Many thriller series start strong but don’t maintain that quality over time. It’s common for popular book franchises to peak with their first installment and then decline. As authors write more books, it’s statistically likely some won’t be well-received. Even great writers have misses – for every truly memorable book, like one by Stephen King, there’s often a story or novel that falls short of expectations.
It’s not surprising that many popular thriller series, like The Thursday Murder Club, The Housemaid, and You, are strongest with their first books. Thrillers often rely on shocking twists, and it becomes harder to surprise readers as they get to know the characters well. While readers enjoy revisiting familiar characters in a series, that familiarity can also make the stories less unpredictable.
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club books start with a clever idea: a group of retirees spend their time solving unsolved crimes. While the Netflix movie based on the first book didn’t quite capture the charm of the original, the first novel in the series is still the best story about this lovable group of amateur detectives.
The club boasts a colorful cast of characters, from the talkative Joyce and lively Ron to the mysterious Elizabeth and quiet Ibrahim. However, later books exaggerated these personalities, turning them into over-the-top stereotypes. The more nuanced and gentle humor of the first book is noticeably absent in the sequels.
The Housemaid – Freida McFadden
Whether you enjoy her books or not, Freida McFadden is currently a very popular author known for writing suspenseful psychological thrillers. Her most successful novel so far is The Housemaid, published in 2022, which is being made into a movie with Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. Even readers who aren’t easily impressed will likely enjoy the book’s over-the-top thrills and surprising twist.
The sequels to the popular book The Housemaid, which are also being adapted into movies, suffer because the first book’s major twist relies on a hidden truth about the main character. Once readers learn this secret, it becomes much easier to guess what happens in The Housemaid’s Secret and The Housemaid Is Watching. This likely explains why most of Freida McFadden’s other novels – like Never Lie, Ward D, The Teacher, and The Tenant – are self-contained stories. They don’t have to worry about creating new plots after revealing a big surprise.
You – Caroline Kepnes
The upcoming books continuing The Housemaid series face a challenge: rebuilding the mystery surrounding the main character’s past. However, the Netflix thriller You successfully addressed this issue years ago. When Caroline Kepnes’ novel You was released in 2014, it became critically acclaimed – even earning praise from Stephen King – due to its clever plot twist. What made You truly unique was telling the story of a stalker and his chosen target entirely from the stalker’s perspective.
Although the premise might seem unsettling, what surprised most readers about Caroline Kepnes’s novel was how quickly they found themselves empathizing with Joe Goldberg—a seemingly ordinary bookstore worker who is secretly a serial killer. The discomfort arose when readers discovered just how far Joe would go to stalk and control his victims, revealing his true nature. While the sequels, Hidden Bodies, You Love Me, and For You and Only You, have some compelling moments, none of them managed to replicate the initial shock and impact of the first book, You.
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2026-06-17 00:15