Book picks similar to
Close by Martina Cole
martina-cole
crime
fiction
mystery
Stop At Nothing
Tammy Cohen - 2019
Tess has always tried to be a good mother. Of course, there are things she wishes she'd done differently, but doesn't everyone feel that way?Then Emma, her youngest, is attacked on her way home from a party, plunging them into a living nightmare which only gets worse when the man responsible is set freeBut what if she fails?So when Tess sees the attacker in the street near their home, she is forced to take matters into her own hands. But blinded by her need to protect her daughter at any cost, might she end up putting her family in even greater danger?There's nothing she wouldn't do to make it right . . .
The Babysitter
Phoebe Morgan - 2020
Fast-moving. Addictive. And all too possible’ Jane Corry ‘Smart, suspenseful and oh so twisty’ Victoria Selman ‘Another brilliant read – possibly my favourite of hers yet. Tense, twisty and gripping. I was NOT expecting that twist!’ Claire Allan On the hottest day of the year, Caroline Harvey is found dead in Suffolk. Her body is left draped over a cot – but the baby she was looking after is missing. Hundreds of miles away, Siobhan Dillon is on a luxurious family holiday in France when her husband, Callum, is arrested by French police on suspicion of murder. As Siobhan’s perfect family is torn apart by the media in the nation’s frantic search for the missing baby, she desperately tries to piece together how Callum knew Caroline.What happened that night? Was Caroline as innocent as she seemed – or was she hiding a secret of her own?
The thrilling new book from the number one digital bestselling author of The Doll House and The Girl Next Door.
Praise for The Babysitter:
‘I loved it, those twists!’ B A Paris, The Dilemma‘This had me at the title. Fast-moving. Addictive. And all too possible’ Jane Corry, I Looked Away‘Smart, suspenseful and oh so twisty’ Victoria Selman, Blood for Blood‘Another brilliant read – possibly my favourite of hers yet. Tense, twisty and gripping. I was NOT expecting that twist!’ Claire Allan, Her Name Was Rose'Everything I love in a crime novel – a race-against-time mystery full of betrayal, divided loyalties, dubious men and relationships strained to breaking point. Hugely enjoyable and impossible to put down' Jane Casey, Cruel Acts‘Smart and sophisticated, with a payoff that’s well worth the wait. This is a dark, chilling thriller oozing with secrets, betrayals and twists’ John Marrs, The One‘Brilliant – could not put it down’ Emma Curtis, The Night You Left‘A tense, smart thriller about betrayal, loyalty and the lengths people will go to to protect their carefully constructed lives. The suspense builds beautifully on every page until the final killer twist’ Niki Mackay, Found Her
While My Eyes Were Closed
Linda Green - 2016
. . Lisa Dale shuts her eyes and counts to one hundred during a game of hide-and-seek. When she opens them, her four-year-old daughter Ella is gone. Disappeared without a trace. The police, the media and Lisa's family all think they know who snatched Ella. But what if the person who took her isn't a stranger? What if they are convinced they are doing the right thing? And what if Lisa's little girl is in danger of disappearing forever?
The Woodcutter
Reginald Hill - 2010
From humble origins as a Cumbrian woodcutter's son, he has risen to become a successful entrepreneur, happily married to the girl of his dreams. A knock on the door one morning ends it all. Universally reviled, thrown into prison, abandoned by friends & family, Wolf retreats into silence.
The Woman He Loved Before
Dorothy Koomson - 2011
But over time she is becoming more unsure if Jack has ever loved her ? and if he is over the death of Eve, his first wife. When fate intervenes in their relationship, Libby decides to find out all she can about the man she hastily married and the seemingly perfect Eve. Eventually Libby stumbles across some startling truths about Eve, and is soon unearthing more and more devastating family secrets. Frightened by what she finds and the damage it could cause, Libby starts to worry that she too will end up like the first woman Jack loved...Tense and moving, The Woman He Loved Before explores if the love you want is always the love you need ? or deserve.
The Second Sister
Claire Kendal - 2017
An intoxicating cocktail of loyalty and secrets, lies and betrayal, reminiscent of Rosamund Lupton’s Sister and Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia.A decade ago, Ella Brooke’s older sister, Miranda, vanished without a trace. With every passing year, Ella has come to resemble more closely the sister she lost—the same dark hair, the same piercing blue eyes—and now she’s the same age Miranda was when she disappeared.Ella has never let go of her sister. She can still feel Miranda’s presence, still hear her voice. She still talks to her. What holds Ella together is her love for her sister’s ten-year-old son and her work as a self-defense expert helping victims.Ella is certain that Miranda was taken, and that one man is key to her disappearance: Jason Thorne. The tabloids report that a new link has been found connecting Miranda to this sadistic serial killer locked away in a psychiatric hospital. Ignoring warnings from the police and the disapproval of her parents, she seeks Thorne out. Ella will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth—no matter how dangerous…
The Dinner Guest
B.P. Walter - 2021
One would never leave.Matthew: the perfect husband.Titus: the perfect son.Charlie: the perfect illusion.Rachel: the perfect stranger.Charlie didn’t want her at the book club. Matthew wouldn’t listen.And that’s how Charlie finds himself slumped beside his husband’s body, their son sitting silently at the dinner table, while Rachel calls 999, the bloody knife still gripped in her hand.Agatha Christie meets Donna Tartt in this nerve-shredding domestic noir thriller that weaves a sprawling web of secrets around an opulent West London world and the dinner that ends in death.
The Innocent Wife
Amy Lloyd - 2018
You Trust Him. So Why Are You So Scared?Twenty years ago, Dennis Danson was arrested and imprisoned for the brutal murder of a young girl. Now he’s the subject of a true-crime documentary that’s whipping up a frenzy online to uncover the truth and free a man who has been wrongly convicted.A thousand miles away in England, Samantha is obsessed with Dennis’s case. She exchanges letters with him, and is quickly won over by his apparent charm and kindness to her. Soon she has left her old life behind to marry him and campaign for his release.When the campaign is successful and Dennis is freed, however, Sam begins to discover new details that suggest he may not be quite so innocent after all. But how do you confront your husband when you don’t want to know the truth?
The Murder Bag
Tony Parsons - 2014
If you like crime-novels by Ian Rankin and Peter James, you will love this.Twenty years ago seven rich, privileged students became friends at their exclusive private school, Potter's Field. Now they have started dying in the most violent way imaginable.Detective Max Wolfe has recently arrived in the Homicide division of London's West End Central, 27 Savile Row.Soon he is following the bloody trail from the backstreets and bright lights of the city, to the darkest corners of the internet and all the way to the corridors of power.As the bodies pile up, Max finds the killer's reach getting closer to everything - and everyone - he loves. Soon he is fighting not only for justice, but for his own life ...
Someone Else's Skin
Sarah Hilary - 2014
Five years ago, her family home was the scene of a shocking and bloody crime that left her parents dead and her foster brother in prison. Marnie doesn’t talk much about her personal life, preferring to focus on work. Not even her partner, DS Noah Jake, knows much about Marnie’s past. Though as one of the few gay officers on the force and half Jamaican to boot, Noah’s not one to overshare about his private life either. Now Marnie and Noah are tackling a case of domestic violence, and a different brand of victim.Hope Proctor stabbed her husband in desperate self-defense. A crowd of witnesses in the domestic violence shelter where she’s staying saw it happen, but none of them are telling quite the same story, and the simple question remains: how did Leo Proctor get in to the secure shelter? Marnie and Noah shouldn’t even have been there when it happened but they were interviewing another resident, Ayana Mirza. They’re trying to get Ayana to testify against her brothers for pouring bleach on her face for bringing dishonor to the family, and blinding her in one eye. But Ayana knows that her brothers are looking for her, and she has no doubt that they’ll kill her this time.As the violence spirals, engulfing the residents of the women's shelter, Marnie finds herself drawn into familiar territory: A place where the past casts long shadows and she must tread carefully to survive.
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Willow Rose - 2013
She decides to move there with her family, much to her teenage-daughter's regret. One morning a wealthy old woman in her street is found murdered and soon Emma finds herself wrapped in a mystery uncovering the island's dark secrets that not only runs deep within the history of the island but also within her own family. From the author of the International Bestselling books, the Rebekka Franck-series comes a new Scandinavian Mystery destined to keep you up all night. This is the first book in the Emma Frost-series and is followed by Miss Polly had a dolly.
The Cellar
Natasha Preston - 2014
No family or police investigation can track her down. Spending months inside the cellar of her kidnapper with several other girls, Summer learns of Colin’s abusive past, and his thoughts of his victims being his family…his perfect, pure flowers. But flowers can’t survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out….
Ordeal by Innocence
Agatha Christie - 1958
Arthur Calgary discovers that he alone could have provided an alibi in a scandalous murder trial. It ended in the conviction of Jacko Argyle. The victim was Jacko's own mother, and to make matters worse, he died in prison. But the young man's innocence means that someone else killed the Argyle matriarch, and would certainly kill again to remain in the shadows. Shaded in the moral ambiguity of murder, the provocative psychological puzzler of guilt, vengeance, and blood secrets is among Agatha Christie's personal favorites.
The Three Beths
Jeff Abbott - 2018
Her compass. Her belief. So when she glimpses her mother--who's been missing and presumed dead for the past two years--on the other side of a crowded food court, Mariah's conviction becomes stronger than ever. Or is she losing her mind?Her mother disappeared without a trace and--even without a body or any physical evidence--suspicion for her murder immediately fell upon Mariah's father, leaving both father and daughter ostracized from their close-knit community.Until one day, Mariah stumbles upon the fact that two other women have also disappeared recently from Lakehaven. And all three women had the same name: Beth.Is it merely an unlikely coincidence? Or is there a deeper, sinister connection between the three Beths?Mariah would give anything to find out what happened to her mother. But the truth may be worse than she could have imagined...
The Mercy Seat
Martyn Waites - 2006
. . with his bruised characters, raw-edged dialogue, and extraordinary night vision."-"The New York Times Book Review" "London's dark heart has seldom been exposed with such surgical precision. Brutal, mesmerizing stuff."-Ian Rankin"A huge talent."-"TimeOut London""One of the brightest stars in the British crime writing firmament."-John ConnollyA research scientist has gone missing. An ace newspaper reporter has disappeared; so has a minidisc, along with its incriminating evidence. And a teenage hustler is on the run. In his pursuer, the Hammer, a skin-headed professional killer with a blue sapphire tooth and a taste for death metal, "the principle of evil" has indeed been "made flesh."From its staggering opening to an electrifying finish, its prose pumping adrenaline all the way, Martyn Waites' new novel wrests former investigative journalist Joe Donovan out of his reclusion in Newcastle. His heart broken by the disappearance of his six-year-old son two years earlier-a case that remains unsolved-he now finds his destiny entwined with that of the streetwise but vulnerable and frightened teenager Jamal. For on the minidisc, lifted by an unwitting Jamal, lies a crucial, increasingly perilous link to Donovan's past.Unsettling and unpredictable, this taut, compelling page-turner of a novel delivers point-blank every unexpected narrative hit, twist, and turn as it leads Donovan finally to the terror of the mercy seat.Martyn Waites is emerging as one of the leading writers of British noir fiction. "The Mercy Seat" is his first American release. He lives in Newcastle.