Book picks similar to
The Secret Sister by M.M. DeLuca
netgalley
home-shelf
mystery-thriller
fiction
She Chose Me
Tracey Emerson - 2018
When she receives a blank Mother's Day card in the post, she is confused and unsettled. Who could have sent it to her and why? She isn't a mother. Another Mother's Day card arrives. Then come the silent phone calls. Haunted by disturbing flashbacks, Grace starts to unravel. Someone is out to get her. Someone who knows what she has done.
Not My Mother
Miranda Smith - 2021
When a baby is snatched from her mother’s arms, the whole country knows about it. I knew about the parents left lying by the swimming pool, the open window in the nursery. But I never dreamed it had anything to do with me.Today, my beautiful daughter turned one. We were unwrapping gifts and blowing out candles when the knock came at the door, and they took my mother away.The police say she’s not really my mother. That she stole me, thirty years ago.When I visit her, desperate for answers, she looks me in the eye, and says nothing. I can barely breathe. Is my whole life a lie?I have to find out, but the more I learn, the more scared I become. And soon I start to wonder, am I losing my grip on reality or is my own daughter in terrible danger?An absolutely gripping psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell.
The Perfect House
R.P. Bolton - 2021
So why is it tearing them apart?A fresh startEllie knows she has found her dream home – number six Moss Lane. The place she and Tom can settle down, raise their new baby and start again.A dark secretBut why do their new neighbours think they’re so brave for moving in? Why are Ellie’s keys never where she left them? And why can Ellie hear strange noises in the night that Tom can’t?A living nightmareSuddenly their dream house no longer feels so perfect and when Ellie learns the truth about number six’s dark past, a truth that Tom has been keeping secret from her, she no longer knows who she can trust.Has their perfect home become her worst nightmare?A gripping new psychological thriller that you won’t be able to put down and will have your heart racing! Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Jackie Kabler.
Dirty Liar
Marissa Finch - 2020
A chance to get away from my stifling apartment, the sweat of the city, a job I hate. A Sunday morning hiking in the woods with my dog is a dream come true … until it becomes a nightmare. I don’t see the hole until it’s too late. Then I’m at the bottom of it, staring up at the ground twelve feet above me. A stupid accident. Or was it? Because soon, someone’s bringing me food and water. Someone who doesn’t want me to see his face. Someone who knows what I did. Out there, someone wants revenge. And down here, at the bottom of a hole, a lifetime of lies is about to unravel… A fresh and original thriller, Dirty Liar asks how well we ever truly know the people we love. Guaranteed to keep you turning pages long into the night!
The Vacation
M.M. Chouinard - 2021
But they’re each hiding something:Rose hopes the pretty house overlooking the sea is just the break her family needs. But as she gazes at the water and remembers her own childhood, she is utterly terrified.Brandon knows his wife Rose has barely forgiven him for his affair. He’s started drinking again, a road that led him to disaster once before.Brianna, Rose’s sister-in-law, is recovering from her fifth miscarriage, and when she looks at her adorable niece, she can’t help but see the daughter she deserves.Then three-year-old Lily disappears from her bed in the villa. Isolated in what should have been paradise, it quickly becomes clear that one of them took her.As one by one their secrets are uncovered, who will be destroyed next?A completely addictive thriller about every parent’s worst nightmare that will keep you guessing into the early hours of the morning. Perfect for fans of The Guest List, One by One and The Sister-in-Law.
Secrets to the Grave
Steve Frech - 2021
Deep bruises encircled the neck, but the most unsettling feature was the eyes, which stared lifelessly upwards. That was the moment the woman began screaming.When a teenage girl is found dead on a quiet suburban street, Detective Meredith Somerset is haunted by flashbacks to the day her little sister vanished—the day Meredith should have been watching her. But with a murder to solve, she doesn’t have time for painful memories to cloud her judgement.The victim is shoeless, the only clue to her identity a small silver medallion hidden in her grass-stained sock. Did she run from her killer across the smooth lawns of Willow Lane? And if so, how did no one in the surrounding houses see or hear a thing?Meredith needs answers, or she’ll never shake the image of her sister’s face begging her for help. But Willow Lane has more than one mystery behind its doors—and to find the killer, Meredith must venture into a community that’s determined to keep its secrets hidden at any cost…A nail-biting crime thriller with a shocking twist, perfect for fans of Harlan Coben, Robert Dugoni and Lisa Regan.
While You Slept
Richard Jay Parker - 2020
When she and Maisie wake up the following morning in an exact replica of their home, held captive by that same man, the police are no longer an option.Surrounded by the rooms and things that once provided comfort and now only promote fear, Lily and Maisie must fight to survive. Because when no one knows where you are, you are your only hope.
The Parents
Claire Seeber - 2021
But it’s not long before I realise: I should have never made friends with them…I knew it wouldn’t be easy for my kids to adjust when we moved to a tiny village where they didn’t know a soul. But after the death of my husband, we needed a fresh start.Suddenly, we’re outsiders. I know the only way we’ll be accepted is if I throw myself into my new life, so when my son joins a local club, I volunteer to help along with the other parents.Before moving here, I didn’t know people like this really existed; their lives seem too perfect to be real. Although my own life couldn’t be more different, they welcome me into the fold. For the first time since my husband died, I feel like I made the right decision for my family…That is until I overhear something that tells me these other parents aren’t as perfect as they seem. Something that turns my world upside down again.My secret has already ruined my life once. I thought the truth had died with my husband… I should have known that it wouldn’t be buried for long.A completely addictive page-turner about the secrets and lies hiding beneath seemingly perfect lives. Fans of Big Little Lies, Lisa Jewell and Louise Candlish will be absolutely hooked by this pacey read with a jaw-dropping twist you just won’t see coming.
The Missing Wife
Sam Carrington - 2019
Your best friend has just created your worst nightmare.Louisa is an exhausted, sleep-deprived new mother and, approaching her fortieth birthday, the very last thing she wants to do is celebrate.But when her best friend Tiff organises a surprise party, inviting the entire list of Lou’s Facebook friends, she’s faced with a new source of anxiety altogether: a room full of old college classmates who she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years. And one person in particular she never expected to see again is there – her ex-boyfriend from college, the handsome and charismatic Oliver Dunmore.When Oliver’s wife Melissa goes missing after the party, everyone remembers what happened that night differently. It could be the alcohol, but it seems more than one person has something to hide.Louisa is determined to find the truth about what happened to Melissa. But just how far does she need to look…?One simple Facebook invitation unfolds into something both tragic and monstrous; a story of obsessive love, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation.
Flowers for the Dead
C.K. Williams - 2020
I am their cautionary tale.
Nineteen years ago Linn Wilson was attacked. Seventeen-years-old and home alone, she’d been waiting for her friends to arrive when she heard the doorbell ring. But when she opened the door, Linn let in her worst nightmare. The culprit was never found.
It was someone I knew. I am going to find out who did this to me.
Now, Linn is determined to get to the bottom of the night that changed her life forever. Returning to the village where she grew up, she knows that someone must know something. The claustrophobia and isolation of small town living means secrets won’t remain secrets for long…
A wonderfully tense and gripping suspense thriller that will have you hooked! Perfect for fans of D.K Hood’s Detective Kane and Alton series and Sheryl Browne.
Mummy’s Little Secret
M.A. Hunter - 2021
Until Daisy whispers four little words that send ice seeping down Jess’s spine…She’s not my mum.Determined to save Daisy, Jess becomes obsessed with unearthing Morag’s secrets. As she digs ever deeper, her friends and family start to question her own increasingly paranoid behaviour…Four little words can end a life.But Jess knows what she heard and she’s certain the fear in Daisy’s eyes was real. Of course she isn’t imagining things… Or is she?Mummy’s Little Secret is a nerve-shredding new psychological thriller from the author of The Missing Children Case Files – perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and C.L. Taylor.
Her Final Victim
N.J. Moss - 2021
. .Hazel and Jamie are happily married. Or so it would seem. Behind closed doors, things are far from normal. Jamie has an unhealthy obsession, and Hazel is more worried about herself than her husband.So when Millicent injects herself into their lives, with Jamie firmly in her sights, the trio end up on a path that will end in death.Everyone has secrets. Everyone has a dark side.But who is good, who is bad, and who is going to get away with murder?
The Stepson
Jane Renshaw - 2021
Now he’s ready for another.Psychotherapist Lulu is sure she’s the luckiest woman alive. She has a wonderful job and is married to the love of her life, Nick - who also happens to be ridiculously handsome and fabulously wealthy.But now a shadow has fallen on her perfect life.She can see that Nick is struggling with demons from his past. When he was sixteen his entire family disappeared without a trace and Nick has always insisted that his stepmother – whom he hated – was to blame, that she did something terrible to his beloved father and baby sister. And that trauma has left him feeling that anyone he loves is in danger, might vanish in a heartbeat.So now he is obsessed with Lulu’s safety. He needs to know where she is 24/7, insists she carries a can of pepper spray, is constantly watching for any potential threats.Lulu can see that this extreme anxiety is wearing Nick down. And as a therapist, she knows the only way to heal a trauma is to confront it. So she persuades him to return to the country house from which his family vanished.But soon after they arrive in this sleepy rural community, another person disappears.As Lulu is forced to question everything she knows about Nick and his missing family, dark secrets emerge from the past. The certainties of her old life fade away and are replaced by a horror she could never have imagined in her wildest nightmares.The Stepson – the stunning psychological thriller perfect for fans of Teresa Driscoll, K L Slater, Daniel Hurst.
The Courier
Holly Down - 2021
. .Five years ago, Laurel Lovejoy had it all. The high-powered city job, the loving husband, the perfect daughter. Now, she is forty and alone, and working for a courier service. But she has discovered that being a delivery driver comes with a superpower: it makes her invisible. People accept her presence without question. They go about their lives, unaware of just how much she sees - how much she knows.Laurel is particularly fascinated by the residents of Paradise Found, an exclusive gated cul-de-sac. She sometimes even finds her way there when she's not working, using her days off to soak up as much information about the inhabitants and their lives as she can. Everyone needs a hobby.Then one day Laurel sees something in one of the houses - something that blows her whole world apart, and will have devastating consequences for everyone involved . . .Perfect for fans of Clare Mackintosh, Adele Parks, Lisa Jewell and The Girl on the Train, THE COURIER will keep you up all night with your eyes glued to the page!
The Third Nanny
Michele Pariza Wacek - 2021
Including the nanny.Janey hadn’t heard from her sister Kelly since she ran away from home eight years ago.Until the day the letter arrived.A disturbing letter.But before Janey could make contact, Kelly disappeared again. And the only clue they had to work with was in Redemption, Wisconsin, where Kelly had worked as a nanny.So, Janey decided to follow in her sister’s footsteps … by taking over her job.The family has secrets, and the more Janey digs, the more twisted the story becomes.And the more Janey realizes she might be the next to disappear.Welcome to Redemption, Wisconsin, a town with a troubling past, where nothing is as it seems.“The Third Nanny” is a standalone, psychological thriller, set in the world of the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series.