It Should Have Been You

Author: Andrea Mara
Genre: Psychological Thriller
385 pages
Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Pamela Dorman Books, January 2026

Synopsis
Your neighbors have secrets. How far would they go to keep them?

“A simple, ordinary mistake explodes into a suburban nightmare in this hugely compelling, one-sitting read packed full of thrilling moments and genuinely surprising twists. Andrea Mara is at the very top of her game.” —Catherine Ryan Howard

You press send and your message disappears. Full of secrets about your neighbors, it’s meant for your sister. But it doesn’t reach her – it goes to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead.

As rumor spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighborhood, you convince yourself that people will move on, that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.

The next day, a woman has been murdered. And what’s even more chilling is that she had the same address as you – 26 Oakpark – but in a different part of town. Did the killer get the wrong house? It won’t be long before you find out…

My review
It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara is a fun, fast-paced psychological thriller that’s tailor-made for an afternoon binge read. With snappy chapters and a relentless pace, it delivers just enough twists that kept me hooked from start to finish. Beneath the high drama lies an all-too-recognizable premise: one tiny online misstep snowballing into chaos, proving that in the age of instant communication, a single slip of the finger can have spectacularly disastrous consequences.

We’ve all been there. That awful moment when you realize you’ve accidentally sent a message to the wrong person. That sickening drop in your stomach. The mental replay of your own stupidity. For suburban new mom Susan O’Donnell, that moment comes when she fires off a scathing WhatsApp message about a neighbor, only to realize she sent it to the entire community group. What follows is the panic, the dread, and the slow-motion car crash of watching it all unravel.

What starts as relatable panic quickly escalates into over-the-top drama – secrets, affairs, murder, misdirection, and enough shady behavior to make your head spin. Told through multiple POVs, Mara doles out revelations one piece at a time, ending nearly every chapter on a cliffhanger.

It Should Have Been You is heavy on plot and light on character depth. There’s no true hero here, just a cast of truly awful people doing awful things to each other. My anxiety stayed high as betrayals piled on, and I genuinely had no idea where the story was heading until the very end. While the conclusion wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste, the ride getting there was addictive.

If you’re looking for a light, fast-paced thriller with a juicy, “what if” premise and enough chaos to keep you guessing, It Should Have Been You delivers exactly what it promises: high stakes, high tension, and the guilty pleasure of watching fictional lives implode. Just don’t expect realism or deeply developed characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Pamela Dorman Books, and Andrea Mara for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

My recommendation: a fun read heavy on plot, short on character development.