Book picks similar to
Killing State by Judith O'Reilly
crime
fiction
dnf
thriller
Killing Ruby Rose
Jessie Humphries - 2014
But ever since her dad, an LAPD SWAT sergeant, died, she's also got a few killer secrets.To cope, Ruby has been trying to stay focused on school (the top spot in her class is on the line) and spending time with friends (her Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks are nothing if not loyal). But after six months of therapy and pathetic parenting by her mom, the District Attorney, Ruby decides to pick up where her dad left off and starts going after the bad guys herself.When Ruby ends up killing a murderer to save his intended victim, she discovers that she's gone from being the huntress to the hunted. There's a sick mastermind at play, and he has Ruby in his sights. Ruby must discover who's using her to implement twisted justice before she ends up swapping Valentino red for prison orange.With a gun named Smith, a talent for martial arts, and a boyfriend with eyes to die for, Ruby is ready to face the worst. And if a girl's forced to kill, won't the guilt sit more easily in a pair of Prada peep-toe pumps?
Head Case
Ross Armstrong - 2018
And the only one who can solve it, in this quirky psychological thriller.Tom Mondrian’s perfectly happy as a PCSO directing traffic, until a bullet to the brain changes everything. With a new unusual perspective, including an inability to recognise faces and absolutely no filter between his brain and his mouth, Tom’s convinced his career should be over.Until his new condition also helps him start noticing details that others police officers are missing, and gives him a determination to save three missing girls, before more start to disappear.
Europe in Autumn
Dave Hutchinson - 2014
Following multiple economic crises and a devastating flu pandemic, Europe has fractured into countless tiny nations, duchies, polities and republics. Recruited by the shadowy organisation Les Coureurs des Bois, Rudi is schooled in espionage, but when a training mission to The Line, a sovereign nation consisting of a trans-Europe railway line, goes wrong, he is arrested, beaten and Coureur Central must attempt a rescue. With so many nations to work in, and identities to assume, Rudi is kept busy travelling across Europe. But when he is sent to smuggle someone out of Berlin and finds a severed head inside a locker instead, a conspiracy begins to wind itself around him. With kidnapping, double-crosses and a map that constantly re-draws, Rudi begins to realise that underneath his daily round of plot and counter plot, behind the conflicting territories, another entirely different reality might be pulling the strings...
Dawn Girl
Leslie Wolfe - 2016
A few specks of sand clung to her long, dark lashes. Her beautiful face, immobile, covered in sparkling flecks of sand. Her lips slightly parted as if to let a last breath escape.Who is the beautiful girl found at dawn, on a deserted stretch of white sand beach? What is her secret?FBI Special Agent Tess Winnett searches for answers relentlessly. With each step, each new finding, she uncovers unsettling facts leading to a single possible conclusion: Dawn Girl is not the only victim. Her killer has killed before.Hiding a terrible secret of her own, Special Agent Tess Winnett faces her inmost fears, in a heart-stopping race to catch a killer who’s getting ready to end yet another life. Will she find the killer in time? Will she be able to stop him? At what cost? The rules of the game have changed. So has the textbook definition of a serial killer.Special Agent Tess Winnett is the bold, direct, and short-fused heroine of Dawn Girl. Putting her life on the line, she doesn’t pull any punches, searching only for the truth, and for the man who takes lives on her watch. Intelligent, resourceful, and uncompromising, Tess will take readers on a memorable, white-knuckled journey in this suspenseful, gripping serial killer thriller.
Girl Jacked
Christopher Greyson - 2013
They were old friends. He knew only one way to deal with pain. Hunt it down and kill it."
Police Officer Jack Stratton is hiding. Hiding from the world. From pain. From the memories of losing his best friend, Chandler, in Iraq. Suffering from PTSD and isolated from those he cares about, the last thing Jack expects to hear is his foster sister Michelle, Chandler’s sister, is gone. The words cut straight to his core. Although the police think she just took off, he knows Michelle would never leave those she loved behind–like he did. Now he must take action, find Michelle, and bring her home or die trying. The first novel in the Jack Stratton Collection introduces us to handsome rogue, Jack Stratton. A debt of honor to his dead foster brother drives Jack into a world of deception and lies. As Jack’s walls begin to crumble, he must navigate the quirky characters that seep into the mystery of his foster sister’s disappearance. And in the sleepy community of Darrington, like so many places in this world, nothing is as it appears. The hidden mysteries that often go unnoticed begin to emerge as Jack and his new unpredictable sidekick begin to turn over the rocks. Following a trail that has grown cold, Jack must tread carefully to protect his job, his family, and his life. This stand-alone novel features rogue hero Jack Stratton. Look for other books in the Jack Stratton Collection including Jack Knifed, Jacks are Wild, and now Jack and the Giant Killer. They can be read in any order, however, they are best experienced in sequence.
The Essence of Evil
Rob Sinclair - 2019
He’s a murderer.He’s your twin. When D.I Dani Stephens returns to work after the attack that almost ended her life, she’s quickly plunged into a horrific new case, as dead bodies are discovered on the streets of Birmingham. But with no link between the victims, Dani has to get inside a killer’s mind - so turns to the murderer she knows best. Her own twin brother… But what makes a psychopath? Can understanding her twin help her find a murderer who leaves no trace? As the circle closes on Dani, the clock is ticking and she needs a breakthrough – before she becomes the latest victim.
A heart-stopping crime thriller that fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham won’t be able to put down.
A Summer of Surprises: (Little Duck Pond Cafe, Book 16)
Rosie Green - 2021
Having been through a traumatic time, it’s a joy to be working for Ellie, and now all Ruby wants is to lead a quiet life and support her mum in getting the help she needs.But life, it seems, has other plans for Ruby.Working alongside the bafflingly rude Hudson Holmes would be bad enough – but then odd things start happening. It seems that someone is out to sabotage the café and bakery, and to her horror, Ruby finds the finger pointing at her.Desperate to prove her innocence, she teams up with the most unlikely person in order to get to the bottom of what’s going on. Tailing suspects and hiding in bushes isn’t something she ever imagined she’d be doing, although her partner in mystery-solving seems the perfect man for the job. Can they clear Ruby’s name by discovering the real culprit?With all the drama afoot, at least there’s no time for romance. Because that’s the very last thing on Ruby’s mind these days. Or is it…?
Now You See Me
Sharon J. Bolton - 2011
Within twenty-four hours a reporter receives an anonymous letter that points out alarming similarities between the murder and Jack the Ripper’s first murder—a letter that calls out Lacey by name. If it’s real, and they have a killer bent on re-creating London’s bloody past, history shows they have just five days until the next attempt.No one believes the connections are anything more than a sadistic killer’s game, not even Lacey, whom the killer seems to be taunting specifically. However, as they investigate the details of the case start reminding her more and more of a part of her past she’d rather keep hidden. And the only way to do that is to catch the killer herself.
He Is Watching You
Charlie Gallagher - 2018
The killer is careful to position her under a camera that links to his smartphone. He likes to look back at his work.HE IS WATCHING HER. BUT SHE ISN’T DEAD.So he will go back to finish the job. He can barely contain his excitement at the thought of getting to do it all over again. But he must be careful. He cannot rush. Rushing makes you careless.Detective Maddie Ives is new to the area. She is handed a missing person report: a young woman with a drink problem who’s been reported missing fifteen times. It looks like a waste of time. But DS Ives has a bad feeling about the woman’s disappearance.DI Harry Blaker is called to a hit and run of an elderly man left to die on a quiet country road. There is no motive and it looks like a tragic accident. But he’s been working Major Crime long enough to know that something isn’t quite right. The two officers find their investigations intertwine and they will need to work together.BUT THEY MUST WORK FAST. TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR THE WOMAN IN THE CONTAINER. And the killer has already identified his next target.HE IS WATCHING YOU: The new race against time thriller from Charlie Gallagher. Perfect for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Damien Boyd, Rachel Abbott, Patricia Gibney or Mark Billingham.
The Dentist
Tim Sullivan - 2020
Violently strangled. No leads. Except for his past.An outsider himself, DS George Cross is drawn to this case. The discovery of the dead man's connection to an old cold case then pulls Cross in further. Convinced this is where the answer to the murder lies, he sets about solving another that someone has spent the past fifteen years thinking they’ve got away with.Cross’ relentless obsession with logic, detail and patterns is what makes him so irritatingly brilliant. It doesn’t exactly make him popular with colleagues or his superiors, though. He has numerous enemies in the force wanting to see him fail.Red flags are soon raised as suspicious inconsistencies and errors in the original detective’s investigation come to light. Now retired, this ex-cop has powerful friends in the force and a long-standing dislike of Cross.Set in picturesque Bristol in the Southwest of England, it’s not long before the city reveals its dark underbelly, in a case of intriguing twists and turns whose result astonishes even those involved.Difficult and awkward, maybe. But Cross has the best conviction rate in Avon & Somerset Police. By far. Will this case put an end to that?
Dare Game
Melinda Colt - 2020
The plot thickens as his team discovers more unsolved murders with the same modus operandi—worldwide.Amber Reed stumbles into the middle of the investigation when she discovers her teenage daughter is a key-player in the Dublin murder case. Determined to do the right thing, Amber and her daughter help John, even though doing so puts their lives in danger.Pressed by time and duty, John has to protect them and crack the case before the killer strikes again.
April
Kerry Wilkinson - 2016
April Willis is walking to school when someone in a white van tries to snatch her from the street. It’s the second attack in less than a week and, with parents and students beginning to panic, it’s down to Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel to find the culprit. This short story takes place between the Jessica Daniel novels Playing With Fire and Thicker Than Water.
Once a Soldier
Benjamin Blackmore - 2019
Can an ex-soldier put aside his own demons to stop them?
Ex-military contractor Harper Knox has taken over his family’s farm in eastern Washington, ripped up the cherry trees and planted grape vines, hoping that the wine life will ease his PTSD-riddled soul. But he still has nightmares, and he’s still diving into the dirt every time a kid sets off a firework.Desperate to taste battle again, he accepts a bodyguard gig in Seattle protecting a doctor involved with controversial AI research. Sometimes the only way to deal with the fire is by jumping back into the flame. Things go bad quickly, and Harper and Italian mercenary Francesca Daly join forces to make things right. Technology and religion collide as the two vigilantes race through Seattle on a hunt for a madman.
Ghost in the Machine
Ed James - 2012
He is assigned a Missing Persons case which has stretched his uniform colleagues. Caroline Adamson - a young, recently divorced mother from Edinburgh - has disappeared whilst on a date. The more Cullen digs into her disappearance, the more he unravels her private life. Who was she on a date with? What happened during her divorce from Rob Thomson? As Cullen's own private life gets messier and the relationship with his DI deteriorates, Caroline's body turns up and he finds himself hunting for a ghost in the machine. Book one of the Scott Cullen series.
Agent 192
Vince Vogel - 2018
Beginning ten years ago with a bungled mission and an escape from a burning prison, this story finds Alex now dwelling in the Pit: a secret psychiatric unit for broken agents of the British Secret Service. Busted out and whisked away to the deserts of Syria, he finds himself in a community of ex-agents led by a mysterious masked figure who wants Alex to join them. Meanwhile, Uriel send their deadliest agents on the trail of their missing man. Starting in Copenhagen and spreading to the jungles of South America, they hunt down leads with violent efficiency and find a group of assassins hellbent on taking Uriel down and turning the hunters into the hunted. As Alex begins to learn of the intentions of the community, he must make a choice: his country or his new found family. Spanning the globe and involving a wide-ranging cast of characters, this fast-paced thriller will leave you breathless as you enter the chaotic world of Agent 192.