Book picks similar to
Behind a Closed Door by Adele O'Neill
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Risking It All
Stephanie Harte - 2020
Will she survive entering into a life of crime? Gemma has always been there for Nathan. He's the love of her life and she made a commitment to him, one she'd never consider breaking... until smooth-talking gangster Alfie Watson comes into their lives and changes everything. Alfie doesn't care about true love – he wants Gemma, and the gangster always gets what he wants. When Nathan ends up owing him money, Alfie gets payback by recruiting Gemma to carry out a jewellery heist. To everyone's surprise, she's a natural. Until Alfie forgives Nathan's debt, she has no choice but to accompany the gangster on more and more daring heists – even though one slip-up could cost her everything. Nathan might have fallen under Alfie's spell, but it doesn't take long for him to realise that he needs to save Gemma from his own mistakes if their marriage is to have any chance of surviving. But when that means taking on the East End's most notorious gangster at his own game, will he find himself up to the challenge? Perfect for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Emma Tallon and Jessie Keane.
Lay Me to Rest
E.A. Clark - 2017
Hoping for a fresh start, she travels to a remote stone cottage in Anglesey, amidst the white-capped mountains of North Wales.She settles in quickly, helped by her mysterious new neighbour, Peter. But everything changes when Annie discovers a small wooden box, inlaid with brass and mother-of-pearl. A box she was never supposed to find…Annie soon realises that she isn’t alone in the cottage. And now she’s trapped. Can she escape the nightmare that she has awoken, or will the dark forces surrounding the house claim her life – and that of her baby?A gripping thriller from E. A. Clark, perfect for fans of Kerri Wilkinson, Sarah Wray and Stella Duffy. You won’t be able to put it down!
My Mother's Daughter
Ann O'Loughlin - 2019
Margo has just lost her husband Conor and is grieving his passing, unsure how she and her daughter Elsa will survive without him. Then she receives a letter that turns everything she thought she knew on its head. Not only has she lost her husband, but now Margo fears she could lose her daughter as well. Ohio, United States. Cassie has just split from her husband acrimoniously. Upset and alone she does not know how to move forward. Then her ex-husband demands a paternity test for their daughter Tilly and sorrow turns to anger as Cassie faces the frightening possibility of losing her daughter. A powerful, moving stories of family, resilience and compassion, and how women support each other through the most difficult times, My Mother's Daughter takes the issues closest to our hearts and makes us ask ourselves the most difficult questions - what would we do in Margo and Cassie's place?Praise for Ann's writing:'The Ludlow Ladies' Society brought me to a beautiful place and into a circle of friends that I didn't want to leave. Unputdownable' KATE KERRIGAN 'It's a heart-warming story ... but also an addictive page-turner with plenty of unexpected twists and reveals in store' READER'S DIGEST'A moving tale of loss, love and redemption' BELLA MAGAZINE'Deftly written, moving and courageous' THE SUNDAY TIMES'Slow-marching, romantic prose draws us into an old world that is rustic, genteel, quaint...[but] scandals lie in wait' IRISH INDEPENDENT'Highly engaging debut you will want to dive into' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT, IRELAND'A lovely story of two women with the courage to confront the injustices of the past, bringing light to a dark corner of Ireland s recent history' KATHLEEN MACMAHON, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THIS IS HOW IT ENDS
Runaway Girl
Emma Tallon - 2017
Anna Davis has spent years terrified of her sadistic gangster boyfriend. Right up until she runs away in the dead of night, she’s frightened he will kill her. And she knows he still will, if he ever finds her… As Anna starts her new life, she meets two strangers who will change her fortunes forever. Tanya Smith is a gorgeous East London stripper with a big heart. Anna loves Tanya’s attitude to life and the pair quickly become inseparable and business partners. And East End baron Freddie Tyler is everything Anna’s ex-boyfriend was not – he’s kind, caring and would do anything to make Anna happy. But are they both telling Anna the truth about who they really are? Just as Anna begins to see a brighter future for herself, her past comes back to haunt her. She could be about to lose everything – even her life. But she’s a different person now. She’s got something to live for and she’s not going to give up without a fight.
The Other Woman
Amanda Brookfield - 2020
She packs a case, leaves a note for her bullying husband Pete, and one for her beloved twenty-year-old son Harry, and heads to the airport - and freedom.In another house, on another street, Helena is desperately baiting her husband Jack into a fight. These days it feels like the only way to get Jack to take notice of her. Passionate, volatile, increasingly fragile, Helena is fast running out of hope.What Helena and Fran don’t know, is that soon their lives are going to collide in ways neither expect nor understand. And if Fran and Helena are going to change their own futures, then first they will have to change each other’s.
She Lies Hidden
C.M. Stephenson - 2018
Thomasine promises her mother that she will be the one to find Karen’s killer.But Karen Albright wasn’t the only girl to go missing during that weekend in 1973… Veronica Lightfoot disappeared too. They’d lived barely four miles apart, yet apparently never met. Suddenly there is a new question, was Veronica involved in her Karen’s death? Is that why she vanished?DI Mel Philips is handed the original case file and begins a new investigation. Unwilling to be side-lined, Thomasine decides to go it alone.
As the case unfolds, Thomasine realises that there may be other victims. Can she find them too?
She Lies Hidden is a suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller. It will appeal to fans of authors like Cara Hunter, Louise Jensen, Katarina Diamond.
Simon Says
Jo Wesley - 2019
Until she makes a terrible decision – and learns the hard way that home is not a place of refuge. Not while Simon lurks in every shadow. He groomed her as a teen: terrorised her into fleeing and leaving her baby behind. Now the man who destroyed her childhood has become the perfect father to her teenage daughter. And her return threatens his future. A desperate man is a dangerous one. Simon says she must leave or suffer the consequences. She refuses. Now it’s his move. Because it's not enough to face your demons. Sometimes, you must destroy them.
The Forgotten Wife
Emma Robinson - 2020
Shelley ran a finger over the embossed lettering – Memories – pressed her lips tightly together, feeling her heart pounding in her chest… and opened it.When Shelley first met Greg, her life had been full of possibility. A whirlwind romance, a dream wedding, moving into their first house together, thinking about starting a family…But now it’s ten years since their wedding. Greg has gone. And there’s a room in the house where Shelley has shut a baby blanket away. In a box, under a bed, in a spare room, behind a door that she never opens. If it’s there, she can forget about it. Just like everything else in that room. Just like her other memories. Of a marriage that perhaps hadn’t been perfect. Of a life that hadn’t gone the way she had expected.She’s been managing to hide from her past. Every day she acts like everything is normal. Going to work and following a routine helps her pretend the bad stuff never happened.Until one day, everything changes. She sees the couple moving in next door, giggling as they walk up the path to their new home. The woman is pregnant. It’s like she has everything that Shelley has lost. But when Shelley properly meets Lara, she soon discovers she is in fact carrying a heartache to match Shelley’s own.As her friendship with Lara deepens, Shelley starts to wonder what might happen if she opens the box she’s hidden away. Will the secrets from her past – about what she lost, what she’s hiding from, and what she has been doing her best to forget – destroy her?
What Did I Do
Jessica Jarlvi - 2018
From her life. From herself. When two murders take place in Chicago, Kristin quickly finds herself a prime suspect. The problem is she can't be sure of what she did or didn't do.DID THEY MAKE ME DO IT...In fear for her life, Kristin flees abroad to start her life over. But it's not that easy to escape the past. And whatever she's done, someone is on her tail, wanting her to pay. The question is: could she be a killer and not even remember?Page-turning, gripping, dark, and utterly addictive, this is one thriller that you won’t be able to put down. Perfect for fans of Cara Hunter, Mark Edwards, Caroline England.
Sunrise Over Pebble Bay
Della Galton - 2021
Talented, yet relatively unknown actress and celebration cake baker extraordinaire Olivia Lambert is running out of time.Approaching forty, she’s yet to land the role that will launch her television career and she’s desperate to be a mum.Her new man, Phil Grimshaw from the Bluebell Cliff Hotel, seems the perfect match, but seems to be in no rush to settle down.Having ditched her childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Tom Boyd, when he backtracked about being a dad, Olivia dreads making the same mistake again.Rocked by confessions from both her sister Ruby and Tom, Olivia knows it’s time to make some life changing decisions.Then a terrifying incident off Chesil Beach changes the course of her future and brings Olivia to question everything she values and loves.
Dark Lies
Nick Hollin - 2018
Don’t trust your family. Don’t trust yourself… The people of London fear for their lives when a twisted serial killer called The Cartoonist starts targeting young mothers, leaving their bodies on display in their homes with speech bubbles drawn from their lips. He has a terrifying story to tell, but first, the right people need to be listening… Nathan Radley has a brilliant and dangerous talent. Formerly one of the best criminal psychologists on the police force he’s renowned for getting deep into the minds of the murderers he hunts. But for the past year he has lived in isolation, haunted by this gift and his own dark desires. DI Katie Rhodes’ career is spinning out of control. She’d sworn never to knock on her old partner Nathan’s door again, but when she sees his distinctive birthmark drawn in chocolate on one of the victims, she knows she doesn’t have a choice. As the body count rises and the clues become more and more personal, Katie and Nathan join forces for one final case together. Why is The Cartoonist using Katie and Nathan’s own dark secrets as calling cards on his victims? What does he want, and how many more innocent lives will be taken before they can crack his disturbing riddle? To find a murderer, first you need to think like a murderer. The Cartoonist doesn’t just know this, he’s counting on it… An absolutely nail-biting serial killer thriller perfect for anyone who loved the twisted mind games in Hannibal. Fans of M.J. Arlidge, Helen Fields and Rachel Abbott will not want to miss this page-turning debut!
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.
Finding Dreams
Lauren Westwood - 2018
Perfect for the fans of Jane Costello and Milly Johnson.
Lizzie Greene is about to lose everything when her husband suddenly dies and his debts come to light. To make ends meet she opens up her quirky old house to be used as a set for a film based on a bestselling romance novel. Her life and household are turned upside down when a whole cast of colourful characters enters her family's lives: from an enigmatic author, a handsome location scout, a brooding director, to a heart-throb leading man, never mind her now ex-mother-in-law camped out in her drive. As Lizzie delves deeper into the film's book, all is not as it seems. Will her desire to save her house and unravel the secrets of the past lead to new love, or to mortal danger?
The Candle Factory Girl
Tania Crosse - 2018
Perfect for the fans of Rosie Clarke and Lindsey Hutchinson.
Work at Price's Candle Factory in Battersea is tedious for intelligent, seventeen-year-old Hillie Hardwick, but she knows she is lucky to have a job at all. Her home life is no better, as she constantly battles with her exacting and bullying father in order to protect her mother and five younger siblings from his abuse. Her only solace is her loving relationship with the chaotic Parker family and her best friend, Gert Parker. When matters violently escalate for Hillie, smitten Jack-the-Lad Jimmy Baxter seems her only salvation. But could this be the biggest mistake of her life, and should she be looking for protection nearer home? A story that crackles with unease where courage and friendship are the only hope.
Family (The Glass Family #1)
Owen Mullen - 2021
Vengeance took Luke Glass behind bars – but now he's free and he's never going back. Luke wants out of the gangster life – all he has to do is convince his family to let him go.His brother holds the reins of the South London underworld in his brutal hands - nobody tells Danny Glass no and expects to live - not even DCI Oliver Stanford, bent copper and one of the Met's rising stars. The way Danny sees it, his younger brother and sister Nina owe him everything. The price he demands is loyalty, and a war with their arch enemy gives him the leverage he needs to tie Luke to the family once more.Luke can't see a way out, until Danny commits a crime so terrible it can't be forgiven. Love turns to hate when secrets are unearthed which pit brother against brother. Left with no choice but to choose a side, Nina holds the fate of the family in her hands.In the Glass family, Owen Mullen has created a crime dynasty to rival the Richardsons and the Krays. Heart-pounding, jaw-dropping with non-stop action, Family is perfect for fans of Martina Cole, Kimberley Chambers and Mandasue Heller.