Book picks similar to
Stranger by Karen Perry


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The Cutaway


Christina Kovac - 2017
    Despite skepticism from her colleagues, Knightly suspects this ambitious young lawyer may be at the heart of something far more sinister, especially since she was last seen leaving an upscale restaurant after a domestic dispute. Yet, as the only woman of power at her station, Knightly quickly finds herself investigating on her own.Risking her career, her life, and perhaps even her own sanity, Knightly dives deep into the dark underbelly of Washington, DC business and politics in an investigation that will drag her mercilessly through the inextricable webs of corruption that bind the press, the police, and politics in our nation’s capital.Harkening to dark thrillers such as Gone Girl, Luckiest Girl Alive, and Big Little Lies, The Cutaway is a striking debut that will haunt you long after you reach the last page.

The First Lie


A.J. Park - 2019
    Someone breaks in.In defending yourself, you end up killing the intruder.Now you're the one the police want.That is the situation that criminal barrister Paul Reeve arrives home to find.His wife Alice stands in the bedroom, clutching a bloodied letter opener in her shaking hand."What have you done, Alice?""I didn't have a choice..."We would all believe the person we love most.But would we all make the same choice Paul and Alice make next...?

Anything You Do Say


Gillian McAllister - 2017
    So far she has spent her adult life hiding bank statements and changing career aspirations weekly.But then one night Joanna hears footsteps on the way home. Is she being followed? She is sure it's him; the man from the bar who wouldn't leave her alone. Hearing the steps speed up Joanna turns and pushes with all of her might, sending her pursuer tumbling down the steps and lying motionless on the floor.Now Joanna has to do the thing she hates most - make a decision. Fight or flight? Truth or lie? Right or wrong?

The Heatwave


Katerina Diamond - 2020
    One stranger. One killer…Two bad things happened that summer:A stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared. In the wake of the crime that rocked her community, Felicity fled, knowing more than she let on. But sixteen years later, her new life is shattered by the news that a second girl has gone missing in her hometown. Now Felicity must go back, to face the truth about what happened all those years ago. Only she holds the answers – and they’re more shocking than anyone could imagine. The heatwave is back. And so is the killer.

The Memory Wood


Sam Lloyd - 2020
    Chilling, moving and unputdownable, The Memory Wood is a thriller like no other. ************* Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known. Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape. When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave.Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood.As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood . . .

The Night Market


Jonathan Moore - 2018
    The dead man on the floor is covered by an unknown substance that’s eating through his skin. Before Carver can identify it, six FBI agents burst in and remove him from the premises. He's pushed into a disinfectant trailer, forced to drink a liquid that sends him into seizures, and is shocked unconscious. On Sunday he wakes in his bed to find his neighbor, Mia—who he’s barely ever spoken to—reading aloud to him. He can’t remember the crime scene or how he got home; he has no idea two days have passed. Mia says she saw him being carried into their building by plainclothes police officers, who told her he’d been poisoned. Carver doesn’t really know this woman and has no way of disproving her, but his gut says to keep her close.A mind-bending, masterfully plotted thriller—written in Moore's "lush, intoxicating style" (Justin Cronin)—that will captivate fans of Blake Crouch, China Miéville, and Lauren Beukes, The Night Market follows Carver as he works to find out what happened to him, soon realizing he's entangled in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation. And that Mia may know a lot more than she lets on.

The Perfect Daughter


Alex Stone - 2021
    And everything Jess does, from the clothes she wears, the job she has, the men she dates, are all approved by Abigail first.The perfect boyfriend…So when Jess announces that she has a new man in her life – plumber Adam – Abigail is less than impressed. 'A plumber? Really, Jessica....' Adam encourages Jess to break free from her mum’s manipulation, can’t she see what’s happening?The perfect mother….But Abigail is only doing these things to keep Jess safe, to protect her from getting hurt again…isn’t she?Or the perfect liar?Jess, caught in the middle, doesn’t know who to believe or trust. And then Adam vanishes without trace.Now Jess is the police’s prime suspect and they want to know if Jess really is as perfect as she seems….

Clear My Name


Paula Daly - 2019
    It deserves to be a huge bestseller.' Mark Edwards'Loved it - twisty, turny and as brilliant as ever!' Jill Mansell‘The UK’s answer to Liane Moriarty. Amazing.’ Claire McGowanInnocent?When Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. She denied it when they arrested her, when they put her in front of a jury, and when they sent her to prison.Now she’s three years into a fifteen-year sentence, away from the daughter she loves and the life she had built. And she is still denying that she is to blame.Guilty?Tess Gilroy has devoted her life to righting wrongs. Through her job for Innocence UK, a charity which takes on alleged miscarriages of justice, she works tirelessly to uncover the truth.But when she is asked to take Carrie’s case, Tess realises that if she is to help this woman, she must risk uncovering the secrets she has struggled a lifetime to hide . . .We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.'Compelling concept, kick-ass characterisation and a gut punch of a sting in the tale.' LV Hay

Possession


Katie Lowe - 2021
    The present hunts her.Conviction @ConvictionPod · 1mThe investigating officer: “I’ve seen a lot of homicides in the years since, but...that’s the one that keeps me up at night.”The husband’s best man: “They had everybody fooled. Or at least, she did. But I always knew something was off.”Hannah, the wife: “I told you. I don’t remember anything. I don’t know.”That’s all to come, this season, on Conviction. Get ready for our most twisted season yet.~~~Ten years ago, Hannah’s husband was brutally murdered in their home, and she (conveniently) doesn’t remember a thing about that night. But the police charged someone else—a stranger—and put him away for life. And Hannah packed up her six-year-old daughter and left London behind.But now her hard-won countryside peace is threatened. Conviction, a viral true crime podcast known for getting cases reopened and old verdicts overturned, has turned its attention to Hannah’s husband’s murder for its new season. They say police framed the man who was found guilty, and that Hannah has more suspicious secrets than just her memory loss: a history of volatility; citations at the clinic where she worked as a psychiatrist; dependencies on alcohol and pills; and a familicidal grandmother, locked away in a Gothic insane asylum until her death. As Hannah loses the trust of everyone she loves, the only person she feels she can confide in is a former colleague, Darcy, who’s come back into her life—but who may have motives of her own. But Hannah can’t tell even Darcy her deepest secret: that she’s still tormented by the memory of her husband and the crater he carved through her life.

The Orchid Girls


Lesley Sanderson - 2018
    'I will never tell anyone, I swear. This is between you and me. Now you swear too.' They called them the Orchid Girls. Grace. Charlotte. Molly. One of them is in love. One of them is a liar. One of them is dead. One day, three became two – and no one knows the truth. What really happened that summer? The Orchid Girls is a breathless, gripping and twisty story of love, obsession and dark secrets. Fans of K.L. Slater, The Wife Between Us and Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train – read this one with the lights on…

White Bodies


Jane Robins - 2017
    Felix and Tilda seem like the perfect couple: young and in love, a financier and a beautiful up-and-coming starlet. But behind their flawless facade, not everything is as it seems. Callie, Tilda's unassuming twin, has watched her sister visibly shrink under Felix's domineering love. She has looked on silently as Tilda stopped working, nearly stopped eating, and turned into a neat freak, with mugs wrapped in Saran Wrap and suspicious syringes hidden in the bathroom trash. She knows about Felix's uncontrollable rages, and has seen the bruises on the white skin of her sister's arms. Worried about the psychological hold that Felix seems to have over Tilda, Callie joins an Internet support group for victims of abuse and their friends. However, things spiral out of control and she starts to doubt her own judgment when one of her new acquaintances is killed by an abusive man. And then suddenly Felix dies--or was he murdered? A page-turning work of suspense that announces a stunning new voice in fiction, White Bodies will change the way you think about obsession, love, and the violence we inflict on one another--and ourselves.

Ask No Questions


Claire Allan - 2021
    Journalist Ingrid Devlin is investigating – but someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. As she digs further, Ingrid starts to realise that the Doherty family are not as they seem. But will she expose what really happened that night before it’s too late?A twisty psychological thriller from bestselling author Claire Allan.

Your Son Is Alive


James Scott Bell - 2018
    Now somebody says they can have him back. Dylan and Erin Reeve have lived with a gaping emotional wound ever since their five-year-old son, Kyle, was kidnapped in broad daylight. And never found. Though the shadow of their loss hangs heavy, Dylan and Erin have managed to get on with their lives, even finding bits of happiness along the way. Until one night when a crayon-scrawled note is slipped under Dylan Reeve's door. All it says is, Your son is alive. Could it be true? Or is it a sick game played by somebody out for money? Or something else? But what? And why now? As clues begin to emerge—both agonizing and expectant in their implications—Dylan and Erin Reeve know they have to play this out to the end. Because it's their last chance—and their only hope—to find the son they lost all those years ago. You'll be blown away by this domestic thriller with twists and turns and the beating heart of parental love.

Don't Let Him In


Howard Linskey - 2021
    Except, as she reads through his notes, it's clear he was sure he was about to uncover the truth. And then she hears that there are unanswered questions about his death.It's unnerving, reading through his theories alone in their tall, creaking family house on the seafront.If she didn't know better, she'd swear she thought she heard someone outside her door...

A Gingerbread House


Catriona McPherson - 2021
    You should… When shy, lonely Ivy meets a woman who claims to be her long-lost sister, she knows it’s too good to be true. She decides to trust Kate anyway. She wants a family. She wants someone to love. She’s making a mistake. Ivy enters Kate’s Scottish fairytale cottage… and she doesn’t come out. She’s the first to go missing. She won't be the last.