Book picks similar to
Playthings by Daniel I. Russell
horror
mystery-suspense
psychological
thriller-suspense
Sisters Under the Skin
Marcia Willett - 2019
Rosie, Mummy and Daddy’s little Princess, can certainly look after herself though, and cunningly throws secret spanners in the works for her sisters. As the girls grow older, Rosie becomes more and more manipulative and her schemes soon take on a more malicious note. But even she can go too far and, when Olivia and Emily find out what she has in store for them, they decide the time has come to put a stop to their sister’s antics once and for all … Praise for Marcia Willett: 'Unexpected subtlety and charm ... a genuine voice of our times' - The Times 'With beautifully ironic observations and flashbacks to a mysterious past, the story has a twist in the tail so staggering that it necessitates re-reading and a strong cup of tea' - The Lady Willa Marsh was born in Somerset and lives in a Georgian parsonage in Devon with her husband and two Newfoundlands. As Marcia Willett, she also writes well-reviewed novels published by Headline.
The Boy No One Loved: Free Sampler
Casey Watson - 2015
Their mother, a heroin addict, had left them alone again. Later that day, after trying to burn down the family home, Justin was taken into care.Six years on, after 20 failed placements, Justin arrives at Casey’s home. Casey and her husband Mike are specialist foster carers. They practice a new style of foster care that focuses on modifying the behaviour of profoundly damaged children. They are Justin’s last hope, and it quickly becomes clear that they are facing a big challenge.Try as they might to make him welcome, he seems determined to strip his life of all the comforts they bring him, violently lashing out at schoolmates and family and throwing any affection they offer him back in their faces. After a childhood filled with hurt and rejection, Justin simply doesn’t want to know. But, as it soon emerges, this is only the tip of a chilling iceberg.A visit to Justin’s mother on Boxing Day reveals that there are some very dark underlying problems that Justin has never spoken about. As the full picture becomes clearer, and the horrific truth of Justin’s early life is revealed, Casey and her family finally start to understand the pain he has suffered…
The Haunting of Blackburn Manor: Complete Series Box Set
Blake Croft - 2019
Evil just got a new address… After months on the run from an abusive relationship, Linda Green is ready to slow down and start her life over again. Exhausted from ever-present fear and stress, she yearns for the peace that a fresh start can bring. A fresh start she hopes to find at Blackburn Manor. The lush green trees and serene nature surrounding the manor feel so calming to her frazzled soul that Linda is ready to take advantage of everything this peaceful oasis has to offer. No internet, no distractions. It’s perfect. Until she sees the faces in the window. Not one to believe much in the supernatural, Linda shrugs it off as just a feeling. But the longer she’s at the manor, the more the feeling of uneasiness grows. From the creepy old neighbor who watches her every move to the moving shadows and unexplained phone calls in the middle of the night, something is just not right. She can trust no one. Not even herself. As Linda begins to uncover the history of the place, she is sure that something strange is going on at Blackburn Manor. Something sinister that hides in the shadows, deep within walls cloaked with secrets. Something that will stop at nothing to keep those secrets hidden. The Haunting of Blackburn Manor is a chilling supernatural tale of what happens when a woman’s search for sanctuary turns into a desperate and terrifying attempt to save her own life. Evil truly has a new address...
Sanctioned
R.A. McGee - 2020
But there’s a bullet out there with his name on it…Covert operative Czerny Clark has had his fill of black-ops and bloodshed. After an assassination mission ends in chaos, he vows to hang up his holster. But when his former partner disappears while tailing a Russian explosives expert, Clark picks up his guns and dives back into the life he thought he left behind.Following a trail of bodies to Central America, Clark will stop at nothing to free his colleague. But while he’s busy squeezing the trigger on his rescue mission, a plan for a devastating act of terrorism brews in the wings.Can Clark neutralize a madman before thousands of innocents die?Sanctioned is the heart-stopping first book in the Blackthorn spy thriller series. If you like gritty heroes, pulse-pounding plots, and top-secret twists, then you’ll love R.A. McGee’s blood-soaked tale.
The Lost Page: An Archaeological Thriller
Joe Edd Morris - 2021
Paralleling their quest is the story of the evangelist’s escape with the scroll from the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., his struggles to complete the manuscript and his journeys and efforts with the daughter of Peter the Apostle to protect and save it for the ages. For both couples, time is running out and enemies are closing in.Richly evocative and fiercely moving, this literary thriller explores the hard questions: Did Mark intentionally omit the resurrection story, leaving it shrouded in mystery? Or did it become detached and lost forever?Discover the answer in The Lost Page.
Murder is Medical: A Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mystery (Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mysteries Book 10)
Diane Weiner - 2019
Louis to find out where Evan will be doing his residency, the Match Day celebration takes a deadly turn. The dean of the medical school dies at the reception. Was it a heart attack or was it murder? Kept in St. Louis due to a personal crisis, Susan teams up with the mother of the detective assigned to the case. It's double trouble as the duo uncovers secrets worthy of murder. Meanwhile, Susan confronts her biggest fear--losing someone close to her heart. Set in the biggest small town in the country, Murder is Medical takes you through a whirlwind of suspects and emotions as the mystery is unraveled.
Untitled Rosie Lewis Memoir 2: Part 1 of 3
Rosie Lewis - 2014
The Haunting of Bloodlore House
Tabatha Cross - 2017
Forbidden love spans the ages to occupy Bloodlore House for ever after. The Barnes family move into an expansive old Tudor home, never imaging they could ever own such splendour. The family’s three children, Sam and Jane, and Bridget, the brooding, love-sick teenager have the uppermost third-floor room as their game room, and a local babysitter, Tess thrown in to the mix. This room comes with a sinister ambience, an irremovable wooden cross and a jammed window, but is there more lurking unseen in this otherwise empty old room? Nightmares, voices and inexplicable happenings change each family member in different ways, and the babysitter is not left unscathed. Who will win out, the ancient or the contemporary? This compelling debut from Tabatha Cross will have the hairs standing on the back of your neck.
Gifted Magick: The Children of Dark Root: Book Two
April Aasheim - 2019
This famed rose is sought by all who know of it, saturated with Other-Worldly magick. An offering from one side of the Veil to the other, a symbol of beauty and love. --From the Grimoire of Juliana Benbridge *** It's Winter Solstice Days in Dark Root, and strange happenings abound. The Hellhounds that arrived with Samhain may still be lurking in the woods, people are forgetting things--as if under a spell, and June Bug has taken adolescent rebellion to an all new level. The only common thread appears to be Erin, the pretty, new waitress at Dip Stix. Determined to solve the riddle, Maggie once again turns to the Deciphering Stone and Juliana's scrolls. What she uncovers is a story with ancient roots, and modern relevance. In fact, what Maggie discovers might just be the most important discovery of her life. Magick. Mystery. Mysticism. Maggie.
Burn the Rabbit: Rabbit in Red Volume Two
Joe Chianakas - 2016
He's looking forward to learning the craft, renewing last year's friendships, and above all, to seeing Jaime, and finally asking her to be his girlfriend.But before he even gets to see her, one of their own is violently attacked. JB goes on the hunt, and the students learn about his troubled past, which changes their views of him forever. As their project, they create Rabbit in Red's most terrifying and disturbing challenge yet, Hellfire, and use it to recruit a new class of horror students.Then the bodies start piling up, and the mysteries become more and more dangerous. Is this another one of JB's dark games-within-a-game, or will Rabbit in Red--and everyone in it--burn in the end
FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL: It's survival of the fittest in a Post-Apocalyptic world (Pandemic Virus Series Book 1)
Brian J. Savage - 2020
Loss of the Decade
Brandon Enns - 2018
Private investigator Tom Bennett's daughter was kidnapped ten years ago. As he attempts to find solace, a series of unexpected phone calls lead him down a dark and desperate path. Against the better judgment of his partner, therapist, and ex-wife, he digs into past suspects that he had previously given up on. Vengeful parents? Ruthless drug syndicate he had stripped apart and put behind bars? Or an entirely new suspect he’d missed? One new question, one new answer. Pull the thread and follow Tom on his journey of heartache as he stops at nothing to get his daughter back.
A Heart Filled With Joy
Indiana Wake - 2021
His neighbors have been a great help with his daughter Charlotte, but he can’t work and take care of her properly.The town matchmaker Emma Hilton has the perfect woman to help Bradley with his baby girl.Nanny Shannon Howell loves taking care of children, but she’d also like to find a husband. She’s eager to travel west in hopes of finding a family to call her own. Shannon is happy to help Bradley with baby Charlotte. Unfortunately, Shannon’s former employer is having problems letting her go.Will the man that traveled across the country drag her back to the east?Has Shannon found the place where she can be her true self with Bradley and Charlotte in Lubbock, Texas?Find out in the first book in a brand new series from Bestselling Mail Order Bride Authors Indiana Wake & Belle Fiffer
Lantern Beach Mysteries, Books 4-6
Christy Barritt - 2019
She’s been tucked away on Lantern Beach for weeks, waiting to testify against a deadly gang, and is settling in to a new life she wants to last forever.When she thinks she spots someone malevolent from her past, panic swells inside her. If an enemy has found her, Cassidy won’t be the only one who’s a target. Everyone she’s come to love will also be at risk. Dangerous waters threaten to pull her into an overpowering chasm she may never escape. Can Cassidy survive what lies ahead? Or has the tide fatally turned against her?
Perilous Riptide
Just when the current seems safer, an unseen danger emerges and threatens to destroy everything.
When Cassidy Livingston finds a journal hidden deep in the recesses of her ice cream truck, her curiosity kicks into high gear. Islanders suspect that Elsa, the journal’s owner, didn’t die accidentally. Her final entry indicates their suspicions might be correct and that what Elsa observed on her final night may have led to her demise.Against the advice of Ty Chambers, her former Navy SEAL boyfriend, Cassidy taps into her detective skills and hunts for answers. But her search only leads to a skeletal body and trouble for both of them. As helplessness threatens to drown her, Cassidy is desperate to turn back time.Can Cassidy find what she needs to navigate the perilous situation? Or will the riptide surrounding her threaten everyone and everything Cassidy loves?
Deadly Undertow
The current’s fatal pull is powerful, but so is one detective’s will to live.
When someone from Cassidy Livingston’s past shows up on Lantern Beach and warns her of impending peril, opposing currents collide, threatening to drag her under. Running would be easy. But leaving would break her heart.Cassidy must decipher between the truth and lies, between reality and deception. Even more importantly, she must decide whom to trust and whom to fear. Her life depends on it. As danger rises and answers surface, everything Cassidy thought she knew is tested.In order to survive, Cassidy must take drastic measures and end the battle against the ruthless gang DH-7 once and for all. But if her final mission fails, the consequences will be as deadly as the raging undertow.
The Neglected Ones (The Haunting of Stone Cliff)
C.L. Salaski - 2017
. . After his mother is sent to a nursing home for therapy following hip surgery, artist David Reid soon learns the truth about Haven. Once a magnificent seaside hotel on the coast of Maine, the property is now managed by a greedy corporation and a nursing staff who neglect and abuse the residents. Dealing with the inept staff is an endless battle. And to make matters worse, David's mother claims ghosts are haunting the facility. Are the spirits hallucinations caused by her medications? Or is Haven really haunted?