The Witch

by Freida McFadden

A brand-new, haunting thriller from Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid!

Some secrets don't die―they wait.

When Julia Barlow loses her job and her apartment, she has nowhere left to go but Pemberton, her family's sprawling seventeenth-century estate in rural Massachusetts. Officially, she's there to check in on her aging grandmother. Unofficially, she's hoping the old house will give her a place to disappear.

Instead, Pemberton begins to unravel her.

Every night, the grandfather clock stops at exactly 3:41 a.m. The lights flicker without warning. And a disembodied voice cries for help outside Julia's bedroom door.

As Julia digs into the house's dark history, she uncovers the story of a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692―and realizes the past may not be finished with Pemberton yet. When decades of family lies begin to surface, Julia must confront a terrifying Pemberton may be haunted by women whose voices refuse to stay silent.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes The Witch, a chilling, twist-filled thriller about secrets―those we inherit, those we bury, and those people will burn to keep silent.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Halloween, Witches, Fiction, Autumn

379 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication October 6, 2026

About the author

#1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and possessed cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

Note that I am maxed out on friends, so I apologize in advance that I can't friend anyone back!

Reviews

[levi (starboy) (s.ia)]

Who is holding you hostage brah. 3 books in less 8 months 🙏🏻💔
-
What a boring repetitive cover

[Nikos Drosinos]

At this point I’m not worried about Freida using AI… I’m starting to wonder if Freida IS the AI 🤖📖 - said whilst adding to TBR 📚

[Salma]

Freida, blink twice if you need help.

[Laura Lovesreading]

ME: FREIDA... WHAT ABOUT WRITERS BLOCK!?
FREIDA: I DONT KNOW HER!

Here we go again!.. *add to tbr* 🥹🥹🥹

[seeraaa ♡ { Slump Era :⁠-⁠( }]

At this point Frieda McFadden publishes faster than I read 😅

[aira]

how does she come up with all these book ideas?!?! anyways, I guess I know what I'm doing on October 6th.

[manas]

freida won’t stop, and manas will never learn 😛❤️

[ahmeeka]

freida mcfadden needs a holiday

[Casey Reads 🌸]

Can’t wait!! Freida takes no breaks!

[Keya]

Atp I am tempted to kidnap fmf and send her off on a vacation myself 😭😭

[Kristina Pauls (ARC Reviewer) · Rating 5 out of 5]

PUBLISH DATE: October 6, 2026
BOOK TITLE: The Witch
AUTHOR: Freida McFadden
PUBLISHER: Poisoned Press
FORMAT: ebook
PAGES: 352
I received a complimentary digital ARC [Advanced Readers Copy] of this book via NetGalley. Thank you to the Publisher and the Author for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. As always, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

----------------------------------------------
[Partial Preview Review 05/19/26]

I received a complimentary preview/sample copy of this title but I was under the impression it was the entire ARC. I’m super disappointed in that and would love the opportunity to read and review the entire book.

This sample pulled me in almost immediately. The combination of a creepy old estate, a grandmother struggling with memory loss, and possible ties old ancestors created such an eerie and intriguing atmosphere right from the start.

I especially liked that the story quickly gave emotional stakes alongside the mystery. Julia moving in to help care for her grandmother made the story feel real and personal while the unsettling undertones slowly started building around the house and family history.

At first, the opening historical sections felt a little different stylistically than what I normally expect from Freida’s writing, but once the present-day storyline began, I was completely invested.

I was honestly disappointed when I realized the link only included a sample because by I wanted to keep reading immediately.

Definitely one I’ll be picking up when the full release is available.

PUBLISH DATE: October 6, 2026
BOOK TITLE: The Witch
AUTHOR: Freida McFadden
PUBLISHER: Poisoned Press
FORMAT: ebook
PAGES: 352
I received a complimentary digital ARC [Advanced Readers Copy] of this book via NetGalley. Thank you to the Publisher and the Author for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. As always, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

[Liana Gold]

Freida hunny, you write faster than I blink. I think you might need a little precedex...

[ambersometimesreads]

genuinely asking, freida DO YOU SLEEP??

[Conny Godefroy]

This woman is insane.

[Rebecca]

...at this point idk what to even say

[Amanda Alviz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one took me a little bit to get fully invested, but once I did I couldn't put it down! I liked the dual timeline of the past and present slowly building the story. Once the twists started, they just didn't stop and as always, McFadden left me with my jaw on the floor.


Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[sophia_thesecond (in my noah kahan era)]

frieda...I thought we talked about this. when do you sleep?

[Nicole]

FREIDA. ANOTHER ONE. AND ITS WITCHY. OH I LOVE U AND U LOVE ME

[Sharon🔮👽 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Witch was a very compelling tale that spanned two different lifetimes. The twists were twisty, I saw some of them coming but not all of them.

I’ve always been fascinated by the stories around the Salem Witch Trials. This story makes me curious if any of those women had attempted to do anything similar to free themselves of the claims made against them.

Thank you to the author, publisher, & NetGalley for the early access to this ARC. This will be a perfect atmospheric read in October.

[Aby M ❤️‍🔥 · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading so many of her books and enjoying most of them, I’m still surprised she can produce such good stories in such a short amount of time! this was a great read!

[Sarah (heartfeltthrills)]

Can't wait! The witch is coming - Ms. Freida about to drop another spell disguised as a 'thriller'. Somebody get me sage and a bookmark.

[Maria Vickers - MysteryLFL · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a different Freida read! Still plenty of fun, but much different than her usual. As a non-native English speaker, I struggled a bit with the old style English, but I still understood and enjoyed the book. Loved the twists, and for once, I actually find some of them plausible. I’d love to see more from Freida like this!

[Amber Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one! I especially loved the Salem Witch Trials-era storyline—it added such an, intriguing historical element. A quick, twisty read that kept me guessing! 📖✨ Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy!

[Anamaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really surprising and quite different from everything I’ve read from Freida McFadden so far. The story follows a woman who becomes increasingly drawn into the dark history of a mysterious ancestor, as events from the past begin to have an unexpected impact on the present. The two timelines are really interesting, and I loved seeing how the pieces slowly started to connect.

My only criticism is that Freida reveals almost everything in the last few chapters all at once. I think the story would have been even more effective if the revelations had been introduced more gradually, allowing the suspense and mystery to build throughout the book.

All in all, a great and intriguing read. It’s also a fascinating reminder that we never really know how much our ancestors—and the things they experienced—can still affect us generations later.

[Stanislava Spasova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been better.

[McKayla Paez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost didn’t finish this because it was a very very slow start but once it got going, I couldn’t stop! 🧙

[Felicia Bracamontes · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨ARC REVIEW✨

First off thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this knockout of a novel. I have always loved any story that involved witches, it's probably because I grew up in the era of witches being on tv and the big screen and it just stuck with me.

Freida McFadden created a fun and entertaining story that has me saying once again I did not see that coming... In the past you're following the story of Caroline set in the late 1600s, and everything she is experiencing while being a woman in a time where anything that is said or done that looks odd automatically makes you a witch. In the modern day story you meet Julia who has come to live in her family's ancestral estate to take care of her grandmother and begins to dig up all the secrets the mansion holds.

This was a wild ride of a story and I loved being pulled from both POVs, just when you think you've guessed the right outcome you’re hit with another curveball and if you're like me another theory forms.

[Bee ☾]

Say no more Freida! I'm in!!

[Nikki | graciouslybooked · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was ABSOLUTELY INVESTED in this book. Could not put it down! I enjoyed the alternating POVs of Julia and Caroline. I loved seeing how their stories meshed together even being 300 years apart. Gram is so precious! The vibes were vibing! This book is PERFECT for spooky season!

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for this early copy! All opinions are my own!

[Avery Romick · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. I was going to give it a 3 because even a bad Frieda book is a nice easy good read but her ending / twist was the worse one of hers I’ve read so it got bumped down