Book picks similar to
Goodnight, Sweet Mother by Alex Kava


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Disconnected


Jennifer Weiner - 2013
    But this time, she swears, will be different. She'll clean up her act, go to meetings, find a sponsor, and make a clean break with her past—starting with a new phone number.But old ties aren't so easy to sever. When Shannon's new phone starts getting messages she was never meant to see, Shannon has to decide whether to risk getting involved, or stay safely disconnected.Gripping, suspenseful and smart, Disconnected is a riveting tale of addiction and obligation, secrets and redemption.

Never Tell


Claire Seeber - 2010
    But behind the domestic bliss lies a secret past! As Oxford students in the early nineties, Rose and James belonged to Society X, an elite clique that knew no boundaries. Led by the enigmatic Dalziel, the group were hell bent on breaking down society's norms - until an unimaginable tragedy occurs. With the subsequent scandal covered up, Rose has settled into family life - but is afraid to admit her feelings of boredom. So when her ex-editor asks Rose to dig the dirt on a wealthy businessman new to the area, adrenaline enlivens her. But as Rose's investigation begins to threaten her family she backs away - and then a tragedy at her home begins to widen the cracks in her domestic facade. As their world crumbles around them, is Rose about to atone for the sins of her past? An utterly gripping novel that will captivate fans of Sophie Hannah and Nicci French.

Final Assignment


Linwood Barclay - 2015
     Private investigator Cal Weaver doesn’t know what to expect when he’s called to the home of Chandler Carson. The sixteen-year-old has been suspended for writing a violent story about a bat-wielding teen who beats his best friend to death over a girl. Much to Chandler’s mother’s surprise, there’s nothing that Cal is willing to do—or can do—about it. Soon after, Chandler’s best friend is found murdered—beaten to death by a bat. Cal knew the victim, and now he knows the prime suspect. But there’s more to this story than anyone could have imagined...

Nightwatcher


Wendy Corsi Staub - 2012
    Intense, powerful, and refreshingly original, Nightwatcher returns to the site of America’s worst national nightmare—New York City on September 11, 2001—as a serial killer, plying his bloody trade in  the chaos following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, operates unnoticed by everyone…except for one frightened woman who has seen his face. Author Lee Child has called her work, “solid gold suspense,” and any reader who’s ever stayed up late, devouring the novels of Lisa Jackson and Lisa Gardner with every light on in the house, should prepare to lose even more sleep over Wendy Corsi Staub’s Nightwatcher.

Scar Tissue


Marcus Sakey - 2010
    KONRATH: “Scar Tissue will make your heart race and your heart ache, often in the same sentence.” Not only that, but buying this collection helps battle real-life heartache—50% of every e-book sold is donated to fighting pediatric cancer. Marcus Sakey’s thrillers have won numerous awards and been translated into twenty languages. Celebrities like Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire have snatched up his film rights. Now from the “modern master of suspense” (Chicago Sun-Times) comes seven stories of men and women pushed to—and beyond—the ragged edge: --* “The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away”Nick is back from Iraq, or so he keeps telling himself. But an old squad mate shows there are some battlefields you can’t leave behind. (Twice short-listed for Best Short Story of 2009)* “Gravity and Need”After having sex with a total stranger atop a $3000 television, you’re supposed to walk away. But for two lonely people, that’s just the beginning of a very complicated relationship.* “No One”The line between love and obsession is stretched razor-taut in this story where nothing is as it seems—and no one can be trusted.* “Cobalt”In this comic send-up the dotcom era, as the world panics over the last days of Y2K, one man searches for his soul. If he could only remember where last he saw it…* “The Time Before the Last”The shortest story I’ve ever written. It’s also inspired three paintings and made my wife cry.* “As Breathing”Billy Dexter has sworn off killing. But when he falls in love with the wrong woman, Dex discovers murder is a hard habit to break.* “The Days When You Were Anything Else”Frank has been many things: a conman, a hustler, a thief. But when his little girl finds herself in desperate trouble, he has one final shot at becoming something that matters.--These seven stories “contain some of the best writing in crime fiction today. You're in for quite a ride.” (J.A. Konrath). And it’s a ride you can feel good about, with 50% of every sale going to defeat pediatric cancer.---A PERSONAL NOTE FROM MARCUS---In 2010, two of the best people I know received unimaginable news: their four-year-old son had an incurable brain tumor. Julian Boivin was a superhero in training, and fought an epic battle. But in the end, cancer stole this beautiful boy. Nothing can make that right. But the Team Julian Foundation is trying to give other kids a fighting chance against this devastating disease. To help, I’m donating 50% of the proceeds from every single copy of SCAR TISSUE sold to pediatric cancer research. It’s a small way to work toward a big change. Want to get more involved? Visit TeamJulianFoundation.com.---MARCUS SAKEY IS:---“A brilliant writer.” -The Huffington Post “Brainy, twisty, twisted, and entirely ingenious.” -Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of GONE GIRL“One of our best storytellers.” -Michael Connelly, bestselling author of THE LINCOLN LAWYER“Exactly the electric jolt crime fiction needs.” -Dennis Lehane, bestselling author of MYSTIC RIVER“The new reigning prince of crime fiction.” -The Chicago Tribune

The Writer


D.W. Ulsterman - 2015
    Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." -Oscar WildeCollege journalist Adele Plank has been granted a rare interview with one-time bestselling author, Decklan Stone. He is a man largely withdrawn from the world following the tragic death of his young wife twenty-seven years earlier. Adele ventures to the writer's remote, private-island home in the beautiful San Juan Islands, and there begins a journey of dangerous discovery that will have her scrambling to unravel a mystery far more shocking and deadly than she could have ever imagined."RIVETING!"A 2016 Kindle Scout Selection

The Defense


Steve Cavanagh - 2015
    The truth doesn't matter in a trial.The only thing that matters is what the prosecution can prove.Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter Amy.Eddie only has 48 hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial—and win—if he wants to save his daughter.Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible?Lose this case and he loses everything.

Wrong Place


M.A. Comley - 2015
    One thing that sets this killer apart from the others she's hunted before: his willingness to leave DNA at each of the crime scenes. It's up to Sally and her partner DS Jack Blackman to find out why before the body count rises to double figures.While Sally is engrossed in the investigation, her ex-husband, Darryl, pays a surprise visit to her new home. His actions not only threaten Sally's new-found confidence, but they also force the DCI to give Sally an ultimatum concerning the case.Can Sally overcome all the obstacles fate has placed in her path and arrest the brazen killer?

The Lost Children


Helen Phifer - 2017
    Then she realised what was being dragged behind the person with the torch. She rammed her fist into her mouth to stop herself from screaming…For decades, The Moore Asylum was home to the forgotten children of Brooklyn Bay. But ever since a scandal forced its closure, the abandoned building has cast an imposing shadow. Until now – when an elderly man is found dead, his body strapped to an ancient gurney... Detective Lucy Harwin, still reeling from a previous case that ended in the devastating murder of a mother and her child, finds herself on the trail of a killer ruthlessly fixated on avenging the asylum’s wrongs. What disturbing secrets lie within the asylum’s walls? Together with her partner Detective Mattie Jackson, Lucy begins to unearth its terrible history, and the horrors endured by the vulnerable children.As the attacks escalate and a woman is murdered on her own doorstep, Lucy is forced into a terrifying game of cat and mouse with a twisted individual. But can Lucy stop a murderer with nothing left to lose? An absolutely terrifying and gripping thriller that will chill readers of MJ Arlidge, Angela Marsons and Rachel Abbott to the bone.

Secrets of the Greek Revival


Eva Pohler - 2015
    Although Ellen isn’t one to believe in ghosts, she comes face to face with something inexplicable in the attic. Her ghost-enthusiast friends convince her that they must help the spirit find closure, and as they dig deeper into the past, they uncover a shocking history that someone in the neighborhood doesn’t want exposed. But Ellen and her friends don't give up easily. They realize they've been called to give voice to the invisible women who suffered behind the walls of the house for decades.

The Probe Begins


Sohil Makwana - 2021
    Human DNA is extracted from a mosquito's stomach. "Why had Harold Shipman killed 250 women?" A question of criminal psychology enters the picture. Against the corrupt system, a CBI intern leaves no stone unturned to dig the rort of a cold-blooded serial killer.Several incredible, high-tech forensic investigations are stacked against a tech-savvy killer who knows his job inside-out. And, the sexual sadist killer releases another cipher with a rise of body count.Forensic advancement has brought out a digital face from DNA. Will she able to get the killer's DNA?How has he become a monster out of a man?Are these efforts enough to catch the killer? Or is there something special in the store?

The Other Woman


Laura Wilson - 2017
    LET'S SEE HOW SMUG YOU ARE THEN, YOU STUPID BITCH. Perhaps she should ignore it, but she ignored the last one. And the one before that. Now it's time to take action.But when a simple plan to identify and confront the other woman goes drastically and violently wrong, Sophie must go to extreme lengths to keep her life and her family together - while never letting on her devastating secret.

The Death Factory


Greg Iles - 2014
    A long short story featuring Penn and Tom Cage that fills in a critical period in their past, one that helps to set up the action in the coming trilogy, Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree and Unwritten Laws.

Murder in the Genes: The Trilogy


Jams N. Roses - 2016
    Worse than that, his nightmare is just beginning… Detective Inspector Summers hates dealing with drug addicts, thieves, violent men and women, rapists, child molesters and murderers. She wants to be a doctor in a surgery, saving the lives of the sick. Instead, she deals with the sick and twisted. Finally, she gets handed the case she wants, the reason she joined the force… Her investigations lead Summers closer to Ben, and his involvement to the case slowly becomes clear… BLOOD OF A SERIAL KILLER It's only natural for Benny Jones to want to know more about the father he never met. He's turning eighteen and his doting mother, Eve, can no longer put off answering his questions with the excuse that he is too young to understand. Discovering whose genes he carries, Benny grasps why he has behaved the way he has in recent times and is intrigued to learn more about the darker side of his family. He has many questions, and his grandmother Lily Green, once known as the notorious killer The Phantom, lives on in a mental hospital not far from home and she could supply the answers. The corpses pile up as Benny discovers his purpose in life... FANATIC... Martin Day is at breaking point. The loner, ignored and ridiculed for as long as he can remember, looks to his hero for inspiration. Sadly, for those in the near vicinity, the person Martin looks up to most is notorious killer The Phantom.

Underground


J.L. Hyde - 2021
    The only catch? It requires them to move to Oklahoma City. After relocating, Lindy spends more and more of her newfound free time with her online group of true-crime enthusiasts and even makes a real-life friend from the group, who happens to live in Oklahoma. The women quickly become close as they meet weekly to drink coffee and discuss their lives and the latest headlines. The peace is short-lived when they find themselves in the middle of their own true crime nightmare after a terrifying encounter connects them to the case of a local missing woman. Just how far will they go to find answers?