Book picks similar to
Living the Dream by M.J. Hardy


psychological-thriller
thriller-suspense
domestic-thriller
single-books

All Your Fault


N.J. Moss - 2021
    Can you ever forgive yourself?Some secrets are better off buried…With Grace’s son starting reception, it is the ideal time to apply for a new job. And when the perfect job lands in her lap, she can’t believe her luck.But soon the idyllic opportunity becomes a living nightmare, and she is catapulted back to a childhood tragedy; the day her little sister was killed in a hit-and-run.When Grace suspects she is being followed, she struggles to keep herself together for her family’s sake.Unable to sleep, she starts to wonder if she is losing her mind? Is she going mad, inheriting the schizophrenia from her grandmother that has become a macabre family myth?The perfect job is becoming the perfect nightmare, and Grace is running out of places to hide.

Once Upon a Lie


Lisa Ballantyne - 2020
    1 bestselling author of The Guilty One is back with a gripping and emotional new moral thriller about a woman, a child, the gulf that stands between them, and about how far people will go to keep a secret...Magpie is an independent, unconventional and troubled woman with secrets. Returning home late one night she finds a young girl covered in bruises who claims to have run away from home. Deciding to protect her at all costs, Magpie takes the child home with her. At first this is easy, because of her bohemian lifestyle, but it soon becomes clear that someone is looking for the child.In a story that reaches from the mid-20th Century to the present day, we discover why Magpie has risked everything to hide the child, and what she herself is running away from.

Broken Grace


E.C. Diskin - 2015
    But she’s left with a traumatic brain injury and a terrifying reality: she can’t remember anything.Left in the care of her sister, Grace returns to the family’s secluded old farmhouse to recover—but within an hour of her return, the police arrive. Grace’s boyfriend has been murdered. Without any memory, Grace has no alibi.With suspicion weighing heavily on her and flashes of memory returning, Grace searches for clues to her past. But with every glimpse, her anxiety grows. There is something about the house, her family, her childhood…perhaps the accident isn’t the only reason she can’t remember. Are the dark recesses of her mind hiding something even more sinister and terrifying than she could ever imagine?And someone is watching. Someone willing to kill again to protect a secret.

The School Friend


Alison James - 2019
    We made a pact.And she’s never do anything to hurt me. Would she?This absolutely gripping psychological thriller will have you forgetting everything until the last shocking twist. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Friend Request, and The Girl on the Trainwill be hooked.

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.

When He Finds You


Sadie Ryan - 2020
    He felt a thrill just knowing that simple thing …”Gemma’s business is on the brink of collapse, and there’s a real chance that she and her husband could lose everything they’ve worked so hard for.So when a stranger offers financial help, Gemma ignores the red flags and accepts out of desperation. The condition? Just companionship – that’s all the stranger wants. Surely a small price to pay to get her life back?But when things seem too good to be true, it’s often because they are – and soon Gemma finds herself being dragged so far into a twisted, dangerous world that she might never surface again …

Just Like You


Alison Percival - 2019
    What does she have that she doesn't? Isabel isn't prepared for the online vitriol from rising star Iain's obsessive fans. Is he being totally honest about his past? As both women's lives begin to unravel, they will realise that you can't always get what you want, and sometimes, love can turn into obsession... A dark psychological thriller about break-ups, jealousy and obsession, from the winner of Psychologies' thriller writing competition.

Best Day Ever


Kaira Rouda - 2017
    Today will be everything I’ve promised her…and more…Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really? Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. In the bestselling, page-turning vein of The Couple Next Door and The Dinner, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage…or a life.

The Therapist


B.A. Paris - 2021
    Paris returns to her heartland of gripping psychological suspense in The Therapist--a powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive…As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem…

Perfect


V.J. Chambers - 2018
    J. Chambers When Sidney Reilly, twice divorced and mother of two, moves to Lassiter Cove, she’s hoping for a fresh start. But the women of Lassiter Cove are too good to be true. They work high-powered jobs, spend quality time with their children, cook healthy and balanced meals from scratch, look ten years younger than their actual age, and are all incredibly thin. Then she discovers their secret: the Regimen, an invitation-only program offered by the local gym and spa, which promises a complete transformation. It all seems perfect. Until Sidney discovers the women who are disappearing from the spa. Until she tangles with the dark, brawny man at its center, who everyone seems to worship. Until her own daughter becomes a target. Lassiter Cove isn't what it seems, and Sidney is heading for the fight of her life.

Your Only Friend


R.J. Lindsey - 2020
    It's the perfect read for fans of authors like Teresa Driscoll, Dean Koontz and Samantha Hayes

The Darkest Secret


Alex Marwood - 2016
    Coco is three years old. When identical twin Coco goes missing during a family celebration, there is a media frenzy. Her parents are rich and influential, as are the friends they were with at their holiday home by the sea. But what really happened to Coco?Over two intense weekends - the first when Coco goes missing and the second twelve years later at the funeral of her father - the darkest of secrets will gradually be revealed... Taut, emotive and utterly compelling, an unputdownable 'ripped from the headlines' novel that you will want to talk about with everyone you know.

A Fool's Circle


Suzanne Seddon - 2019
    If it wasn't for her best friend Jill Reynolds, she would have taken the suicide option a long time ago.As she desperately seeks a way to escape, she is contacted by a solicitor. Kate's old aunt has died and she has been left a small fortune.For the first time, she sees the light at the end of the tunnel. She dreams of a fresh start, a new home, a new life. What Kate doesn't know is that Jill and Alan have their own secrets, and are both desperate to get their hands on her money.Kate soon finds herself falling for the charms of Jonathon Jacobs in what she believes to be fate finally intervening and offering her a second chance, unaware that each move he makes has been directed, orchestrated and well-rehearsed as he begs her to leave her husband Alan.But is it all too late, as she finds herself in the frame for murder

Every Last Lie


Mary Kubica - 2017
    The bad man is after us."  Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon. Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out—and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit. Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara's investigation and Nick's last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date—one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.

The Girl Before


Rena Olsen - 2016
    . . wasn’t? Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters. The last thing her husband yells to her is to say nothing. In chapters that alternate between past and present, the novel slowly unpeels the layers of Clara’s fractured life. We see her growing up, raised with her sisters by the stern Mama and Papa G, becoming a poised and educated young woman, falling desperately in love with the forbidden son of her adoptive parents. We see her now, sequestered in an institution, questioned by men and women who call her a different name—Diana—and who accuse her husband of unspeakable crimes. As recollections of her past collide with new revelations, Clara must question everything she thought she knew, to come to terms with the truth of her history and to summon the strength to navigate her future.