Book picks similar to
In The Dark by Vikki Patis


thriller
jumped-ship
first-only
standalones

Verity


Colleen Hoover - 2018
    Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

The Secret Wife


Emily Shiner - 2021
    She loves her hectic life, but she looks forward to a relaxing weekend alone while her husband, Michael, takes the kids on a camping trip.But their dream trip turns into a nightmare when their daughters are taken, deep in the forest.One is returned safe. But one is still missing.As Cara and Michael frantically search for their little girl it becomes clear that this is no random abduction – her disappearance is linked to shocking secrets which are only now being revealed.And Cara begins to wonder how well she really knows her husband. Is the stress making her paranoid? Or is she finally seeing him as he really is?Time is running out. How far will Cara go to find her daughter?

Trauma


Dylan Young - 2020
    He’ll wish he could forget.Who do you trust, when you don't know who you are?Cameron Todd is recovering from a serious brain injury. A trauma suffered the same night his girlfriend Emma plunged to her death from a clifftop. The damage erases all memory of the incident and his previous life. Both the police and Emma’s relatives are hunting for someone to blame and question whether his amnesia is a convenient fabrication. Desperate to understand what happened that fateful day, self-doubt creeps in when Cameron learns his relationship with Emma might not have been picture-perfect. Is he a victim, or the perpetrator? Can he trust his injured brain’s version of events? Or will unearthing the truth reveal something far more sinister?

You Have to Believe Me


Sunday Tomassetti - 2019
     Every day on her way home from work, Dove Damiani drives past her ex-house, where her ex-husband lives with her ex-dog and her ex-yoga instructor, next to her ex-neighbors and the ex-life she once affectionately described as “frighteningly perfect.” To outsiders, Dove is bitter and resentful. The divorce left her alone, with nothing but a set of car keys and 50% of a paltry savings account. So when the lifeless body of her former husband is discovered in the birch grove outside Dove’s apartment on what would have been their fifth wedding anniversary, investigators waste no time making Dove a person of interest. She swears she didn’t do it. She’s never so much as killed a spider in her thirty-four years. But as evidence mounts against her, Dove finds herself questioning her memory, her sanity, and finally—her innocence.

Combustible Punch


Paul Michael Peters - 2019
    There are three problems, she only has a short time to live, Rick is a drunken mess who hasn’t been published in a decade, and Harriett is a serial killer. The two must sort through the dental records and body count before the FBI or Grim Reaper catch her.Rick Philips isn't a fighter - but he is a survivorHaunted by memories of a high school shooting, not even the bottle can wash away the gnawing guilt and creeping feelings of inadequacy that batter Rick's conscience daily.His life has been a mess of broken marriages, writer's block, terrible choices, and the morbid pity of others.When he meets Harriet at a writer's conference, the record doesn't scratch as he falls back - only this time, he may not get up.Harriet Bristol Wheeler is a dark temptress - and self-confessed serial killerHarriet has no problem killing - and even fewer issues blending back into the background after the act with the cool, calculating eye of a practiced social chameleon.Manipulative, unpredictable, and exceptionally intelligent, she's Rick's worst nightmare - and the ideal subject for his next book.A book that they are both desperate to write.Time is running out - but the sadness will last forever

The Cry of the Lake


Charlie Tyler - 2020
    Terrified and unable to make sense of what she sees, she locks the vision deep inside her mind. Ten years later, Lily is introduced to the charismatic Flo and they become best friends. But Lily is guilt-ridden – she is hiding a terrible secret which has the power to destroy both their lives.When Flo’s father is accused of killing a schoolgirl, the horrors of Lily’s past come bubbling to the surface. Lily knows that, whatever the consequences, she has to make things right. She must go back to the events of her childhood and face what happened at the boat house all those years ago.Can Lily and Flo discover what is hiding in the murky waters of the lake before the killer strikes again?

Lying Next to Me


Gregg Olsen - 2019
    It’s the perfect getaway to unplug—and to calm an uneasy marriage. But on Adam’s first day out on the water, he sees Sophie abducted by a stranger. A hundred yards from shore, Adam can’t save her. And Sophie disappears.In a nearby cabin is another couple, Kristen and Connor Moss. Unfortunately, beyond what they’ve heard in the news, they’re in the dark when it comes to Sophie’s disappearance. For Adam, at least there’s comfort in knowing that Mason County detective Lee Husemann is an old friend of his. She’ll do everything she can to help. She must.But as Adam’s paranoia about his missing wife escalates, Lee puts together the pieces of a puzzle. The lives of the two couples are converging in unpredictable ways, and the picture is unsettling. Lee suspects that not everyone is telling the truth about what they know—or they have yet to reveal all the lies they’ve hidden from the strangers they married.

I Will Never Leave You


S.M. Thayer - 2018
     Banking heiress Trish and her husband, James, seem to have it all, from a lavish lifestyle to a historic mansion in the nation’s capital. All that’s missing from their privileged life is a baby.So when Trish sees Anne Elise for the first time, it’s no surprise that she falls deeply in love. There’s just one problem: Trish isn’t the mother. The baby belongs to Laurel, James’s young mistress. And James and Laurel want the wife out of the picture.When Trish becomes perversely obsessed with making Laurel’s baby her own, the lovers come up with a wicked plan to end James’s marriage that quickly goes awry. As the love triangle becomes more and more dangerous, how far is each of them willing to go to get what they want?

The Party


Lisa Hall - 2018
    But it turned into a nightmare.‘Compelling, addictive…brilliant’ B A ParisWhen Rachel wakes up in a strange room, the morning after a neighbour’s party, she has no memory of what happened the night before. Why did her husband leave her alone at the party? Did they row? Why are Rachel’s arms so bruised? And why are her neighbours and friends so vague about what really happened?Little by little, Rachel pieces together the devastating events that took place in a friend’s house, at a party where she should have been safe. Everyone remembers what happened that night differently, and everyone has something to hide. But someone knows the truth about what happened to Rachel. And she’s determined to find them.The Party is the gripping new novel from bestseller Lisa Hall.

Silent Victim


Caroline Mitchell - 2018
    But the truth can’t stay hidden for long.Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen.It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A promotion for Emma’s husband, Alex, means they can finally move to a bigger home with their young son. But with a buyer lined up for their old house, Emma can’t leave without destroying every last trace of her final revenge…Returning to the shallow grave in the garden, she finds it empty. The body is gone.Panicked, Emma confesses to her husband. But this is only the beginning. Soon, Alex will discover things about her he’ll wish he’d learned sooner. And others he’ll long to forget.

The Perfect Liar


Debra Lynch - 2020
    A successful YouTube channel in the trendy OC, martini lunches, a luxurious home overlooking the ocean. So what if she enjoys the occasional shoplifting spree?But then one mistake changes her life forever.When Dennis apprehends Rachel, she realizes her compulsion has gone too far. Because there's more to Dennis than just a security guard doing his job. He becomes obsessive, blackmailing Rachel, and will stop at nothing until he has torn Rachel's world apart.But Rachel has other secrets hidden in the closet of her beachfront home, and when her perfect life begins to spiral dangerously out of control, she finds she's capable of almost anything to save herself.Even murder.

Neighborly


Ellie Monago - 2018
    Minutes from the city, affluent without pretension, low crime with a friendly vibe—it’s everything Kat never had, and that she’s determined to provide for her infant daughter. Snagging a nice bungalow in this exclusive enclave was worth all the sacrifice. But everything changes overnight when Kat finds a scrawled note outside their front door.That wasn’t very neighborly of you.As increasingly sinister and frighteningly personal notes arrive, each one stabs deeper into the heart of Kat’s insecurities, paranoia, and most troubling, her past. When the neighbors who seemed so perfect reveal their open secret, the menace moves beyond mean notes. Someone’s raising the stakes.As suspicious as she is of every smiling face and as terrified as she’s become of being found out, Kat is still unprepared for the sharp turn that lies just ahead of her on Bayberry Lane.

Children of the Fog


Cheryl Kaye Tardif - 2011
    Choose! Sadie O'Connell is a bestselling author and a proud mother. But her life is about to spiral out of control. After her six-year-old son Sam is kidnapped by a serial abductor, she nearly goes insane. But it isn't just the fear and grief that is ripping her apart. It's the guilt. Sadie is the only person who knows what the kidnapper looks like. And she can't tell a soul. For if she does, her son will be sent back to her in “little bloody pieces.” When Sadie's unfaithful husband stumbles across her drawing of the kidnapper, he sets into play a series of horrific events that sends her hurtling over the edge. Sadie's descent into alcoholism leads to strange apparitions and a face-to-face encounter with the monster who abducted her son--a man known only as...The Fog.

The Wife Lie


Anya Mora - 2020
    the more I find.Ledger Stone is not the man I thought I knew.What I'd thought was a whirlwind romance has turned out to be a hurricane laced with lies.It started with one.Will it end with another? The Wife Lie is a domestic suspense novel where secrets are buried deep.Penny Stone gave up everything for the husband she thought she knew -- and now she must uncover the truth: just how much of her marriage was a lie?And is their love worth fighting for?

Where the Truth Hides (Investigation Duo, #1)


Liane Carmen - 2020
    She insists she’s fine, but it quickly becomes clear she’s changed. She’s forgetful, paranoid, short-tempered. Her husband wants to write off her change in personality to the IVF hormones she's taking in an attempt to get pregnant.Becky's best friend, Jules Dalton, is a gorgeous, single woman, with a habit of sabotaging relationships. When Jules loses the man who could have been “the one,” she confronts the realization that being adopted at birth is contributing to her trust issues. She’s obsessed with finding out why she was given up and turns to DNA testing in hopes her matches will lead to her birth parents.As Jules dives into her DNA results, Becky’s life soon becomes one she doesn’t recognize. Those closest to her are accusing her of things she simply can’t explain or remember. She’s terrified of losing everything: her career, her marriage, and her dream of becoming a mother.Desperate to put the pieces of her shattered life back together, Becky needs her best friend more than ever. What she doesn’t realize is that Jules knows something that could explain everything away.Becky has a dark past she’s unaware of. A darkness that’s coming for her.It could also get her killed.