021)

Synopsis for Not a Happy Family:

In this family, everyone is keeping secrets—even the dead.

Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there, and Fred and Sheila Merton certainly are rich. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered after a fraught Easter dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.

Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of the siblings is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you’d know.

Wouldn’t you?

9 of 12: Everyone Here Is Lying (2023)

Synopsis for Everyone Here Is Lying:

Welcome to Stanhope. A safe neighborhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbors become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

10 of 12: What Have You Done? (2024)

Synopsis for What Have You Done?:

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly. What have you done?

The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.

But Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.

How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.

Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.

11 of 12: She Didn’t See It Coming (2025)

Synopsis for She Didn’t See It Coming:

When a beloved wife and mother disappears, a luxurious condo building transforms into a potential crime scene, and the investigation begins: can the detectives find her before it’s too late?

Bryden and Sam have it all: thriving careers, a smart apartment in a luxury condominium, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple.

Then Sam receives a call at his office. Bryden – working from home that day – has failed to collect their daughter from daycare. Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife’s car in the underground garage. Upstairs in their apartment her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall.

Except Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if she just walked out.

How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all?

With every minute that passes – and as questions swirl around their community – Bryden and Sam’s past seems a little less perfect, their condominium less safe, their friends, neighbours and relatives no longer quite so reliable . . .

12 of 12: Getting Away with Murder (2026)

Synopsis for Getting Away with Murder:

Jill and Ted adore their New York brownstone the way others adore their children. They have carefully, expensively, made every inch of it their own. It reflects who they are, their status and tastes. With the grand mahogany staircase and state-of-the-art kitchen, it is the stuff of glossy magazines and real-estate dreams. It is their sanctuary.

So when Ted’s inheritance runs out and he makes a bad investment, they panic. How can they protect their beloved home and enviable lifestyle?

The answer is obvious. Or at least, it is obvious to Jill and Ted. The death of one wealthy family member—from whom they stand to inherit millions—could solve all their problems. Together, they will get away with murder.

As long as they trust each other.
As long as neither makes a mistake.
As long as there are no surprises…

Authors similar to Shari Lapena

If you’re a fan of Shari Lapena’s books, you’ll also love these other authors!

• Alice Feeney
• B.A. Paris
• Freida McFadden
• Gillian Flynn
• Katherine Faulkner
• Lisa Jewell
• Lucy Foley
• Megan Miranda
• Paula Hawkins
• Ruth Ware