Book picks similar to
Ripple Effect by N.A. Cooper


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Envy


Amanda Robson - 2019
    But Faye’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems – she has a terrible secret, and slowly but surely, it is threatening to destroy her and everything she holds dear.When Faye’s daughter Tamsin goes missing after school, the police turn to Erica. But is Erica the only one who has been enviously watching Faye? Or is there another threat hiding in the shadows…?An unsettling, claustrophobic thriller about jealousy, greed and desire from Sunday Times bestseller Amanda Robson.

The House of Hidden Secrets


C.E. Rose - 2021
    As Serena and 4-year-old Lana walked up the long driveway, little did they know the dark secrets that lay within.When Serena Green accepted the role of housekeeper for wealthy widower Hayden Ramsay, she never imagined her new home would be Ramsay Hall, an ancient, sprawling mansion in Northern England.Serena quickly becomes an integral part of the household, making friends with Hayden’s younger son Hugh, despite Jack, his older brother’s, coldness towards her and Lana.But the hall’s beautiful exterior hides many ugly secrets. Though Serena and Jack begin to grow closer, she’s confused by his behaviour around Lana. What is he guilty of? And is there more to their mother’s death than the Ramsay men will admit, even to themselves?As the harrowing past of Ramsay Hall unravels, Serena fresh start becomes a fresh horror. She fears for her and Lana’s safety, but what are the bleak secrets in Serena’s own past?This house is built on a lifetime of lies… and the truth might just bring the walls crashing down.A twisty, gripping and utterly unputdownable new thriller that fans of Lisa Jewell, C.L. Taylor and Mark Edwards will love.

The Silent Mother


Liz Lawler - 2021
    But your son is dead.’As I hear the words every mother dreads my pulse races and I go cold. But even as my world turns upside down I know the things I’m being told just don’t add up. I have to find out what really happened the night my beautiful boy died…The police tell me it was a tragedy no one could have prevented. But then they reveal the terrible things Tom was keeping from me. The person they describe is nothing like the decent, honest man I raised. Newly qualified as a doctor, Tom had such a bright future ahead of him.A mother knows her own child. And I’m determined to prove my son’s innocence.It’s the last thing I will ever be able to do for him. So I have come to the city where he lived and moved into his empty flat under a different name.When I discover his diary, it becomes clear his death wasn’t an accident.And as I get to know Tom’s friends and neighbours I realise they’re all keeping secrets.But as I get closer to the truth, I realise my life is in danger too…

What Happened at the Lake


Phil M. Williams - 2018
    Not everyone made it back.The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex's focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.His pastor often said, "God won't give you more than you can bear."This had nothing to do with God.NOTE TO THE READER: This is a dark psychological thriller that delves into depraved acts of humanity. For adult readers only who can handle these subject matters. Adult language and explicit sexual violence.

The Butcher's Daughter


Jane E. James - 2019
    Not even yourself. When Natalie Powers returns home for the first time in thirteen years, she must convince everyone she has fully recovered from the mental illness, which has seen her institutionalised for most of her young life.But instead of being welcomed back, Natalie enters a baffling world of deception. She must fight her way through the lies in order to discover the truth about her mother’s sudden disappearance sixteen years earlier. To do this, Natalie must also try to make sense of the hazy memories from the past that continue to haunt her.In the village of Little Downey, everybody appears to harbour a mysterious secret, including her father, Frank, the village butcher, who refuses to discuss the circumstances surrounding Natalie’s mother's disappearance, but who can Natalie trust if not her own father? Especially when it becomes clear her protector and confidante, Dr Moses, is not all he appears.Meanwhile, a spate of unexplained clifftop suicides has seen the seaside resort go into decline. Are the villagers somehow involved or is something more sinister at work?Determined to find out what happened to her mother, Natalie must make sure her own frailty and self-doubt does not catapult her back to the mental institution before she can uncover the truth… Jane E. James is the author of the chilling thriller The Crying Boy. The Butcher's Daughter is a compelling and beautifully written psychological thriller which will appeal to fans of authors like Sheryl Browne, Nuala Ellwood and Teresa Driscoll.

Unpaved Surfaces


Joseph Souza - 2015
    Raphael, Amazon Vine Reviewer. "Souza takes his considerable talents to the next level in Unpaved Surfaces, delivering an emotionally charged, exquisitely tuned suspense story."--Steve Konkoly, bestselling author of The Perseid Collapse Series. Enter into the life of an ideal family--Auggie is a happy nine-year-old boy whose father, Keith, loves him more than anything. Keith's life seems ideal--until one day Auggie vanishes. A year has passed since Keith's son disappeared, and he's haunted by glimpses of his son appearing in his small Maine town. With the investigation at a dead end and his family paralyzed with grief, Keith worries that he's losing his mind. In a thrilling twist, the case turns in a new direction--a direction that could either heal his family or tear them, and the rest of the town, apart.

Missing Person


Sarah Lotz - 2019
    It's only on his mother's deathbed that he learns the truth: Teddy, who was gay, fled the Catholic, deeply conservative County Wicklow for New York decades earlier. Shaun finds no sign of him in New York or anywhere else--until he comes across the unsolved murder of a John Doe whose description matches Teddy's.Desperate for information, Shaun tracks down Chris Guzman, a woman who runs a website dedicated to matching missing persons cases with unidentified bodies. Through Chris's site, a group of online cold case fanatics connect Teddy with the notorious "Boy in the Dress" murder, believed to be one of many committed by a serial killer targeting gay men.But who are these cold case fanatics, and how do they know so much about a case that left the police and the FBI stumped? With investigators, amateurs, and one sadistic killer on a collision course, Missing Person is Sarah Lotz at her most thrilling and terrifying.

Blind Date


Wendy Clarke - 2021
    Her divorce came as such a shock and she’d been feeling lost and lonely, but that didn’t mean she was desperate to date again. It was a terrible day at work that made her say yes: it could be a bit of fun, a distraction at least. What did she have to lose?When Mel meets Malik, she knows instantly that they could have more than just a fling. She tells him her deepest, darkest secrets and it doesn’t make him run away. He makes her feel wanted for the first time in years, and when she wakes up in his bed in the early hours she feels completely content.Until she notices that he’s no longer lying beside her.She’s tangled up in his sheets alone in his bedroom and she can’t remember how she got there.And then she hears the metallic scrape of a key in the door and realises that Malik has locked her in. Is her dream man going to turn into her worst nightmare?Thrilling and gripping until the final page, Blind Date is a dark and unsettling story about deception and how much we can trust the people we love. For fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and anything by Lisa Jewell.

24 Hours


Claire Seeber - 2015
    Dead tomorrow?My best friend, Emily, is dead – killed last night in a hotel fire.But it was meant to be me.Now I have 24 hours to find my daughter.Before he finds out I’m still alive. 24 Hours is a fast-paced, intelligent psychological thriller that will leave you breathless.What reviewers are saying about Claire Seeber…‘A dark, twisting thriller that shows all too well how you can never escape the sins of your past.’ Simon Kernick'I read a lot of books, but I can't remember the last time I was so involved in one…why aren't more thrillers so…thrilling?' MyShelf.com‘Fans of crime writer Nicci French will enjoy this.’ Closer Magazine‘An intense psychological thriller’ OK! Magazine‘Fragile Lie is a good, tense read that will keep you guessing until the final pages.' Reviewing the Evidence‘An intense and surprising psychological thriller – Fragile Minds kept me turning the pages late into the night’ Meg Gardiner

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.

Lucy's Coming For You


Ashley Beegan - 2021
    because no one else will admit that Lucy exists.As Summer digs deeper into the disappearance, it becomes apparent that Lucy is looking for her too, but Summer should have stayed away.Now, Lucy is coming for her... and there's no escaping someone who doesn't exist.A gripping and addictive debut with a shocking twist that will send shivers down your spine!

The Silent Speak


Val Collins - 2021
    So for the moment, her fledgeling career as a freelance journalist has been put on hold.  Then comes the horrific news that an entire family has been slaughtered in their own home. Aoife is shocked to discover two of the victims were members of her on-again-off-again book club. Even more disturbing is the revelation that the police believe it was a murder-suicide. That’s when Aoife receives a tantalising offer. Lisa, the main suspect’s sister, will grant Aoife access to the victims’ extended family for an exclusive news story—if Aoife will help find the real killer. Moved by Lisa’s unwavering belief in her brother’s innocence, Aoife agrees to help.  As she digs into the secrets of her fellow book club members, Aoife discovers potential suspects everywhere: people having affairs, a jealous husband, and a power-hungry business partner who’s clearly hiding something. Aoife keeps pulling at the threads of the story, untangling more and more deception. Is the killer really dead and buried? Is it someone Aoife already knows? Could the lunatic be closer than Aoife ever imagined? You won’t be able to put down this twisty thriller from international bestselling author Val Collins.

YOU DID THIS


Jamie Millen - 2022
    A homicide detective’s destiny.Everybody loves Claire’s little sister, Tina. But only Claire sees the twisted psychopath hiding behind her sister’s angelic face. When Tina is brutally murdered on her fourteenth birthday, the day Claire failed to walk her home from school, Claire never forgives herself. And neither does their mother.Twelve years later, more girls turn up dead in Newburgh exactly like Tina. Claire, now a police detective, suspects that her sister’s murderer is still on the prowl. But the serial killer stumps the FBI forensic profiler assisting the case and Special Agent Robert Cline—Claire’s old flame.When Claire becomes the lead suspect in the murder investigation, the system turns against her. Unable to trust anyone—not even herself—Claire must break every rule in the book to save the next girl.With time running out in this nerve-shredding psychological thriller and harrowing family drama, a shocking discovery changes everything. Is Claire’s sister truly dead—or is she playing one final lethal prank?YOU DID THIS is the first book in the Claire Wolfe Thrillers series and can be read as a standalone mystery. Fans of Mike Omer, Robert Dugoni, Melinda Leigh, and Karin Slaughter should get to know Claire Wolfe.

Dear Mum


Margaret Murphy - 1996
    It’s been six long months since Kate identified her battered, lifeless body.Kate is only just beginning to come to terms with her daughter's murder when a sinister message appears on her computer screen: WHY DID YOU LET HIM HURT ME, MUMMY?More horrifying messages follow. Only one person could be doing this to Kate — Melanie’s murderer.Chief Inspector Harmon focuses his enquiries on Kate’s abusive ex-husband David and her colleague, computer whizz-kid Adam Shepherd.Kate has already lost the one thing that gave her life meaning. So, now she decides to fight, but can she unmask the killer before he wrecks what’s left of her life?WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

The Pretty One


Clare Boyd - 2021
    If my pretty little sister never came home again, I’d finally be free from the terrible secret we share…Anna is a wonderful mother. She gave up a career she loved to stay home with her children and her kind, polite daughters, Nell and Ivy, are a credit to her. As is Bay, her stepdaughter, whom Anna adores as much as her own two girls. But everything changes the day Anna’s middle daughter’s beauty catches the eye of a stranger in a café…Quiet, sensitive Nell doesn’t want to have her face on a billboard for all to see. But she knows her family desperately needs the money, and perhaps it would be nice to have her mother’s full attention for the first time since Bay arrived? Could this be the escape from her stepsister’s twisted games Nell has been longing for?But the moment Nell steps in front of a camera, the devastating secret she and Bay have been keeping breaks the surface – and the bonds of this close-knit family forever. But with both Nell and Bay insisting they’re innocent, can either girl really be trusted?As Anna’s perfect blended family unravels around her, she is forced to pick a side. To save one daughter, Anna must betray another. Choosing the wrong girl will be more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined…An unputdownable read-all-night family drama that explores the dark consequences of sibling rivalry and the heart-wrenching emotional cost of keeping secrets from those you love. Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere and My Dark Vanessa.