📚 Books Like The Secret History: Dark Academia, Obsession & Literary Thrills

The Secret His­to­ry by Don­na Tartt is a mas­ter­class in lit­er­ary sus­pense — a haunt­ing blend of acad­e­mia, obses­sion, beau­ty, and mur­der. If you’ve fin­ished it and are look­ing for more books that explore the same dark cor­ners of intel­lect and moral­i­ty, you’re in the right place.

In this post, we’re div­ing into the best books like The Secret His­to­ry — rich in atmos­phere, lay­ered with secrets, and per­fect for fans of dark acad­e­mia, moral­ly gray char­ac­ters, and beau­ti­ful­ly twist­ed plots.

🏛️ Why Is The Secret History So Popular?

Before explor­ing sim­i­lar reads, here’s why read­ers love The Secret His­to­ry:

• Elite aca­d­e­m­ic set­ting with clas­si­cal influ­ences
• Psy­cho­log­i­cal com­plex­i­ty and a focus on moral ambi­gu­i­ty
• Mur­der mys­tery with a twist — the sto­ry is about why it hap­pened, not who did it
• Dark, ele­gant prose and unfor­get­table char­ac­ters

This nov­el isn’t just about a crime; it’s about the human psy­che and the dan­gers of unchecked obses­sion.

🔎 1. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Per­fect for fans of: Shake­speare, the­ater stu­dents, and friend­ships gone wrong

Sum­ma­ry:
At an elite arts con­ser­va­to­ry, a group of sev­en Shake­speare­an actors is torn apart when a mur­der occurs. Ten years lat­er, one of them is final­ly ready to reveal the truth.

Why read it:
This is per­haps the clos­est lit­er­ary cousin to The Secret His­to­ry. Dark acad­e­mia set­ting? Check. Obses­sive friend­ships? Check. Trag­ic beau­ty and spi­ral­ing con­se­quences? Absolute­ly.

🌀 2. Bunny by Mona Awad

Per­fect for fans of: Sur­re­al­ism, satire, and twist­ed girl groups

Sum­ma­ry:
Saman­tha, a grad stu­dent in a pres­ti­gious writ­ing pro­gram, is drawn into a strange clique of hyper-fem­i­nine girls who call each oth­er “Bun­ny” — and real­i­ty starts to blur.

Why read it:
Bun­ny explores alien­ation, cre­ativ­i­ty, and mad­ness in a high­ly orig­i­nal, dis­turb­ing way. It’s The Secret His­to­ry meets Heathers with a dose of mag­i­cal real­ism.

🧥 3. The Likeness by Tana French

Per­fect for fans of: Iden­ti­ty mys­ter­ies and psy­cho­log­i­cal thrillers

Sum­ma­ry:
Detec­tive Cassie Mad­dox inves­ti­gates a mur­der vic­tim who looks exact­ly like her. To solve the case, she goes under­cov­er, infil­trat­ing a close-knit aca­d­e­m­ic friend group.

Why read it:
Rich prose and an eerie cam­pus set­ting make this a must-read. Like Tartt’s nov­el, it’s more about why peo­ple do ter­ri­ble things than catch­ing the crim­i­nal.

🔮 4. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Per­fect for fans of: Dark mag­ic and moral­ly com­plex hero­ines

Sum­ma­ry:
Set in a bru­tal mag­i­cal school, El is a pow­er­ful sor­cer­ess try­ing not to turn evil while sur­viv­ing a place designed to kill its stu­dents.

Why read it:
Though fan­ta­sy, the aca­d­e­m­ic inten­si­ty and dark tone match The Secret His­to­ry. El’s voice is sharp, cyn­i­cal, and deeply human — just like Richard’s intro­spec­tion in Tartt’s nov­el.

📘 5. The Truants by Kate Weinberg

Per­fect for fans of: Lit­er­ary obses­sion and roman­tic betray­al

Sum­ma­ry:
Jess falls under the influ­ence of a mag­net­ic lit­er­a­ture pro­fes­sor and a mys­te­ri­ous new friend — but lies and betray­al sim­mer beneath the sur­face.

Why read it:
With nods to The Secret His­to­ry, this nov­el cap­tures the seduc­tive pull of acad­e­mia and the dan­ger of roman­ti­cized intel­lec­tu­al­ism.

🧬 6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Per­fect for fans of: Qui­et psy­cho­log­i­cal hor­ror and trag­ic inevitabil­i­ty

Sum­ma­ry:
At a seclud­ed board­ing school, stu­dents are raised for a dark pur­pose. The sto­ry slow­ly reveals their fate, their human­i­ty, and the emo­tion­al cost of com­pli­ance.

Why read it:
While not a mur­der mys­tery, it shares The Secret His­to­ry’s slow ten­sion, emo­tion­al grav­i­ty, and haunt­ing moral themes.

🕯️ 7. The Secret Place by Tana French

Per­fect for fans of: Teenage dynam­ics and lay­ered mys­ter­ies

Sum­ma­ry:
When a boy is mur­dered at an all-girls school, a cryp­tic note appears a year lat­er — reopen­ing the case. The truth lies hid­den in teenage cliques and pow­er games.

Why read it:
Com­plex char­ac­ters, school set­ting, and emo­tion­al manip­u­la­tion make this anoth­er dark and sat­is­fy­ing read for Secret His­to­ry fans.

📌 What These Books Have in Common with The Secret History

Here’s what you’ll find in all of these reads:

• 🎓 Aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly elite or iso­lat­ed set­tings
• 😈 Moral­ly ambigu­ous char­ac­ters
• 💭 Exis­ten­tial and psy­cho­log­i­cal themes
• ✍️ Beau­ti­ful, immer­sive prose
• 🧨 Slow-build­ing ten­sion with explo­sive reveals

Whether you’re crav­ing some­thing eerie, intel­lec­tu­al, or emo­tion­al­ly intense, these books will deliv­er the same haunt­ing expe­ri­ence as The Secret His­to­ry.

🎓 Final Thoughts: Where Dark Academia Meets Psychological Suspense

Books like The Secret His­to­ry offer more than thrilling plots — they offer a world. One filled with beau­ty and ruin, intel­lect and arro­gance, ambi­tion and decay.

If you’re look­ing to dive back into a beau­ti­ful­ly dark and deeply intel­lec­tu­al sto­ry, these books will sat­is­fy your lit­er­ary hunger — and leave you think­ing long after the last page.

💬 Have you read any of these books? Which one are you adding to your TBR next?