Book picks similar to
A Bad, Bad Thing by V.J. Chambers


psychological-thrillers
mystery
contemporary-reads
books-worth-reading

The Catch


T.M. Logan - 2020
    Ryan appears to be the perfect future son-in-law. There's just one problem. There's something off about Ryan. Something hidden in the shadows behind his eyes. And it seems that only Ed can see it.Terrified that his daughter is being drawn in by a psychopath, Ed sets out to uncover her fiancé's dark past - while keeping his own concealed. But no-one believes him. And the more he digs, the more he alienates her and the rest of the family who are convinced that Ryan is 'the one'.Ed knows different. For reasons of his own, he knows a monster when he sees one...

The Marriage Betrayal


Shalini Boland - 2019
    But returning to the small seaside town her husband grew up in does not go to plan, the rain pours and the long days become stifling. And then the unthinkable happens… Her husband Jake and her six-year-old son Dylan go for an early morning walk along the beautiful, windswept clifftops. They don’t come back. As the hours tick by, Dylan’s red baseball cap is found on the beach and Faye finds herself being questioned by the police. They want to know everything about the man she married - is Faye ready to face her husband’s dark past? Or will she have to confront her own secrets first? And just how far will a mother go to save her only child? From the million-copy-bestselling author of The Secret Mother and The Perfect Family, this utterly gripping psychological thriller will make you gasp out loud as you race towards the unforgettable twist. If you loved The Girl on the Train and The Wife Before You this book is for you. What readers are saying about Shalini Boland: ‘Completely and utterly mesmerising!... I read it until the early hours… I literally couldn’t put it down!!… had my heart beating so fast I thought it would burst! The suspense and tension was amazing.’ Stardust Book Reviews, 5 stars ‘Without a doubt one of the best books I have read this year… truly a rollercoaster of a book that I couldn't put down… full of twists and turns until the very last page… superb.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars ‘Wow what a brilliant book… Deliciously dark and totally compelling it grips you from page one and then just messes with your head until the final pages… certainly a thrill of a ride with its twists and turns… Excellent.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars ‘The perfect psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end… I could feel the tension building… I felt myself wanting to scream… a twisted story that will leave your mouth hanging open. Oh that ending, you just wait for that ending!’ It’s All About the Thrill, 5 stars ‘OMG The queen of killer twists has done it again!!... had me tearing through the pages… my heart was pounding. The story delivers lots of thrills right up until the last page… an exhilarating page turner of a read… will take you by surprise and have you hooked until the very last word.’ By the Letter Book Reviews, 5 stars ‘I literally had to pick my jaw up off the floor…!!!! This is a book that messes with your head (as I told a friend earlier!)… a perfect psychological thriller!!!... to say you’re going to thoroughly enjoy this one is an understatement... Hold onto your hats, you’re in for a hell of a ride!!!!’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘ALL the stars!!!...

The Silent Patient


Alex Michaelides - 2019
    A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

The Silent Mother


Liz Lawler - 2021
    But your son is dead.’As I hear the words every mother dreads my pulse races and I go cold. But even as my world turns upside down I know the things I’m being told just don’t add up. I have to find out what really happened the night my beautiful boy died…The police tell me it was a tragedy no one could have prevented. But then they reveal the terrible things Tom was keeping from me. The person they describe is nothing like the decent, honest man I raised. Newly qualified as a doctor, Tom had such a bright future ahead of him.A mother knows her own child. And I’m determined to prove my son’s innocence.It’s the last thing I will ever be able to do for him. So I have come to the city where he lived and moved into his empty flat under a different name.When I discover his diary, it becomes clear his death wasn’t an accident.And as I get to know Tom’s friends and neighbours I realise they’re all keeping secrets.But as I get closer to the truth, I realise my life is in danger too…

I Let You Go


Clare Mackintosh - 2014
    It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .

The Push


Ashley Audrain - 2021
    The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.

Third Child


Kate Mitchell - 2019
    Cecelia, a journalist with a history of mental illness is approached by Angelina a nurse working in a fertility clinic. She relates a story of unethical practices going on at the clinic involving abortion. The next day Angelina stumbles under a bus, or did she? Suspicious Cecelia decides to investigate the clinic where she discovers for herself what is actually going on. Every move brings her into ever-increasing danger, but she’s got to continue to get her story so she can bring it to the attention of the world. Will she succeed in her struggle, will she survive the danger of this world of illegal abortions and the cruelty of these people with power and money? A story of fear, control, and death, with twists and turns throughout with a final sting in the tale…

Dear Neighbour


Anna Willett - 2020
    Amy is impressed by their sophistication, wealth, and love for one another and in turn they somewhat adopt her when Amy’s relationship with her boyfriend deteriorates rapidly.Jobless, often absent and clearly up to no good, Zane is jealous and increasingly abusive. His hold over the shy Amy has been strong, yet cracks are beginning to show.When a policeman knocks on her door one innocuous day, it is the start of series of events that will make the two households clash together in a fatal entanglement.Zane will see an opportunity and greed will get the better of him, but are their new neighbours quite the easy targets they appear to be?Amy is in the middle of it all and someone is going to get killed.

Heart-Shaped Bruise


Tanya Byrne - 2012
    The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who shake their heads on the six o’clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be. Who I could have been.Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time. Heart-Shaped Bruise is a compulsive and moving novel about infamy, identity and how far a person might go to seek revenge.

The Divorce


Victoria Jenkins - 2019
    I knew nothing. When Lydia and Josh Green walk into Karen’s office one rainy February morning, Karen sees a couple under stress, almost at breaking point. But working with struggling couples, finding out more about their problems, helping to save their marriages, is what Karen does. But as Karen spends more time with Lydia and Josh, her sense of unease grows… Lydia is something more than just a woman whose marriage is in trouble. She seems frightened for her safety. Josh is angry, grief-stricken and seems to be hiding a dark secret. And soon Karen herself is afraid – there is something about the behaviour of this couple that recalls traumatic incidents from her own past. There is something there that may be the key to saving them, if Karen can only unlock it in time… The Divorce will have you reading through the night and the ending will leave you breathless. Perfect for everyone who loved Gone Girl, The Woman in the Window and The Wife Between Us.

The Book of You


Claire Kendal - 2014
    He won’t leave her alone, and he refuses to take no for an answer. He is always there.Being selected for jury service is a relief. The courtroom is a safe haven, a place where Rafe can’t be. But as a violent tale of kidnap and abuse unfolds, Clarissa begins to see parallels between her own situation and that of the young woman on the witness stand.Realizing that she bears the burden of proof, Clarissa unravels the twisted, macabre fairytale that Rafe has spun around them – and discovers that the ending he envisions is more terrifying than she could have imagined.

Those Girls


Chevy Stevens - 2015
    Life has never been easy for the three Campbell sisters. Jess, Courtney, and Dani live on a remote ranch in Western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father’s fists. One night, a fight gets out of hand and the sisters are forced to go on the run, only to get caught in an even worse nightmare when their truck breaks down in a small town. Events spiral out of control and a chance encounter with the wrong people leaves them in a horrific and desperate situation. They are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives. Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer when one of the sisters goes missing and they are pulled back into their past. This time there’s nowhere left to run. As much of a thriller as it is a deep exploration of the bonds among sisters, THOSE GIRLS is an unforgettable portrait of desperation, loyalty, and evil.

Into the Night


Marin Montgomery - 2018
    What should have been a week of soaking up the Hawaiian sun next to pristine blue waters takes an unexpected turn when Blair wakes up on the beach one morning with no purse, no shoes, and no memory of what happened the night before. And worse? No sister. Bristol had vanished into the night. Gone without a trace. After months of tireless investigations and dead-end searches, Blair was forced to return home to the Midwest without her younger sister, and her life was never the same—until ten years later when a package arrives, suggesting Bellamy might still be alive. For the first time since Bristol disappeared, Blair has a reason to believe her sister is still out there. But if she wants to find her, she'll need to return to the place where it all happened, launch a dangerous investigation of her own, and if she's lucky, she might come out of it alive...

A Dark Lure


Loreth Anne White - 2015
    The killer was caught, but Sarah lost everything: her marriage, her child, and the life she loved.Struggling with PTSD, Sarah changes her name to Olivia West and finds sanctuary working on Broken Bar Ranch. But as her scars finally begin to heal, a cop involved with her horrific case remains convinced the Watt Lake Killer is still out there. He sets a lure for the murderer, and a fresh body is discovered. Now Olivia must face the impossible—could the butcher be back, this time to finish the job?As a frigid winter isolates the ranch, only one person can help Olivia: Cole McDonough, a writer, adventurer, and ranch heir who stirs long-dormant feelings in her. But this time, Olivia’s determination to shut out her past may destroy more than her chance at love. It could cost her her life.

The Volunteer


Barbara Taylor Sissel - 2011
    Haunted by secrets from her past, she avoids the media spotlight as much as possible, but soon, other prisoners’ families come seeking her assistance. One family in particular, the wife, children, and brother of Jarrett Capshaw, is especially insistent. Forty-one days ago Jarrett’s request to die was granted by the State of Texas, and he became a dead man walking, a man they call a volunteer. Jarrett’s crimes were unusual, involving the theft of precious Mayan antiquities. Murder was never part of the plan, but murder is what happened. He pulled the trigger, and as little as he feels prepared for it, as much as he struggles with matters of the soul, he’s ready to die. It is the only way his family and the families of his victims will be free to move on. While Jarrett labors to find the words to say good-bye to those he has loved, Sophia finds herself drawn into a relationship with his wife and oldest son. It is Jarrett’s family she can’t resist and there will be a price to pay. But not even Sophia could have foreseen the outcome when the brutal truth is exposed, the unalloyed facts that, incredibly, will deliver Jarrett’s fate straight into her hands. The Volunteer is a story about families, how they are made, and how in one single, horrifying instant, they can be broken. It is a story about mothers and the lies they tell to protect their children, to keep them from being hurt. But what happens when the truth comes out anyway and nothing and no one is spared? Sometimes the truth has the power to break your heart, and in Sophia’s case it will also endanger her freedom and threaten everything she has ever believed about her life.