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One Bad Thing by M.K. Hill
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Guilty
Laura Elliot - 2017
It ends with a missing child. On a warm summer’s morning, thirteen-year-old school girl Constance Lawson is reported missing. A few days later, Constance’s uncle, Karl Lawson suddenly finds himself swept up in a media frenzy created by journalist Amanda Bowe implying that he is the prime suspect. Six years later … Karl’s life is in ruins. His marriage is over, his family destroyed. But the woman who took everything away from him is thriving. With a successful career, husband and a gorgeous baby boy, Amanda’s world is complete. Until the day she receives a phone call and in a heartbeat, she is plunged into every mother’s worst nightmare.
Her Sister's Lie
Debbie Howells - 2018
Was it an accident or did she know her killer?Abe's life changes overnight when he goes to live with his aunt, Hannah, who hasn't seen him for ten years and who doesn't want him any more than he wants to be there.His silence disturbs her - Hannah's convinced he knows more than he's letting on. But while the police investigate her sister's death, Hannah's nightmare begins. Unexplained things start happening around her, but as Hannah's behaviour becomes more erratic, no-one believes her. Then she finds some letters that threaten to expose a secret she believed had been buried forever. If Abe has read them, he knows...
The Other Wife
Claire McGowan - 2019
But she knows who you are…Suzi did a bad thing. She’s paying for it now, pregnant, scared, and living in an isolated cottage with her jealous husband, Nick.When Nora moves into the only house nearby, Suzi is delighted to have a friend. So much so that she’s almost tempted to tell Nora her terrible secret. But there’s more to Nora than meets the eye. It’s impossible—does she already know what Suzi did?Meanwhile, Elle spends her days in her perfect home, fixated on keeping up appearances. But when her husband betrays her, it unravels a secret going all the way back to her childhood. She’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to him, even if that means murder. After all, she’s done it before…Caught up in their own secrets and lies, these strangers will soon realise they have more in common than they could ever have imagined. When a shocking event brings them together, their lives will never be the same again.
Tell Me the Truth
Kiersten Modglin - 2022
What starts as a desperate search for answers quickly becomes a terrifying spiral of obsession and subterfuge.With each new secret uncovered about her life, her marriage, and the man she loves, Edith is left with even more questions. What exactly is Joe hiding?Who is the woman in his photos?Refusing to accept Joe's lies any longer, Edith soon finds herself living a double life, telling lies and keeping secrets of her own. When she uncovers a final piece of the puzzle, something darker and more gut-wrenching than even she could’ve anticipated, Edith is forced to make a choice about the future of her marriage. The truth always comes at a price.Sometimes, that price is your life.
Once Upon a Lie
Lisa Ballantyne - 2020
1 bestselling author of The Guilty One is back with a gripping and emotional new moral thriller about a woman, a child, the gulf that stands between them, and about how far people will go to keep a secret...Magpie is an independent, unconventional and troubled woman with secrets. Returning home late one night she finds a young girl covered in bruises who claims to have run away from home. Deciding to protect her at all costs, Magpie takes the child home with her. At first this is easy, because of her bohemian lifestyle, but it soon becomes clear that someone is looking for the child.In a story that reaches from the mid-20th Century to the present day, we discover why Magpie has risked everything to hide the child, and what she herself is running away from.
The Pretty One
Clare Boyd - 2021
If my pretty little sister never came home again, I’d finally be free from the terrible secret we share…Anna is a wonderful mother. She gave up a career she loved to stay home with her children and her kind, polite daughters, Nell and Ivy, are a credit to her. As is Bay, her stepdaughter, whom Anna adores as much as her own two girls. But everything changes the day Anna’s middle daughter’s beauty catches the eye of a stranger in a café…Quiet, sensitive Nell doesn’t want to have her face on a billboard for all to see. But she knows her family desperately needs the money, and perhaps it would be nice to have her mother’s full attention for the first time since Bay arrived? Could this be the escape from her stepsister’s twisted games Nell has been longing for?But the moment Nell steps in front of a camera, the devastating secret she and Bay have been keeping breaks the surface – and the bonds of this close-knit family forever. But with both Nell and Bay insisting they’re innocent, can either girl really be trusted?As Anna’s perfect blended family unravels around her, she is forced to pick a side. To save one daughter, Anna must betray another. Choosing the wrong girl will be more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined…An unputdownable read-all-night family drama that explores the dark consequences of sibling rivalry and the heart-wrenching emotional cost of keeping secrets from those you love. Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere and My Dark Vanessa.
The Guest House
David Mark - 2021
On a remote spur of the Scottish Highlands, she kept her successful guest house going and even met a new man, Bishop.But it turned out that Bishop had secrets. He had shady connections and shadier plans to use the coastal town as a European gateway for drugs, guns – and something far worse. Now he's disappeared, and Ronnie wants answers.Is he in trouble or simply ignoring her? Was she just his play-thing from the start? And, most importantly, is he dragging them both into something that neither of them will survive?Praise for David Mark:'Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order' DAILY MAIL'Breathtaking' PETER MAY'Truly exhilarating and inventive. Mark is a wonderfully descriptive writer' PETER JAMES
Code Blue (The Connection Trilogy)
Anita Waller - 2021
. .Five years ago, John and Caroline Coates were happily expecting the birth of twin girls, until an intruder ended their hopes and dreams.Now, John has come to the Connection Agency, asking for their help in tracking down the man who caused them such grief.Back then, Tessa's involvement was cut short when the cold case department quickly took over. This is the chance for her and Luke to follow the facts and finally lay this case to rest. With the rest of the Connection team busy with other jobs, Tessa and Luke, alongside DI Eileen Haughton, an old colleague of Tessa's from her police days, steadily follow the clues to an ending they could never have imagined--revealing a truth that could either bring the Coateses the peace they crave or take them to further depths of despair . . .
The Twins
L.V. Matthews - 2022
An intense bond. A bitter rivalry.Margo is a solitary live-in nanny for an upper-class Kensingon family. Cora is a promiscuous dancer on the cusp of a big break, living hand-to-mouth in a run-down London flat.Different though they are, an unspeakable incident from childhood haunts them both. When the terrible secret comes to light, their fragile existences shatter, pitting them against each other in a race for survival.But can there be a winner when a secret is so dark?
From the Inside
Collette Heather - 2020
Ellen Montgomery has no idea what – or who – she’s dealing with. Now she’s in way over her head. She’s trapped in a vicious web of lies, secrets and evil.And there’s no way out.
Lucky
Rachel Edwards - 2021
Ola, her partner, says he does too, but he’s also allergic to making concrete plans and keeps insisting that they save enough for a house deposit before they even think of marriage.So Etta finds a way to start secretly making money: online gambling. And how lucky that she just happens to be so good at it.Soon she’s playing quite a lot. She doesn’t like lying to Ola, but it’s all for the good of their relationship. She’s even made a friend on the site, StChristopher75, and she’s invited to a special VIP party. And even if she is losing a little money here and there – or even quite a lot – she’ll win it back eventually. In the mean time, perhaps StChristopher75 can help her out with a little loan, once she’s met him in real life. He’s just won big, and he’s been so friendly and helpful.And he says her photo’s hot. Why wouldn’t he want to help her?
I Made a Mistake
Jane Corry - 2020
. . In Poppy Page's mind, there are two types of women in this world: those who are faithful to their husbands, and those who are not. Until now, Poppy has never questioned which she was.But when handsome, charming Matthew Gordon walks back into her life after almost two decades, that changes. Poppy makes a single mistake - and that mistake will be far more dangerous than she could imagine.Someone is going to pay for it with their life . . .
The Perfect Daughter
Kerry Wilkinson - 2021
She knows this winding country road like the back of her hand, dodges the potholes with ease. But then she hears a crunch. A thud. She slams on the brakes.Since Katie’s dad left it’s just been the two of us, but we’re a team – singing in the kitchen at cheesy pop songs, tackling her homework. My teenage daughter is everything to me.But one night, as we’re curled up in front of the TV, the messages start. I keep my phone away from Katie so she can’t see the terrifying words: I know what you did. Now you’re going to do something for me…I have no choice but to obey. Because if I go to the police, come clean about what I did to protect my girl, all the questions and prying eyes would soon discover Katie’s secret too. And that would tear her life apart.So I drive where they tell me, do what they say, send the photo evidence they want. I feel sick when they ask me to cause someone harm, and it’s clear they know everything about our lives. I thought I was keeping a secret to keep my girl safe. But have I actually put her in even more danger?An absolutely addictive thriller about how far a mother would go for her child, with a twist that will leave you gasping. Fans of Shari Lapena, Lisa Jewell and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down.
Blurred Lines
Hannah Begbie - 2020
I stayed silent. What would you do?When Becky accidently sees her boss with a woman who isn’t his wife, she’s horrified but keeps her counsel – she owes Matthew so much for all he’s done for her career. But when the same woman accuses him of rape and asks for the witness to come forward, Becky doesn’t know what to do.Was what she saw rape? Or is this a young actress looking to get ahead? And can Becky separate her own traumatic past from the present?As Becky attempts to untangle these blurred lines, she must risk everything to find the truth…
Nasty Little Cuts
Tina Baker - 2022
She leaves the kids tucked up in their beds and goes downstairs. There's a man in her kitchen, holding a knife. But it's not an intruder. This is her husband Marc, the father of her children. A man she no longer recognises.Once their differences were what drew them together, what turned them on. Him, the ex-army officer from a good family. Her, the fitness instructor who grew up over a pub. But now these differences grate to the point of drawing blood. Marc screams in his sleep. And Debs hardly knows the person she's become, or why she lets him hurt her.Neither of them is completely innocent. Neither is totally guilty. Marc is taller, stronger, and more vicious, haunted by a war he can't forget. But he has no idea what Debs is capable of when her children's lives are at stake...