Do Not Disturb

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a story of sinister secrets...

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime.

To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a physician who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida is the winner of the International Thriller Writer Award for Best Paperback Original, the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller, and was honored as one of TIME 100’s most influential people in the world for 2026. Her novels have been translated into more than 45 languages.

​ Freida lives with her family and 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.

To hear Freida talk about herself more in the third person, check out her website freidamcfadden dot com.

"Creepy characters and a sister who has her own secrets add to the tension. Tangled lives play out in a fast-paced story." ― Denton Record-Chronicle

"If you are new to Freida McFadden’s books, you need to be prepared as what might appear on the surface to be a straightforward narrative is often anything but...Do Not Disturb [is] another exceedingly clever novel from a writer who has become a force of nature in the psychological thriller genre." ― Book Reporter

Freida McFadden’s Do Not Disturb is a fast-paced, Hitchcock-esque psychological thriller that traps its protagonist in a claustrophobic, snowbound nightmare. The story centers on Quinn Alexander, a woman who has just committed the unthinkable: she killed her violently abusive husband, Derek, in what she believed to be self-defense. Terrified that the police will never believe her given Derek's charming public persona and powerful connections, Quinn makes the desperate decision to run. She hurriedly packs her bags, ditches her cell phone, alters her appearance, and sets her sights on the Canadian border, hoping to vanish before anyone discovers the body left bleeding on her kitchen floor. However, her desperate flight for freedom is abruptly halted by a blinding New Hampshire blizzard. Unable to safely navigate the roads and terrified of being caught, she is forced to pull over and seek refuge at a dilapidated, isolated roadside inn called the Baxter Motel.

At first glance, the motel seems like a bleak but necessary sanctuary. Quinn is greeted by Nick Baxter, the unexpectedly handsome, soft-spoken, and accommodating owner who readily offers her a cheap room for the night, asking very few questions and happily accepting her cash. But the Baxter Motel is far from a safe haven. It radiates an unsettling, ominous energy that immediately puts Quinn on edge. Adding to the intense unease is the decaying house situated directly across the parking lot. In its window sits the dark silhouette of Nick’s wife, Rosalie, who suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair. From her vantage point, Rosalie spends her days silently and intensely watching the motel, and more specifically, watching Quinn’s every move with unnerving scrutiny.

As Quinn settles into Room 203, the physical and psychological claustrophobia of the setting intensifies. She soon learns that she is not the only guest weathering the storm. In the room next door resides Greta, an eccentric, elderly Hungarian woman who used to work as a carnival fortune teller and now lives at the motel full-time. Greta is welcoming but deeply unsettling, eventually offering to read Quinn's future. The reading takes a dark turn when Greta suddenly becomes panicked, warning Quinn that a dangerous man is in her past and that extreme danger lies in her immediate future, urging her to leave the motel before it is too late. Adding to the terror is the dark history of the motel itself; Quinn discovers that Room 201 is permanently locked and never rented out because a young woman named Christina was brutally murdered there, a crime that remains shrouded in rumor and local suspicion.

Trapped by the mounting snow and her own escalating paranoia, Quinn’s situation deteriorates the next day when she sees a news broadcast confirming that Derek’s body has been found and that she is the prime suspect in his murder. Her panic peaks when police officers actually arrive at the motel to ask questions. In a surprising twist, Nick covers for her, lying to the police and claiming he has never seen her. While Quinn is momentarily grateful, the isolation, her guilt, and Greta's dire warnings push her to the breaking point. She decides she must brave the storm and escape on foot, but as she trudges through the thick snow toward her car, she is suddenly attacked and brutally stabbed in the abdomen by an unseen assailant, leaving her bleeding out in the freezing cold.

At this shocking juncture, McFadden masterfully shifts the narrative perspective, utilizing multiple points of view to unravel the tangled web of secrets surrounding the Baxter Motel and Quinn’s life. The story introduces the perspective of Quinn’s deeply concerned older sister, Claudia, who begins her own desperate investigation to find her missing sibling. As Claudia tracks Quinn’s last known movements to the isolated motel, the layers of deception are rapidly peeled back. Readers are also given glimpses into the minds of Nick, Rosalie, and Claudia’s husband, Rob, revealing that almost everyone in this story is hiding sinister ulterior motives. The supposedly straightforward narrative of a domestic abuse survivor on the run transforms into a complex puzzle where loyalties are tested, and no one is exactly who they appear to be.

The climax of the novel is a brilliant collision of these varying storylines, delivering the unpredictable twists that have become McFadden’s signature. The dark history of the Baxter Motel is fully unearthed, revealing that the true monster of the story is not necessarily who the reader expects. The mystery behind Christina's death in Room 201 is finally solved, exposing twisted devotions and the deadly lengths people will go to in order to protect their loved ones. Ultimately, Do Not Disturb explores themes of trauma, the destructive power of jealousy, and the terrifying gap between appearance and reality. Since you appreciate the convenience of digital reading and carrying a vast, easily searchable personal library, I highly recommend downloading a free sample of this one—its short, punchy chapters and relentless suspense make it a perfect, unputdownable thriller to speed through on your Kindle or Google Books app!