Killer Instinct


S.E. Green - 2014
    urges.Lane is a typical teenager. Loving family. Good grades. Afterschool job at the local animal hospital. Martial arts enthusiast. But her secret obsession is studying serial killers. She understands them, knows what makes them tick.Why?Because she might be one herself.Lane channels her dark impulses by hunting criminals—delivering justice when the law fails. The vigilantism stops shy of murder. But with each visceral rush the line of self-control blurs.And then a young preschool teacher goes missing. Only to return... in parts.When Lane excitedly gets involved in the hunt for “the Decapitator,” the vicious serial murderer that has come to her hometown, she gets dangerously caught up in a web of lies about her birth dad and her own dark past. And once the Decapitator contacts Lane directly, Lane knows she is no longer invisible or safe. Now she needs to use her unique talents to find the true killer’s identity before she—or someone she loves—becomes the next victim...

Frozen


Kate Watterson - 2012
    On his first night in town, he meets a lovely girl at a bar and gives her a ride home. The next day, he finds her cell phone in his car. When he tries to return it, Bryce discovers that the young woman has vanished, leaving behind only a bloody shoe.Suddenly Bryce Grantham is the primary suspect in a murder investigation.Detective Ellie MacIntosch has a serial killer on her hands, but without a body, she has few leads and the stalled investigation has her on edge. Bryce Grantham seems to be the perfect suspect.Eighteen months have gone by without a clue, and yet Grantham starts reporting stumbling across the bodies of the missing women with unbelievable frequency. The evidence against him is almost irrefutable…but Ellie's gut tells her the case is not so cut and dry.Before Ellie compromises the investigation, her career, and possibly her life in order to prove Bryce's innocence, she must determine whether he is a manipulative, cold-blooded killer…or the victim of a madman playing a sickening game.

The Cleansing


Bill Rogers - 2009
    Christmas approaches. A killer dressed as a clown haunts the streets of Manchester. For him the City’s miraculous regeneration had unacceptable consequences. This is the reckoning. DCI Tom Caton enlists the help of forensic profiler Kate Webb, placing her in mortal danger. The trail leads from the site of the old mass cholera graves, through Moss Side, the Gay Village, the penthouse opulence of canalside apartment blocks, and the bustling Christmas Market, to the Victorian Gothic grandeur of the Town Hall. Time is running out. For Tom, for Kate…and for the City.

Payback


R.C. Bridgestock - 2019
    Her hometown, the Yorkshire countryside, and her old friends all seem unchanged, but appearances can be deceptive. When a brutal murder is discovered, Charley is forced to question everything, and the interest of her ex - reporter Danny Ray - doesn't make it easier.

The Nothing Man


Catherine Ryan Howard - 2020
    Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man--the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family's killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim's not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.Jim soon beings to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won't give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first ...

Girl, 11


Amy Suiter Clarke - 2021
    After two seasons of successfully solving cases, Elle decides to tackle her white whale—The Countdown Killer. Twenty years ago, TCK abruptly stopped after establishing a pattern of taking and ritualistically murdering three girls over seven days, each a year younger than the last. No one’s ever known why—why he stopped with his eleventh victim, a girl of eleven years old, or why he followed the ritual at all.When a listener phones in with a tip, Elle sets out to interview him, only to discover his dead body. And within days, a child is abducted following the original TCK MO. Unlike the experts in the media and law enforcement who have always spun theories of a guilty suicide, Elle never believed TCK had died, and her investigation was meant to lay that suspicion to rest. But instead, her podcast seems to be kicking up new victims.

The Invite


Sheryl Browne - 2022
    But as the champagne corks pop, her dream party becomes her worst nightmare…Staring at the stunning diamond solitaire on her finger, Kaitlin is finally getting the chance to introduce her best friend Zoe to her perfect fiancé. She hasn’t known Greg long, but he looks after her, and he loves playing dad to her young daughter. How could she say no when he’s already planned their elopement?As guests arrive, why is Greg acting so shifty? And is that a flicker of recognition on Zoe’s face? And why does she look terrified every time her phone rings?Kaitlin watches as Zoe knocks back her white wine and makes a beeline for Greg. After a heated conversation, Zoe stumbles towards the door and flees the party without looking back.Days later, the police knock at Kaitlin’s door – Zoe is missing.Kaitlin wants to believe her loving fiancé is not to blame, but she knows what she saw the night of the party. And when he lies to the police, can she trust the man she’s marrying? Could Kaitlin and her precious daughter’s life now be in danger too?

Mr Nice


John Nicholl - 2020
    But was it someone else entirely? Someone out for revenge? Someone with a grudge? As DI Laura Kesey begins her investigation, she discovers that the case is infinitely more wicked than she could ever have imagined. The clock is ticking. The search is on. But will Kesey find Lottie before it’s too late?It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. The greater the evil, the deadlier the game.

Mind of a Killer


Dan Padavona - 2018
     A teenage girl is brutally murdered in an idyllic lake community. In over his head, the local sheriff calls upon the Behavior Analysis Unit’s best profiler, Scarlett Bell, to find the murderer. Is a serial killer stalking Coral Lake? Now Scarlett faces a killer unlike any she’s encountered. Bloodthirsty. Cunning. Insane. Another girl goes missing, and the special agent must stop the killer before time runs out. But the killer is a ghost, a phantom hiding in plain sight, and Scarlett must untangle a confusing web of evidence if she hopes to track him down. If she fails, the girl dies. The body count will grow. Scarlett should beware. The killer is coming for her now.

Dancers in the Wind


Anne Coates - 2016
    There she meets prostitute Princess, and police inspector in the vice squad, Tom Jordan. When Princess later arrives on her doorstep beaten up so badly she is barely recognisable, Hannah has to make some tough decisions and is drawn ever deeper into the world of deceit and violence. Three sex workers are murdered, their deaths covered up in a media blackout, and Hannah herself is under threat. As she comes to realise that the taste for vice reaches into the higher echelons of the great and the good, Hannah realises she must do everything in her power to expose the truth .... and stay alive.

Never Forget


Lisa Cutts - 2013
    As the body count increases and the force's biggest-ever manhunt gets underway, Nina is determined to find the murderer.But when the story of her own traumatic childhood comes to light - a past she's worked hard to hide - her role on the team is threatened.Suddenly her job, her peace of mind and her safety are all in danger.Fast-paced, and with a shocking twist, this compelling crime debut by police insider Lisa Cutts takes us to the heart of the Major Incident Room - introducing a gutsy new heroine to the crime scene.

You


Caroline Kepnes - 2014
    She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age.

Every Last Fear


Alex Finlay - 2021
    The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain—and they won’t tell Matt why.The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime.When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison—putting his own life in peril—and forcing him to confront his every last fear.Told through multiple points-of-view and alternating between past and present, Alex Finlay's Every Last Fear is not only a page-turning thriller, it’s also a poignant story about a family managing heartbreak and tragedy, and living through a fame they never wanted.

The Shut-In


James Patterson - 2017
     Confined to a studio apartment, Tricia Celano watches the outside world through a flying drone. But when her high-tech toy records a vicious murder, she's determined to track down the killer--a killer who knows she's being watched. BookShotsLIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON Novels you can devour in a few hours Impossible to stop reading All original content from James Patterson

I Will Make You Pay


Teresa Driscoll - 2019
    A mysterious caller with a chilling threat. Journalist Alice Henderson hangs up, ready to dismiss it as a hoax against the newspaper. But the next Wednesday, the stalker makes another move—and it becomes clear that this is all about Alice.Someone wants her to suffer, but for what? Her articles have made her a popular local champion—could it be her past rather than her work that’s put her life in danger? Alice is determined not to give in to fear, but with the police investigation at a dead end, her boyfriend insists on hiring private investigator Matthew Hill.With every passing Wednesday the warnings escalate, until it’s not only Alice but also her family in the stalker’s sights. As her tormentor closes in, can Alice uncover what she’s being punished for before the terrifying threats become an unthinkable reality?