Book picks similar to
In My Wake by Ruth Harrow


booksirens
psychological-thriller
thriller-suspense
suspense

Why She Left


Leah Mercer - 2021
    Why are they here? What do they want? And why did my daughter leave in the first place? Am I finally, after all of these years, going to find out? I take a deep breath and usher them in…Ruth has spent every day of the last fifteen years wondering why her daughter Isobel left. Walking around the school to which she has given her life, every child she sees reminds her of her family’s bright future which vanished in an instant.So when Ruth opens the door to find Isobel and a teenage grandson she never knew existed, she feels a rush of relief. Despite the years of hurt she never stopped loving Isobel and wants to help rebuild her life. Enrolling her grandson at the school, Ruth wants to make sure they stay for good.Isobel has spent her life running from a painful secret. A secret which could have destroyed her family. Now, as she flees a bad relationship, she knows that her childhood home is the only place where she can be safe.But as Isobel looks at her son in his crisp new uniform, she is taken straight back to the reason she ran all those years ago. Soon it becomes clear that she is not the only one tormented by the past. Someone is prepared to destroy everything Ruth and Isobel hold dear. Can Isobel confront her darkest secret before it is too late?From the bestselling author of Who We Were Before comes a powerful and emotional page-turner about devastating family secrets. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, Emily Bleeker and Imogen Clark.

In Harm's Way


Owen Mullen - 2018
    It’s dilapidated and near-derelict, and nobody is interested in it. But for one potential buyer, the remote location and rat-infested cellar are just what he’s looking for.For the first year, Mackenzie’s marriage to Derek was ideal. Now though, Derek believes she is having an affair, and when she fears her husband is becoming controlling, she knows she’s made a terrible mistake.But Mackenzie has a drinking problem, so when she threatens to leave Derek and then disappears, no one believes she has been abducted. It will fall to DS Geddes to untangle the truth…Owen Mullen is a best-selling author of psychological and gangland thrillers. His fast-paced, twist-aplenty stories are perfect for all fans of Robert Galbraith, Ian Rankin and Ann Cleeves.

His Hidden Wife


Wendy Clarke - 2021
    You’ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughter’s hand. But you have no idea what’s really happening in their house…If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife.You might notice that the woman doesn’t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesn’t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if that’s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck.When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, you’ll question whether it was really an accident at all.And when the husband starts dating someone new – a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife – will you say something this time?Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.A thrilling and twisty tale, His Hidden Wife will keep you up all night, desperate to race through to its final conclusion. Readers of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.

Not a Happy Family


Shari Lapena - 2021
    Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there. And they don't come much richer than Fred and Sheila Merton. But even all their money can't protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered the night after an Easter Dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their capricious father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did one of them snap after that dreadful evening? Or was it someone else that night who crept in with the worst of intentions? It must be. After all, if one of your siblings was a psychopath, you'd know.Wouldn't you?

Wall of Silence


Tracy Buchanan - 2020
    Can she uncover it before the police do? Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving.One evening, Melissa arrives home to the unimaginable: her husband lies stabbed on the kitchen floor, their children standing calmly around him…With horror, she realises that one of them is to blame. But which one? And why would they attack their own father?Her loyalties torn, in a split second she decides to protect her children at all costs—even if that means lying to the police. But when someone in the neighbourhood claims to know more than they should, Melissa discovers that some secrets are beyond her control…Can she find out the truth of what happened before the rumours spread? And can the family unite to escape the spotlight of scandal—or are none of them as innocent as Melissa insists?

The Wrong Family


Tarryn Fisher - 2020
    Only now that she’s living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling facade are too deep to ignore.Still, she isn’t one to judge. After her grim diagnosis, the retired therapist simply wants a place to live out the rest of her days in peace. But that peace is shattered the day Juno overhears a chilling conversation between Winnie and Nigel…She shouldn’t get involved.She really shouldn’t.But this could be her chance to make a few things right.Because if you thought Juno didn’t have a secret of her own, then you were wrong about her, too.

Those People


Louise Candlish - 2019
    The houses are beautiful, the neighbors get along, and the kids play together on weekends.But when Darren and Jodie move into the house on the corner, they donʼt follow the rules. They blast music at all hours, begin an unsightly renovation, and run a used-car business from their yard. It doesn't take long for an all-out war to start brewing.Then, early one Saturday, a horrific death shocks the street. As police search for witnesses, accusations start flying--and everyone has something to hide.

Bullied


Andie M. Long - 2020
    Unremarkable. Unhinged. Un…stoppable?He made my daughter's life, my life, a living hell and got away with it. Broke the rules and stayed smug, hiding behind his tiny tribe, like he was untouchable. I hate him with a passion. It's the only emotion I have left. Hatred.And while the police said they could do nothing, I realised that I could do something. Because they taught me, indirectly, how to exact my vengeance.They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Make that woman a mother and hell shall look like a pilot light, against a mother’s inferno. And a mother who no longer has her child? A woman with nothing to lose?Satan would bow to her.WARNING: 18+ contains dark themesAuthor note:This story is told from differing points of view and so there is a limited amount of repetitive text.

Lies That Bind Us


Andrew Hart - 2018
    She’s flying to Crete to reunite with friends she met there five years ago and relive an idyllic vacation. Basking in the warmth of the sun, the azure sea, and the aura of antiquity, she can once again pretend—for a little while—that she belongs. Her ex-boyfriend Marcus will be among them, but even he doesn’t know the secrets she keeps hidden behind a veil of lies. None of them really know her, and that’s only part of the problem.Then again, how well does she know them?When Jan awakens in utter darkness, chained to a wall, a manacle around her wrist, her echoing screams only give her a sense of how small her cell is. As she desperately tries to reconstruct what happened and determine who is holding her prisoner, dread covers despair like a hand clamped over her mouth. Because, like the Minotaur in the labyrinth in Greek myth, her captor will be coming back for her, and all the lies will catch up to her…

The Neighbors


Hannah Mary McKinnon - 2018
    It is a sin she can never forgive herself for, so she pushes away the man she loves most, knowing that he would eventually hate her for what she’s done, the same way she hates herself.Twenty years later, Abby’s husband, Nate, is also living with a deep sense of guilt. He was the driver who first came upon the scene of Abby’s accident, the man who pulled her to safety before the car erupted in flames, the man who could not save her brother in time. It’s this guilt, this regret that binds them together. They understand each other. Or so Nate believes.In a strange twist of fate, Liam (her old lover—possibly her true soulmate) moves in with his own family next door, releasing a flood of memories that Abby has been trying to keep buried all these years. Abby and Liam, in a complicit agreement, pretend never to have met, yet cannot resist the pull of the past—nor the repercussions of the dark secrets they’ve both been carrying…

Keeping Secrets, A Legal Thriller


Deborah Hawkins - 2018
    He has kept his client, Professor Edward Wynne Carter, III, alive on Virginia's Death Row. Brendan knows Ed did not kill his pregnant wife in the fall of 1983. But now Ed's execution date has been set. Thirty years ago, when she was just out of law school, McKenzie Fitzgerald, interviewed Ed’s alibi witness. But she forgot to turn on the tape recorder. The next day, the witness vanished. McKenzie convinced herself that Ed was guilty and lied to cover up her mistake. Now a nationally renowned civil litigator and former Harvard law professor, McKenzie is a nominee to be a justice on the United States Supreme Court. But when she learns that Ed’s execution date has been set, McKenzie must choose between saving Ed’s life and saving her career. Will Brendan uncover McKenzie’s secret in time to stop Ed’s execution? .

The Weekend Escape


Rakie Bennett - 2021
    But from the moment they arrive on their island home for the weekend, Lyndsey, Sonia, Bobbie, Amanda, Juliet, and Val realise that their paradise is filled with peril, and there are consequences when you try to outrun the ghosts of your past.As everything starts to fall apart, and the friends begin to turn against one another, deep, dark secrets are revealed, and an unimaginable horror is unleashed. They came seeking adventure, but now they’ll be lucky to leave with their lives…

Are You Sleeping


Kathleen Barber - 2017
    After her father's murder thirteen years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past—starting with her last name.When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a mega-hit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past—and the lies on which she has staked her future.

28 Pages


Allen Mitchum - 2011
    lawyer, receives a call one morning bearing devastating news: police in the Bahamas discovered her sister’s decapitated body. With no apparent suspects or motive, the authorities offer little help in solving the crime.Determined to find her sister’s killers, Heather sacrifices her career and risks her life pursuing the murderers. Through her investigation, she uncovers evidence linking the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. to the gruesome killing and learns of a shocking Saudi conspiracy against the United States that her sister died trying to expose. Together with a mysterious ally, Heather races to reveal the deadly Saudi conspiracy before she shares her sister’s fate.Inspired by true events.

The Diary


Vikki Patis - 2018
     Until the tenth anniversary of Hannah’s death forces her to return home and to the group of friends she abandoned there. It should be a quick visit, just so Lauren can pay her respects. At home, Lauren finds Hannah’s old diary. A diary full of secrets. The terrible things Lauren did, the lies she’s told, the reason she ran away. And she receives a message: ‘I don’t know why you’re back, but I know why you left.’ But no-one else has seen the diary, and Hannah’s dead, isn’t she? A suspenseful psychological thriller full of twists and turns – you won’t be able to stop turning the pages of The Diary. Perfect for fans of The Sister, The Girl on the Train and We Were Liars.