Mary Kubica
Born 1978
Mary Kubica is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of suspense novels. Her books include The Good Girl, Every Last Lie, The Other Mrs., and Local Woman Missing. Kubica studied history and American literature at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, earning a Bachelor of Arts, and she later taught history to high school students. All are works of suspense.
Before publishing fiction, she worked as a high school history teacher. Her novels have been translated into more than thirty languages and have sold more than five million copies worldwide. They use close domestic settings and shifting accounts to turn marriages, neighborhoods, and disappearances into suspense. She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and their two children.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed 2 of Mary Kubica's books, including Local Woman Missing and Every Last Lie.
2
Books ReviewedMary Kubica books in order
11 books; 2 reviewed on LuvemBooks. Dates and covers from Amazon.
2014The Good GirlAmazon ↗
2015Pretty BabyAmazon ↗
2016Don't You CryAmazon ↗
2017Our review →
2018When the Lights Go OutAmazon ↗
2020The Other Mrs.Amazon ↗
2021Our review →
2023Just the Nicest CoupleAmazon ↗
2024She's Not SorryAmazon ↗
2026It's Not HerAmazon ↗
2026The Good Girl Deluxe Collector’s EditionAmazon ↗
Local Woman Missing
4.4/5
reader rating · 125,364 ratingsMary Kubica’s domestic thriller follows the disappearance of two Chicago women and the shocking return of one child eleven years later. It rewards readers who enjoy fractured timelines and deeply flawed characters, though those seeking a straightforward missing-person case may find its psychological detours slow the pace.
Reviewed Nov 6, 2026
Every Last Lie
3.7/5
reader rating · 6,667 ratingsEvery Last Lie is a domestic suspense thriller by New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica, structured around the alternating perspectives of Clara Solberg — a new mother convinced her husband was murdered — and Nick Solberg, whose chapters trace the secrets he kept in the months before his fatal car crash. Critics called it a compelling portrait of grief and coping, while Kirkus Reviews found it overwritten and polarizing; the novel sits squarely in the tradition of psychological domestic thrillers and will appeal most to readers who can invest in an unreliable, grief-consumed narrator.
Reviewed Mar 18, 2026
Ask LuvemBooks about Mary Kubica
Mary Kubica is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling suspense author whose thrillers rely on structure as much as plot — Local Woman Missing unfolds across a fractured timeline spanning eleven years, while Every Last Lie alternates between a grieving widow and her dead husband's secret-filled final months. Both books we've reviewed center on domestic mysteries driven by deeply flawed, psychologically complicated characters rather than straightforward whodunits. Local Woman Missing holds the stronger reader rating at 4.4/5 (from over 125,000 Amazon ratings), compared to 3.7/5 for Every Last Lie.
- Where should I start?
- Start with Local Woman Missing. It's the stronger of the two books we've reviewed, holding a 4.4/5 reader rating from over 125,000 Amazon ratings, and its story of two vanished Chicago women and a child's shocking return eleven years later showcases Kubica's signature fractured-timeline approach. If you enjoy it, Every Last Lie offers a similar domestic-suspense flavor built on alternating perspectives.
- What's their writing style?
- Kubica writes domestic suspense built on unconventional structures — fractured timelines in Local Woman Missing, alternating perspectives between a widow and her late husband in Every Last Lie. Their characters are deliberately flawed, and the plots take psychological detours rather than racing through a straightforward investigation. Readers who enjoy piecing together a story from unreliable or incomplete viewpoints tend to respond best to their work.
- Books we've reviewed
- We've reviewed two Mary Kubica thrillers. Local Woman Missing (reader rating 4.4/5 from over 125,000 Amazon ratings) follows the disappearance of two Chicago women and the return of one child eleven years later. Every Last Lie (reader rating 3.7/5 from over 6,600 Amazon ratings) alternates between a widow who believes her husband was murdered and his own account of the secrets he kept before his fatal crash.
- How do their books compare?
- Local Woman Missing and Every Last Lie share Kubica's domestic-suspense DNA but differ in focus. Local Woman Missing is a missing-person mystery with a fractured timeline spanning eleven years, while Every Last Lie is a more intimate grief story structured around a widow's suspicions and her husband's hidden life. Readers rate Local Woman Missing notably higher — 4.4/5 versus 3.7/5 — and Kirkus Reviews was more reserved about Every Last Lie even as other critics praised its portrait of grief.
- What genre do they write?
- Mary Kubica writes thrillers, specifically domestic suspense — stories where the danger and deception live inside marriages, families, and neighborhoods rather than in espionage or action plots. Both books we've reviewed are categorized as thrillers and center on ordinary people confronting disappearances, deaths, and buried secrets.
- What should I read after Local Woman Missing?
- Within our coverage, the natural next read is Every Last Lie — the other Kubica title we've reviewed. It trades the missing-person framework for an alternating-perspective story about a widow, Clara Solberg, who believes her husband was murdered, and Nick Solberg, whose chapters expose the secrets he kept before his fatal crash. Be aware readers rate it lower (3.7/5 versus 4.4/5), and its grief-centered tone is heavier.
Who is Mary Kubica?
Where should I start?
What's their writing style?
Books we've reviewed
How do their books compare?
What genre do they write?
What should I read after Local Woman Missing?
Who is Mary Kubica?
Mary Kubica is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of suspense novels, best known for The Good Girl. Their thrillers tend to explore domestic settings — marriages, families, and neighborhoods — where disappearances and deaths expose the secrets people keep from those closest to them. We've reviewed two of their books, Local Woman Missing and Every Last Lie.
Follow up
What is Mary Kubica best known for?
How many Mary Kubica books has LuvemBooks reviewed?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
Press Enter to ask. Answers come from our editorial Q&A — start typing to see related questions.
Authors Like Mary Kubica
L
Laura Dave
Fiction
Thriller
Laura Dave's The Last Thing He Told Me shares Mary Kubica's focus on domestic betrayal, following a wife's grief-fuelled investigation into her missing husband's fabricated identity.
1 book reviewed
Lisa Jewell
Fiction
Thriller
Lisa Jewell's Then She Was Gone pairs domestic dread with a missing-daughter mystery, exploring loss and family secrets at a sharp clip.
2 books reviewed
Gillian Flynn
Fiction
Thriller
Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl delivers dual-POV psychological suspense about a marriage in crisis, featuring alternating narrators who conceal catastrophic secrets.
1 book reviewed
S
Shanora Williams
Thriller
Fiction
Shanora Williams’s The Wife Before delivers a twist-filled psychological thriller centered on marital deception, suspicious deaths, and a paranoid spouse investigating from inside the marriage.
1 book reviewed
Freida McFadden
Fiction
Thriller
Sara Cohen, known by her pen name Freida McFadden, is an American author.
2 books reviewed
A
Alex Michaelides
Thriller
Fiction
Alex Michaelides is a British Cypriot author and screenwriter.
1 book reviewed