Watching You Excerpt: The First Four Chapters


Lisa Jewell - 2018
    Someone knows what you did. You’re back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. You’re keen to find a place of your own. But for now you’re crashing in your big brother’s spare room.That’s when you meet the man next door. He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive.You find yourself watching him.All the time.But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession.Or that someone is watching you.

Mother


Laura Jarratt - 2020
    One Chance.When Lizzie's car crashes with her two daughters inside, she faces a terrible choice. And when she recovers from her injuries, she has to deal with the impact of that tragedy as well as the police investigation into it.As Lizzie and her family struggle to come to terms with the events of that night, things take an even darker turn. Just what did happen on that remote country road? Who is responsible? And can the family get through this together...Or will the truth finally tear them apart?A stunning, deeply emotional and beautifully realised cross between SOPHIE'S CHOICE and DAUGHTER.

The Apartment


K.L. Slater - 2020
    The woman before her tried… Freya Miller needs a miracle. In the fallout of her husband’s betrayal, she’s about to lose her family home, and with it the security she craves for her five-year-old daughter, Skye. Adrift and alone, she’s on the verge of despair until a chance meeting with the charismatic Dr Marsden changes everything. He’s seeking a new tenant for a shockingly affordable flat in a fashionable area of London.Adder House sounds too good to be true… But Freya really can’t afford to be cynical, and Dr Marsden is adamant she and Skye will be a perfect fit with the other residents.But Adder House has secrets. Even behind a locked front door, Freya feels as if she’s being watched: objects moving, unfamiliar smells, the blinking light of a concealed camera… and it’s not long before she begins to suspect that her dream home is hiding a nightmarish reality. Was it really chance that led her here—or something unthinkably dark?As the truth about Adder House starts to unravel, can Freya and Skye get out—or will they be locked in forever? Revised edition: This edition of The Apartment includes editorial revisions.

I Don't Forgive You


Aggie Blum Thompson - 2021
    Allie's desperate to make a good first impression. Then she's framed for murder.It all starts at a neighborhood party when a local dad corners Allie and calls her by an old, forgotten nickname from her dark past. The next day, he is found dead.Soon, the police are knocking at her door, grilling her about a supposed Tinder relationship with the man, and pulling up texts between them. She learns quickly that she's been hacked and someone is impersonating her online. Her reputation--socially and professionally--is at stake; even her husband starts to doubt her. As the killer closes in, Allie must reach back into a past she vowed to forget in order to learn the shocking truth of who is destroying her life.

Best Kept Secrets


Tracey S. Phillips - 2019
    Even their deepest, darkest secrets--pinky promise. Right?Morgan Jewell and Fay Ramsey are enjoying their last summer together before college. Fay is shy, with a controlling mother, and Morgan is the perfect, wild, loud-mouthed yang to Fay's ying. But when Fay is found dead, Morgan's entire world crumbles.Years later, Morgan is still haunted by the abrupt end to her best friend's life. She knew Fay held a secret in those final days, but Morgan, now a homicide detective, has failed to make a picture out of the crooked puzzle pieces she left behind. Nothing makes sense. The leads have run dry. Until she's called to the scene of a murder: a woman whose body is left mangled, too similar to Fay's to ignore.Could it be? Morgan vowed to do right by Fay. This is the case she's been waiting for to set her back on the killer's trail. But the closer she gets, the harder it forces her to confront the memories of herself and her best friend. What was her secret? What got her killed? Maybe Morgan didn't know her at all.

Little Girl Lost


J.S. Marciano - 2016
     The press immediately turn on the family, blaming the parents for the young girl’s disappearance. Time passes and everyone begins to lose hope. But when a girl is found wandering the streets of Portugal alone, she is returned to her family and the case closed. Yet something is not right. And as little Rosemary Cathcart grows up, and her parent’s divorce, that feeling never really leaves her. Years later, after finding her boyfriend has been cheating on her, Rosemary flees to her brother’s home, where she quickly wears out her welcome. When her mother arrives and asks her to move in with her and her new husband, Rosemary decides to go to Jersey and work at her father’s hotel. But when she arrives she learns the hotel is close to bankruptcy and her father on his death bed with cancer. Before he dies, he has secrets to tell that will change her world, and the world of everyone around her, forever. And it would seem that Rosemary Cathcart, once a Little Girl Lost, is still yet to be found…. Full of dark secrets and mysterious twists and turns, Little Girl Lost is a must read thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. J. S. Marciano works in a London-based global organisation as a Credit Controller. Although she once dreamed of becoming a singer/actress, she began writing at an early age, and published her first short stories in the London Mystery Magazine and the London Evening News. Jane lives in North West London with her husband of forty years, and enjoys being a grandmother.

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 Diary


Vikki Patis - 2018
     Until the tenth anniversary of Hannah’s death forces her to return home and to the group of friends she abandoned there. It should be a quick visit, just so Lauren can pay her respects. At home, Lauren finds Hannah’s old diary. A diary full of secrets. The terrible things Lauren did, the lies she’s told, the reason she ran away. And she receives a message: ‘I don’t know why you’re back, but I know why you left.’ But no-one else has seen the diary, and Hannah’s dead, isn’t she? A suspenseful psychological thriller full of twists and turns – you won’t be able to stop turning the pages of The Diary. Perfect for fans of The Sister, The Girl on the Train and We Were Liars.

The Darkest Summer


Ella Drummond - 2019
    Now she’s back…but she’s not the girl you knew. Sera and Dee were the best of friends.Until the day that Dee and her brother Leo vanished from Sera’s life, during a long hot summer fifteen years ago.Now Sera is an adult, with her own child, five-year-old Katie, and has returned to her childhood home after her husband’s death.While she grieves, the past haunts Sera at every turn … and then Dee and Leo return to their small Hampshire village, along with Dee’s young daughter.But Dee is silent and haunted by her demons; no longer the fun-loving girl that Sera loved. And when Sera uncovers the shocking secret that Dee is hiding, it’s clear that the girl she knew is long gone – and that the adult she has grown into might put all of them in danger…

The Lies I Never Told You


Valérie Tong Cuong - 2019
    It's unputdownable." -Le Pays Briard"An intense and powerful novel." -Le Point"The characters are no angels... they resemble us." -Le Point"A rare pearl. Each page has us question our idea of humanity." -Le Parisien"A novel that will have you delve into the intimacy of its' characters flawed lives." -Carrefour Savoir"Immerse yourself in the meanders of the human mind, its sense of guilt and everything else that is part of human weakness." -Le Pays Briard"A strong novel." -Tele 7 JoursWhen Pax, a middle-aged second-rate actor, scores an audition for a blockbuster, he is convinced fate has taken pity on him and he will finally get to spend some time in the limelight.He leaves his flat in a hurry, ignoring the alarming sounds coming from the apartment above. He is beside himself when he learns what devastating consequences his decision had: not only was his neighbour Alex assaulted and left for dead, he is also his girlfriend Emi's son . . .Before long, Pax is faced with an impossible choice: should he continue to deceive Emi, the one person who always believed in him, or tell the truth and destroy their relationship?

The New Girl


Ruth Heald - 2022
    I was wrong…When I moved to a city where no one knew me, clutching only a small bag of possessions, I really believed that I had left my old life—and my darkest secret— behind.Within weeks, I landed my dream job, a gorgeous flat and the perfect boyfriend in James. For the first time in years, with him, I started to feel I could finally trust people again. I began to feel safe.But now strange things have started to happen. Odd noises in the night, the constant feeling that someone is lingering at my door. James convinces me that I’m imagining things. But when I find a beautiful dress hidden behind the wardrobe and wear it to work, the atmosphere chills instantly. I can’t help but wonder, is there something, or someone they’re hiding from me?Then she appears at my door. The girl before me. She tells me that I need to leave; that the new life I thought I’d built for myself is all a twisted trap…And my whole world tilts… because if what she says is true, what’s going to happen to me?

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...

Rain Will Come


Thomas Holgate - 2020
    Ruthless and riddled with vices, Czarcik always gets his man. And fast. Until now…A double slaying isn’t the open-and-shut case of urban crime he’s used to. Connecting it to a high-profile Texas judge, Czarcik realizes something bigger is going on. It’s the work of a serial killer for whom Chicago is just the beginning. Now he’s inviting Czarcik to play catch-me-if-you-can on a cross-country murder spree.Going rogue, Czarcik accepts the challenge. But as the bodies pile up, he must come to grips with the fact that nothing—not the killer, the victims, or the rules—is what it seems in this bloody game of cat and mouse.

Blurred Lines


Hannah Begbie - 2020
    I stayed silent. What would you do?When Becky accidently sees her boss with a woman who isn’t his wife, she’s horrified but keeps her counsel – she owes Matthew so much for all he’s done for her career. But when the same woman accuses him of rape and asks for the witness to come forward, Becky doesn’t know what to do.Was what she saw rape? Or is this a young actress looking to get ahead? And can Becky separate her own traumatic past from the present?As Becky attempts to untangle these blurred lines, she must risk everything to find the truth…

The Girls Weekend


Jody Gehrman - 2020
    . .June Moody, a thirty-something English professor, just wants to get away from her recent breakup and reunite with girlfriends over summer break. Her old friend and longtime nemesis, Sadie MacTavish, a mega-successful author, invites June and her college friends to a baby shower at her sprawling estate in the San Juan Islands. June is less than thrilled to spend time with Sadie--and her husband, June's former crush--but agrees to go.The party gets off to a shaky start when old grudges resurface, but when they wake the next morning, they find something worse: Sadie is missing, the house is in shambles, and bloodstains mar the staircase. None of them has any memory of the night before; they wonder if they were drugged. Everyone's a suspect. Since June had a secret rendezvous with Sadie's husband, she has plenty of reason to suspect herself. Apparently, so do the cops.A Celtic knot of suspense and surprise, this brooding, atmospheric novel will keep you guessing as each twist reveals a new possibility. It will remind you of friendships hidden in the depths of your own past, and make you wonder how well you really know the people you've loved the longest.