Book picks similar to
Heartless by T. Patrick Phelps


thriller
fiction
mystery-thriller
new

Desecration


J.F. Penn - 2013
    Her career is on the ropes. Her daughter is dying — there are only hours left before the end, and decisions have to be made. Museum curator Blake Daniel is a man on the edge of destruction. Cursed with the ability to “read” objects — to see where they’ve come from, and the bloody histories they experience — Blake splits his time between working as a researcher at the British Museum… and binge-drinking to forget his nightmare visions.Together, these two broken souls are all that stand between London and a serial killer. A young woman has been murdered, her uterus and unborn child removed during a gala event at a college of surgeons, any of whom could have committed the crime. The only clue is a small ivory figure of a woman undergoing a Cesarean section, dating to the seventeenth century.Body modification, grave robbery, Nazi eugenics, a laboratory that specializes in extreme genetic experiments. All come together to create a mystery unlike any Jamie has experienced, and a danger greater than any Blake has ever seen in his visions. It will take all Jamie’s detective skills, and all Blake’s psychic abilities, to find the killer. To end the murders. To stop something that wants to destroy all that is good… and leave behind only DESECRATION.Desecration is the first book in a thrilling new series by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J.F. Penn: a blend of crime, psychological thriller — and the supernatural.

Digital Velocity: A dark romantic suspense


Reily Garrett - 2017
    psychopathic killer.One survivor.Armed with snark and grit, white-hat hacker Lexi thrives on leveling the playing field against criminals. Never did she imagine meeting her equal on a keyboard.When a friend is murdered, she discovers the killer's digital betting arena on the dark web. The cunning psychopath plays a deadly game and leaves riddles to the next victim's identity hidden in obscure clues.In seeking justice, Lexi directs anonymous tips to Detective McAllister, a cop hard-wired for justice, and inadvertently sends him into a firefight. Her intent to stop the killing spree backfires and centers the killer's crosshairs on her.The dark net houses a playground for the morally depleted and criminally insane few hackers can easily navigate. However, bits and bytes are Lexi's weapons of choice, anonymity her shield.With a dog for protection and sarcasm for armor, she straddles the law to bring a killer to justice while navigating the murky waters of betrayal, deception, and passion.

Chained Guilt


Terry Keys - 2015
    A fifteen-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, Porter was one of the best serial killer detectives in the country, his talents known worldwide. The recently promoted officer couldn’t ask for much more. He was husband to one of the hottest women on the planet, former-model-turned-news-anchor Miranda Porter. He also had two beautiful daughters. Yes, life was good . . . or so it seemed. A cunning serial killer was on the prowl, brutally killing every child he could get his hands on. Porter was hot on his trail, but the killer was an expert – no mistakes. A late night of work, a storm and a car accident would lead David head first into another case – a kidnapping – and this time it was personal. Could there be a connection between the two? David was staring face-first down the barrel of both cases and time was running out. Does Detective Porter have what it takes to bring these criminals to justice? Will the good life he once enjoyed elude him forever? Only time will tell.

314


A.R. Wise - 2012
    She has a good life as a music teacher now, and might rekindle her relationship with her one true love. However, the number 314 haunts her, and threatens to bring her back to the day that her brother disappeared. When a reporter shows up, just days before March 14th, Alma realizes that her past is coming back to haunt her. What happened on March 14th, at 3:14, 16 years ago? No one but The Skeleton Man can remember.

No Justice (No Justice, #1)


Sean Platt - 2017
     Now the man who killed Mallory’s daughter is back, and if she doesn't act fast another child will die. Jasper Parish is a vigilante who punishes killers trying to escape traditional justice. Relying on the psychic visions of his daughter Jordyn, he wages war from the shadows, doing what the police can’t — or won’t — do. Two years ago, he failed to save Mallory Black’s daughter. Now is Jasper’s chance for redemption. Hero, killer, and vigilante are on a collision course in a world where there is no justice ... unless you’re willing to risk everything to make your own. No Justice is the first in a pulse-pounding new series for fans of Dexter, Silence of the Lambs, and Seven.

Killing Me Softly


Bianca Sloane - 2012
    Her body was discovered days later, her beautiful face bashed in with a rock. Police determine her brutal death to be a mugging gone wrong and drop the matter into their cold case files.Over a year later, Tracy’s sister, Sondra, still can’t come to grips with what happened. She throws herself into her work as a documentary filmmaker to try and forget the cruelty of her sister’s death. However, a chance encounter with a man from Tracy’s past rips the wound open and sends Sondra on a desperate search for answers about the secrets from her sister’s life that may have led to her death.As Sondra struggles to uncover what happened to Tracy, she’s launched into a tangled web of deceit and danger that put her on a collision course with life and death…

Hush


Adam Nicholls - 2015
    until obsession with a killer drove him further from his family. That life was left behind, until today. Now a part-time PI, a familiar string of murders is pulling him back into the cycle. Mason must choose between bringing the killer to justice or remaining a humble family man. With his marriage on the line, the police seek his knowledge of the unsolved case, to help identify and track down the psychopath. But now he's too close to the Lullaby Killer, who is driven to have a little fun... at Mason's expense.

Back to Lazarus


Judy K. Walker - 2014
    He beat and choked her to death. I'm told that he was found hanging from a homemade noose in his cell. I want to know why he waited so long to do it." Sydney Brennan isn't sure how to answer her client's question, short of holding a séance, and the Tallahassee detective has some questions of her own. Why does Noel Thomas remember so little about her childhood? Why is she delving into her father's suicide now? And, most importantly, why isn't Noel telling her the truth?Sydney crisscrosses the Florida Panhandle, reconstructing the tragic Thomas family history. The violence that destroyed the Thomas family connects to a present-day web of deceit and corruption through a desperate man willing to do anything to keep his secrets safe. To discover his identity, Sydney must go Back to Lazarus, back to the town where Noel's beautiful but troubled mother began her inevitable descent over twenty years ago. But by following in the footsteps of the murdered woman, does Sydney risk sharing her fate?Rooted in bars and back roads and Panhandle prisons, forgotten towns and forgotten people, at its heart Back to Lazarus is about stories: the stories people tell us, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when we realize it's all a lie.

Damaged


Pamela Callow - 2010
    But then the teen is brutally murdered. And it isn't only Kate who wonders if her legal advice led to the girl's death.How far are you willing to go to redeem yourself?Put on notice by Randall Barrett, the firm's charismatic managing partner, Kate must fight for her career, for her reputation - and for redemption.Unwilling to live with the damage she may have caused, Kate pursues the case on her own and unearths some chilling facts.Facts that lead straight to the heart of a legal conspiracy.Facts that lead Kate directly into the surgically skilled hands of the Body Butcher. The first book in the Kate Lange legal thriller series. A Levy "Need to Read" pick with Top Ten Bestseller display. Now under option for television development.

Hushabye


Celina Grace - 2013
    A murdered girl. A case where everyone has something to hide...Hushabye (A Kate Redman mystery) is the new novel from crime writer Celina Grace, author of Lost Girls and The House on Fever Street.On the first day of her new job in the West Country, Detective Sergeant Kate Redman finds herself investigating the kidnapping of Charlie Fullman, the newborn son of a wealthy entrepreneur and his trophy wife. It seems a straightforward case... but as Kate and her fellow officer Mark Olbeck delve deeper, they uncover murky secrets and multiple motives for the crime.Kate finds the case bringing up painful memories of her own past secrets. As she confronts the truth about herself, her increasing emotional instability threatens both her hard-won career success and the possibility that they will ever find Charlie Fullman alive...

His First His Second


A.D. Davies - 2014
    She’s nice. Too nice to be a police officer, if she’s honest.She is also one of the most respected criminal analysts in the country, and finds herself in a cold northern town assigned to Donald Murphy’s team, investigating the kidnap-murders of two young women—both strikingly similar in appearance. Now a third has been taken, and they have less than a week to chip away the secrets of a high-society family, and uncover the killer’s objective.But Richard—the father of the latest victim—believes the police are not moving quickly enough, so launches a parallel investigation, utilising skills honed in a dark past that is about to catch up with him. As Richard’s secret actions hinder the police, Alicia remains in contact with him, and even starts to fall for his charms, forcing her into choices that will impact the rest of her life.

The Sound Of Footsteps


Diane Patterson - 2014
    Ghosts are easy to deal with. Ghosts aren’t real. Reality is where the trouble starts. Drusilla Thorne and her sister Stevie need a place to live in San Antonio while Drusilla sets up her new identity. The place they find is definitely cheap — the landlord can’t find tenants because it’s supposedly haunted. That’s fine with Drusilla, because she knows ghosts aren’t real. But something is making enough noise to keep her awake at night. And if it’s not ghosts making those noises, what is? Sometimes Drusilla needs to remember asking questions might bring answers nobody wants to hear.

Invitation to Die


Julian Starr - 2015
    The second was discovered by a child in a Swan Boat Ride. As fear intensifies, Hunter, the head of the FBI Behavioral Unit, calls his star criminal profiler, Tracy Wrenn, to help on the case. Even though she had plans to become engaged that evening, Tracy quickly cancels her plans and rushes to Boston to help. A beautiful, young professor of criminal psychology, Tracy has become renowned for her success at cracking cases no one else can. With her unusual insights and unique point of view, she is relentless at probing the inner minds of murderers. When a third woman goes missing, and when Tracy finds herself in danger, everything intensifies. In a shocking turn of events, Tracy finds out more not only about the killer, but about herself--and learns that nothing is what is seems. Book #2 in The Killing Game will be released soon.

Against The Odds


Mara Jacobs - 2012
    And I'm good. Very good.But, I also have a little bit of a problem with placing bets on a sporting events. Not so good.Sometimes my little problem becomes a whole lot of trouble and I need to resort to some, shall we say, less than stellar actions to get out of debt. So, I become my alter ego, JoJo, and fix college basketball games. Hey, a victimless crime, no one's the wiser, and it's better than the alternative, which is a drive into the desert with my loan shark and a shovel in the trunk. Although, it has to be said, my loan shark is pretty good looking.I love Vegas, and I love the life I've built, but when one of my friends is murdered, and another one shot at, I know I need to take a serious look at myself. And I need to call in the big guns. Even if that means teaming up with detective Jack Schiller, a man who's dealing with his own problems. But dang, he sure is sexy.I'm just trying to juggle protecting my friends, helping sexy detective Jack while not letting him get to close, and finding a murderer. And, oh yeah, no one can learn about JoJo.Because if they do, there's no way I'll be able to bluff my way out.

Man of Wax


Robert Swartwood - 2011
    He doesn't know how he got there, he doesn't know where his family is, and written in dried blood on the bathroom door are the words LET THE GAME BEGIN. Soon Ben is contacted by Simon. Simon knows all there is to know about Ben, more than he cares to remember himself. If Ben wants to save himself and his family, he will have to do everything Simon says.As the game begins -- with stakes much higher than either man can imagine -- no one knows where it will lead or how it will end.Only one thing is for certain: this time the game will change everything.MAN OF WAX is 80,000 words long and the first book in a thriller trilogy where every day men and women must fight a power that threatens to destroy the world. Recommended for fans of Harlan Coben, Michael Marshall, and Dean Koontz. Praise for MAN OF WAX: "MAN OF WAX grabs you by the throat in the first chapter and never lets go. A suspense-filled thrill ride with plenty of shocks along the way. Read it!" -- F. Paul Wilson, author of the Repairman Jack novels