Freida McFadden is an American author of thriller novels and a practicing physician specializing in brain injuries. McFadden is a pen name, and she is careful not to reveal her true identity in order to remain anonymous to her patients. McFadden was raised in New York City by parents who were both doctors. She attended Harvard University as an undergraduate. Her first novel, The Devil Wears Scrubs (2013), was self-published and inspired by the private blog she kept during medical school and residency. Her next two novels, Suicide Med (2014) and Brain Damage (2016), were also self-published and similarly drew on her experience as a physician.

McFadden’s breakout novel was The Housemaid (2022), her first conventionally published book. The novel follows a young woman named Millie as she navigates a new job as a live-in maid for a wealthy family with a dark secret. Like The Locked Door, The Housemaid features an unreliable female narrator and thematic interest in cycles of trauma and abuse in families.