Book picks similar to
The Thicket by Noelle W. Ihli


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Dark and Shallow Lies


Ginny Myers Sain - 2021
    But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something - her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou - a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town's bloody history - Grey realizes that La Cachette's past is far more present and dangerous than she'd ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn't know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent--and La Cachette's dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

Beneath the Stairs


Jennifer Fawcett - 2022
    Even fewer are brave enough to trespass. A man had killed his wife and two young daughters there, a shocking, gruesome crime that the sleepy upstate New York town tried to bury. One summer night, an emboldened fourteen-year-old Clare and her best friend, Abby, ventured into the Octagon House. Clare came out, but a piece of Abby never did. Twenty years later, an adult Clare receives word that Abby has attempted suicide at the Octagon House and now lies in a coma. With little to lose and still grieving after a personal tragedy, Clare returns to her roots to uncover the darkness responsible for Abby’s accident.

Wendigo


Vaughn C. Hardacker - 2017
    It can possess a person and turn them into a monstrous creature consumed by a need to eat human flesh. For John Bear the Wendigo was merely a scary story his grandfather used to tell him. That is, until a man is found dead in the deep northern woods of Maine, butchered like an animal and with his heart cut out. And the only tracks they can find are massive footprints that couldn’t possibly be human. Now, John is sure that what is stalking the inhabitants of their remote outpost is a Wendigo, even if no one else believes it. He must stop a monster he once thought was nothing more than a tale to warn children.From Vaughn C. Hardacker, acclaimed author of Sniper and The Fisherman and twice finalist for the Maine Literary Awards, comes a supernatural thriller from the winter depths of the Maine wilderness, where the line between myth and reality blurs and ancient horrors are never fully buried. All are in danger of the Wendigo’s endless hunger, but how do you find a creature that can look like anyone until it’s too late?

Charming


Krystal Wade - 2014
    . . as long as you don't die. Sixteen-year-old Haley Tremaine had it all: top-notch school, fantastic family, and a bright future, but all of that changed when an accident tore her family apart. Now, an alcoholic father, a bitter younger sister, and a cold headstone bearing her mother’s name are all she has left.Chris Charming has it all: a powerful CEO for a father, a prestigious school, and a fortune at his fingertips, but none of that matters when he lands a reputation as a troublemaker. Struggling to follow in his father’s footsteps, he reaches out to the one person he believes truly sees him, the one person he wants: Haley.Little do they know someone's determined to bring the two together, even if it means murder.

Little Boy Lost


J.D. Trafford - 2017
    But when eight-year-old Tanisha Walker offers him a jar full of change to find her missing brother, he doesn’t have the heart to turn her away.Justin had hoped to find the boy alive and well. But all that was found of Devon Walker was his brutally murdered body—and the bodies of twelve other African American teenagers, all discarded like trash in a mass grave. Each had been reported missing. And none had been investigated.As simmering racial tensions explode into violence, Justin finds himself caught in the tide. And as he gives voice to the discontent plaguing the city’s forgotten and ignored, he vows to search for the killer who preys upon them.

The Hobgoblin of Little Minds


Mark Matthews - 2021
    All she wanted was for him to get better, but instead he disappeared. Kori trespasses into the abandoned Northville Psychiatric Hospital, the last place her dad was treated, seeking solace and traces of his memory. What she finds instead is something no longer human living deep in the underground tunnels.During the last days of the hospital, a rogue psychiatrist had been manipulating the mood swings of the mentally ill, transforming patients into savage, manic creatures who seek justice by the light of the full moon. When the creatures hunt for prey, only an escaped patient and her beloved child can help Kori survive. But they better act fast, because the creatures want blood, Kori wants to save her dad, and the whole hospital is about to be blown to pieces and bury Kori alive.

Harrow Lake


Kat Ellis - 2020
    The locals are weirdly obsessed with the film that put their town on the map--and there are strange disappearances, which the police seem determined to explain away.And there's someone--or some thing--stalking her every move.The more Lola discovers about the town, the more terrifying it becomes. Because Lola's got secrets of her own. And if she can't find a way out of Harrow Lake, they might just be the death of her.

The Fields


Erin Young - 2022
    It starts with a body—a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture.When Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations for the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, arrives on the scene, an already horrific crime becomes personal when she discovers the victim was a childhood friend, connected to a dark past she thought she’d left behind.The investigation grows complicated as more victims are found. Drawn deeper in, Riley soon discovers implications far beyond her Midwest town.

Snow & Mistletoe


Rie Anders - 2019
    Taking solace in the fact that she has a ski trip planned with her boyfriend of two years, she comes home to find that not only did he leave without her, he has broken up with her. A night on the town triggers a series of events that lead to Cat spending the holidays at a friends cabin on Lopez Island. Unfortunately, the cabin is already occupied by the dark and devilishly handsome Kirin Anderson. Kirin has his own reasons for spending Christmas alone and Cat has put a major wrinkle in his plans for solitude. As Kirin tries to navigate his instant attraction to Cat, he must balance her request to be alone, and his need to keep a secret. His care for Cat, and encouragement of her new life direction pulls Cat in, and she finds her heart at a much greater risk of breaking.

Never Been Found


Kenneth S. Kappelmann - 2018
    Now, her father has been found executed and a serial killer is leaving a trail of female bodies across the city. Are these cases related? Who could be behind such a wide spread epidemic of organized crime. As the case unwinds and more bodies stack up, O'Malley must choose between what his gut is telling him, and what the case is being designed to show. Will O'Malley find the killer, or is the killer leading the detective to a deadly frame-up of a young man in over his head? The missing girl may hold the answer, if only she could be found.

Through the Banks of the Red Cedar: My Father and the Team That Changed the Game


Maya Washington - 2022
    She never saw the legendary powerhouse as anything but her dad. She didn’t yet grasp the impact he’d had on the sport—and on America. To understand his historic role in the integration of college football, witness his influence on generations that followed, and fully appreciate his legacy, Maya had a lot of catching up to do.Maya retraces her father’s journey from the segregated south to Michigan State during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement and his journey as an NFL pioneer after the 1967 draft. She reflects on how her father’s childhood—and the racism he faced—shaped her upbringing and influenced his expectations of her. She also discovers how unbreakable the emotional bond between teammates can be. But above all, Maya and her father get to know each other. As their own bond deepens, so does Maya’s connection to the sport that changed the trajectory of her father’s life…and hers.

Never Tell a Lie


Hallie Ephron - 2009
    Ivy was eight months and one week pregnant when she insisted that she and her husband, David, clean out the junk they’d inherited with with the old Victorian house they’d bought three years before. Call it nesting, call it nerves—she just wanted it all gone: the old electrical fixtures, the boxes of National Geographic from the 1960s, the four black wool greatcoats.Neither she nor David recognized the woman at first. But it turned out that the customer asking about the lime-green glass swan dish—the woman who looked just about as pregnant as Ivy—was none other than Melinda White, a former high school classmate of David and Ivy’s. When Melinda was a child she used to play in their new house, she explained. Would it be all right if she took a look around? David took Melinda inside. And she never came out.Now David’s under police suspicion, and Ivy finds herself digging deep into the past to clear his name. But David’s history, she begins to discover, is not necessarily the history she remembers, and before long Ivy has uncovered a twisted web of deceit, betrayal, and lies, both the ones we tell those we love and the ones we tell ourselves....Relentlessly fast-paced and disturbingly creepy, Never Tell a Lie is a page-turning thrill ride about how well we know the people we love, and how far we are willing to go to protect the secrets of our past.

Nowhere to Run


Nancy Bush - 2012
    When she returns, she stumbles onto a massacre. All her colleagues at Zuma Software have been shot. Only luck has left Liv unscathed, and that might be running out…Will Follow YouLiv suspects the shootings are tied to her past—and to the package she recently received from her long-dead adoptive mother. Sensing she’s being followed, Liv jumps into a stranger’s car and orders him to drive. Her “hostage” complies, listening carefully as her story unwinds. Skeptical at first, he ultimately begins to believe all Liv’s fears are justified…To Your GraveTogether, Liv and her unlikely confidant try to uncover the truth about her adoptive family, her birth parents, and her troubled childhood. Because somewhere in Liv’s past is a secret worth killing for, and a nightmare she can never outrun…

His Other Wife


Ava Strong - 2021
    When someone turns up murdered, Stella, to clear her name, is forced to investigate. But in a culture ridden with masterful liars, can she ever really find the truth?Stella seems to have her whole life ahead of her: she has just graduated with a dual masters in Psychology and Criminal Justice, she is engaged to the man of her dreams after a whirlwind romance, and she is moving to the East Coast with him as she prepares for the wedding and searches for a dream job, hoping to be a criminal profiler. She is unbelievably excited for her life together with Chris—until she meets his family.Stella, from a humble Midwestern upbringing, never felt comfortable around money, and she hates the world Chris comes from. She is in shock at the culture clash as she gets to know his elitist family and friends, all of whom look down on her. Isolated and demeaned, Stella wonders if she can live a life in such hostile surroundings.They move into the guest house on his estate, and things only get worse. As Stella meets his ex and his friends at his club, all of whom seem to know something she doesn’t, she wonders if Chris is really the man she thought he was. As she learns more about his past and discovers his dark side, she wonders if she has made a big mistake. Beneath its trimmed hedgerows and gleaming storefronts, Stella soon realizes that this wealthy town hides terrible secrets.But before she can decide what to do, a murder leaves her blindsided.Stella, implicated, her future on the line, has no choice but to investigate. As her dreams devolves into hell, Stella, still struggling to overcome her own traumatic past, questions everything around her—including her own sanity.Can she find the killer, and clear her name, before it’s too late?A fast-paced psychological suspense thriller with unforgettable characters and heart-pounding suspense, HIS OTHER WIFE is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

The Return


Rachel Harrison - 2020
    But Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she feels in her bones that her best friend is out there, and that one day she'll come back. She's right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she's been or what happened to her.