It Should Have Been You

By: Andrea Mara

Narrated by: Jessica Regan

Brought to you by Penguin.

*AN INSTANT NO.1 BESTSELLER*

All the neighbours have secrets. But how far will they go to keep them?

Have you ever sent a message to the wrong person?
You text your sister. Your message is full of gossip about your neighbour. But you accidentally send it to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead.

Now everyone knows what you did.
As rumour spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighbourhood, you convince yourself that people will move on, that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.

And someone wants you dead.
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…

'Andrea Mara's best book yet. Absolutely outstanding!' Claire Douglas, bestselling author of The Wrong Sister

'Cleverly plotted and told from various points of view, It Should Have Been You shows how one mistake can have life-threatening consequences.' Sunday Independent

'Plays expertly into one of our worst nightmares. The convincing storyline maintains real dread in a world of everyday domestic detail. Very enjoyable.' Daily Mail

© Andrea Mara 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critic reviews

Wow, It Should Have Been You blew me away. Ingenious plotting, brilliantly written, pacy and totally unpredictable, I devoured it over a weekend. This is Andrea Mara’s best book yet. Absolutely outstanding!

Cleverly plotted and told from various points of view, It Should Have Been You shows how one mistake can have life-threatening consequences. Punchy writing, strong characterisation and short chapters propel it to a dramatic, satisfying finale. Highly recommended.

I was hooked from first page to last as the twists got twistier and all of the characters squirmed while waiting for their darkest secrets to be revealed. May I suggest a new Irish blessing? May you never live in a neighbourhood created by Andrea Mara. Andrea is blessed with a gift for knowing our darkest fears and playing on them like a virtuoso violinist, and I am here for it.

The convincing storyline maintains real dread in a world of everyday domestic detail. Very enjoyable.

An ingenious, heart-stopping premise that is also utterly relatable – the absolute definition of a page-turner.

Andrea has a knack of taking our every day anxieties and turning them into full blown nightmares. She is one of the best psychological thriller writers out there, subtly weaving darkly absorbing stories with relatable characters who leap off the page.

Andrea Mara’s It Should Have Been You is an up-all-night thriller that makes us consider the consequences of one small mistake. Compulsive, twisty, and utterly -page-turning. I devoured it.

(A) well-paced and exciting page-turner.

Tense, thrilling and relatable.

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.