Freida McFadden

Frequently asked questions

• Is “Freida McFadden” a real name?

  No, it’s a pen name. The author, a practicing physician, wrote anonymously from her 2013 debut and only revealed her real identity publicly in April 2026.

• Why did she write under a pseudonym?

  She is a working doctor and did not want her medical patients to connect her to her thrillers, so she kept her writing and clinical lives separate.

• Where does the name “Freida McFadden” come from?

  It’s a medical inside joke: “FREIDA” is the acronym for the American Medical Association’s residency database, and she chose “McFadden” simply because it sounded funny to her.

• Is she still practicing medicine?

  She stepped back from full-time practice in late 2023 and now sees patients only about once or twice a month while writing full-time.

• What is she best known for?

  The Housemaid (2022) and its series, which became an international bestseller and was adapted into a 2025 feature film starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.

• How does she write so many books?

  She has said she plans a novel in her head for roughly two months, then drafts very fast in an all-consuming burst before a long, meticulous edit; her husband and mother are among her early readers.

• Has she won awards?

  Yes. She has won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Paperback Original and a Goodreads Choice Award, and her work has been translated into more than 45 languages.