Book picks similar to
The Cove by Gregg Dunnett


abduction
abuse
death
endings-that-surprised-me

His Hidden Wife


Wendy Clarke - 2021
    You’ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughter’s hand. But you have no idea what’s really happening in their house…If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife.You might notice that the woman doesn’t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesn’t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if that’s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck.When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, you’ll question whether it was really an accident at all.And when the husband starts dating someone new – a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife – will you say something this time?Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.A thrilling and twisty tale, His Hidden Wife will keep you up all night, desperate to race through to its final conclusion. Readers of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.

Deadly Silence


O.M.J. Ryan - 2019
    But then she stepped outside the law.Now, demoted and suffering with PTSD, she finds herself facing the deadliest threat of her career -- a serial killer who is preying on vulnerable women, murdering them in a shocking and bizarre ritual.A master of deception, he selects his victims at random. Or so it seems. But as Phillips investigates, she begins to see a method in the killer's madness. Perhaps these victims aren't random at all...As the pressure mounts, can Phillips find the link between these ritual murders before the killer strikes again -- or will her dogged determination to solve the case bring his deadly silence to her door?Deadly Silence is a gripping mystery thriller that will keep you up all night as it races towards its shocking conclusion. Perfect for fans of Robert Bryndza, Angela Marsons and Peter James.

The Girl in the Picture


Melissa Wiesner - 2021
    And as she reads the words in the article, Tegan almost stops breathing. Was coming here a terrible mistake?When Tegan’s family is torn apart by a terrible tragedy, she runs away in search of somewhere to keep safe from the past that haunts her, and the painful secrets she’s never told anyone. Arriving in Copper Canyon, Colorado, where wooden storefronts line the quiet streets and no-one knows her name, Tegan breathes easy for the first time in years. And when she grows close with Jack, another lost soul who won’t talk about his home, it seems she’s found the perfect companion to explore the mountain landscapes with.But just as Tegan starts to think maybe safety isn’t a place, it’s a person, she notices the box of photos and newspaper clippings that Jack takes everywhere in the trunk of his car. Who is the woman in every frame? And why does she look so familiar…?Tegan knows the only way to protect herself, and keep her dark family history locked away, is to discover more about the woman in Jack’s photos. But when she does, will the truth help her build a new life, or will it send her running once more?An absolutely unforgettable and breathtaking novel about love, loss, and the secrets we’re all hiding. Perfect for fans of Kerry Fisher, Diane Chamberlain, and Kerry Lonsdale.

My Husband's Lie


Emma Davies - 2020
    I should have, I know that now…When Thea sees her old family home is up for sale – a beautiful old rectory in the small town where she and her childhood sweetheart, now husband, Drew, grew up – she knows she has to have it. Her parents moved her away suddenly when she was eleven, but her childhood there was filled with happy memories. Drew seems less sure, but Thea is certain it’s the perfect place to raise their two children.But as the last boxes are unpacked, Thea can’t seem to settle. She thought the move would bring her family closer together, but Drew is growing more distant. And why do old friends cross to the other side of the road when they see her coming?Alone in the house, exploring the creaky corridors she used to cartwheel down as a young girl, Thea smiles as she slides open the loose panel she once used as a hiding place. But it only takes one look at the faded local newspaper clipping hidden inside for the bonds holding her perfect family together to break.It’s not long before news of the scandal spreads further and the whole town turns against her. Thea’s life is in freefall as her head and her heart wrestle between taking the blame, and fighting for her innocence. In a small town where no one ever forgets the past, can Thea find a way to save her family’s future?This heart-wrenching and gripping family drama will have you hooked from the very first page. Perfect for anyone who loves Amanda Prowse, Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain.

The Chinaman


Stephen Leather - 1992
    Jungle-skilled, silent and lethal, he had killed for the Viet Cong and then for the Americans. He had watched helpless when his two eldest daughters had been raped and killed by Thai pirates. Now all that was behind him. Quiet, hard-working and unassuming, he was building up his South London take-away business. Until the day his wife and youngest daughter were murdered by an IRA bomb. Then he began to ask the authorities who were the men responsible, what was being done - and was turned away, fobbed off, treated as a nuisance. Which was when the Chinaman, denied justice, decided on revenge...and went back to war.

Slaughter of Innocents


M.G. Cole - 2021
    One with a passion for taking souvenirs off his victims. Tensions between the locals and the ‘unwelcome’ visitors are thinly concealed in the Garden of England’s quaint villages. But the resentment is there…...only the identities of the victims are missing.

Another Mother


Amanda James - 2018
    When a tragic accident changes her life forever it sets her on a mission to get in contact with her birth mother and find out the reasons behind her adoption.When she tracks down her mother in Cornwall there is an emotional reunion and the pair begin to form a relationship.But is everything as wonderful as it appears or has Lu walked into a nightmare?

Pack Up the Moon


Rachael Herron - 2014
    At a gala showcasing her triumphant return to the art world, Kate’s world is rocked again when the daughter she gave up for adoption twenty-two years ago introduces herself.Pree is the child Kate never knew and never forgot. But Pree has questions that Kate isn’t sure she’s ready to answer. For one thing, she never told Pree’s father, her high school sweetheart and ex-husband, Nolan, that they had a daughter. For another, Kate hasn’t spoken to Nolan for three years, not since the accident which took their nine-year-old son from them. But to keep Pree from leaving forever, Kate will have to confront the secrets that have haunted her since her son died and discover if the love of her family is strong enough to survive even the most heartbreaking of betrayals…Conversation Guide Included

Axe to Grind


A.L. Fraine - 2021
    A woman is slaughtered in vicious attack, and left in an abandoned building, handcuffed to a chair. Invited by a former colleague to join a new team in the South of England, DCI Jon Pilgrim takes on the case of the murdered young woman. Partnered with the captivating DS Kate O’Connell, they hunt for the killer. The victims links to the local gangs seems to lead to an open and shut case, but Jon isn’t convinced. The killer seems to be sending a message. But what is it? Just as things seem to be making sense, another body is found in a similar state.This victim seems unrelated to the first, but it’s clearly the same killer.Jon must deal with gang bosses, jealous partners, and come to terms with his own tragic past to find the killer before the death toll rises.But as things escalate, Jon fears the past is about to repeat itself, and tear him apart.

Guilt


Michelle Kidd - 2021
    or created?A missing child.A killer on the loose.A past that refuses to die.When a six-year-old boy disappears from a local fair, every parent’s worst nightmare is about to come true.And for Detective Inspector Nicki Hardcastle, twenty-two years after her own nightmare began, the past she thought was buried starts catching up with her – and fast.Leading the hunt for the missing child, Nicki soon finds the chase takes on a personal twist, with her own memories haunting her every move. With time set against them, and a killer following his own chilling agenda, can Nicki and her team stop history from repeating itself? Only time will tell.But it’s time they don’t have.

The Fake Date


Lynda Stacey - 2018
    She lies, unable to move and praying for somebody to find her, as she counts down the minutes and wonders who could have hated her so much to have hurt her so badly. Was it the man she went on a date with the previous evening, the man linked to the deaths of two other women? Or somebody else, somebody who wants her out of the picture so much they’re willing to kill? Whoever it is, they will pay. All Ella has to do first is survive …

Snow Creek


Gregg Olsen - 2019
    She looked down into the ravine, and once more her lungs filled with fear. A body lay silent and unmoving in the bushes.When Ruth Turner walks into the Sheriff’s office in Jefferson County’s Port Townsend claiming her sister Ida Wheaton has been missing for over a month, Detective Megan Carpenter’s instincts tell her that she needs to do more than just file a report.Racing over to Ida’s secluded farmhouse in the hills above Snow Creek, Megan finds Ida’s teenage children alone and frightened. She can’t help but notice there’s no TV. No video games. Nothing of the outside world. Something about the Wheaton family doesn’t add up and triggers a painful childhood memory for Megan – when one day, in a flash, both her parents were gone.Then the body of a woman is discovered in an abandoned pickup truck close to the Wheatons’ home and Megan’s convinced the cases are connected.If she has any chance of catching the killer, Megan must first unravel the secrets of the isolated Snow Creek community. But Megan has dark secrets of her own…Hidden in the back of her closet is a box of tapes containing every single recording of her therapy sessions over thirteen years ago. Can she finally confront the past she’s spent years trying to block out? And will reliving her own painful story help her solve the complex case unravelling in the hills above Snow Creek before another innocent life is lost?From the Number One, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon Chart bestselling author comes an absolutely heart-stopping and completely unputdownable crime series, introducing Detective Megan Carpenter.

My Name Is Venus Black


Heather Lloyd - 2018
    Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing. More than five years later, Venus is released from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past. Estranged from her mother, and with her beloved brother still missing, she sets out to make a fresh start in Seattle, skittish and alone. But as new people enter her orbit—including a romantic interest and a young girl who seems like a mirror image of her former lost self—old wounds resurface, and Venus realizes that she can’t find a future while she’s running from her past.

The Liar's Promise


Mark Tilbury - 2017
    But her mother, Mel, doesn’t realise that this is just the beginning of the nightmare. In the coming weeks, Chloe talks of The Tall Man - Of death. At her wits end, Mel confides in Charles Honeywell, the headmaster at the school where she works. But what Kim doesn’t know is that Charles is linked to what is happening to her daughter. Will Mel learn the terrible truth? And can she overcome her own tragic past and save her daughter before it’s too late?The Liar’s Promise is a story of past lives and future torment.

The Dream Wife


Louisa de Lange - 2018
    Supportive, respectful, mild-mannered - everything her husband wants her to be. But underneath, she is so much more.Annie is a prisoner in her own life. Her finances, her routine and her contact with the outside world are all controlled by him. Only her love for her little boy keeps her sane, and at night she escapes into a dreamworld where she is free.But Annie is about to do a very bad thing.And you won't believe how she is going to do it . . .*************A tense and electrifying novel with a twist that will break your heart. Fans of Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough, The Girl Before by JP Delaney, Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris, Friend Request by Laura Marshall, Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear and Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney will love this.