Book picks similar to
Ashes of Another Life by Lindsey Beth Goddard
horror
fiction
amazon
womens-fiction
Truth Lies Waiting
Emma Salisbury - 2014
And you're now being framed for it. Only the person framing you is a cop... Davy Johnson is a young man from the wrong side of the tracks with a target on his back. After a spell in prison he is trying to make a life for himself but one cop won’t leave him alone, following him around and carting him off to the station just for the fun of it. The harassment turns sinister when Davy witnesses his nemesis overstep the mark with a local junkie – and makes the mistake of telling him he’s been seen. What happens next sees Davy framed for a string of murders with no one to help him but the gang leader he turned his back on when he got out of jail – but what will he want in return? With the help of an ex con and a local cabbie Davy goes on the run to prove his innocence but as the body count rises he discovers a connection between what’s happening now and a tragedy involving his father many years before. Will he be able to work out the truth from the lie in time to save the killer’s next victim? Scottish crime fiction with a sting in the tail...
The Absence of Mercy
John Burley - 2013
Safe from the crime and congestion of city life, it is the perfect place to raise a family . . . or so they thought.Life as the town medical examiner is relatively unhurried for Dr. Ben Stevenson. With only a smattering of cases here and there-car accident victims, death by natural causes-he has plenty of time to spend with his loving wife and two sons. That is until a teenager's body is discovered in the woods and Ben, as the only coroner in the area, is assigned to the case. But as the increasingly animalistic attacks continue, the case challenges Ben in ways he never suspects.With its eerie portrait of suburban life and nerve-fraying plot twists, this is psychological suspense at its best-an extraordinary debut that challenges as much as it thrills.
Chill Waters
Joan Hall Hovey - 2004
It is the one place where she had always felt safe and loved. Devasted and lost, Rachael longs for the simplicity of her childhood. But Jenny’s Cove has changed. From the moment of Rachael’s arrival, a man watches. He has already killed, and mercilessly will do so again. Soon Rachael becomes a target for a vicious predator whose own dark and twisted past forms a deadly bond between them. And sets her on a collision course with a crazed killer. "...Joan Hall Hovey is a female Stephen King... a stunning, multi-layered, modern-day gothic, told with the unforgettable style and grace of a true master of suspense..." Rendezvous Magazine * * * Bloody Dagger Award Winner MIDWEST REVIEW by Cynthia Penn Chill Waters Joan Hall Hovey Evil stalks the unsuspecting --Recommended. Memories of idyllic summers spent with her grandmother motivate Rachael to buy the house in Jenny's Cove. Tired of the arguments and silences, she had tried to breath fire back into the dying embers of her marriage, only to discover her husband warming someone else's bed. Now at age forty-five and in the process of a divorce, Rachael longs for the simplicity of her childhood. Iris Brandt recognizes the arrival of evil, chilled by the malevolent energy that follows Rachael. The practical, no nonsense proprietress of local gas station feels compelled to warn her. Indeed, Iris would be correct, because from the moment of Rachael's arrival, a man watches. He has already killed, and mercilessly will do so again. And his stalking of Rachael has only just begun. Author Joan Hovey creates a taut thriller in CHILL WATERS. Woven with an uncanny magic, CHILL WATERS is rich in sensory imagery and dense with the darkness that lies in the heart of a madman. Hovey creates a rich cast of characters, each uniquely realized and memorable. At age forty-five, heroine Rachael provides a refreshingly mature viewpoint who still manages to grow and change with the flow of the novel. She has raised her children and fled a failed marriage to take control of her life only to confront a madman. With believable vulnerabilities
All the Little Children
Jo Furniss - 2017
Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost.Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that’s protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren’t the only ones at stake.When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all?
Terminal House
Sean Costello - 2017
Now imagine being intimately aware of the process, but helpless to arrest it. Would you be afraid? For retired physician Ben Hunter, that malign force is Alzheimer’s disease—and he is terrified.Now a resident in a major geriatric center, Ben straddles an ever-widening gulf between a muddled present and an idealized past, never quite certain which will support his weight. Against this backdrop, he meets Roxanne Austen, an 18-year-old student who both enriches his life and accelerates his descent into bewilderment.With equal measures of frankness and humor, Terminal House illuminates the many challenges of aging, including dementia, death and dying, voluntary euthanasia, and romantic love.Here's a sample of what advance readers are saying about Terminal House:"As a retired editor who doesn't watch television I probably read 300 novels a year (about one a day).Unequivocally,Terminal House is the best of the year, actually the best for a long while. How someone who is not that old could capture the feelings, desires, memories and fears of an older person is astounding. He emotionally touched the true feelings of both elderly people and the younger persons around them. No one will be able to put this book down once they start reading.
Voices in My Head
Mike Evans - 2016
What if the devil on your shoulder could actually come out and play? Voices in my Head is just that. Meet Mikey, the sweetest five-year-old you've ever met, and his psychotic dark side Michael. When his mother changes his life forever Michael comes out to play.
Forgotten Bones
Vivian Barz - 2019
But when it comes to murder, Officer Susan Marlan never trusts a simple explanation, so she's just getting started.Meanwhile, college professor Eric Evans hallucinates a young boy in overalls: a symptom of his schizophrenia - or so he thinks. But when more bodies turn up, Eric has more visions, and they mirror details of the murder case. As the investigation continues, the police stick with their original conclusion, but Susan's instincts tell her something is off. The higher-ups keep stonewalling her, and the FBI's closing in.Desperate for answers, Susan goes rogue and turns to Eric for help. Together they take an unorthodox approach to the case as the evidence keeps getting stranger. With Eric's hallucinations intensifying and the body count rising, can the pair separate truth from illusion long enough to catch a monster?
One Summer
David Baldacci - 2011
With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country.
Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie's death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie's childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.
Girls of Brackenhill
Kate Moretti - 2020
It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.
The Protected Witness: An Alex Booker Thriller
Al Macy - 2018
Alex is reluctant to expose the crime until he's analyzed the heck out of it, but at the urging of his less-cautious assistant, he brings his discovery to the FBI.When Alex's life is threatened, he's placed into an experimental witness protection program. As a guinea pig for a risky scientific procedure he is changed in ways he never thought possible. That's when things start going wrong.If Alex can't overcome his cautious nature and fight the president while maintaining his anonymity, the United States will be forever changed.
Awaken His Eyes
Jason Tesar - 2010
Worshiped as gods for their wisdom and power, they corrupted the realm of the physical and forever altered the course of history.THE PROPHECY: Amidst the chaos of a dying world, a lone voice foretold the awakening of a warrior who would bring an end to this evil perpetrated against all of creation. But with the cataclysmic destruction of earth and rebirth of humanity, the prophecy went unfulfilled and eventually faded from the memory of our kind—until now!THE AWAKENED: The physical dimension is fractured. What remain now are numerous fragmented worlds moving simultaneously through time, sharing a common history, connected only by a guarded portal. On a parallel earth, in the city of Bastul, Colonel Adair Lorus disappears while investigating the death of an informant, triggering a series of events which will tear his family apart and set in motion the resolution of an ancient struggle.Kael, sentenced to death after rising up against the cruel leadership of his new step-father, is rescued from prison and trained in the arts of war by a mystical order of clerics. Excelling in every aspect of his training, Kael inwardly struggles to give himself fully to the methods of his new family, or the god they worship.Maeryn, bitter over the disappearance of her husband and supposed execution of her son, fears for her life at the hands of her newly appointed husband. Finding comfort and purpose in her unborn child, she determines to undermine his authority by reaching out to an underground social movement known as the Resistance.After being forced from his home, Kael’s former mentor, Saba, uncovers a clue to Adair’s disappearance. Sensing a connection to his own forgotten past, Saba begins an investigation which leads to the discovery of a secret military organization operating within the Orudan Empire.In book one of his debut series, Jason Tesar delves into the heart of an ancient legend, embarking on an epic saga that will journey from earth’s mythological past to its post-apocalyptic future, blending the genres of fantasy, sci-fi, and military/political suspense.
The Secret Letter: The Beginning
Roger Hayden - 2017
She's quick to dismiss the letter and focus instead on her busy day, amidst a preoccupied husband and eleven year-old-daughter. But the letter is only the beginning of a series of anonymous gifts, each more bizarre than the next, which shed light on a past long forgotten. Suspicious of her newfound admirer, Victoria soon finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of vengeance and betrayal, where her survival hangs in the very balance with every move that she makes.
The Art of Inheriting Secrets
Barbara O'Neal - 2018
Raw with grief and reeling from the knowledge that her reserved mother hid something so momentous, Olivia leaves San Francisco and crosses the pond to unravel the mystery of a lifetime.One glance at the breathtaking Rosemere Priory and Olivia understands why the manor, magnificent even in disrepair, was the subject of her mother’s exquisite paintings. What she doesn’t understand is why her mother never mentioned it to her. As Olivia begins digging into her mother’s past, she discovers that the peeling wallpaper, debris-laden halls, and ceiling-high Elizabethan windows covered in lush green vines hide unimaginable secrets.Although personal problems and her life back home beckon, Olivia finds herself falling for the charming English village and its residents. But before she can decide what Rosemere’s and her own future hold, Olivia must first untangle the secrets of her past.
The Newman Resident
Charles Swift - 2014
Dr. Newman is at the leading edge of creating the perfect educational environment for children, and all he requires is a hefty tuition—and your child at the age of six months.Christopher Carson is one of the “Newman Residents” who live at the Newman Home year-round. His parents, Richard and Carol, both Manhattan attorneys, may disagree about the specifics, but each wants what’s best for their son. For Richard, this means bringing Christopher, now six years old, home for one last summer vacation before the visits become brief and infrequent.Carol agrees with the staff: Christopher should stay at the school. And Christopher is confused, not sure where his real home is anymore. But Richard would like for their house to be Christopher’s home, at least for one summer.As Richard and Christopher spend more time together they become closer. Not long into Christopher’s visit, Richard begins to suspect that the Newman Home’s methods for developing their children into future leaders are too experimental, if not outright dangerous. His suspicions are confirmed when a secretive support group of Newman parents reaches out to him about their frightening experiences with the school.Richard’s investigations into the Newman Home quickly spiral out of control; he has underestimated the extent of the school’s power and connections—and Dr. Newman’s incessant drive to achieve a new level of success for the students. But what Dr. Newman underestimates may be even more powerful: one father’s determination to fight for his son against the odds.What follows in The Newman Resident is a whirlwind battle between a devoted father and an education system more terrifyingly powerful than he ever could have imagined. It’s a battle that forces him to confront how some will cross any line in order to create the “perfect” child.
The Night the Lights Went Out
John Eider - 2012
Without the National Grid, Britain is in left in the dark - no lights, no heat, no electricity...Three months later, from among the British refugees now scattered across northern France, a nation itself rocked by the crisis, a young soldier is recruited for a mission that takes him back home.This is his story, as he ventures back to find his homeland ravaged, its population scattered, and civilisation on the brink. This is a tale of an alternative future, set in a Britain at once recognisable and massively altered.