Book picks similar to
The Stepmother by Ros Carne


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Copycat


Alex Lake - 2017
    The other, she has never seen. But everything in it is accurate. Recent photos of her and her friends, her and her husband, her and her kids. Even of her new kitchen. A photo taken inside her house.She is bemused, angry, and worried. Who was able to do this? Any why?But this, it soon turns out, is just the beginning. It is only now–almost as though someone has been watching, waiting for her to find the profile–that her problems really start…

Her Darkest Fear


Nina Manning - 2020
    Frankie Keegan is struggling. Not only is she juggling being a good mother, a good wife, a good colleague, she is also desperately trying to keep the dark secrets of her past buried where they belong. And that is not proving to be easy. Someone else remembers...As the dark winter nights start to draw in, the 20th anniversary of her brother's death looms and mysterious things start happening in Frankie's life. Paranoid and distressed, she realises that perhaps her past really is out to haunt her...Can she stop the secret from being uncovered before it's too late? From the bestselling author of The Daughter In Law, a gripping psychological thriller about family, secrecy and grief - with a twist you won't see coming. Perfect for fans of K L Slater, Shalini Boland and Lisa Jewell. Readers love Nina Manning:'Compelling and claustrophobic, Nina is an exciting new voice and definitely one to watch' Phoebe Morgan, author of The Girl Next Door'Chilling and creepy. An atmospheric and addictive debut.' Diane Jeffrey, author of The Guilty Mother'Totally addictive. I couldn't put it down!' Darren O'Sullivan, author of Closer Than You Think'A claustrophobic, nail-biting thriller that draws you in and doesn't let go.' Naomi Joy, author of The Liars‘Clever, emotionally draining and totally gripping. I absolutely loved this book!’ D E White, author of The Forgotten Child

The Perfect Liar


Thomas Christopher Greene - 2019
    Paris and Paula Hawkins.Susannah, a young widow and single mother, has remarried well: to Max, a charismatic artist and popular speaker whose career took her and her fifteen-year-old son out of New York City and to a quiet Vermont university town. Strong-willed and attractive, Susannah expects that her life is perfectly in place again. Then one quiet morning she finds a note on her door: I KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Max dismisses the note as a prank. But days after a neighborhood couple comes to dinner, the husband mysteriously dies in a tragic accident while on a run with Max. Soon thereafter, a second note appears on their door: DID YOU GET AWAY WITH IT?Both Susannah and Max are keeping secrets from the world and from each other —secrets that could destroy their family and everything they have built. The Perfect Liar is a thrilling novel told through the alternating perspectives of Susannah and Max with a shocking climax that no one will expect, from the bestselling author of The Headmaster’s Wife.

The Lies We Told


Camilla Way - 2018
    Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker, and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emily, who vanished twenty years ago, suddenly reappears.Emily wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened--even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected.

If I Die Tonight


Alison Gaylin - 2018
    She used to be able to tell what they were thinking, feeling, if they were lying…But it's as though every day, every minute even, she knows them a little less. Her boys aren’t boys anymore, they’re becoming men - men she’s not sure she recognises, men she’s not sure she can trust.So when one of her son’s classmates is killed in suspicious circumstances, people start asking questions.Was it really a hit and run? A car-jacking gone wrong? Or something much more sinister?Now Jackie must separate the truth from the lies.How did that boy end up on the road?And where was her son that night?

Last Seen Alive


Claire Douglas - 2017
    But after she saves the children in her care from a fire, she finds herself headline news. And horrified by the attention. It all reminds her of what happened nine years ago. The last time she saw her best friend alive.The SwapWhich is why the house swap is such a godsend. Libby and her husband Jamie exchange their flat in Bath for a beautiful, secluded house in Cornwall. It's a chance to heal their marriage - to stop its secrets tearing them apart.The HideawayBut this stylish Cornish home isn't the getaway they'd hoped for. They make odd, even disturbing, discoveries in the house. It's so isolated-yet Libby doesn't feel entirely alone. As if she's being watched.Is Libby being paranoid? What is her husband hiding? And. As the secrets and lies come tumbling out, is the past about to catch up with them?

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.

The Girlfriend


Sarah J. Naughton - 2017
    The perfect boyfriend. The perfect lie.Mags doesn't believe her brother's fall was an accident. In that forty-foot stairwell, he didn't just slip over the edge.But there is only one witness, Jody, the girlfriend grieving at his bedside.Which is another story Mags doesn't believe.Because Jody likes telling stories, and this may be her most twisted one yet.As Mags begins to unearth the secrets hidden in her brother's wake, she finds she isn't just looking for the truth. For Mags, this is more than a simple tragedy. This is an opportunity for revenge.

The Girls Inside


N.J. Mackay - 2021
    Blue's mother was one of them. But when the Black House goes up in flames, Blue escapes to freedom and never stops running.Twenty years later, when Blue's old dormmate commits suicide, Blue receives a strange call. She has been awarded sole custody of Natasha's daughter. But things don't add up. The girls haven't spoken since the night of the fire.As Blue begins to dig into Natasha's life, her suspicions take her all the way back to that fateful night...But will the truth help Blue to face her past, or will it put everyone she holds close in danger?

In a Cottage In a Wood


Cass Green - 2017
    Isabelle forces a parcel into Neve’s hands and jumps to her death in the icy Thames below.An unexpected gift...Two weeks later, as Neve’s wreck of a life in London collapses, an unexpected lifeline falls into her lap – a charming cottage in Cornwall left to her by Isabelle, the woman on the bridge. The solution to all her problems.A Twisted secret...But when Neve arrives, alone in the dark woods late one night, she finds a sinister-looking bungalow with bars across its windows. And her dream home quickly becomes her worst nightmare – a house hiding a twisted secret that will change her life forever…

Don't Let Him In


Howard Linskey - 2021
    Except, as she reads through his notes, it's clear he was sure he was about to uncover the truth. And then she hears that there are unanswered questions about his death.It's unnerving, reading through his theories alone in their tall, creaking family house on the seafront.If she didn't know better, she'd swear she thought she heard someone outside her door...

New Year's Eve


J.G. Murray - 2020
    No more run-down flats in dodgy areas. But behind the exterior of this beautiful Victorian house, things are less than picture-perfect, and the tight-knit community is unwelcoming.When Hayley befriends the woman next door, no-one is pleased. Least of all the man from upstairs. The one who watches them all from behind his window. Then they receive an invite for a New Year's Eve party. But what seems like a friendly gesture, proves to be anything but...

Tear Me Apart


J.T. Ellison - 2018
    During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.Who knows the answers?The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart… and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.With vivid movement through time, Tear Me Apart examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within.

What She Did


Carla Kovach - 2021
    Everything has to be simple, ordered, in its place.It gives me the illusion that I’m in control. Even though I know I never can be.Twenty years ago, I lost everyone I ever loved, and they say it was all my fault.I’ve tried to make sure I could never hurt anyone again, but it’s hard to live any kind of life without letting anyone get close to me.And then come the sirens; the knock at the door.If I’d done something terrible, I would know, wouldn’t I?An absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller that’ll keep you reading long into the night. Perfect for fans of C.L. Taylor, Teresa Driscoll and Lisa Jewell.

Now I Found You


Mila Oliver - 2021
    When badly battered body parts were discovered three days later, the investigation concluded that they were Emily's and the case was closed as an accidental drowning.Now Kate has returned to her hometown in the Catskills for the first time since her sister's death, for a work retreat. While at her boss's lake house, she briefly spies a familiar face.It's Emily.She's all grown up, but Kate knows her sister's face better than anyone. The sighting reignites the doubts Kate has always had, and forces her to revisit all the mysterious circumstances that surrounded that day. As she desperately tries to track down the girl she saw at the lake house with the help of her hometown ex-boyfriend, Kate discovers shocking secrets from the past, confronts her own guilt from that day, and becomes obsessed with uncovering the answer to one question.What really happened to Emily?