Book picks similar to
Stench by A.B. Morgan
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psychological-thriller
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Ruthless
Charlie Gallagher - 2018
Written by a best-selling serving police detective. This is Rhiannon’s story. She thinks she’s a good person but to stay alive in a very violent world she will be tested to the limit. Will Dryden wakes to discover his girlfriend Janey is dead from an overdose. Without his friend and partner in crime, he has nothing left to lose. Meanwhile, police are called to the scene of a car accident – date night gone tragically wrong for Melissa Cooper – and left to break the news to Mel’s teenage niece, Rhiannon. For Rhiannon, it’s a devastating loss. Now she’s on her own. Will and Rhiannon’s paths cross. Rhiannon gets sucked into the world of the drug dealers and falls into the sights of Aaron – the gang leader. He has a point to prove and is unhappy that he isn’t getting the respect he wants. Aaron takes brutal revenge when the police start to close in on him. Can Rhiannon stay alive and save herself and Will from the murderous Aaron? Who will be ruthless enough to survive? This pulsating crime thriller takes you on an adrenaline-packed ride with a shocking end.
Lies She Told
Cate Holahan - 2017
Meanwhile, she’s struggling to start a family, but her husband is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. As stresses weigh her down in her professional and personal lives, Liza escapes into writing the chilling exploits of her latest heroine, Beth.Beth, a new mother, suspects her husband is cheating on her while she’s home caring for their newborn. Angry and betrayed, she aims to catch him in the act and make him pay for shattering the illusion of their perfect life. But before she realizes what she’s doing, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the East River.Then, the lines between Liza’s fiction and her reality eerily blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the East River, and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including her own. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.
She Lies in Wait
Gytha Lodge - 2019
Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and the youngest of the group—Aurora Jackson—is delighted to be allowed to tag along. The evening starts like any other—they drink, they dance, they fight, they kiss. Some of them slip off into the woods in pairs, others are left jealous and heartbroken. But by morning, Aurora has disappeared. Her friends claim that she was safe the last time they saw her, right before she went to sleep. An exhaustive investigation is launched, but no trace of the teenager is ever found.Thirty years later, Aurora’s body is unearthed in a hideaway that only the six friends knew about, and Jonah Sheens is put in charge of solving the long-cold case. Back in 1983, as a young cop in their small town, he had known the teenagers—including Aurora—personally, even before taking part in the search. Now he’s determined to finally get to the truth of what happened that night. Sheens’s investigation brings the members of the camping party back to the forest, where they will be confronted once again with the events that left one of them dead, and all of them profoundly changed forever.
The Stalker
Sarah Alderson - 2021
But they soon discover that all is not as it seems, and the island has a tragic past. And they can’t shake the feeling of being watched…When one morning, they wake to find a message scratched into the window, their worst fears are confirmed. They aren’t alone on the island. And this stranger wants them dead.
My Sister Is Missing
Julia Barrett - 2019
But when her lover demands a paternity test, Stephanie tells Adam a string of lies—lies that lead the two men to a dramatic confrontation. Without warning, Stephanie and her baby disappear. So when CCTV images appear of a young woman who fits Stephanie’s description holding a baby, jumping in front of a high-speed train, her sister Jess fears the worst. But was it Stephanie? And if not, where has she gone? In turmoil and in search of answers, Jess breaks her sister’s privacy and reads her journals. But Jess is not prepared for she uncovers . . . or for what happens next. This intense, twisted, psychological thriller will make you question what is real, and whether you really can trust those you love.
Someone Out There
Catherine Hunt - 2015
Top divorce lawyer, Laura Maxwell, appears to have it all – perfect career, perfect husband, perfect life. But how well do you really know the people around you? All it takes is one tiny crack to shatter the whole façade.A series of accidents leads Laura to believe that someone out there is deliberately trying to harm her. The fear starts to pervade every part of her life, affecting her work and her marriage. Increasingly, she feels that no one believes her story, and she must face down her attacker alone. One woman, fighting to survive in a nightmare world. “Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, and Into the Darkest Corner, by Elizabeth Haynes.” – Killer Reads, Harper Collins.
Bad Little Girl
Frances Vick - 2017
Everyone thinks she’s a nasty piece of work. The schoolchildren call her a thief. But Lorna’s hair is matted, her shoes pinch her feet and school teacher Claire Penny can’t help herself; some kids just need a bit more support, a bit more love, than the rest.As the bond between teacher and pupil grows stronger, Claire sees Lorna’s bruises, and digs to uncover the disturbing tale behind them. Heartbroken, Claire knows she has to act. She must make Lorna safe. Just when Claire thinks she has protected Lorna, a chance encounter brings enigmatic stranger Marianne Cairns into their lives. Marianne seems generous and kind but there is something about her story that doesn’t quite add up. Why does she feel so at home, and why is Lorna suddenly so unsettled?Claire has risked everything to save Lorna. But what can save Claire from the shocking truth?An utterly unputdownable and darkly compelling read that will have fans of The Girl on the Train, The Sister, and Gone Girl absolutely hooked.
Degrees of Darkness
Tony J. Forder - 2017
In an unexpected turn of events, the killer contacts the police and says he is willing to talk, but only to Frank.When the body of the first abducted girl is discovered, Frank realises it is a race against time to save his daughter. In order to solve the case, Frank must work out how the killer is picking his victims.
But how do you catch a murderer who is hiding in plain sight? And can Frank unravel the mystery, when he has so much to lose?
Broken Grace
E.C. Diskin - 2015
But she’s left with a traumatic brain injury and a terrifying reality: she can’t remember anything.Left in the care of her sister, Grace returns to the family’s secluded old farmhouse to recover—but within an hour of her return, the police arrive. Grace’s boyfriend has been murdered. Without any memory, Grace has no alibi.With suspicion weighing heavily on her and flashes of memory returning, Grace searches for clues to her past. But with every glimpse, her anxiety grows. There is something about the house, her family, her childhood…perhaps the accident isn’t the only reason she can’t remember. Are the dark recesses of her mind hiding something even more sinister and terrifying than she could ever imagine?And someone is watching. Someone willing to kill again to protect a secret.
The Bone Jar
S.W. Kane - 2020
An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle the dark truth?The body of an elderly woman has been found in the bowels of a derelict asylum on the banks of the Thames. As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin their investigation, another body is discovered in the river nearby. How are the two murders connected?Before long, the secrets of Blackwater Asylum begin to reveal themselves. There are rumours about underground bunkers and secret rooms, unspeakable psychological experimentation, and a dark force that haunts the ruins, trying to pull back in all those who attempt to escape. Urban explorer Connie Darke, whose sister died in a freak accident at the asylum, is determined to help Lew expose its grisly past. Meanwhile Lew discovers a devastating family secret that threatens to turn his life upside down.As his world crumbles around him, Lew must put the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the killer from striking again. Only an eccentric former patient really knows the truth—but will he reveal it to Lew before it’s too late?
Good Girls Lie
J.T. Ellison - 2019
Ellison’s pulse-pounding new psychological thriller examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to in order to protect their secrets.Goode girls don’t lie…Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond.But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder.When a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.Don’t miss this fast-paced suspense story from New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison!
Don't Lie to Me
Willow Rose - 2019
She's the town's most beloved surf idol, and it was believed that she could be the next Kelly Slater.As another child, the son of a well-known senator is kidnapped, and the parents receive a disturbing video, FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas — who has just returned to her hometown, divorced and out of a job — plunges into the investigation, breaking her promise to her children not to do police work again.Local law enforcement, with her old flame Matt Miller in charge, are the ones who ask for her help in a case so unsettling that only she can solve it. But the deeper they dig, the deadlier it becomes for Matt and Eva Rae. Soon, everyone she holds dear is in grave danger as this case hits a little too close to home. DON’T LIE TO ME is the first book in the Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Series and can be read as a standalone.
One More Lie
Amy Lloyd - 2019
She wants to forget her past, forget prison and, most of all, forget Sean. But old habits die hard. Despite the ankle monitor she must wear as part of her parole agreement and frequent visits to her therapist, she soon finds herself sliding back toward the type of behavior that sent her to prison in the first place. The further down that path she goes, however, the closer she gets to the crime that put her in prison all those years ago. And that's the one memory she can't face. Until, one day, Sean tracks her down.Amy Lloyd won theDaily Mail First Novel competition for her debut, The Innocent Wife. Now she returns with a chilling portrait of a woman trying to be good, even when she isn't sure she wants to be.
The Other Girl
Erica Spindler - 2017
One witness—a fifteen year old girl from the wrong side of the tracks, one known for lying and her own brushes with the law.Is it any surprise no one believed her?Officer Miranda Rader of the Harmony, Louisiana PD is known for her honesty, integrity, and steady hand in a crisis—but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from the town of Jasper, a place about the size of a good spit on a hot day, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to earn the respect of her coworkers and the community.When Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the brutality of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about that terrible night fifteen years ago. The night she’d buried, along with her past and the girl she’d been back then. Until now that grave had stayed sealed…except for those times, in the deepest part of the night, when the nightmares came: of a crime no one believed happened and the screams of the girl they believed didn’t exist.Then another man turns up dead, this one a retired cop. Not just any cop—the one who took her statement that night. Two murders, two very different men, two killings that on the surface had nothing in common—except Miranda.
You Let Him In
J.A. Andrews - 2020
When she married Michael in a fairytale wedding, followed by the birth of baby Daniel, her life was complete.Yet just three years later, the shine has faded. Now, money is tight, and the occasional argument has become daily screaming matches between Jenny and Michael.Something needs to change… and it does, when Michael is killed in a brutal hit and run, breathing his last with a stranger holding his hand.Lonely and distraught, Jenny strikes up an unlikely friendship with the witness to the accident, clinging to the connection with the man who watched Michael die.But as she uncovers the secrets that her husband was keeping, Jenny realises that her perfect life may have been a perfect lie - and worse, that her new friend may be harbouring dangerous secrets of his own…A gripping, twisty psychological thriller packed with suspense and a jaw-dropping ending. Fans of T.M. Logan, C.L. Taylor and K.L. Slater won’t be able to put this one down.