Book picks similar to
The Forgotten by Casey Kelleher


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thrillers
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We Live Next Door


Laura Wolfe - 2021
    I wish it had happened under different circumstances, but now I’m here I feel safe and ready for a fresh start with my little family.The first thing I do every morning is pick up my phone and check The Neighbor List—our local message board. Maybe the people next door know a little too much about where their neighbors are and what they’re doing, but it’s safer that way, isn’t it? And my husband—he wouldn’t dare sneak behind my back with so many eyes watching.Just when I’m beginning to relax, a woman I’ve known since I was small is found dead on the white tiles of her bathroom floor. I watch messages of condolence flood my screen. No one else suspects a thing.But I know that among all these friendly people, watching out for one another, someone knows more than they’re sharing. And I wonder—how far back do they remember, and who’s next?An utterly gripping psychological thriller that will keep you up all night. Perfect for fans of The Couple Next Door, The Woman in the Window and Behind Closed Doors.

The Secret Sister


Karen Clarke - 2020
    A beautiful house, a charming husband and a precious baby daughter – her life has pretty much turned out exactly as she planned.But when Ella’s mother tragically dies, her perfect life starts to crack. Her mother had been harbouring a life-long secret. Ella has a sister – an older sister – called Colleen.Excited by the thought of no-longer being an only child, Ella can’t wait to find her.But Colleen has a whirlwind past of her own. Desperate to escape her troubles, she is ready to go to any length to start afresh.As their paths collide, someone is keeping secrets… and when Colleen mysteriously disappears without notice, Ella can’t help but question if she should have started looking for her at all…

The Bones of You


Debbie Howells - 2015
    Soft‑petalled flowers that go to seed. The resolute passage of the seasons. Swallows that fly thousands of miles to follow the eternal summer.Children who don’t die before their parents.When Kate receives a phone call with news that Rosie Anderson is missing, she’s stunned and disturbed. Rosie is eighteen, the same age as Kate’s daughter, and a beautiful, quiet, and kind young woman. Though the locals are optimistic—girls like Rosie don’t get into real trouble—Kate’s sense of foreboding is confirmed when Rosie is found fatally beaten and stabbed.Who would kill the perfect daughter, from the perfect family? Yet the more Kate entwines herself with the Andersons—graceful mother Jo, renowned journalist father Neal, watchful younger sister Delphine—the more she is convinced that not everything is as it seems. Anonymous notes arrive, urging Kate to unravel the tangled threads of Rosie’s life and death, though she has no idea where they will lead.Weaving flashbacks from Rosie’s perspective into a tautly plotted narrative, The Bones of You is a gripping, haunting novel of sacrifices and lies, desperation and love.

The Silent Girl


Kelly Heard - 2021
    She asks my name and I realise I don’t know what it is. I don’t know who I am or why I’m here…I’m grateful to the police who found me on the remote stretch of highway, covered in blood, with crimson flowers in my hair. To the doctors, too, who brought me back from the brink of death.But I see the suspicion in their eyes.They don’t believe me when I say I don’t remember who I am. They are unsure if I can be trusted.Am I the innocent victim? Or guilty of a terrible crime?No one has reported me missing or come looking for me. But today, a bouquet of blood-red roses has been delivered to my room.Am I in danger? Or is someone trying to help me?Searching for anything in this town that might seem familiar, I’m cornered by a woman with wild eyes who calls me I name I don’t know. She tells me my brother is in danger and only I can save him.But how do I know if I can trust her, if I can’t even trust myself?A totally gripping psychological suspense novel that you won’t be able to put down and will keep you turning the pages late into the night. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, The Woman in the Window and The Silent Patient.

The Lost Girls


Helen Pryke - 2019
    And what starts as a simple investigation, soon turns into a frantic race against time.The kidnapper took the girls to replace his sisters; sisters who died seventeen years earlier.Forced to face traumatic events from the past, Maggie finds herself in the middle of a nightmare that can only get worse… Tense, fast-paced, and gritty, The Lost Girls is the first novel in the Maggie Turner series. It's the perfect read for fans of authors like Angela Marsons, Carol Wyer and Helen Fields.

Judith Wants To Be Your Friend


Annie Weir - 2015
    She’ll find out what you do and where you go. She’ll make sure she’s there too. 36-year-old Judith Dillon hasn’t found her place in society. She struggles to make and maintain relationships, especially with women. In Carlisle in September 2009, Judith becomes attracted to Joanna. She follows her, finds out about her family and infiltrates her life. By Christmas they are close enough for Joanna to insist that Judith spends Christmas Day with them. However, all does not go as planned as Joanna’s mother drinks too much and asks Judith awkward questions about her past. That is the start of Judith’s past life catching up with her. Suspensive and gripping, Judith Wants to be Your Friend will appeal to those looking for an intriguing story with thrilling undertones.

Our Little Secrets


Peter Ritchie - 2019
    But the demons of her past are never far behind.Meanwhile, Edinburgh's gangland is in turmoil. As a new breed of upstarts challenges the old criminal order, their battle for territory causes serious havoc.Into the war steps DI Janet Hadden. Ambitious, hardbitten and addicted to risk-taking, she knows how to throw opponents off balance. But when she’s thwarted, Hadden seeks help from a notorious underworld fixer, a man who keeps secrets but always extracts a price.Beset by violence and double-crossing, Grace is soon embroiled in a savage game of cat and mouse with colleagues and criminals alike. With all sides driven by dark desires, theirs is an endgame that will take Grace down unless she holds her nerve. 'Peter Ritchie pulls no punches with this gritty police procedural. A thoroughly absorbing read which drew me in from the first page.' – CAROLINE MITCHELL, bestselling author of Truth and Lies

The Holiday


T.M. Logan - 2019
    Three families. One killer.It was supposed to be the perfect holiday - a group of families enjoying a week together in the sun. Four women who have been best friends for as long as they can remember making the most of a luxurious villa in the south of France.But Kate has a secret: her husband is having an affair. And a week away might just be the perfect opportunity to get the proof she needs - to catch him in the act once and for all. Because she suspects the other woman is one of her two best friends.One of them is working against her, willing to sacrifice years of friendship to destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined . . . Because someone in the villa may be prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

The Secrets She Keeps


Michael Robotham - 2017
    As the hours of her shifts creep by in increasing discomfort, the one thing she looks forward to at work is catching a glimpse of Meghan, the effortlessly chic customer whose elegant lifestyle dazzles her. Meghan has it all: two perfect children, a handsome husband, a happy marriage, a stylish group of friends, and she writes perfectly droll confessional posts on her popular parenting blog—posts that Agatha reads with devotion each night as she waits for her absent boyfriend, the father of her baby, to maybe return her calls. When Agatha learns that Meghan is pregnant again, and that their due dates fall within the same month, she finally musters up the courage to speak to her, thrilled that they now have the ordeal of childbearing in common. Little does Meghan know that the mundane exchange she has with a grocery store employee during a hurried afternoon shopping trip is about to change the course of her not-so-perfect life forever… With its brilliant rendering of the secrets some women hold close and a shocking act that cannot be undone, The Secrets She Keeps delivers a dark and twisted page-turner that is absolutely impossible to put down.

The Innocent Wife


Amy Lloyd - 2018
    You Trust Him. So Why Are You So Scared?Twenty years ago, Dennis Danson was arrested and imprisoned for the brutal murder of a young girl. Now he’s the subject of a true-crime documentary that’s whipping up a frenzy online to uncover the truth and free a man who has been wrongly convicted.A thousand miles away in England, Samantha is obsessed with Dennis’s case. She exchanges letters with him, and is quickly won over by his apparent charm and kindness to her. Soon she has left her old life behind to marry him and campaign for his release.When the campaign is successful and Dennis is freed, however, Sam begins to discover new details that suggest he may not be quite so innocent after all. But how do you confront your husband when you don’t want to know the truth?

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?

The Present


D.S. Devlin - 2017
    Two books, one unforgettable Christmas… 12 deadly gifts, one killer on a Christmas countdown… On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me… this is one deadly Christmas that you can’t forget. The police are baffled by the ‘Santa’ killer, who sends his intended victims gruesome presents based on the twelve days of Christmas. When a young journalist receives a mutilated bird in the post, it’s a race against time to find the killer…

The Perfect Couple


Jackie Kabler - 2020
    Since then, their relationship has been like something out of a dream. But one Friday evening, Gemma returns home to find Danny is nowhere to be seen.After two days with no word from her husband, Gemma turns to the police. She is horrified with what she discovers – a serial killer is on the loose in Bristol. When she sees the photos of the victims she is even more stunned…the victims all look just like Danny.But, the detectives aren’t convinced by Gemma’s story. Why has no one apart from Gemma seen or heard from Danny in weeks? Why is there barely a trace of him in their flat? Is she telling them the truth, or are there more secrets and lies in this marriage than meets the eye?

The Silent Corner


Dean Koontz - 2017
    In the aftermath, his widow, Jane Hawk, does what all her grief, fear, and fury demand: find the truth, no matter what. People of talent and accomplishment, people admired and happy and sound of mind, have been committing suicide in surprising numbers. When Jane seeks to learn why, she becomes the most-wanted fugitive in America. Her powerful enemies are protecting a secret so important—so terrifying—that they will exterminate anyone in their way. But all their power and viciousness may not be enough to stop a woman as clever as they are cold-blooded, as relentless as they are ruthless—and who is driven by a righteous rage they can never comprehend. Because it is born of love.