Book picks similar to
The Secret Surrogate by Stephanie Mitchell
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Destroy Me
Karen Cole - 2021
It looks exactly like her, and to make matters worse, the victim is her childhood best friend, Charlie.The following day, the police arrive at her doorstep to question her. She hadn't seen or spoken to Charlie in years, but could the secrets of their past finally be coming back to haunt her?Desperate to find out who gave the police her description and to protect her five-year-old son, Cat investigates. She knows she is innocent and will stop at nothing to prove it. But some secrets are best left buried...
The Woman in the Water
Kelly Heard - 2021
Even as I catch my first glimpse of sunlight on the lake, as I approach the small town where we grew up. I promised myself I would never go back there. That it would be safer for us both if I stayed away forever…But Holly’s little girls need me. They have no-one else. And they might be in danger.Because I know Holly’s death wasn’t an accident.She didn’t slip and drown out by the old boardwalk, surrounded by trees and dark water. She would never have gone there, if she had a choice.Someone has done this to keep her silent.If whoever killed Holly knows my secret too, then I need to find them before they find me.Otherwise, I’ll be next.An absolutely gripping, twisty psychological thriller about secrets between sisters that will keep you turning the pages late into the night. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, The Woman in the Window and The Silent Patient.
Torment
Mark Tilbury - 2019
She is eight weeks pregnant and married to the man of her dreams. But after returning home from a celebratory meal, she finds a wreath from her sister's grave hanging above the bed and a kitchen knife embedded in her pillow. There are no signs of a forced entry. Nothing is stolen. And no one other than the cleaner has a key to the house.Then a campaign of terror begins. Beth becomes increasingly paranoid as it becomes clear that someone close to the family is behind these disturbing events.But who would want Beth dead?Does the past hold the clue?And can Beth find the answer before it's too late?Torment is a story of misplaced loyalty, revenge and sacrifice.
Keep Your Friends Close
June Taylor - 2018
But her surprise weekend quickly becomes a nightmare from which she may never escape.Who wants everything you have.They are staying by the beach at the Midland – a grand hotel where Karin used to work. And where Karin’s dangerous and obsessive ex, whom she has been trying to leave behind for years, is waiting patiently for her to return.Who won’t stop until your life is in ruins.Now all of Karin’s darkest secrets are being dragged into the light and her friends are turning against her. When one of them is murdered, Karin begins to realise just how treacherous relationships can be…
The Mysteries Of Shetland
Ann Cleeves - 2013
Starting with the CWA awarding winning Raven Black, this special ebook also contains the second and third novels in the Shetland series, White Nights and Red Bones.Raven Black: It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter’s eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance . . . The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man – loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine’s neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.
The Perfect Neighbour
Susanna Beard - 2021
She wishes she could make friends with her beautiful neighbour Oksana. She longs for a new group of friends. Welcoming neighbours to visit. Coffee dates and dinner parties.But life here feels so closed. Then Beth runs into Oksana’s garden one day to fetch her runaway dog, and she sees something shocking that makes her wonder who her new neighbours really are.A girl in the window.A pale desperate face.A hastily scribbled sign bearing only two words.HELP ME.Who is the girl? What are the neighbours hiding?Sometimes, it’s the most perfect neighbours that hide the most terrible secrets.
The Truth
Naomi Joy - 2019
Perfect life. Perfect crime.Anthony is not the man everyone believes him to be. And Emelia is not the woman he wants her to be.Theirs was a whirlwind romance, Anthony was the doting boyfriend, the charismatic and successful career man who swept her off her feet. But now Emelia is trapped in a marriage of dark secrets and obsession. She is no more than something Anthony wants to 'fix', one of his pet projects.Emelia has no escape from the life that Anthony insists on controlling, so she shares her story through the only means she can – her blog. Yet Anthony can never find out. Forced to hide behind a false name, Emelia knows the only way that Anthony will allow her to leave him, is death.Trapped with a man she knows is trying to kill her, Emelia is determined that someone will hear her story and Anthony will meet his ends. That everyone will discover the truth.Perfect for fans of My Lovely Wife, Liane Moriarty and The Mother in Law.
Doppelgänger
Susan Cory - 2019
The license of the getaway car is traced to Architect Iris Reid. When the police arrest Iris and show her security footage of the robbery, she sees her own face looking back.Scrambling to defend herself against an airtight case, Iris discovers that her mail's been diverted to an abandoned apartment in the next town. She's able to find a clue there that allows her to pick up her doppelganger’s trail.But someone is watching her every move.Doppellgänger, the third Iris Reid mystery from real-life architect Susan Cory, is a psychological thriller about obsession, identity and what it means to have parts of your life stripped away.
SHE WILL RESCUE YOU
Chris Clement-Green - 2019
Elegant, intelligent, and ambitious but lonely. She works among society’s darkest minds in perpetrator profiling. A man is murdered in a Norfolk turkey shed. Just another violent incident or something more? Ellie Grant is a lonely young woman. She works for minimum wage at an animal shelter and nurses a simmering hatred for all those who abuse animals. When she “finds” a winning lottery ticket, she faces a terrible choice: use the money for what she believes in or give the ticket back to its rightful owner. THE TWO WOMEN BECOME LOCKED IN A BATTLE WHICH WILL TEST ALL THEIR BELIEFS. HOW FAR WILL THEY GO? And both women fall in love with the same man. WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?
A Fractured Winter
Alison Baillie - 2019
But when she starts receiving notes, she knows her perfect life is under threat.
She thought she’d managed to put the past behind her, but someone seems determined to reveal her secret.Meanwhile, girls are vanishing in the area and Olivia fears for her family’s safety.Has someone discovered the real reason she left Scotland all those years ago?And does her secret have links to the recent disappearances?
When someone is out to get you, is there anywhere you can hide?
Fractured Winter is a compelling and suspenseful psychosocial mystery it will appeal to fans of authors like LJ Ross, Lesley Kara and Faith Martin.
One Good Lie
Jane Isaac - 2021
Sophie has been the delicate one.Ruby can’t help but worry for Sophie, who is wracked with guilt for introducing their mother to the man who would eventually murder her. And then the unthinkable happens. On the night of their mother’s wake, another woman is killed, a woman whose name they haven't heard in a long time.Ruby doesn’t want to suspect Sophie’s boyfriend, Ewan, of foul play. But she knows that Ewan was in the area the woman was killed around the time of her death – a fact that he desperately wants to hide. Ruby can’t help but wonder what else Ewan is hiding. But the more she digs, the more she wonders just how much danger her sister might be in…
The Woman Downstairs
Elisabeth Carpenter - 2019
Can you ever really know your neighbours?When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years.Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building.Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on.As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it's clear that someone isn't telling the truth about what went on all those years ago...
Between You and Me
Carol Mason - 2021
Back home in London, their feelings only strengthen. But Lauren soon discovers that building a happy future with Joe is going to be an uphill struggle…She’s determined to be a good stepmother to his children, four-year-old Toby and complicated teen Grace. But under the watchful eye of Meredith, Joe’s intimidating ex-wife, Lauren can’t seem to do a thing right. Why won’t Joe ever take her side against Grace? And what really happened between him and Meredith?As her husband retreats into a cold, secretive version of the dashing man she met in California, Lauren starts to wonder if she’s made a costly mistake. Was Joe ever the man she thought she married?
Surrender: A Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love
Marylee MacDonald - 2020
Now she shares her story with the child she gave away.Adopted at birth, Marylee's parents told her she was a "chosen child." She tried her hardest to be a model daughter, but divorce sent her into the comforting arms of a handsome Catholic boy.It's a familiar story. Romeo and Juliet. Theirs was the love story of all time.Starry-eyed, she surrendered to passion. Unfortunately, it was 1961. Pregnant girls were sent away, and their babies given up for adoption. History was repeating itself.Nature vs. nurture: Which plays a greater role in who we become? The family we were raised in, or the parents we never knew?In telling her adult son the story of his birth, can the narrator find compassion for her own wounded inner child?If you like truthful accounts laced with the passion of youth and the wisdom of age, read Marylee MacDonald's funny and poignant memoir about how we grow up, grow old, and learn to accept ourselves.
If You're Lucky
Yvonne Prinz - 2015
Lucky was smart. He wouldn’t have surfed in waters more dangerous than he could handle. Then a stranger named Fin arrives in False Bay, claiming to have been Lucky’s best friend. Soon Fin is working for Lucky’s father, charming Lucky’s mother, dating his girlfriend. Georgia begins to wonder: did Fin murder Lucky in order to take over his whole life? Determined to clear the fog from her mind in order to uncover the truth about Lucky’s death, Georgia secretly stops taking the medication that keeps away the voices in her head. Georgia is certain she’s getting closer and closer to the truth about Fin, but as she does, her mental state becomes more and more precarious, and no one seems to trust what she’s saying. As the chilling narrative unfolds, the reader must decide whether Georgia’s descent into madness is causing her to see things that don’t exist–or to see a deadly truth that no one else can. “A remarkable page-turner . . . Keep[s] readers wondering, twist by twist, if Georgia’s universe will simply burst apart.” —Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle