American author Freida McFadden is taking France by storm with her psychological thrillers. Critics remain puzzled by the phenomenon, torn between fascination and skepticism.
Why are American author Freida McFadden’s psychological thrillers selling so well in France? French literary critics are trying to understand the craze but remain doubtful about the true merit of her work.
The Housemaid was the best-selling book in France in 2024, with over 600,000 copies sold. By the end of February 2025, it had crossed the one-million mark since its quiet paperback release in October 2023.
The Teacher, a crime novel set in a Massachusetts high school, is being released this Wednesday by City Editions—on the same day the paperback edition of The Psychiatrist, another of McFadden’s novels, hits shelves at J’ai Lu.
Journalists, caught off guard by the wave of social media buzz and word of mouth, have struggled to maintain critical distance.
“Freida McFadden is crushing the competition. But what exactly do readers see in her?” asks Le Nouvel Obs, a publication usually more inclined toward highbrow literature.
The magazine offers a theory: “It’s the endless cliffhangers, along with the wildly implausible plot twists. In her stories, villains turn out to be good guys and the good guys are actually villains. The formula may be predictable, but it works.”
– “The Invisible Character” –
In its “Why It Works” column last December, Libération described McFadden’s style as “subtle as a highlighter,” but admitted her books “read like fast food—devoured at either the first or second level of irony.”
Hardly a compliment from this left-leaning daily. The paper lumped McFadden into the category of “train station literature”—page-turners aimed at people in transit. Their in-house critic called it a “snack read clearly targeting departing travelers.”
In Le Figaro, cultural tensions are laid bare. Mohammed Aïssaoui, a Renaudot Prize jury member and Gallimard-published novelist, offered his own analysis of McFadden’s bestsellers.
He believes the American author has tapped into a rich narrative vein. “Telling a story from the perspective of a housemaid is brilliant: an invisible character who sees people’s flaws up close.”
Recent novels like Superhost by Amélie Cordonnier (Flammarion, March), The Lives of Free People by Marie-Ève Lacasse (Seuil, April), and Clean by Chilean author Alia Trabucco Zeran—winner of the 2024 Prix Femina for best foreign novel (Robert Laffont)—follow a similar thematic line.
According to McFadden’s French translator Karine Forestier, it would be a mistake to think her appeal stops with The Housemaid and its three less-successful sequels: The Housemaid’s Secret, The Housemaid Sees Everything (both already published), and The Housemaid Gets Married (due in May).
– “She Still Gets Me Every Time” –
The Teacher and The Psychiatrist, Forestier told AFP, “are quite different. The writing style is the same—shifting points of view—but the tricks she uses are not.”
Speaking on France Inter radio last Saturday, J’ai Lu CEO Hélène Fiamma confessed, “The Teacher is my personal favorite.” She remains in awe of the elusive author, whom she has never met.
McFadden not only writes under a pen name, but also wears a wig in every photo. All that's known is that she’s 44 and works part-time as a brain injury specialist near Boston.
Fiamma sees her as a master of plot. “She’s brilliant at storytelling, especially what we call the twist. Every time I think, ‘Okay, I know where this is going. I’ve figured it out—it’s obviously him.’ And yet... she still gets me every time.”
The Housemaid is being adapted for the big screen, with Sydney Sweeney in the lead role. The film will be released in France on December 24 and in the United States the following day.
With AFP
Comments