The Wife Upstairs

Freida McFadden is a physician and best-selling author. She started writing while working as a doctor, crafting a personal blog about the highs and lows of being a woman in medicine. Eventually, she turned her blog entries into her first published book, The Devil Wears Scrubs, which she self-published in 2013 while working full-time and raising her two young children. As a medical professional, she treats brain disorders, and as she writes on her website, her role as a physician has helped her as a writer: “First of all, I’m able to write medical scenarios with a high degree of accuracy. Second, knowing that I had a stable job to pay the bills made me feel more comfortable spending money on marketing” (“Frequently Asked Questions.” Freida McFadden). McFadden now only works one to two days a week as a doctor so that she has time to focus on her writing process. Her writing name is also a pseudonym to preserve her privacy in her daily life.

She stated in an interview with the New York Times that she expected The Devil Wears Scrubs to be both the start and end of her authorial journey (Alter, Alexandra. “How a Boston Physician Conquered the Thriller Genre.” The New York Times, 22 June 2024). However, she kept writing, and her 2019 novel The Ex, about a woman psychologically tortured by her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, was a breakout hit. With this book and her following novels, including The Wife Upstairs, McFadden cemented her literary brand, which Alexandra Alter of The New York Times succinctly defined as “thrillers with relatable female characters who often have mundane jobs and prosaic problems—a horrible boss, an annoying colleague, fertility issues, a loveless marriage—but end up, many unforeseen plot turns later, in life-or-death situations” (Alter). The Wife Upstairs follows this formula, as Sylvia’s role as a caretaker leads to a nearly fatal encounter with Adam.

McFadden has attracted thousands of fans, and her books have been read by millions around the globe. Though some claim that her books are formulaic and predictable, others enjoy the twists and turns of her narratives. McFadden takes the criticism in stride, as she stated, “I’m just trying to be entertaining. I’m not trying to write War and Peace” (Alter).