Book picks similar to
His Hidden Wife by Wendy Clarke


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thriller
psychological-thriller
suspense

The Silent House


Laura Elliot - 2020
    A truth that will put her daughters in harm’s way.An intense and emotionally engrossing read that will keep you compulsively turning the pages late into the night. If you read one book this year, make it The Silent House.

The Other Daughter


Shalini Boland - 2019
    And now she’s back. Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found. Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter. She has a new family, a loving partner and her secrets are locked away in her painful past. Until one afternoon when Rachel meets a new school parent Kate and her teenage daughter Bella. Rachel’s world is instantly turned upside down – she’s seen Bella before. She’d recognise that face anywhere – it’s her missing child. And she will stop at nothing to get her back…

The Perfect Liar


Beverley Harvey - 2020
    Who is he, really?’Susanne and her two best friends have been dreaming of a holiday. All of them need an escape. Especially Susanne, who is reeling from the news that her ex is getting remarried. They need the warm Tuscan sun, delicious Italian food and wine, and – most of all – the time to unwind with each other. What they get is Harry.Handsome, charming and great company, Harry soon sweeps Susanne off her feet for a holiday fling. And why not? Except that everything he’s told them is a lie.Who is the man they’ve let into their house – who Susanne has let into her bed? They have no idea what Harry is capable of – what he’s done to get this far, and what he’s prepared to do to ensure he gets his way.By the time they find out, it will be too late to stop their dream holiday becoming a nightmare.An utterly addictive, page-turning thriller with a jaw-dropping twist. If you loved The Girlfriend, The Holiday and Something in the Water, you’ll be completely gripped by The Perfect Liar.

The Wedding


Ruth Heald - 2021
    Just four words were printed in the card, in such small lettering they were almost an afterthought. He doesn’t love you.I’ve been dreaming about this day – marrying Adam, my childhood sweetheart, who I’ve loved for eighteen years.I didn’t realize the perfect day would turn into the perfect nightmare.I was so excited to send out the wedding invitations, carefully writing everyone’s names on thick cream paper in beautiful cursive script.I had no idea I was inviting someone to destroy our marriage.I couldn’t wait to say ‘I do’ surrounded by loved ones clinking champagne glasses.I couldn’t imagine that one of them would try to hurt me.It was meant to be the first day of the rest of our lives.I never thought it would be the end of my life as I knew it.We were meant to share our vows, to toast our future. But when the truth comes out, shocking the onlooking guests and ripping my heart out, is a happy ever after possible?

Keep Your Friends Close


Paula Daly - 2014
    When their younger daughter falls ill on a school trip, Natty rushes to her side. Luckily, Natty’s best friend from college, Eve, is visiting and offers to stay with Sean to lend a hand in the household. But Natty returns home to find that Eve has taken to family life a little too well: Sean has fallen in love with her. With no choice but to put on a brave face, Natty attempts to start anew—yet no matter how hard she tries to set herself upright, Eve is there to knock her down again. Then Natty receives a mysterious note that says Eve has done this before—more than once—and the consequences were fatal. On a mission to reveal Eve as a vindictive serial mistress, Natty must navigate through a treacherous maze of secrets and lies that threatens her life and the safety of her loved ones.

The Boy in the Photo


Nicole Trope - 2019
    A prickling sensation crawls up her arms, her heart rate speeds up. ‘Found who?’ she asks, slowly, carefully, deliberately. ‘They found Daniel.’ Six years ago Megan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old son, Daniel. As children come and go, the playground emptying, panic bubbles inside her. Daniel is nowhere to be found. According to his teacher, Daniel’s father, Greg, has picked up his son. Except Greg and Megan are no longer together. After years of being controlled by her cruel husband, Megan has finally found the courage to divorce him. Hands trembling, she dials his number, but the line is dead. Six years later Megan is feeding baby daughter, Evie, when she gets the call she has dreamt about for years. Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away. Her son is alive – and he’s coming home. But their joyful family reunion does not go to plan. His room may have been frozen in time, with his Cookie Monster poster and stack of Lego under the bed, but Daniel is no longer the sweet little boy Megan remembers. Cold and distant, Daniel is grieving the death of his father, blaming Megan for his loss and rejecting his family. And as Megan struggles to connect with the son she no longer recognises as her own, she begins to realise that Daniel has a secret. A secret that could destroy their family and put them in terrible danger. A heartbreaking, emotional drama about a family in turmoil, with a jaw-dropping twist that will blow you away. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Lisa Wingate – this moving and poignant novel is for you.

When I Was Ten


Fiona Cummins - 2020
    Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in the beautiful house on the hill. Their best friend, Brinley Booth, lived next door. They would do anything for each other but everything shifted on that fateful day when Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were stabbed fourteen times with a pair of scissors in what has become the most talked about double murder of the modern age.The girls were aged ten and twelve at the time. One, nicknamed the Angel of Death, spent eight years in a children’s secure unit accused of the brutal killings. The other lived in foster care out of the limelight and prying questions. Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down one of the sisters, persuading her to speak about the events of that night for the first time.Her explosive interview sparks national headlines and Brinley Booth, now a journalist, is tasked with covering the news story which brings to light fresh evidence and triggers a chain of events which will have devastating consequences.

What She Did


Carla Kovach - 2021
    Everything has to be simple, ordered, in its place.It gives me the illusion that I’m in control. Even though I know I never can be.Twenty years ago, I lost everyone I ever loved, and they say it was all my fault.I’ve tried to make sure I could never hurt anyone again, but it’s hard to live any kind of life without letting anyone get close to me.And then come the sirens; the knock at the door.If I’d done something terrible, I would know, wouldn’t I?An absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller that’ll keep you reading long into the night. Perfect for fans of C.L. Taylor, Teresa Driscoll and Lisa Jewell.

The Girl She Wanted


K.L. Slater - 2020
    Carrie lives in Alexa’s family home, and adores her one-year-old niece Florence. Alexa doesn’t know how they would cope without her. So when Carrie is suspended from her job as a senior nurse, accused of the most terrible crime, Alexa reels in disbelief. Alexa knows how caring Carrie is, and as she watches Florence gurgling and cooing whenever Carrie is around, she knows her little girl is in safe hands.Alexa’s husband doesn’t trust Carrie. He wants her out of the house, unable to ignore what people are saying about her. But when he suggests that Carrie could be a danger to their daughter, Alexa shuts him out. Nobody will ever come between her and her sister.Then Florence is hurt while in Carrie’s care and Alexa at last starts to wonder. Alexa has always wanted to protect Carrie from the past they have hidden. But does Alexa know what Carrie wants? And will the secret that has kept the sisters together now destroy her little girl?

See How They Run


Tom Bale - 2016
    Men ruthless enough to threaten their baby daughter, Evie. This is no burglary gone wrong. The intruders know who they’re looking for – a man called Edward Renshaw. And they are prepared to kill to get to him. When the men leave empty handed, little do Alice and Harry realise that their nightmare is just beginning. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Who is Renshaw? And what is he hiding? One thing is clear – they already know too much. As Alice and Harry are separated in the run for their lives, there is no time to breathe in their fight to be reunited. And with their attackers closing in, there is only one choice: STAY ALIVE. OR DON’T. Terrifying, unputdownable and full of twists and turns, this stunning thriller will have you on the edge of your seat right to the very last page.

The Invite


Sheryl Browne - 2022
    But as the champagne corks pop, her dream party becomes her worst nightmare…Staring at the stunning diamond solitaire on her finger, Kaitlin is finally getting the chance to introduce her best friend Zoe to her perfect fiancé. She hasn’t known Greg long, but he looks after her, and he loves playing dad to her young daughter. How could she say no when he’s already planned their elopement?As guests arrive, why is Greg acting so shifty? And is that a flicker of recognition on Zoe’s face? And why does she look terrified every time her phone rings?Kaitlin watches as Zoe knocks back her white wine and makes a beeline for Greg. After a heated conversation, Zoe stumbles towards the door and flees the party without looking back.Days later, the police knock at Kaitlin’s door – Zoe is missing.Kaitlin wants to believe her loving fiancé is not to blame, but she knows what she saw the night of the party. And when he lies to the police, can she trust the man she’s marrying? Could Kaitlin and her precious daughter’s life now be in danger too?

Shadow of a Doubt


Michelle Davies - 2020
    But she blamed it on a paranormal entity she swears was haunting her house.No one believed her and after two years of treatment in a psychiatric unit for delusional disorder, Cara was shunned by her remaining family and put into foster care.Now she's being forced to return to the family home for the first time since her brother's death, but what if she's about to re-discover the evil that was lurking inside its walls?

Silent Lies


Kathryn Croft - 2017
    Five words will destroy it again. Mia Hamilton lived the perfect life with her husband, university teacher Zach, and their two-year-old daughter, Freya. But everything changed when Zach committed suicide on the same night one of his students, Josie Carpenter, vanished. Five years later, and Josie is still missing but Mia has finally found some happiness with new boyfriend Will. Until one day when stranger Alison walks into her life and tells Mia that her husband didn’t kill himself. Desperate to find out what really happened to Zach, Mia is forced to put her trust in Alison. But she soon discovers that Alison has her own agenda behind exposing the details of Zach’s death. Can Mia really believe anything Alison says? Mia must decide how far she is willing to go to uncover the truth – even if she risks losing everything she loves.

The Perfect Stepmother


Karen King - 2021
    ‘And to be a mother to Emma too, of course.’ Her gaze flickered to Lily’s sister, but only Lily saw her expression momentarily change – from warm and loving to something else. Something Lily didn’t trust…Lily has always had a simple dream: to be happy like her parents were. Content in their sweet suburban home, nothing in life had phased her mother and father, not even when they’d had a ‘surprise’ second child, Emma, nearly twenty years after Lily.But their love story was cut tragically short, when – after a devastating battle with cancer – Lily’s mother died. Lily was heartbroken, but also desperately worried about her grieving dad, not to mention five-year-old Emma.So Lily is shocked and concerned when he suddenly decides to remarry, less than a year after her mother’s death. It feels far too soon, and Lily finds herself furious with him – and his new wife, Maria, who can apparently do no wrong. She seems madly in love with Lily’s dad and instantly bonds with Emma.It’s only Lily who can’t trust her.Who won’t trust her.And when Emma goes missing – could Lily be right? What if the greatest danger to them all is the woman now living in their family home?A totally gripping and unmissable psychological suspense novel about dark family secrets, perfect for fans of Shalini Boland, Claire McGowan and Gone Girl.

The Pretty One


Clare Boyd - 2021
    If my pretty little sister never came home again, I’d finally be free from the terrible secret we share…Anna is a wonderful mother. She gave up a career she loved to stay home with her children and her kind, polite daughters, Nell and Ivy, are a credit to her. As is Bay, her stepdaughter, whom Anna adores as much as her own two girls. But everything changes the day Anna’s middle daughter’s beauty catches the eye of a stranger in a café…Quiet, sensitive Nell doesn’t want to have her face on a billboard for all to see. But she knows her family desperately needs the money, and perhaps it would be nice to have her mother’s full attention for the first time since Bay arrived? Could this be the escape from her stepsister’s twisted games Nell has been longing for?But the moment Nell steps in front of a camera, the devastating secret she and Bay have been keeping breaks the surface – and the bonds of this close-knit family forever. But with both Nell and Bay insisting they’re innocent, can either girl really be trusted?As Anna’s perfect blended family unravels around her, she is forced to pick a side. To save one daughter, Anna must betray another. Choosing the wrong girl will be more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined…An unputdownable read-all-night family drama that explores the dark consequences of sibling rivalry and the heart-wrenching emotional cost of keeping secrets from those you love. Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere and My Dark Vanessa.