Books like We Were Liars
What should you read after E. Lockhart’s novel? It depends on what you loved most about it.
- E. Lockhart
- 2014
- 242 pages
- Young adult thriller
What did you love about it?
Choosing one reorders everything below.
Best books to read after We Were Liars
Ranked overall. Pick what you loved above to re-rank them.
Best overall matchGone Girl
Gillian Flynn
The grown-up version of the trick Lockhart plays: a narrator handing you a story you will have to throw out entirely, and a family closing ranks around it.
- A twist that rewrites the book
- A rich family rotting politely
- A narrator who can't remember
- Adult, explicit and nastier
Best for the beautiful awful friendsThe Secret History
Donna Tartt
A closed circle of privileged, clever people and one summer that goes irreparably wrong. Nobody writes the seduction of that world better than Tartt.
- A tight group of four
- A rich family rotting politely
- Clipped, fragmentary prose
- 560 pages, slow burn
Great matchThe Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins
Built on the same engine: a narrator whose blackouts hide the one thing she needs to know, reassembling a night against the resistance of her own memory.
- A narrator who can't remember
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Read in one sitting
- Adult London commuter world
Best for the amnesiaBefore I Go to Sleep
S.J. Watson
A woman who forgets everything each night rebuilds her life from a journal she has been warned about. Cadence's problem, pushed to its logical limit.
- A narrator who can't remember
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Read in one sitting
- Adult domestic thriller
Worth a look — with a warningSharp Objects
Gillian Flynn
Flynn's take on poisonous inheritance: a woman goes home to the family and town that damaged her, and finds out exactly how thoroughly they managed it.
- A rich family rotting politely
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Clipped, fragmentary prose
- Self-harm and child deaths
Best if you want more LockhartThe Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
E. Lockhart
Same author, same eye for old-money institutions and clever girls who refuse to behave, but funny and wide awake rather than haunted. A good palate cleanser.
- A rich family rotting politely
- Read in one sitting
- A tight group of four
- Comic, not a thriller
Great matchThe Darkest Corners
A girl returns to the town where her childhood testimony put a man away, and begins to doubt what she actually saw. Memory itself as the crime scene.
- A narrator who can't remember
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Read in one sitting
- A more conventional thriller shape
Best for the atmosphereThe Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater
A pack of private-school boys and the girl who joins them, in a book far more interested in the spell the group casts than in where the plot goes.
- A tight group of four
- A rich family rotting politely
- Fairy tales spliced into the story
- Actual magic and ghosts
Best for the twistDangerous Girls
Abigail Haas
The closest match on pure structure: a holiday, a dead friend, and a final page that makes you sit very still. Divisive, and entirely on purpose.
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Read in one sitting
- A tight group of four
- Courtroom framing throughout
Great matchOne of Us is Lying
Karen M. McManus
Four suspects, one death, and everybody lying about something. Lighter and more plotted than Lockhart, but the same headlong rush toward a reveal.
- A tight group of four
- Read in one sitting
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Ensemble whodunnit, not literary
Best for the family rotLittle Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng
Ng opens with the house already burning and works backwards through a perfect suburb. The same quiet accusation aimed at people who believe they are good.
- A rich family rotting politely
- A twist that rewrites the book
- Clipped, fragmentary prose
- Adult literary fiction
Worth a look — with a warningThe Death of Mrs. Westaway
Ruth Ware
An inheritance, a crumbling house and a family with reasons to lie. Ware supplies the gothic-estate machinery, if not the emotional wreckage.
- A rich family rotting politely
- A twist that rewrites the book
- A private island summer
- Adult and conventionally plotted
What should you read after We Were Liars?
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart works on several levels at once, and which book you should read next depends on which of those levels got you. For most readers the closest match is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn — the grown-up version of the trick Lockhart plays: a narrator handing you a story you will have to throw out entirely, and a family closing ranks around it.
If what stayed with you was a tight group of four, read The Secret History by Donna Tartt instead: a closed circle of privileged, clever people and one summer that goes irreparably wrong. Nobody writes the seduction of that world better than Tartt. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is the other strong option — built on the same engine: a narrator whose blackouts hide the one thing she needs to know, reassembling a night against the resistance of her own memory.
Common questions
- What should you read after We Were Liars?
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins are the closest matches. Which fits best depends on what you loved about We Were Liars: a twist that rewrites the book, a narrator who can't remember, a rich family rotting politely, a private island summer.
- What is the best book like We Were Liars?
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is the strongest overall match. The grown-up version of the trick Lockhart plays: a narrator handing you a story you will have to throw out entirely, and a family closing ranks around it.
- What are books similar to We Were Liars by E. Lockhart?
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, The Darkest Corners by , The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas, One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware. Each one matches a different part of We Were Liars rather than just its genre.
- Is Gone Girl worth reading after We Were Liars?
- Yes — readers who loved We Were Liars tend to land well with it: a twist that resets everything; unreliable narration done well; wealth as performance. One thing to know going in: adult, explicit and nastier.
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