Books like 'I, Claudia'
Readers who enjoyed I, Claudia by Mary McCoy also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery psychological thriller realistic retellings politics high-school unreliable-narrator female-mc
-
The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsOne unbearable mistake at the edge of the forest.In a moment of crisis, Ellis Abbey leaves her daughter, Viola, unattended—for just a few minutes. But when she returns, Viola is gone. A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well—into grief, guilt, and addiction...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc friendship realistic suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
![Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes]()
Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen Cassie Hobbes joined the FBI's Naturals program, she had one goal: uncover the truth about her mother's murder. But now, everything Cassie thought she knew about what happened that night has been called into question. Her mother is alive, and the people holding her captive are more powerful—and dangerous—than anything the Naturals have faced so far...Categorized as:
female-mc friendship high-school political-intrigue realistic suspense thriller action-adventure -
![Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes]()
Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother's murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance...Categorized as:
female-mc friendship high-school political-intrigue realistic suspense thriller action-adventure -
![Night Road by Kristin Hannah]()
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsJude Farraday is a happily married, stay-at-home mom who puts everyone’s needs above her own. Her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill enters their lives, no one is more supportive than Jude. A former foster child with a dark past, Lexi quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable... -
-
![Never Be Alone by Paige Dearth]()
Never Be Alone by Paige Dearth
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA fatal car crash. A young orphan. Can she survive the harsh life of the seedy city streets?Eight-year-old Joon has no time to grieve her parents’ sudden death. Ripped from the security of a loving family, she endures horrific abuse in a system intended to protect her... -
![The Surrogate's Gift by L.G. Davis]()
The Surrogate's Gift by L.G. Davis
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHer one good deed is about to turn into her worst nightmare.Becoming a surrogate for Marcia and Travis Thorpe is Grace’s chance to overcome her inner demons.Nothing can go wrong. Her life depends on it.Determined to focus on the pregnancy, she drops everything and accepts the Thorpes’ offer to move in with them until the baby is born. A simple decision. One big mistake... -
![12 by Nolon King, David Wright]()
12 by Nolon King, David Wright
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat Would You Do With the Last 12 Hours of Your Life?At 6 p.m. on a Wednesday in October, a gunman will enter Goldman’s Diner and commit one of the worst massacres the small coastal town of Palm Isles, Florida has ever seen.Twelve hours twelve lives are on borrowed time, unaware that death is coming, or that their paths will collide in one tragic moment... -
![Cruel Acts by Jane Casey]()
Cruel Acts by Jane Casey
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom award-winning author Jane Casey comes another powerful Maeve Kerrigan crime thriller which will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page! Leo Stone is a killer. A year ago, he was convicted of murdering two women and sentenced to life without parole. But now, a juror from his trial has revealed the jury was prejudiced, and a retrial is called...Categorized as:
female-mc political-intrigue politics suspense thriller adult amateur-sleuth audiobook -
![Justice in Time by John Ellsworth]()
Justice in Time by John Ellsworth
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Legal Thriller With Romance by USA TODAY Bestseller John EllsworthAssistant District Attorney Lettie Portman charges a U.S. Senator with the murder of his wife. The wife was found dead sitting in her Mercedes with a garden hose from the exhaust into her window. Suicide? Maybe, except the detectives learn the wife's fingerprints are nowhere on the hose...Categorized as:
female-mc political-intrigue politics suspense action-adventure adult book contemporary -
![None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell]()
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” ( BuzzFeed ), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast... -
![She Says She's My Daughter by Lauren North]()
She Says She's My Daughter by Lauren North
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratings‘I don’t know who you are or why you’ve come here,’ I say, jabbing my finger at her, shaking as much as my voice. ‘But you are not my daughter. You are not Abigail.’Fourteen years ago , our family holiday ended in tragedy when my darling four-year-old girl was snatched from us on the beach. Not a day goes by when I don’t picture her wide brown eyes, and the freckles dusting her cheeks... -
![What She Saw by Wendy Clarke]()
What She Saw by Wendy Clarke
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe lied to her daughter to save her family. Everyone knows Leona would do anything for her daughter Beth: she moved to Church Langdon to send Beth to the best school, worked hard to build a successful business to support them and found them the perfect little cottage to call home. Leona and Beth hike together, shop together, share their hopes and fears with one another... -
![Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein]()
Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWe don’t pick and choose what to be afraid of. Our fears pick us.Tash Carmody has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn’t real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory’s never spoken about the week she went missing...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc friendship high-school suspense thriller action-adventure book -
![No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis]()
No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom internationally bestselling British author Susan Lewis comes an unflinching, thoroughly suspenseful novel—perfect for readers of Jodi Picoult—about the darkest secrets a family can hide. Alex Lake’s life is centered on helping people. Her job as a social worker in a British seaside town is more than a career: It’s the very essence of who she is... -
-
![Good as Dead by Susan Walter]()
Good as Dead by Susan Walter
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt all starts with a promise from a stranger: We’ll take care of everything.Holly Kendrick’s husband is dead. Holly saw it all. In one violent moment, a hit-and-run accident turns Holly’s life upside down. Then a fixer for the high-powered guilty party approaches Holly with an offer she is in no position to refuse... -
![The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes]()
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie...Categorized as:
female-mc friendship high-school political-intrigue realistic suspense thriller action-adventure -
![Running Cold by Susan Walter]()
Running Cold by Susan Walter
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this heart-pounding story of deception, murder, and survival, a former Olympian retreats to the Canadian wilderness for a fresh start, only to find out that the past will always catch up to her.Julie Adler’s perfect facade is shattered by grief when her husband commits suicide... -
![Nathan's Run by John Gilstrap]()
Nathan's Run by John Gilstrap
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTwelve-year-old Nathan Bailey, accused of murdering a cop, becomes the target of a nationwide manhunt even as a vicious hit man is closing in on him. Orphaned and alone, Nathan has no one to count on but himself. To stay alive he must exercise all his agility and cleverness...Categorized as:
coming-of-age female-mc political-intrigue suspense thriller abuse action-adventure audiobook -
![The Thorn Girl by Laura Elliot]()
The Thorn Girl by Laura Elliot
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA swallow flutters its wings into a dimly lit attic as Adele Foyle stumbles across the secret diary of the mother she has never met, and a shocking account of a crime committed over twenty-five years ago... -
![Juste une ombre by Karine Giébel]()
Juste une ombre by Karine Giébel
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCloé Beauchamp est une jeune femme à qui tout semble réussir; belle, brillante, sur le point d'être nommée à la tête d'une prestigieuse agence de publicité... Et amoureuse, depuis peu, d'un homme charmant. Elle cache à la perfection ses failles et les horreurs qui ont jalonné son passé. Mais lentement, sa vie va se transformer en cauchemar... -
![The Stepdaughter by Georgina Cross]()
The Stepdaughter by Georgina Cross
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt’s a normal afternoon when I walk out the patio doors of our kitchen to check on Mia, my stepdaughter, who is swimming in our backyard pool. But she’s gone. My heart stops when I see the back gate is open, her pink, fluffy towel lying folded on a chair. I was just feet away... -
![This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston]()
This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFive went in. Four came out.No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them... -
![Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson]()
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMary 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? She wouldn’t say...Categorized as:
bullying coming-of-age female-mc high-school realistic suspense unreliable-narrator thriller -
![The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low]()
The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us...Their rise was meteoric.Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.But on one Hollywood evening in 1993, they were on the world’s biggest stage, accepting their Oscar in front of the watching world.That night was the beginning of their careers... -
-
![The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt]()
The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIn this propulsive thriller, one of the most ingenious young men in the world has also become the most dangerous…or has he?Harmony House is more than a “special place for special people.” It’s a think tank where high-functioning autistic savants harness their unique abilities for the benefit of society...Categorized as:
political-intrigue politics realistic suspense thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
![Vital Lies by Daniel Pyne]()
Vital Lies by Daniel Pyne
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the author of spy thriller Water Memory comes a riveting installment in the Sentro series in which past and present collide.When a Canadian spy comes to ex–black ops specialist Aubrey Sentro for help tracking down notorious Cold War spymaster Günter Witt, she wants to say no. It’s been thirty years since Aubrey’s captivity in East Berlin, and she has no desire to return...Categorized as:
unreliable-narrator suspense thriller female-mc political-intrigue fiction espionage crime -
![The Last Girl Left by A.M. Strong, Sonya Sargent]()
The Last Girl Left by A.M. Strong, Sonya Sargent
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen a woman returns to the scene of the horrific mass murder that shattered her life, the nightmare begins again in a chilling novel of psychological suspense.Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead—and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread. Now she’s going back to face her fears... -
![Three Strikes by Kate Kessler]()
Three Strikes by Kate Kessler
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThree Strikes is the new novel in a thriller series where a criminal psychologist uses her own dark past to help law enforcement catch dangerous killers.Thanksgiving is approaching, and Audrey Harte has a lot to be thankful for -- her mother has recovered from surgery, her relationship with Jake is solid, her father is relatively sober, and her career is evolving in an exciting direction... -
![Closet Full of Bones by A.J. Aalto]()
Closet Full of Bones by A.J. Aalto
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEver since they were children, Gillian Hearth has been her sister Frankie’s guardian, her sounding board, and her best friend. Together, the Hearth sisters quietly bury their secrets and form a formidable team during any crisis. Purchasing the old Blymhill house with the hopes of turning it into an artists’ retreat, the sisters are finally living their dream... -
![Speak No Evil by Tanya Anne Crosby]()
Speak No Evil by Tanya Anne Crosby
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIf you love a gripping Southern suspense, USA Today bestselling SPEAK NO EVIL is for you. Lifting the veil of secrecy on a grand Southern family in decline. New York Times bestselling author Tanya Anne Crosby explores the lives of Caroline, Augusta, and Savannah Aldridge, three sisters who share a dark past and an uncertain future.. -
![Inadvertent Disclosure by Melissa F. Miller]()
Inadvertent Disclosure by Melissa F. Miller
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsASIN B0075ZWQ3M moved to the most recent edition hereTiny dynamo Sasha McCandless returns in Inadvertent Disclosure.It's been six months since an airplane crash altered the course of attorney Sasha McCandless's professional and personal life. She's busy building her solo law practice and tending her budding relationship with federal air marshal Leo Connelly, who helped her stop a madman...Categorized as:
female-mc political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult assassinations -
![My Sister and Other Liars by Ruth Dugdall]()
My Sister and Other Liars by Ruth Dugdall
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSam is seventeen, starving herself and longing for oblivion. Her sister, Jena, is mentally scarred and desperate to remember. Between them, they share secrets too terrible to recall. Eighteen months earlier, Sam was still full of hope: hope that she could piece together Jena's fragmented memory after the vicious attack that changed their family forever... -
![Spilled Blood by Brian Freeman]()
Spilled Blood by Brian Freeman
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA taut thriller about two rural Minnesota towns locked in a deadly feud--and a teenage girl caught in the crossfire. Linked by the Spirit River, the two towns couldn't be more different: in affluent Barron, a powerful and secretive scientific research corporation enriches its residents, while downriver in blue-collar St. Croix, victims of that company's carcinogenic waste struggle to survive... -
![The Guilty Dead by P.J. Tracy]()
The Guilty Dead by P.J. Tracy
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author P. J. Tracy is back with the most addictive installment in her award-winning mystery series.Dead men tell no tales ... but their pasts can't keep a secret.Gregory Norwood is Minnesota's most beloved philanthropist, and the story of his son's overdose was splashed across the front page of all the papers...Categorized as:
female-mc political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
-
![The Competition by Marcia Clark]()
The Competition by Marcia Clark
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Marcia Clark's most electrifying thriller yet, Los Angeles District Attorney Rachel Knight investigates a horrifying high school massacre. A Columbine-style shooting at a high school in the San Fernando Valley has left a community shaken to its core. Two students are identified as the killers. Both are dead, believed to have committed a mutual suicide... -
![Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks]()
Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBrad Parks delivers another riveting, emotionally powerful stand-alone domestic suspense thriller perfect for fans of The Couple Next Door and What She Knew.Disaster, Melanie Barrick was once told, is always closer than you know.It was a lesson she learned the hard way growing up in the constant upheaval of foster care... -
![What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard]()
What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA searing yet ultimately uplifting young adult novel about a teenage girl's recovery from anorexia.Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth has honed a dangerous skill: starving herself. Even when her parents send her to a treatment center, she can't stop. Then she begins receiving packages from someone she doesn't know... -
![Made You Up by Francesca Zappia]()
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsReality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion...Categorized as:
bullying coming-of-age female-mc friendship high-school realistic unreliable-narrator abuse -
![Her Perfect Family by Teresa Driscoll]()
Her Perfect Family by Teresa Driscoll
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of I Am Watching You. The perfect family? Or the perfect lie?It’s their daughter’s graduation and Rachel and Ed Hartley are expecting it to be one of their family’s happiest days... -
![The First Lady by James Patterson]()
The First Lady by James Patterson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratings"Sir, the First Lady ... has gone rogue."President Tucker is caught up in a media firestorm. The scandal of his affair has sent shockwaves through his re-election campaign, and threatens to derail everything he has worked for. To win the vote, he needs the First Lady to stand by his side.But Grace Tucker has a mind of her own...Categorized as:
female-mc political-intrigue politics suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Promise by Teresa Driscoll]()
The Promise by Teresa Driscoll
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe chilling new psychological thriller from the #1 bestselling author of I Am Watching You. It was their darkest secret. Three schoolgirls made a promise – to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave.Thirty years later, Beth and Sally have tried to put the trauma behind them... -
![The Accident by Natalie Barelli]()
The Accident by Natalie Barelli
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIf only she'd said no... Katherine knew she’d had too many drinks, but they were only going a short distance. And as Eve pointed out, it was late, there was no traffic anyway... Now, Katherine would do anything to turn back the clock. If anyone ever found out about the accident, it would ruin Katherine’s life... -
![Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta]()
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen Bish Ortley, a suspended cop, receives word that a bus carrying his daughter has been bombed, he rushes to her side. A suspect has already been singled out: a 17-year-old girl who has since disappeared from the scene.The press has now revealed that she is the youngest member of one of London's most notorious families...Categorized as:
coming-of-age friendship political-intrigue politics realistic suspense thriller 21st-century -
![What It Seems by Emily Bleeker]()
What It Seems by Emily Bleeker
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA page-turning novel of suspense about the perfect family, and the perfect lies, by the bestselling author of When I’m Gone and The Waiting Room.Adopted by her controlling foster mother at the age of eight, twenty-year-old Tara has seen little of the outside world. Lonely, punished for the slightest offense, her only distraction comes from watching the Feely family’s online videos... -
-
![Widow Falls by Kiersten Modglin]()
Widow Falls by Kiersten Modglin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe last girl went missing…Someone doesn’t want her to be found.When Sloane takes a job at the infamous whitewater rafting camp, Widow Falls, she quickly learns that the camp has a reputation for more than just summer fun.People go missing at Widow Falls.The guide she’s replacing was just one of many... -
![Don't Forget Me by Rea Frey]()
Don't Forget Me by Rea Frey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a body is presumed to be her missing husband’s, a woman must unravel the secrets of her own past to clear her name, find the truth, and put her conscience to rest once and for all.All Ruby wanted was a fresh start. But after an early retirement and a relocation to a tight-knit community with her husband, Tom, and her daughter, Lily, her new beginning takes a turn... -
![Runner by Thomas Perry]()
Runner by Thomas Perry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPJane Whitefield#151;-New York Times bestselling writer Thomas Perry's most popular character#151;-returns from retirement to the world of the runner, guiding fugitives out of danger...Categorized as:
female-mc political-intrigue realistic suspense thriller action-adventure adult assassinations -
![The Housemate by C.L. Pattison]()
The Housemate by C.L. Pattison
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsYOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE LET HER IN.YOU LET A STRANGER INTO YOUR HOMEBest friends Megan and Chloe have finally found the perfect house.And when they meet Samantha, she seems like the perfect housemate.YOU DON''T KNOW WHAT SHE''S HIDINGBut Megan thinks there might be more to Samantha than meets the eye... -
![The Girl Who Came Back by Susan Lewis]()
The Girl Who Came Back by Susan Lewis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor readers of Diane Chamberlain and Heather Gudenkauf comes a gripping novel of suspense about a mother determined to avenge her daughter’s murder—no matter the cost to her husband, to her family, and to herself. When Jules Bright hears a knock on the door, the last person she expects to find is a detective bringing her the news she’s feared for the last three years... -
![The Betrayal by Terry Lynn Thomas]()
The Betrayal by Terry Lynn Thomas
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAttorney Olivia Sinclair is shocked when she receives an anonymous video showing her husband Richard sleeping with someone else. After years of handling other people’s divorces, she thought she could recognise a marriage in trouble.She angrily throws Richard out of the home they share. But days later she’s arrested—for the murder of his mistress...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
