Book picks similar to
The Doll Collector by Joanna Stephen-Ward


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Finding Eva


J.A. Baker - 2018
    She leaves London and heads to Whitby in search of her mother and father, after breaking up with her boyfriend, Gareth. Gareth is furious with Eva. He loved her deeply and the disclosure she made when she ended the relationship is eating away at him. Celia, Eva’s friend, is concerned about Eva. She has stopped answering her calls and when Celia goes to London to find her, she realises Eva has moved without telling anyone. Celia makes the decision to follow Eva to Whitby, concerned that Eva is unravelling. Both women have been damaged by their childhoods. When Gareth also decides to go to Whitby, it is the start of a lethal situation. Who exactly is Eva and why is Celia so concerned? Some relationships are toxic. Others are deadly.

Game Players


Anita Waller - 2018
    But when the dealer, who they watched bury the stash, shows up dead, the youngsters are thrown into turmoil.Scared of what might happen, the children tell the police about the body they have discovered.Meanwhile, a group of gangsters start searching for their missing drugs.Soon the children and their families become the target of the vicious criminals who will stop at nothing to retrieve their narcotics ...

Pendle Fire


Paul Southern - 2018
    That’s on a good day: things are about to get a whole lot worse. Two fourteen-year-old girls are found wandering Aitken Wood on the slopes of Pendle Hill, claiming to have been raped by a gang of men. With no female social workers available, Johnny is assigned to their case. But what, at first, looks like yet another incident of child exploitation takes a sinister turn when the girls start speaking of a forthcoming apocalypse.When Johnny interviews one of the girls, Jenna Dunham, her story starts to unravel. His investigation draws him into a tight-knit village community in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where whispers of witchcraft and child abuse go back to the Middle Ages.One name recurs, The Hobbledy Man. Is he responsible for the outbreaks of violence sweeping across the country? Is he more than just myth? Pendle Fie is a dark and absorbing thriller, it does contain scenes which some readers may some find disturbing.

The Cornish Retribution


Amanda James - 2018
    Her husband Adam was everything to her. But at least the home they shared together in Cornwall provides her with some security. Or does it?Upon returning from a school reunion in Sheffield, where Sam met her old friend, Penny, and an old flame from her school days, Dan, she discovers that Adam had invested money unwisely and she is now penniless.When Penny and Dan, who are now married, arrive in Cornwall to visit Sam, Dan comes up with a way in which Sam can keep the house. He suggests she turns it into a writing retreat. And he is willing to invest.Despite his wife's reservations, Dan gets his way but at what price? Why is Dan so keen to help? Has Sam put herself in harm's way?Amanda James is the best-selling author of Another Mother, Rip Current and The Calico Cat. The Cornish Retribution is a chilling thriller which will appeal to fans of authors like Cara Hunter, Louise Jensen and Greer Hendricks.

Keep Her Safe


Richard Jay Parker - 2018
    So when Maggie wakes one night to find a strange woman in her home, she runs to lock herself in her bedroom with her child. But Maggie knows why she’s come… Someone has been targeting mothers and offering them a choice: do as he says or their child disappears. This stranger in her home has until dawn to follow his orders… but Maggie too has the ‘choice’ to make. Can she put the pieces together to stop the cycle before her time is up?An edge-of-your-seat thriller that will keep you guessing until the last page. Perfect for fans of Adam Croft and Tess Gerritsen.

Toys In The Dust


N.M. Brown - 2019
    He is sad that he doesn’t have a doll to play with like the girls do, so Suzy hurries home to fetch one. When she returns, Suzy discovers both Tina and the stranger have vanished. A short while later, traffic officer Leighton Jones, who is fighting his own demons, is driving home from the scene of a near-fatal accident. When Leighton sees a young girl race out in front of his car and vanish into the countryside, he reports the sighting. Unfortunately, his superiors, who are increasingly concerned about Leighton’s mental health, doubt the child exists. But after Tina’s mother confirms her daughter’s disappearance, Leighton risks his job by pursuing his own investigation of the case. Meanwhile, in the Californian countryside, a child killer is relentlessly searching for the one who got away. Leighton has his work cut out. But can he prove his sanity and find Tina before the stranger does? Toys in the Dust is a gripping and fast-paced serial killer thriller, which will appeal to fans of authors like Damien Boyd, Keith Houghton, Mark Edwards and Angela Marsons. It is loosely connected to N.M. Brown's previous thrillers, also featuring Leight Jones, The Girl on the Bus and Carpenter Road, and can be read as part of a series or as an unmissable stand-alone.

Murder By The Broads


Anthony Tamiozzo - 2018
    While at a crime scene he is informed of another murder. But Burnt is also having problems at home. He suspects his wife is having an affair. As the clues unfold DS Burnt begins a game of cat and mouse.What links the two murders to a doctor and a psychiatric hospital? Trying to juggle his personal life and the job, Burnt must navigate Great Yarmouth and the surrounding areas to catch a killer and stop a vicious gang.

Dying To See You


Kerena Swan - 2018
    He’s Watching, He’s Waiting, She’s next.When Sophie is told to organize care for elderly Ivy, she is unaware that by meeting Max, Ivy’s grandson, her life will be turned upside down.As Sophie’s involvement with Max and Ivy increases she becomes more distracted by her own problems.Because Sophie is certain she is being watched.For a while, Ivy relishes Sophie’s attention but soon grows concerned about the budding relationship between Sophie and Max.Torn between Sophie and his grandmother, Max cuts ties with the care agency, leaving Sophie hurt and confused.Meanwhile, there is a murderer killing women in the area.Is there a link between Sophie’s stalker and the killings? Soon Sophie will learn that appearances can be deceiving.

Stench


A.B. Morgan - 2018
    He thought he had succeeded, until the body of a missing woman is discovered under the floor of his cottage. Only then do the guilt and shame of his wife’s mysterious, untimely death and the accusations about his connection to the missing woman combine to break him. The question is not how the missing woman died but why, and who is responsible? Sometimes the truth stinks.

The Liar's Promise


Mark Tilbury - 2017
    But her mother, Mel, doesn’t realise that this is just the beginning of the nightmare. In the coming weeks, Chloe talks of The Tall Man - Of death. At her wits end, Mel confides in Charles Honeywell, the headmaster at the school where she works. But what Kim doesn’t know is that Charles is linked to what is happening to her daughter. Will Mel learn the terrible truth? And can she overcome her own tragic past and save her daughter before it’s too late?The Liar’s Promise is a story of past lives and future torment.

Born Bad


Heather Burnside - 2017
    When your enemies get close, family loyalty is all you can trust. Brother and sister Peter and Adele Robinson never stood a chance. Dragged up by an alcoholic, violent father, and a weak, beaten mother, their childhood in Manchester only prepared them for a life of crime and struggle. But Adele is determined to break the mould. She studies hard at school and, inspired by her beloved grandmother Joyce, she finally makes a successful life for herself on her own. Peter is not so lucky. Getting more and more immersed in the murky world of crime and gangs, his close bonds with Adele gradually loosen until they look set to break altogether. But old habits die hard, and one devastating night, Adele is forced to confront her violent past. Dragged back into her worst nightmares, there's only one person she can turn to when her life is on the line – her brother Peter. After all, blood is thicker than water...

The Wrong Kind of Clouds


Amanda Fleet - 2016
    Deep trouble. Someone wants him dead. In fact, lots of people want him dead, but one of them has taken him hostage. As he’s being bundled away, he manages to call his ex-lover, Summer Morris, and begs her for help.Summer Morris, an award-winning photographer with synaesthesia, hasn’t spoken to Patrick for months. With good reason. But, he begged her for help, so she’s trying to help. Along with an off-duty police officer, Detective Sergeant LB Stewart, she gets swept into Patrick’s world of lies and deceit, in a desperate race against time to find him alive. Trying to unpick the knot of Patrick’s life takes them from an affair that could help bring down a government, to the dust and heat of Malawi, and a whole heap of trouble in between. If only they knew who wanted him dead, they might find him alive.The trouble is, almost everyone wants Patrick dead.

The Birthday Weekend


Lesley Sanderson - 2020
    It’s time we all put the past behind us. We’re meeting for my birthday. I want you there. Love, Amy. XWhen Louise receives an invitation to her old friend Amy’s birthday weekend in a cottage next to the woods near their old university campus, a chill runs down her spine.Fifteen years ago, Hannah walked into those same woods and never came back. Her death destroyed her friends. They’ve not met as a group since. Until now.As the party gets underway and old grudges are uncovered, a game of truth or dare is proposed. It’s clear one person has questions about their friend’s death – and now they want answers. And nothing will stop them.When everyone has buried secrets, digging for the truth is going to get dangerous.A gripping and addictive psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages, for fans of Gillian Flynn, Teresa Driscoll and Ruth Ware.

One Perfect Witness


Pat Young - 2018
    On each path, a boy, one carrying a gun. When their paths cross, a shot is fired and a boy dies.  That leaves two one killer and one perfect witness.This killer will stop at nothing to make sure the witness says nothing. Difficult for most people, even for someone who’s been guarding a secret of his own for five years. What if the witness decides he’s been silent too long? Sometimes even the unspeakable must be spoken, if we can find the words. Pat Young is the best-selling author of the psychological thrillers Till The Dust Settles and I Know Where You Live. One Perfect Witness is a suspenseful and gripping thriller which will appeal to fans of authors like Mark Edwards, Cara Hunter and Rachel Abbott.

She Lies Hidden


C.M. Stephenson - 2018
    Thomasine promises her mother that she will be the one to find Karen’s killer.But Karen Albright wasn’t the only girl to go missing during that weekend in 1973… Veronica Lightfoot disappeared too. They’d lived barely four miles apart, yet apparently never met. Suddenly there is a new question, was Veronica involved in her Karen’s death? Is that why she vanished?DI Mel Philips is handed the original case file and begins a new investigation.  Unwilling to be side-lined, Thomasine decides to go it alone. As the case unfolds, Thomasine realises that there may be other victims. Can she find them too? She Lies Hidden is a suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller. It will appeal to fans of authors like Cara Hunter, Louise Jensen, Katarina Diamond.