The Housewife by Natalie Barelli

A woman marries a renowned psychologist after a whirlwind romance, then starts to suspect he had something to do with his first wife's death.

Author

Diego Dunne
August 09, 2026

Hey!

I just finished reading The Housewife by Natalie Barelli.

And it's about a woman who realizes she may not really know the man she married.

It’s one of the top tropes in domestic thrillers and one we never tire of.

Here are my favorites.

Who Did I Marry Thrillers

Eight Years of Lies by Lisa Hall

Claire's husband, Tom, heads out the door one morning and never comes back. When she starts digging, she discovers the man she has loved for eight years is not who she thought he was.

In Eight Years of Lies by Lisa Hall, we follow Claire as she uncovers her husband's double life, piece by piece.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Amy disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, leaving behind a home that screams foul play and a husband who isn't exactly a poster child for innocence.

In Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, we follow Nick as the search for his wife uncovers how little the two of them ever really knew about each other.

The Cheating Husband by James Caine

Emma discovers her boyfriend is already married around the same time his wife, Karen, discovers the affair. With both women piecing it all together and emotions running high, someone is about to end up dead.

In The Cheating Husband by James Caine, we follow both women as they find out just how much of the man they loved was a lie.

And the newest addition to the list:

The Housewife by Natalie Barelli

Jodie always dreamed of being a housewife. After a whirlwind romance, she marries renowned psychologist Roy Davies and moves into his Beverly Hills home. But the fairy tale fades fast. Roy is distant, his friends see her as a gold digger, and the house still revolves around his late wife, Deborah. When Jodie learns Deborah became a recluse before her death, she starts to wonder what really happened to her. The more she digs, the more convinced she becomes that Roy had something to do with it. She knows she should go to the police, but that would mean revealing a secret of her own.

Trigger Warnings: domestic abuse, murder, suicide, child psychological abuse.

The Housewife by Natalie Barelli is a domestic thriller set in a Beverly Hills home.

Domestic thrillers: a subgenre of psychological thrillers set in a single location, focused on the unstable minds of characters, exploring perception, reality, and psychological tension, often leaving readers questioning what's real. The emphasis is on internal conflict and mental unraveling rather than external action.

Barelli's writing is invisible and functional. The dialogue sounds natural and is used effectively in confrontations throughout the story, and descriptions are short and to the point.

We follow one POV, Jodie's, through a single timeline. The tension is there throughout, with the mystery intermingled: as Jodie learns new information, the chances of her being caught go up. It has both mystery and thrills throughout.

Jodie is an extremely proactive protagonist, relentlessly pushing the plot forward. She also has very little restraint, which lands her in trouble by making her do or say exactly the wrong thing. But that same lack of a filter made her entertaining to read, because she comes out with the craziest things.

The book has short chapters, and the plot moves with each one, so it was a quick read. There is commentary on class distinction, superficial relationships, and the extremes to which obsession can drive someone.

There is no romance. There is swearing. But although there is murder, you won’t find graphic violence scenes. The tone stays light throughout.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers, obviously)

I love my stories to wrap up nicely, with a neat little bow at the end. I like to read a cathartic scene where everything our characters have been through finally pays off physically and emotionally. Then a denouement in another chapter (or chapters) following the characters decompress where things are resolved and I’m left delighted at how well things played out at the end, every plot thread resolved.

I enjoyed the ending. Everything wrapped up nicely. There was a denouement, with one last twist thrown in that the story didn't really need or was affected by.

The Housewife by Natalie Barelli is a solid domestic thriller around a wife digging into who her husband really is. This is a satisfying read if you're looking for a proactive main character who says the things you're not supposed to say and keeps pushing until she gets the truth.

Latest Updates

  • You'll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner came out August 4. Newlyweds who married within months move to a small New Hampshire town for a fresh start, in a lodge tied to a family that vanished thirty years ago.

  • I watched the dramatization of The Staircase some months back. Tells the story of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen (Toni Collette) after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home. And now find myself watching the last episodes of the original documentary, The Staircase, the show is based on.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

— D.E. Dunne

P.S. Let me know how I did today by replying to this email.

P.P.S. I would love to hear your recommendations for thrillers you loved. Reply to this email, and I’ll add them to my TBR list. Thanks!

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