Book picks similar to
Behind The Pretty Pink Door by M.J. Hardy
thriller
fiction
mystery
ebook
Back to Lazarus
Judy K. Walker - 2014
He beat and choked her to death. I'm told that he was found hanging from a homemade noose in his cell. I want to know why he waited so long to do it." Sydney Brennan isn't sure how to answer her client's question, short of holding a séance, and the Tallahassee detective has some questions of her own. Why does Noel Thomas remember so little about her childhood? Why is she delving into her father's suicide now? And, most importantly, why isn't Noel telling her the truth?Sydney crisscrosses the Florida Panhandle, reconstructing the tragic Thomas family history. The violence that destroyed the Thomas family connects to a present-day web of deceit and corruption through a desperate man willing to do anything to keep his secrets safe. To discover his identity, Sydney must go Back to Lazarus, back to the town where Noel's beautiful but troubled mother began her inevitable descent over twenty years ago. But by following in the footsteps of the murdered woman, does Sydney risk sharing her fate?Rooted in bars and back roads and Panhandle prisons, forgotten towns and forgotten people, at its heart Back to Lazarus is about stories: the stories people tell us, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when we realize it's all a lie.
A Familiar Sight
Brianna Labuskes - 2021
Gretchen White is a specialist in antisocial personality disorders and violent crimes. She’s helped solve enough prominent cases for detective Patrick Shaughnessy that her own history is often overlooked: Gretchen is an admitted sociopath once suspected of killing her aunt. Shaughnessy still thinks Gretchen got away with murder. It’s not going to happen again.When a high-profile new case lands on Shaughnessy’s desk, it seems open and shut. Remorseless teenager Viola Kent is accused of killing her mother. Amid stories of childhood horrors and Viola’s cruel manipulations, the bad seed has already been found guilty by a rapt public. But Gretchen might be seeing something in Viola no one else does: herself.If Viola is a scapegoat, then who really did it? And what are they hiding? To find the truth, Gretchen must enter a void that is not only dark and cold-blooded, but also frighteningly familiar.
Time to Run
Susan C. Muller - 2019
She decides to hide out until the case is solved and her name cleared.In each new city she tries to make a life for herself, but no place feels safe. She can still hear the violent confrontation, smell the blood . . . she still watches over her shoulder everywhere she goes, terrified of being discovered . . . eliminated.Now her worst fears have come true. The hit man has found her. And so has Special Agent Montgomery, the one person with the power to either lock her up or clear her name--if only he'll believe her.Unwilling to take that chance, she must run again. Only this time she has an added burden . . . a wounded FBI agent who depends on her to keep him alive until he's well enough to arrest her.
Travel by Night
Sophie Morton-Thomas - 2020
Caught in a dangerous trap. A life-changing discovery. When Yalina wakes in hospital following surgery, she doesn’t recognise her own parents. Following her release, she makes the decision to meet her estranged brother, Ali, in Sheffield, but the man who picks her up is not her brother. He takes Yalina to a house where girls are held against their will and forced into sex slavery. Too late, she realises she has fallen into a trap.Over time, Yalina discovers a love of playing the old piano that lives in the house. It keeps her sane. As friendships blossom between the women, Yalina finds herself taking a young girl, Rebecca, under her wing, which makes it harder for her to try to escape.Using a stolen laptop, Yalina searches for her brother online, but soon discovers that all is not as it seems. As the women are threatened with violence, Yalina reluctantly accepts help from a stranger she met in the house. But he carries a secret that could impact on her whole life. But will it be enough for Yalina to escape her captors? And how will she cope with the unexpected revelation?
What You Did
Claire McGowan - 2019
A devastating accusation. Who should she trust, her husband or her best friend?It was supposed to be the perfect reunion: six university friends together again after twenty years. Host Ali finally has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her best friend makes an accusation so shocking that nothing will ever be the same again.When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying—but which? And why?When the ensuing chaos forces her to re-examine the golden era the group shared at university, Ali realises there are darker memories too. Memories that have lain dormant for decades. Memories someone would kill to protect.
The Six
Anni Taylor - 2017
She's stunned when she's offered a lifeline: A program that includes a six-day stay in a Greek monastery, six challenges and a chance at sixty thousand dollars. There is just one condition - she must keep it secret. Evie's husband Gray is gutted to find the note that Evie left behind. Why did she leave and where did she go? And is she ever coming back? But his anger turns to alarm as he begins to piece together the circumstances of his wife's disappearance. When Evie's car is found burned in woodland, the police suspect him of murdering Evie. Gray has got one chance to get out of the country and find Evie - before he's arrested for something he didn't do.Too late, Evie discovers the chilling truth about the program and the island itself. And the closer she gets to finding an escape, the closer the deadly danger lurking in the depths of the monastery gets to her.
The Memory Closet
Ninie Hammon - 2009
She understands that something profoundly evil lurks in the swirling purple haze of her amnesia. For a quarter of a century, she was enslaved by what she called the "Boogie Man"-- images from her lost childhood that appeared in the shadows behind her reflection in mirrors and wine glasses, haunted her dreams and attacked her in screaming night terrors. Fear of facing that secret held her hostage. Like a schoolyard bully, it twisted her arm behind her back and forced her to accept that her life began at age 11 in the dirt beside the ditch where the family station wagon burned like hell had opened up a crack in the world right there in the back seat. Then the Boogie Man destroyed her career. And Anne saw him in her dying mother's eyes. With her last breath, Susan Mitchell begged for her daughter's forgiveness. She didn't mean for it to happen, she gasped, but she'll burn in hell for what she did all the same. What did her mother do? Anne has to know. So she has come home to a small Texas prairie town to live with her crazy grandmother in the rambling old house where she grew up, determined to take a stand there against the Boogie Man.But Anne isn't really prepared for how expensive remembering might be. The cost of her memories might be her sanity. Each new revelation loosens Anne's grip on reality. Surely her crazy grandmother didn't do THAT to Anne's beloved parakeet! Yes, the old woman DID! No ... actually, she didn't. The horror that attacks her in the garage--it can't possibly be real...can it? And most important: what happened to the little Indian girl with a face like a china doll whose name was Laughs in the Wind? The Boogie Man knows. He also knows Anne's here. He knows it's showtime. And he knows what she doesn't--that Anne might very well have to pay for her past with her future, that the cost of remembering could be her life.
Coming Home
Laurèn Lee - 2020
. .
Former police officer Elle Dahlia is a magnet for death. Still grieving the murder of her fiance, Dahlia travels home to attend the funeral for her stepmother. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, she finds herself staring at the bottom of the bottle.When a young woman is brutally murdered in her home, Dahlia discovers the victim was a young girl she watched over for many years. On a desperate path to avenge the girl’s death, she opens her own, unofficial investigation into the crime. Surrounded by secrets, Dahlia must connect the dots and find the murderer before he finds her.Heart wrenching and suspenseful, Coming Home is a journey into one woman’s soul as she hunts for truth, justice, and the man with evil rooted in his soul.
An Ace and A Pair
Blake Banner - 2017
But he’s a dinosaur who belongs to another age. Detective Carmen Dehan has such a bad attitude that nobody at the precinct can stomach her. Captain Jennifer Cuevas wants them both out of the way and thinks they make a perfect pair. So she gives them the Cold Cases file – the cases nobody gives a damn about.She has no idea just how hot a cold case can get.Ten years back Nelson Hernandez and his four cousins were playing poker in a dive at Hunts Point. Somebody came in, blew them away and beheaded and castrated Nelson, leaving his head and his balls on the table. There was no shortage of suspects, the Jersey Mob, the Triads from Manhattan, or the 43rds own bent cop, Mick Harragan. But nobody was ever charged, and the night of the murder Mick Harragan went missing with Nelson’s wife, Maria.Now Stone and Dehan plan to find him – whatever the consequences…
Her Last Breath
Hilary Davidson - 2021
However, her sorrow turns to bone-chilling confusion when she receives a message Caroline sent days earlier warning that her death would be no accident. Long used to being a pariah to her family, Deirdre covers her tattoos and heads to Manhattan for her sister’s funeral.The message claimed Caroline’s husband, Theo, killed his first wife and got away with it. Reeling from the news, Deirdre confronts Theo on the way to the cemetery, and he reveals both his temper and his suspicion that Deirdre’s “perfect” sister was having an affair.Paranoid and armed with just enough information to make her dangerous, Deirdre digs into the disturbing secrets buried with Caroline. But as she gets closer to the truth, she realizes that her own life may be at risk…and that there may be more than one killer in the family.
Following You
Eva Lesko Natiello - 2021
Guaranteed to shock.” —Samantha Downing, bestselling author of My Lovely Wife
A missing body.
A dead body.
A somebody.
A nobody.
It's New Year's Eve in Southern California. Shae Wilmont, the adored celebrity host of IShop—a popular shopping site—is ready to reclaim her life. Her stalker's been caught. But en route to a party, a bizarre encounter lands her in the wrong place at the wrong time. She panics. And trusts her gut. It's a devastating mistake.Only one person knows where she ends up. It's where no one can find her.
Shae's stunned fans rally to track her down. Yet the charismatic Shae they know, who delivers digital intimacy to viewers who buy anything she sells, off camera is an enigma—private and strangely insecure. She's unable to let anyone get close. When the investigation exposes startling personal secrets, the paradox of Shae begins to unravel.
In this dark psychological thriller, the lives of three strangers collide irreversibly. Honey, a displaced Southern girl with a painful past, is fiercely protective of her new friends at the expense of her own safety. Creepy Lawrence, a Detective Bureau fast-tracker with a penchant for latex gloves and a perverse obsession with Shae. And Shae, with millions of fake friends but hardly a real one. All three are hiding something, but only two of them are lying.Time is running out. But the only way to find Shae, is for someone to discover who she really is.
Nothing is what it seems in this propulsive locked room thriller. Eva Lesko Natiello is back with another gripping suspense, keeping you guessing until the final page.
"Intense and creepy."
"Wickedly plotted."
"Gripping till the last page."
"If you think you know how this book will end—you're dead wrong!"ADVANCE PRAISE:
"Expertly paced, gripping, and intoxicating, FOLLOWING YOU will leave you breathless." —J.D. Barker, New York Times bestselling author of A Caller's Game
“FOLLOWING YOU is a dark, delicious thriller. Read it with the lights on.”
—Amber Garza, author of When I Was You
“An inherently riveting and deftly crafted novel of dark psychological suspense, FOLLOWING YOU showcases author Eva Lesko Natiello's genuine flair for originality and a distinctively entertaining narrative storytelling style. Highly recommended, especially for library Contemporary Mystery/Suspense collections . . . and all dedicated psychological thriller fans . . .”—Midwest Book Review“Eva Lesko Natiello, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE MEMORY BOX, returns with a sizzler in FOLLOWING YOU . . . Diabolically twisted and entertaining . . . Intense and creepy . . . A smart, wickedly plotted psychological thriller brimming with dark surprises at each page turn. From the enigmatic and stunning front cover to the gripping last page, you will be spellbound.”—Judith D. Collins, Must Read Books
I Know Your Every Move
Diane Ezzard - 2017
Sophie's life is about to be turned upside down Sophie has worked hard to free herself from the clutches of addiction and turn her life around. Practising as a counsellor, in a women's centre in Manchester, she now helps other girls in trouble. She forms a close relationship with Cassie, one of her clients and tries to help her escape the clutches of a violent boyfriend. But is Sophie being followed? How can she uncover the truth, when she can't trust what is real? The more she delves, the closer she gets to danger. Can she revisit her own dark past before it is too late? Get hooked on this dark, twist-filled suspense thriller that's in the vein of works by Rachel Abbott and Mark Edwards.
The Last Thing She Ever Did
Gregg Olsen - 2018
. .The community along Oregon's Deschutes River is one of successful careers and perfect families. For years, up-and-comers Liz and Owen have admired their good friends and neighbors, Carole and David. They appear to have it all--security, happiness, and a beautiful young son, Charlie.Then Charlie vanishes without a trace, and all that seemed safe is shattered by a tragedy that is incomprehensible--except to Liz.It took one fleeting moment for her to change the lives of everyone she loves--a heartrending accident that can't be undone. Neither can the second-worst mistake of her life: concealing it. As two marriages crack and buckle in grief and fear, Liz retreats into her own dark place of guilt, escalating paranoia--and betrayals even she can't imagine. Because there's another good neighbor who has his own secrets, his own pain, and his own reasons for watching Liz's every move.And only he knows that the mystery of the missing boy on the Deschutes River is far from over.
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer
Demelza Carlton - 2013
The worst part is that they're human. "Name?" "Nathan Miller.""What happened?""I was shot.""By whom?""A homicidal lunatic with a gun and bad aim." "Her name?""Caitlin Lockyer.""What happened to her?""Looks like someone tried to kill her."Nathan found Caitlin on a beach covered in blood. Saving her life was just the start. Now he's the prime suspect and he has to find out who's really responsible. Both of their lives depend on it.Who hurt her? Why was he shot? What did he promise? Why doesn't his story add up? Who was the dead man on the beach? What will she remember when she wakes up? A tiny taste of what's in store: "Stay away from her, Nathan. That girl isn't good for you."Stay away from her? I'd go crazy with worry in a day. "You don't know her."Chris looked grim. "Neither do you. Is there anything you wouldn't do for her?" "Yes," I snapped. "I wouldn't die for her."Chris turned around to stare at me, her mouth hanging open. "Do you want to know why?" I asked steadily. "I wouldn't die for her because I wouldn't be able to protect her any more. What if I missed one of the people who hurt her? I couldn't take that risk. She's too important." Nightmares Trilogy Dark, disturbing and definitely scary - Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer is the first book in Demelza Carlton's Nightmares Trilogy. The second book is Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller.
Doll House
John Hunt - 2017
She will be on her own, in a new place hopeful to meet new friends. On the night she moves in, she is taken off the street by two masked men. She is placed in a room which is little more than a cell. A pink cell. A room made for a doll. She is now part of their collection.