Book picks similar to
Blame by Patricia Dixon
thriller
bloodhound-books
psychological-thriller
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The House on the Lake
Nuala Ellwood - 2020
. . He's never far behindLisa needs to disappear. And her friend's rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems like the perfect place. It's miles away from the closest town, and no one there knows her or her little boy, Joe.But when a woman from the local village comes to visit them, Lisa realizes that she and Joe aren't as safe as she thought.What secret has Rowan Isle House - and her friend - kept hidden all these years?And what will Lisa have to do to survive, when her past finally catches up with her?
Rising Storm (MacKenzie Cove #1)
Edie James - 2022
Dark Things I Adore
Katie Lattari - 2021
But in the hands of fierce women, men will be brought to their knees.Three campfire secrets. Two witnesses. One dead in the trees. And the woman, thirty years later, bent on making the guilty finally pay.1988. A group of outcasts gather at a small, prestigious arts camp nestled in the Maine woods. They're the painters: bright, hopeful, teeming with potential. But secrets and dark ambitions rise like smoke from a campfire, and the truths they tell will come back to haunt them in ways more deadly than they dreamed.2018. Esteemed art professor Max Durant arrives at his protégé's remote home to view her graduate thesis collection. He knows Audra is beautiful and brilliant. He knows being invited into her private world is a rare gift. But he doesn't know that Audra has engineered every aspect of their weekend together. Every detail, every conversation. Audra has woven the perfect web.Only Audra knows what happened that summer in 1988. Max's secret, and the dark things that followed. And even though it won't be easy, Audra knows someone must pay.A searing thriller of trauma, dark academia, complicity, and revenge, Dark Things I Adore unravels the realities behind campfire legends―the horrors that happen in the dark, the girls who become cautionary tales, and the guilty who go unpunished. Until now.
The Girl I Used to Be
Mary Torjussen - 2018
But there will be more to regret than a nasty hangover.She starts receiving mementos from that night: A photo of a hallway kiss. A video of her complaining about her husband. And worse...much worse. The problem is she doesn't remember any of it.As the blackmailing and menace ramp up, Gemma fears for her already shaky marriage. The paranoia, the feeling that her life is spiraling out of control, will take her back to another night--years ago--that changed everything. And Gemma will realize just how far the shadows from her past can reach...
The Forever Home
Sue Watson - 2021
The beautiful Cornish cliffside house they’d taken on as a wreck, that Mark had obsessively re-designed and renovated – a project that had made him famous. It was where they’d raised their children, where they’d sat cosily on the sofa watching storms raging over the sea below. It was where they’d promised to keep each other’s secrets…Until now. Because Mark has fallen in love. With someone he definitely shouldn’t have. Someone who isn’t Carly. And suddenly their family home doesn’t feel like so much of a safe haven.Carly thinks forever should mean forever though: it’s her home and she’ll stay there. Even the dark family secrets it contains feel like they belong to her. But someone disagrees. And, as threats start to arrive at her front door, it becomes clear, someone will stop at nothing. Because someone wants to demolish every last thing that makes Carly feel safe. Forever.An utterly unputdownable psychological thriller about what lies are hidden in the most beautiful homes. Perfect for fans of Date Night, Gone Girl and The Woman in the Window.
One Click
Andrea Mara - 2018
Her daughters are surprised that she posted a photo without consent, but it’s only when she starts to get anonymous messages about the woman on the beach that she deletes the photo. It’s too little too late, and the messages escalate, prompting Lauren to confess to the woman. The woman has her own dark story, one that might explain the messages, but Lauren isn’t convinced. Then her ex-husband begins to harass her, telling her she shares too much online and brought this on herself. She’s also dealing with other problems. A difficult client at work starts to show up in places he shouldn’t be. Her younger daughter is behaving out of character and Lauren can’t work out what’s wrong. And the cracks are literally beginning to show in her old South Dublin house, mirroring the cracks in her carefully curated life. Meanwhile, the messages from the internet troll become more personal and more vindictive. Her friends feel she should stand up to her stalker, but Lauren isn’t so sure. And then she makes one small mistake that brings everything tumbling down.
When You Disappeared
John Marrs - 2013
But Simon never makes it to the office. His running shoes are by the front door. Nothing is missing - except him.Catherine knows Simon must be in trouble. He wouldn't just leave her. He wouldn't leave the children.But Simon knows the truth - about why he left and what he's done. He knows things about his marriage that it would kill Catherine to find out. The memories she holds onto are lies.While Catherine faces a dark new reality at home, Simon's halfway around the world, alive and thriving. He's doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the truth.But he can't hide forever, and when he reappears twenty-five years later, Catherine will finally learn who he is.And wish she'd stayed in the dark.Revised edition: Previously published as The Wronged Sons, this edition of When You Disappeared includes editorial revisions.
Reading Between the Lines (Between the Sheets Book 4)
Serenity Woods - 2021
Darcy, life is never going to be simple…
Tess Barker is having a rough time. She enjoys giving tours of the Northland of New Zealand, but her endometriosis makes the long days a challenge, and now she’s gone and insulted one of her best friends by mistake. She’s secretly liked Finn Brennan – the gorgeous Mr. Darcy lookalike – for years, but he’s never made a move on her, and now not only has she hurt his feelings, but they’re both interviewing for the same job – #awkward. Finn likes his position in the Education Department at Waitangi, but recent events have made him restless, and he’s ready for a change. The move to Exhibitions Director at a museum in Christchurch might be just what he’s looking for, but he’s up against the younger, dynamic, beautiful Tess. When she apologizes for upsetting him, a kiss is a natural way to prove there’s no hard feelings. They agree to work together on their presentations for the interview and to let the best man – or woman – win. Time spent together soon reveals a sizzling attraction that turns into deep passion. Things come to a head on their return to the bay, when Finn realizes he can’t escape his past troubles if he stays. But it’s only when Tess falls ill that he has to make the ultimate decision to fight or fly.
My Little Girl
Shalini Boland - 2021
Your daughter is missing…’Claire Nolan receives a panicked phone call, telling her that her seven-year-old daughter Beatrice has gone missing on a trip to the local fair.It’s every mother’s worst nightmare. And it’s happening to her.Her mother-in-law Jill was meant to be looking after Beatrice but the little girl disappeared in the hall of mirrors and, an hour later, she still can’t be found.Frantic with worry, Claire races to the fairground. When she arrives, there are flashing blue lights and uniformed officers everywhere. In one moment, her whole world collapses.Distraught and desperate to uncover the truth, doubts begin to creep in. Claire’s husband should have been with Beatrice but he changed their plans without telling her. And she’s never trusted Jill. Her mother-in-law has always preferred her son’s free-spirited first wife. Something just doesn’t add up and Claire starts to suspect those closest to her:The first wife.The husband.The mother-in-law.Which one of them is lying? And who really knows where Beatrice is?
Bad Girls
Gemma Rogers - 2021
No Crime. No Time.Can you ever escape your past?Fresh out of prison, Jess Strickland has just six months’ probation to serve until she's free to get on with the life, she left behind 4 years ago.With few options available, Jess takes a job at Bright’s’, an industrial laundry company alongside other ex-cons, all eager to keep their noses clean.Here she finds an ally in Karla but soon learns her new boss Terry, is not all he seems.Realising she’s no safer on the outside Jess refuses to be a victim any longer.How far will she go to avoid going back to prison?
Saddler's Secret
Nicole Rodrigues - 2019
Heartbreaking circumstances thrusts me into motherhood, and on the plane ride home, I break down, kissing a total stranger and the angel offered me a solution; Saddler Enterprises. I've climbed the ladder and worked my ass off for months, and in walks, Adam, our intern. I try to keep things professional but all of a sudden, I start to find him funny and charming. His kiss electrifies me but that's precisely when shit really hits the fan.Suddenly, I'm on the mysterious Machlin Saddler’s radar. Big, bad CEO that never makes his way to our floor, now makes it his new stomping grounds. He lights my body on fire like no one has before. He's alluring and gorgeous and I'm being pulled in two different directions. Only the new intern isn't who I think he is. He's the perfect stranger from the plane I took to start my new life with Kenzie. The perfect stranger I kissed. The perfect stranger I hate.Genevieve LangstonThe breathtaking woman I haven't been able to keep my mind off of, has been my downfall. I need her like a lion needs prey but I can't screw up the plan. She'll hate me, hell she already does, but the line between love and hate is very, very thin.
Scars
Jaimie Roberts - 2016
At least, that’s what I thought. But you changed all that. You are always there ... Always watching ... Always waiting in the shadows. You send me flowers and messages. You stalk me, trace my every movement... Until that one day, in a silly game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, when I finally get to feel you—have a taste of you ... It left me wanting more. One catastrophic day, my wish is granted. Just past my eighteenth birthday, tragedy strikes and I watch my family die before my eyes. You are there. You rescue me. You choose my life over my older sister’s, and I hate you for that. I hate you for taking me and imprisoning me. You say it’s for my sake, but I know it’s for your own. You make me see that my life could be much worse without you in it... You make me see true darkness. It is in that darkness you make me desperate for your presence, your touch, your caress. You make me need you... You make it impossible for me to live without you… And then, eventually… You make me fall in love with you. Secrets will always wound the ones twisted within their web of lies... But the ones I’m tangled in ... are deadly. WARNING: Although this book (overall) is not a dark read, one chapter is an exception, and contains the following triggers: childhood sexual/emotional abuse with some intensity in one particular scene.
Denial
Lisa Renee Jones - 2015
This is a standalone spin-off of the INSIDE OUT series (soon to be a TV show) that follows Ella Ferguson, Sara McMillan's best friend.Ella Ferguson awakes alone in Italy, unsure of who she is, and a gorgeous man has claimed her as his own. He’s tall, dark, and sexy, with money and power, the kind of man who makes a girl want to be possessed. And he does possess her, whispering wicked wonderful promises to her, stealing her trust and her heart. Soon though, the past finds her, yanking her from a cocoon of passion and safety. Everything is not how it seems. The truth will shatter her world, but it can set her free, if it doesn't destroy her first.
The Courier
Holly Down - 2021
. .Five years ago, Laurel Lovejoy had it all. The high-powered city job, the loving husband, the perfect daughter. Now, she is forty and alone, and working for a courier service. But she has discovered that being a delivery driver comes with a superpower: it makes her invisible. People accept her presence without question. They go about their lives, unaware of just how much she sees - how much she knows.Laurel is particularly fascinated by the residents of Paradise Found, an exclusive gated cul-de-sac. She sometimes even finds her way there when she's not working, using her days off to soak up as much information about the inhabitants and their lives as she can. Everyone needs a hobby.Then one day Laurel sees something in one of the houses - something that blows her whole world apart, and will have devastating consequences for everyone involved . . .Perfect for fans of Clare Mackintosh, Adele Parks, Lisa Jewell and The Girl on the Train, THE COURIER will keep you up all night with your eyes glued to the page!
The Swap
Fiona Mitchell - 2019
Two children. But whose is whose?When two strangers, Tess and Annie, undergo IVF at an American clinic, their embryos are mixed up and each woman gives birth to the wrong child.The women only discover the devastating error three years later. Tess wants to swap the children back; Annie doesn't. As the pair wrangle, neither of them expect what unfolds.*******PRAISE FOR THE MAID'S ROOM'A modern-day The Help' - Emerald Street'Passionate . . . powerful' - Daily Mail'Exquisite writing . . . a shocking and powerful story line that had me gripped and moved until the uplifting conclusion . . . A fascinating read about survival and the strength and resilience of the human heart' - Katie Marsh, author of A Life Without You and This Beautiful Life