Book picks similar to
Once Upon a Lie by Lisa Ballantyne
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thriller
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Last Place You Look
Louisa Scarr - 2021
You’d do anything to find out the truth. Wouldn’t you?A man lies dead in a hotel room, and the police attend his home address to inform the widow. Nothing unusual, until DC Freya West realises – too late – that the victim is the man she has been having an affair with. The future she imagined has been snatched away.Meanwhile, her new boss, DS Robin Butler, is preoccupied with his own problems. Mistakes he thought buried deep in his past now threaten to be exposed. Before long, both Butler and West are keeping secrets that could end their careers – and worse. When the detectives have a chance to tell the truth, they choose to keep quiet. But once that line is crossed, is there any going back? After all, breaking the law is easy when you know how to uphold it.Don’t miss this tense and compulsive police procedural thriller. Perfect for fans of Sunday Times bestselling authors Cara Hunter, Susie Steiner and Jane Casey.Praise for Last Place You Look‘The delicious joy of discovering a brilliant new crime series! What appears to be a simple case opens wounds for both suspects and investigators. Our detectives, Butler and West, are a duo for our days; bound by their troubles, loneliness and secrets into an unlikely alliance. You’ll fall for them, and this novel, in a big way!’ Jo Furniss, author of All the Little Children‘Tightly plotted with superb characterisation, Last Place You Look shows the devastating consequences when a small wrong decision leads to a bigger one, and then a bigger one after that. A skilfully-built house of cards comes crashing down, leaving DC Freya West and DS Robin Butler in possession of shocking secrets... It's a book you won't be able to turn away from until you reach the very last page.’ Alison Belsham, author of The Tattoo Thief‘Fantastic story with a pair of detectives who are battling their own demons amidst an apparent suburban suicide’ James Delargy, author of Vanished
Rattle
Fiona Cummins - 2017
He leads two lives. In one he's just like anyone else. But in the other he is the caretaker of his family's macabre museum.Now the time has come to add to his collection. He is ready to feed his obsession, and he is on the hunt.Jakey Frith and Clara Foyle have something in common. They have what he needs.What begins is a terrifying cat-and-mouse game between the sinister collector, Jakey's father and Etta Fitzroy, a troubled detective investigating a spate of abductions.Set in London's Blackheath, Rattle by Fiona Cummins explores the seam of darkness that runs through us all; the struggle between light and shadow, redemption and revenge.It is a glimpse into the mind of a sinister psychopath. And it's also a story about not giving up hope when it seems that all hope is already lost.
The Wreckage
Robin Morgan-Bentley - 2020
Two colliding worlds. Three wrecked lives.School teacher Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to work.A day like any other…Except for one man who, in a final despairing act, jumps in front of Ben’s car, turning the teacher’s world upside down in a single horrifying instant…Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, he develops a friendship with Alice, the dead man’s wife, and her 7-year-old son Max.But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could he go too far in trying to make amends?How would you cope, knowing you’d caused someone’s death?
His Kidnapper's Shoes
Maggie James - 2013
He has always been mine. And he always will be.
On some level deep inside, Laura Bateman knows something is wrong. That her relationship with her son is not what it should be. That it is based on lies.But bad things have happened to Laura. Things that change a person. Forever.For twenty-six-year-old Daniel, the discovery that his mother is not who he thought comes close to destroying him. As his world turns upside down, he searches for sanity in the madness that has become his life. Daniel is left with nothing but questions. Why did Laura do something so terrible? Can he move past the demons of his childhood?And the biggest question of all: can he ever forgive Laura?
Revised edition: This edition of His Kidnapper's Shoes includes editorial revisions.
The Weekend Away
Sarah Alderson - 2020
Trust no one. Suspect everyone.Orla and Kate have been best friends forever. Together they’ve faced it all – be it Orla’s struggles as a new mother or Kate’s messy divorce. And whatever else happens in their lives, they can always look forward to their annual weekend away.This year, they’re off to Lisbon: the perfect flat, the perfect view, the perfect itinerary. And what better way to kick things off in style than with the perfect night out?But when Orla wakes up the next morning, Kate is gone. Brushed off by the police and with only a fuzzy memory of the night’s events, Orla is her friend’s only hope. As she frantically retraces their steps, Orla makes a series of shattering discoveries that threaten everything she holds dear. Because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth may lie closer to home…
Finders, Keepers
Sabine Durrant - 2020
New project - a house to renovate. New people - no links to the past. New friends - especially her next-door neighbour, the lonely Verity, who needs her help.Verity has lived in Trinity Fields all her life. She's always resisted change. Her home and belongings are a shield, a defence to keep the outside world at bay. But something about the Tilsons piques her interest.Just as her ivy creeps through the shared garden fence, so Verity will work her way into the Tilson family.And once they realise how formidable she can be, it might well be too late.
Little Deadly Secrets
Pamela Crane - 2020
They know everything about each other. Or so they believe.Nothing could come between these three best friends . . .Except for a betrayal.Nothing could turn them against each other . . .Except for a terrible past mistake.Nothing could tear them apart . . .Except for murder.
Here To Stay
Mark Edwards - 2019
A loving wife. And in-laws to die for.Gemma Robinson comes into Elliot’s life like a whirlwind, and they marry and settle into his home. When she asks him if her parents can come to stay for a couple of weeks, he is keen to oblige – he just doesn’t quite know what he’s signing up for.The Robinsons arrive with Gemma’s sister, Chloe, a mysterious young woman who refuses to speak or leave her room. Elliot starts to suspect that the Robinsons are hiding a dark secret. And then there are the scars on his wife’s body that she won’t talk about . . .As Elliot’s in-laws become more comfortable in his home, encroaching on all aspects of his life, it becomes clear that they have no intention of moving out. To protect Gemma, and their marriage, Elliot delves into the Robinsons’ past. But is he prepared for the truth?
One In Three
Tess Stimson - 2020
One of them killed him . . .Louise has had to watch her husband, Andrew, start a new family in the four years since he left her. The ‘other woman’ is now his wife – but Louise isn’t ready to let Caz enjoy the life that was once hers, or to let go of the man she still loves.As Louise starts to dig into Caz’s past, the two women’s pretence of civility starts to slip. But in trying to undermine each other, they discover more about the man they both married.And when Andrew is murdered at a family party, both women are found standing over the body.And when Andrew is murdered during the anniversary celebrations, both women are found standing over the body.It’s always the wife. But which one?
And So It Begins
Rachel Abbott - 2018
Evie brought Mark back to life after the sudden death of his first wife. Cleo, Mark's sister, knows she should be happy for him. But Cleo doesn't trust Evie...When Evie starts having accidents at home, her friends grow concerned. Could Mark be causing her injuries? Called out to their cliff-top house one night, Sergeant Stephanie King finds two bodies entangled on blood-drenched sheets.Where does murder begin? When the knife is raised to strike, or before, at the first thought of violence? As Evie stands trial, the jury is forced to consider - is there ever a proper defence for murder?And So It Begins is a darkly compulsive psychological thriller with all the hallmarks of a Rachel Abbott bestseller - a provocative dilemma, richly-layered mystery, knife-edge tension, and brilliant characterization.
Mummy's Boy
J.A. Andrews - 2020
Three years ago, 17-year-old son Andrew vanished without trace. There was no note, no goodbye and no body has ever been found, and now her days are spent in a fog of heartache and alcohol, crying to husband Thomas about their lost boy.But Patricia is more than just a grieving mother, and as Andrew’s disappearance starts to unravel the perfect family she’s built with Thomas, it seems that the actions of her past may be back to haunt her.Because someone is watching from the shadows - someone who knows exactly what Patricia is hiding. Someone who will stop at nothing to take revenge – and might just hold the key to Andrew’s disappearance…An absolutely gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist in the tale. Readers of My Lovely Wife, KL Slater and B.A. Paris will not be able to put this one down.
The Midwife Murders
James Patterson - 2020
To Senior Midwife Lucy Ryuan, pregnancy is not an unusual condition, it's her life's work. But when two kidnappings and a vicious stabbing happen on her watch in a university hospital in Manhattan, her focus abruptly changes. Something has to be done, and Lucy is fearless enough to try. Rumors begin to swirl, blaming everyone from the Russian Mafia to an underground adoption network. The feisty single mom teams up with a skeptical NYPD detective to solve the case, but the truth is far more twisted than Lucy could ever have imagined.
Seven Lies
Elizabeth Kay - 2020
But we all know that it never ends there. Because, of course, one lie leads to another…Growing up, Jane and Marnie shared everything. They knew the other’s deep-est secrets. They wouldn’t have had it any other way. But when Marnie falls in love, things begin to change.Because Jane has a secret: she loathes Marnie’s wealthy, priggish husband. So when Marnie asks if she likes him, Jane tells her first lie. After all, even best friends keep some things to themselves. If she had been honest, then perhaps her best friend’s husband might still be alive today…For, of course, it’s not the last lie. In fact, it’s only the beginning…Seven Lies is Jane’s confession of the truth—her truth. Compelling, sophisticated, chilling, it’s a seductive, hypnotic page-turner about the tangled, toxic friendships between women, the dark underbelly of obsession and what we stand to lose in the name of love.
The Missing Hours
Emma Kavanagh - 2016
A woman disappears One moment, Selena Cole is in the playground with her children and the next, she has vanished without a trace.A woman returns Twenty hours later, Selena is found safe and well, but with no memory of where she has been.What took place in those missing hours, and are they linked to the discovery of a nearby murder?
‘Is it a forgetting or a deception?’
The Girls in the Garden
Lisa Jewell - 2015
Implicitly.You think your children are safe.But are they really?Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?