Book picks similar to
Gone Before by Sam Hepburn


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The Other Daughter


Shalini Boland - 2019
    And now she’s back. Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found. Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter. She has a new family, a loving partner and her secrets are locked away in her painful past. Until one afternoon when Rachel meets a new school parent Kate and her teenage daughter Bella. Rachel’s world is instantly turned upside down – she’s seen Bella before. She’d recognise that face anywhere – it’s her missing child. And she will stop at nothing to get her back…

Paper Dolls


Lisa Bradley - 2020
    Someone else hasn't either - and they're going to make you pay. When Leah was editor of her local paper, two teenage girl went missing. One, Hope, was middle-class and white, from a perfect nuclear family. The other, Tilly, was a black girl from a council estate - and a habitual runaway. Leah made the decision to put Hope on the front page, and she was found the next day. Tilly got a small mention on page 18, and was never seen again.Sixteen years on Leah still blames herself for the consequences of her decision. And now strange things are happening to her. She finds herself being stalked by an unknown stranger who starts leaving paper dolls for her, cut from the newspapers she used to edit, and lit candles in her house and garden. These are the same candles Leah lights for Tilly in church every year as way of seeking some kind of redemption.Her husband, son and friend, Bunty, believe the struggle of no longer working and the ongoing guilt over Tilly's murder are making her delusional. They think Leah is making the dolls and lighting the candles herself. Is is all in Leah's head? Or is there a far more real danger lurking nearby...

Unfollow Me


Charlotte Duckworth - 2019
    Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to her? But do you really know who Violet is? Told from the perspectives of her most avid fans, obsessed with finding out the truth, their search quickly reveals a web of lies, betrayal, and shocking consequences...

Between the Lies


Michelle Adams - 2019
    The truth is hiding between the lies.What would you do if you woke up and didn't know who you were?Chloe Daniels regains consciousness in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. She doesn't recognise the strangers who call themselves family. She can't even remember her own name.What if your past remained a mystery?As she slowly recovers, her parents and sister begin to share details of her life. The successful career. The seaside home. The near-fatal car crash.But Chloe senses they're keeping dark secrets--and her determination to uncover the truth will have devastating consequences.What if the people you should be able to trust are lying to you?

The Secret Sister


M.M. DeLuca - 2021
    Honestly, I do. He’s been so wonderful, providing me with a life of comfort and love a world away from the dark life I had before.He deserves the truth.But if he finds out who I really am, the perfect life I’ve built will come crashing down around my ears. And that can’t happen. Not yet. Not until I reveal the truth about what happened to my little sister.A completely addictive thriller that will keep you guessing into the early hours of the morning. Perfect for fans of The Step Daughter, Shalini Boland and K.L. Slater.

She Chose Me


Tracey Emerson - 2018
    When she receives a blank Mother's Day card in the post, she is confused and unsettled. Who could have sent it to her and why? She isn't a mother. Another Mother's Day card arrives. Then come the silent phone calls. Haunted by disturbing flashbacks, Grace starts to unravel. Someone is out to get her. Someone who knows what she has done.

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?

The Younger Wife


Sally HepworthSally Hepworth
    But first he must divorce his current wife, even though she can no longer speak for herself.THE DAUGHTERSTully and Rachel Aston look upon their father’s fiancée, Heather, as nothing but an interloper. Heather is younger than both of them. Clearly, she’s after their father’s money.THE FORMER WIFEWith their mother in a precarious position, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family’s secrets, the new wife closing in, and who their father really is.THE YOUNGER WIFEHeather has secrets of her own. Will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses in all of them?

The Vacation


M.M. Chouinard - 2021
    But they’re each hiding something:Rose hopes the pretty house overlooking the sea is just the break her family needs. But as she gazes at the water and remembers her own childhood, she is utterly terrified.Brandon knows his wife Rose has barely forgiven him for his affair. He’s started drinking again, a road that led him to disaster once before.Brianna, Rose’s sister-in-law, is recovering from her fifth miscarriage, and when she looks at her adorable niece, she can’t help but see the daughter she deserves.Then three-year-old Lily disappears from her bed in the villa. Isolated in what should have been paradise, it quickly becomes clear that one of them took her.As one by one their secrets are uncovered, who will be destroyed next?A completely addictive thriller about every parent’s worst nightmare that will keep you guessing into the early hours of the morning. Perfect for fans of The Guest List, One by One and The Sister-in-Law.

A Mother Like You


Ruby Speechley - 2020
    Married to handsome, charming, James, owner of a successful company, she seems to have it all.But falling pregnant at 45 was never part of the plan. Especially as Kate’s hiding a devastating secret – one that she’s been running from for twenty years.So when ex-boyfriend Paul comes back into her life, threatening to expose the truth about what Kate did, the clock is ticking. Can she keep her secrets and finally be the mother she always dreamed of – or will her past lies destroy her perfect life?An unputdownable, complex and twisty psychological thriller about mothers and daughters – fans of Shalini Boland, Liane Moriarty and Jane Shemilt will love this gripping read.

The Pact


Dawn Goodwin - 2020
    Her husband has left her and moved on with a new woman and baby. No longer can she run from the past that's been haunting her. The past has destroyed her future.In a new flat, trying to start a new life, Maddie meets Jade and her young son, Ben. All too swiftly Maddie finds the dark thoughts whirring through her brain. But Jade's different, she loves Ben, doesn't she?As the two women begin to open up about their exes over a few glasses of wine, Jade conjures a plan, a pact. She'll kill Maddie's if Maddie kills hers. Laughing it off, Maddie returns to her normal life. But what if it wasn't a joke at all...

The Serial Killer’s Wife


Alice Hunter - 2021
    And they’re saying she knew.Beth and Tom Hardcastle are the envy of their neighbourhood – they have the perfect marriage, the perfect house, the perfect family.When the police knock on their door one evening, Beth panics. Tom should be back from work by now – what if he’s crashed his car? She fears the worst.But the worst is beyond imagining.As the interrogation begins, Beth will find herself questioning everything she believed about her husband.They’re husband and wife – till death do them part…

After All I've Done


Mina Hardy - 2020
    As if that's not enough, she's started having recurring nightmares about the night of the accident. Dreams that feel so real, she's left questioning: maybe she didn't just slide off the road into a ditch. Maybe, just maybe, she hit something. Or someone.She can't turn to her former best friend Val, who's been sleeping with Diana's husband Jonathan for months, but she might find some comfort in newcomer Cole Pelham. Yet the closer they become, the more Diana begins to wonder what really happened that night--and how Cole might be connected. Worse, it seems everyone else could be involved, too.Who was with her that night? What really happened? As her life unravels thread by thread and the dreams become too real to ignore, Diana will have to face the unthinkable--and do the unforgivable.

Try Not to Breathe


Holly Seddon - 2016
    Only fifteen years old, Amy disappeared walking home from school one day and was found in a coma three days later. Her attacker was never identified and her angelic face was plastered across every paper and nightly news segment.Fifteen years later, Amy lies in the hospital, surrounded by 90’s Britpop posters, forgotten by the world until reporter Alex Dale stumbles across her while researching a routine story on vegetative patients.Remembering Amy’s story like it was yesterday, she feels compelled to solve the long-cold case.The only problem is, Alex is just as lost as Amy—her alcoholism has cost her everything including her marriage and her professional reputation.In the hopes that finding Amy’s attacker will be her own salvation as well, Alex embarks on a dangerous investigation, suspecting someone close to Amy.Told in the present by an increasingly fragile Alex and in dream-like flashbacks by Amy as she floats in a fog of memories, dreams, and music from 1995, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer to a breathtaking conclusion.

Possession


Katie Lowe - 2021
    The present hunts her.Conviction @ConvictionPod · 1mThe investigating officer: “I’ve seen a lot of homicides in the years since, but...that’s the one that keeps me up at night.”The husband’s best man: “They had everybody fooled. Or at least, she did. But I always knew something was off.”Hannah, the wife: “I told you. I don’t remember anything. I don’t know.”That’s all to come, this season, on Conviction. Get ready for our most twisted season yet.~~~Ten years ago, Hannah’s husband was brutally murdered in their home, and she (conveniently) doesn’t remember a thing about that night. But the police charged someone else—a stranger—and put him away for life. And Hannah packed up her six-year-old daughter and left London behind.But now her hard-won countryside peace is threatened. Conviction, a viral true crime podcast known for getting cases reopened and old verdicts overturned, has turned its attention to Hannah’s husband’s murder for its new season. They say police framed the man who was found guilty, and that Hannah has more suspicious secrets than just her memory loss: a history of volatility; citations at the clinic where she worked as a psychiatrist; dependencies on alcohol and pills; and a familicidal grandmother, locked away in a Gothic insane asylum until her death. As Hannah loses the trust of everyone she loves, the only person she feels she can confide in is a former colleague, Darcy, who’s come back into her life—but who may have motives of her own. But Hannah can’t tell even Darcy her deepest secret: that she’s still tormented by the memory of her husband and the crater he carved through her life.