Book picks similar to
Behind My Words by J.L. Drake


romantic-suspense
suspense
thriller
serial-killer

In the Barren Ground


Loreth Anne White - 2016
    Humans are scarce; ferocious predators roam freely. Locals say spirits do, too.Rookie cop Tana Larsson doesn’t mind the dark and quiet. Five months pregnant and hoping to escape the mistakes of her past, she takes a post in Twin Rivers, population 320. Maybe here she can find peace and community for her child.But with her superior out of commission, Tana becomes the sole police officer in 17,500 square miles. One bitter night, she gets a call about the fatal wolf mauling of two students, and the only way to reach the remote scene is to enlist the help of the arrogant, irritatingly handsome Cameron “Crash” O’Halloran, a local bush pilot with a shady reputation for smuggling and a past cloaked in shadow.When the macabre scene they uncover suggests violence much more sinister than animal, Tana must trust Crash if she wants to protect the town—and herself—from the evil that lurks in the frozen dark.IN THE BARREN GROUND, a dark, atmospheric romance and police procedural with gothic/horror overtones set in a remote fly-in community just south of the arctic circle ...

Fallen


Mia Sheridan - 2020
    But between the nearby town with the strange, disconcerting feel, the deputy sheriff who is equal parts intriguing and suspicious, and the discovery that their new home holds a dark and violent past, Scarlett soon begins to question her rash decision. She is shaken and afraid by the screams that echo in the walls and the drumbeat that arises from the surrounding woods where the ghost of an indigenous man is said to roam, seeking vengeance. Her fear is also personal, because Scarlett knew one of the girls who attended the school, a friend who escaped into those woods and was never seen again. They all thought she was a rebellious runaway who later encountered foul play, but perhaps the truth is far more sinister. As Scarlett’s extraordinary daughter Haddie becomes consumed by the eerie figure who weaves and beckons through the forest fog, and a legacy of secrets reveal themselves, it becomes clear both Scarlett and Haddie are in grave danger. When the past intersects with the present, they will come face to face with the true evil of Lilith House. An evil that has lasted for more than a century.

He Will be My Ruin


K.A. Tucker - 2016
    The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a bottle of Xanax and a handle of Maker’s Mark, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers secrets in the childhood lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man who Celine herself claimed would be her ruin.On the hunt for answers that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.

Bloodstained Beauty


Ella Fields - 2018
     Fresh out of college and headed straight for my dream job, I didn’t think things could get any better.
 Then I met my dream man. 
In an instant, my happy ever after had begun.
 The life I’d stumbled into was beautiful, and the man I loved was perfect.
 But perfection comes at a cost, and I’d slumbered through all the alarms.
 Then I met my nightmare. 
 The man whose bright eyes held untamed darkness. 
 The man who disarmed me with his peculiar behavior. 
 The man whose cold, merciless hands shook me awake.  
In an instant, questions started to dismantle my happy ever after.
 But whoever said the truth would set you free was wrong. 
It wasn’t going to repair the cracks in my naive heart. 
 It wasn’t going to caress my face with comforting hands and reassure me it was all just a dream.
 No, the truth shoved me down a rabbit hole, and I landed in the lair of a real-life monster.

Wasted Lust


J.A. Huss - 2015
     A GIRL WITH REGRETS… Sasha Cherlin died the night she let Nick Tate walk out on her for a life of crime. Her very essence was destroyed when they broke their promise to one another. A MAN WITH REMORSE… Nick Tate made his choice with her future in mind. He loved Sasha enough to know that leaving her behind was the only way to keep her safe. A PATH TO REVENGE… Special Agent Jax Barlow understands the bond of love and he plans to use it to get justice. Nick and Sasha will do anything to rewrite their past. He’s counting on that to bring them down. Wasted Lust is a standalone book, BUT, you have to be willing to go along for the ride. The Sasha character has a long history in all my other books (she was 12 in those books, now she's grown up). And it's a parallel book to 321, so new story, new characters, but same timeline and the plots converge in the middle. No spoilers for 321 in Wasted Lust.

Unloved


Katy Regnery - 2017
    My name is Cassidy Porter...My father, Paul Isaac Porter, was executed twenty years ago for the brutal murder of twelve innocent girls.Though I was only eight-years-old at the time, I am aware - every day of my life - that I am his child, his only son.To protect the world from the poison in my veins, I live a quiet life, off the grid, away from humanity.I promised myself, and my mother, not to infect innocent lives with the darkness that swirls within me, waiting to make itself known.It's a promise I would have kept...if Brynn Cadogan hadn't stumbled into my life.Now I exist between heaven and hell: falling for a woman who wants to love me, while all along reminding myself that I must remain...Unloved.**NOTE: This book is intended for readers 18+**

Hard Rules


Lisa Renee Jones - 2016
    His reckless and ruthless brother, Derek wants to keep Brandon Enterprises cemented in lies, deceit, and corruption. But the harder Shane fights to pull the company back into the light, the darker he has to become. Then he meets Emily Stevens, a woman who not only stirs a voracious sexual need in him, but becomes the only thing anchoring him between good and evil.Emily is consumed by Shane, pushed sexually in ways she never dreamed of, falling deeper into the all-encompassing passion that is this man. She trusts him. He trusts her, but therein lies the danger. Emily has a secret, the very thing that brought her to him in the first place, and that secret could destroy them both.This is book ONE of FOUR in Shane and Emily's story.

Be Still My Heart


Emily McIntire - 2021
    Reader discretion is advised.*

Nocturnes & Nightmares


Keri Lake - 2019
    Two found dead, bearing the signature marks of a brutal serial killer. With the kind of tragedy that mars Nola Tensley’s past, she should be concerned, but without a pot to piss in, all the struggling single mom cares about is making a normal life for her son. After all, she’s clearly not the murderer’s type.Or is she?When Rhett Voss, an enigmatic and handsome stranger, answers her ad for the outdated in-law suite at the back of her property, offering double her asking price, Nola really can’t refuse. Even though the supposed Wall Street Wolf seems better suited for a high-rise downtown—a suspicion that quickly turns into hindsight once she submits to the flirtations of her charming new tenant, and consequently, unearths a series of disturbing revelations.Her curiosities lead her down the path of a madman, whose moniker, The Sandman, only hints at the grisly nature of his crimes. He’s smart. Evasive. A cunning psychopath with a twisted method of disposing his victims.And his hunting grounds are hitting too close to home.Author note: This book contains scenes of graphic sex and violence that some readers may find disturbing.

Thread of Fear


Laura Griffin - 2008
    Her skill at mining victims' memories to re-create the faces of sadistic criminals has left her haunted and wary, and only Jack Bowman's dogged persistence convinces her to help him. The rugged police chief is hunting a serial killer who's targeting teenage girls. But what seems like a simple assignment is fraught with complications, including a searing attraction to Jack that's tempting Fiona to let her guard down in potentially dangerous ways. Jack never intended for Fiona to become so deeply involved in the case -- or in his life. But every instinct tells him she's his best hope for finding a psychopath who's lurking in plain sight, growing more ruthless with each passing day. And now that Fiona is right in the killer's crosshairs, the only way to keep her safe is to unravel a small town's darkest secrets, one terrifying thread at a time....

This Love Hurts


W. Winters - 2020
    Some love stories are a slow burn. Others are quick to ignite, scorching and branding your very soul before you’ve taken that first breath. You’re never given a chance to run from it. That’s how I’d describe what happened to us.Everything around me blurred and all that existed were his lips, his touch… The chase and the heat between us became addictive.Our nights together were a distraction; one we craved to the point of letting the world crumble around us.We should have paid attention; we should have known that it would come to this.We both knew it couldn’t last, but that didn’t change what we desired most. All we wanted was each other…

Gun Shy


Lili St. Germain - 2017
    The second girl in nine years. Identical cases. Identical conditions. Only last time, the girl was found. Dead, stuffed in a well beside the creek that feeds the town's water supply. The killer was never found. As the small town mobilizes and searches for newly vanished Jennifer Thomas, one suspect comes to the fore. But did he do it? Or is there something else at play? Something nobody could have anticipated? For Jennifer's friend Cassie Carlino, the worst is yet to come. As she pins MISSING posters to store windows and joins the search, she begins to suspect that Jennifer's disappearance might be much closer to her than she could have ever imagined.

The Bourbon Thief


Tiffany Reisz - 2016
    The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it's property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris. In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the distillery that became an empire. But the family tree is rooted in tainted soil and has borne rotten fruit. Theirs is a legacy of wealth and power, but also of lies, secrets and sins of omission. The Maddoxes have bourbon in their blood—and blood in their bourbon. Why Paris wants the bottle of Red Thread remains a secret until the truth of her identity is at last revealed, and the century-old vengeance Tamara vowed against her family can finally be completed.

Stone Walls


A.M. Madden - 2015
    M. Madden, a red-hot cop and a broken beauty are linked by painful pasts . . . and one tempting future.As an NYPD officer, Benjamin Stone is married to his job, determined to clean up the drug-infested streets. His partner, Rob, always has his back—except when Rob and his girlfriend, Andrea, play matchmaker at his expense. On Ben’s birthday, they’re at it again. Andrea’s friend is exactly Ben’s type, even if he stubbornly will never admit it. But it’s not the lithe brunette’s looks that intrigues Ben; it’s the hurt in her eyes.Ella Parker is bright, beautiful, kind—and, thanks to one horrific night, severely damaged. She’d rather be training for her black belt or watching TV in her favorite pair of pajamas than be dragged out on a blind date. Sure enough, Ben swaggers into the club, locks onto Ella, and claims he’s not interested—despite the irresistible chemistry between them. So Ella decides two can play at that game. But when her dangerous past comes back to haunt her, Ben will break all the rules of seduction to keep her safePraise for Stone Walls “With an untouchable couple wrapped in a sweet package with a comical side, A. M. Madden’s Stone Walls is a must-read—the perfect mix of intrigue, mystery, and sex appeal.”—New York Times bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin“Stone Walls is a roller coaster ride with lots of twists and turns. Ben and Ella are wonderful characters: funny, intelligent, and perfect for each other. But the secrets from their pasts may destroy their chances for a future together.”—New York Times bestselling author Kathy Clark“Madden delivers an intense read with beautiful character development and so much emotion you feel every high and every low. There were times I wanted to reach into the pages and offer comfort to both Ben and Ella.”—USA Today bestselling author Chelsea Camaron“Madden’s storytelling pulls you in from the very beginning. I loved this romance story. With likable and believable characters and a riveting storyline, this book kept me up long into the night. Stone Walls is an excellent start to a new series! I can’t wait see what happens next.”—Stacey Lynn, author of His to Love“OMG! A. M. Madden blew my socks off with this one! I laughed, I cried, I got angry, cried again, and then I sighed with happy contentment. Stone Walls is one of my all-time favorite romantic suspense novels.”—Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews“Readers looking for some suspense with their romance will like this book and the characters. I will definitely look for more from A. M. Madden in the future.”—Ramblings from This Chick“I loved all the characters in this book! . . . The author did an amazing job.”—Summer’s Book Blog (five stars)“I’ll always look forward to more from this author. Fab five-star read!”—Fictional Men’s Page for Book Ho’s“A great book . . . This story is extremely well written (all of A. M. Madden’s stories are) and the characters are very well developed. . . . I was not disappointed.”—Sexy Lady’s Reading CornerStone Walls is meant for mature audiences 18+ due to sexual content and adult situations. Stone Walls is a stand alone novel from the True Heroes Series. Loveswept / Random House Edition

The Life That Mattered


Jewel E. Ann - 2020
    Love isn’t sex. And friendship is neither. The son of a French Olympic skier and a Malaysian fashion designer, Ronin Alexander has lived the life of a nomad, traveling the world to find his next adventure. Life takes a dramatic turn when he meets Evelyn, a beautiful scientist who owns a bath shop in Aspen, Colorado. They defy all the rules of relationships, falling hard and quickly in love. Their world intertwines with Evelyn’s two best friends, the Governor and his soon-to-be wife. The four become close—very close.When tragedy strikes, things from their pasts are unveiled—unimaginable truths and the grim realization that life will never be the same. Jewel E. Ann steps into another dimension with this mind-bending thriller, a provocative story that pushes boundaries and tests the true meaning of love.