Book picks similar to
One Dark, Two Light by Ruth Mancini
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mystery
psychological-thrillers
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What Was Mine
Helen Klein Ross - 2016
It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends. When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood. Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping. What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment.
The Lies We Told
Camilla Way - 2018
Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker, and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emily, who vanished twenty years ago, suddenly reappears.Emily wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened--even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected.
The Disappearing Act
Catherine Steadman - 2021
This is her big chance to make it as an actor in Hollywood, and she is ready to do whatever it takes. At an audition she meets Emily, and what starts as a simple favour takes a dark turn when Emily goes missing and Mia is the last person to see her. Then a woman turns up, claiming to be Emily, but she is nothing like Mia remembers. Why would someone pretend to be Emily? Starting to question her own sanity, she goes on a desperate and dangerous search for answers, knowing something is very, very wrong. In an industry where everything is about creating illusions, how do you know what is real? And how much would you risk to find out?
No Place Like Home
Kerry Wilkinson - 2016
Instead, Craig left the north of England, saying goodbye to his friends and family to start a new life.Thirteen years on, redundant and separated from his wife, he returns to his hometown for the first time. It's Christmas: markets in full swing, lights twinkling, shoppers shopping, revellers revelling.Manchester has seen a revolution. The buildings soar higher, the shopping centres sprawl wider. New industries have replaced old and yet, away from the glitter, the tinsel, the hot spiced cider and the enormous inflatable Santa, some things will never change.Despite the seasonal sense of jollity, there are secrets from which Craig cannot escape and, when debt-collectors call on his parents' house, Craig realizes the teenage hell-raiser he left behind might not be so buried after all.
She Chose Me
Tracey Emerson - 2018
When she receives a blank Mother's Day card in the post, she is confused and unsettled. Who could have sent it to her and why? She isn't a mother. Another Mother's Day card arrives. Then come the silent phone calls. Haunted by disturbing flashbacks, Grace starts to unravel. Someone is out to get her. Someone who knows what she has done.
Lie With Me
Sabine Durrant - 2016
The kind we've all told - to a former acquaintance we can't quite place but still, for some reason, feel the need to impress. The story of our life, embellished for the benefit of the happily married lawyer with the kids and the lovely home.And the next thing you know, you're having dinner at their house, and accepting an invitation to join them on holiday - swept up in their perfect life, the kind you always dreamed of...Which turns out to be less than perfect. But by the time you're trapped and sweating in the relentless Greek sun, burning to escape the tension all around you - by the time you start to realise that, however painful the truth might be, it's the lies that cause the real damage...... well, by then, it could just be too late.
Longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year
Day of the Accident
Nuala Ellwood - 2018
That she drowned when the car Maggie had been driving plunged into the river. Maggie remembers nothing.When Maggie begs to see her husband Sean, the police tell her that he has disappeared. He was last seen on the day of her daughter's funeral.What really happened that day at the river?Where is Maggie's husband?And why can't she shake the suspicion that somewhere, somehow, her daughter is still alive?
The Assistant
S.K. Tremayne - 2019
She controls your life. Now she’s going to destroy it.A terrifying and timely new psychological thriller, from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ice Twins.She watches you constantly.Newly divorced Jo is delighted to move into her best friend’s spare room almost rent-free. The high-tech luxury Camden flat is managed by a meticulous Home Assistant, called Electra, that takes care of the heating, the lights – and sometimes Jo even turns to her for company. She knows all your secrets.Until, late one night, Electra says one sentence that rips Jo’s fragile world in two: ‘I know what you did.’ And Jo is horrified. Because in her past she did do something terrible. Something unforgivable. Now she wants to destroy you.Only two other people in the whole world know Jo’s secret. And they would never tell anyone. Would they? As a fierce winter brings London to a standstill, Jo begins to understand that the Assistant on the shelf doesn’t just want to control Jo; it wants to destroy her.
The Passenger
Lisa Lutz - 2016
I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?
The Absence of Mercy
John Burley - 2013
Safe from the crime and congestion of city life, it is the perfect place to raise a family . . . or so they thought.Life as the town medical examiner is relatively unhurried for Dr. Ben Stevenson. With only a smattering of cases here and there-car accident victims, death by natural causes-he has plenty of time to spend with his loving wife and two sons. That is until a teenager's body is discovered in the woods and Ben, as the only coroner in the area, is assigned to the case. But as the increasingly animalistic attacks continue, the case challenges Ben in ways he never suspects.With its eerie portrait of suburban life and nerve-fraying plot twists, this is psychological suspense at its best-an extraordinary debut that challenges as much as it thrills.
Between You and Me
Lisa Hall - 2016
They love each other. But they aren’t happy. Sal cannot leave, no matter what Charlie does – no matter how much it hurts.
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.
In Harm's Way
Owen Mullen - 2018
It’s dilapidated and near-derelict, and nobody is interested in it. But for one potential buyer, the remote location and rat-infested cellar are just what he’s looking for.For the first year, Mackenzie’s marriage to Derek was ideal. Now though, Derek believes she is having an affair, and when she fears her husband is becoming controlling, she knows she’s made a terrible mistake.But Mackenzie has a drinking problem, so when she threatens to leave Derek and then disappears, no one believes she has been abducted. It will fall to DS Geddes to untangle the truth…Owen Mullen is a best-selling author of psychological and gangland thrillers. His fast-paced, twist-aplenty stories are perfect for all fans of Robert Galbraith, Ian Rankin and Ann Cleeves.
Blink
K.L. Slater - 2017
The police have never been able to find her. There were no witnesses, no CCTV, no trace. But Toni believes her daughter is alive. And as she begins to silently piece together her memories, the full story of the past begins to reveal itself, and a devastating truth. Toni’s mind is trapped in a world of silence, her only chance to save herself is to manage the impossible. She must find a way to make herself heard. She must find her daughter.
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.