Tag: thrillers

Your fiancé calls. ‘A little girl needs help.’ Then they both disappear…

Melody gazes across the rippling lake to the trees on the shore, waiting for her fiancé Evan to arrive so their family holiday can begin. Here in this cabin in a small Canadian island town, there’s so much space for their son to play. It’s going to be perfect – just like the first time Melody visited as a child. But then a call from Evan shatters her world.

‘There’s someone in the road. I think it’s a little girl. She’s covered in mud. Or… is it blood?’ His voice becomes distant. ‘Are you OK? What’s your name?’ Then there’s a thud.

Evan never arrives to the holiday cabin. Melody, and her son, are terrified and desperate for answers. But with miles of endless, empty forest, and no reports of a missing girl, what hope is there of finding Evan?

The more questions Melody asks of the locals, the more she fears a terrible secret hides just out of sight. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger she is in…

A totally gripping thriller that will have you racing through the pages until the final shocking twist. Perfect for fans of T.M. Logan and Rachel Abbott.

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Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.

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My thoughts: another cracking thriller from Kerry Wilkinson, I knew there would be twists and there were, ones I just could not see coming.

Returning to the area of Vancouver Island she spent a happy childhood summer in, Melody and her family are set to see the sights and relax. She’s booked her son into a summer camp like the one she went to, and rented a cabin on the lake.

Then her fiancè fails to arrive. She finds his hire car, his phone, but he and his luggage are gone. The police are a bit hopeless, and Melody seems to be the only one really worried. She starts to carry out her own investigation and finds some strange people in the small community. 

Then some huge twists and turns that come as Melody keeps digging, and answers she needs to find. Perhaps that long ago summer wasn’t as idyllic as she remembers and it had repercussions still being felt today…

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

You can bury the dead. But you can’t bury the past.

Jane’s father was murdered in cold blood at the family home. The killer was never found.

In the years since, Jane has done everything in her power to stay away from that house. To forget the nightmare and get on with her life.

But now she has to go back.

Her mother is ill and Jane must care for her. Her husband Joe goes with her but soon after they arrive at her family home, he begins to act strangely. Adding to her unease, Jane’s brother Dan is openly hostile.

Increasingly unnerved, Jane feels compelled to uncover the secrets of the old house. And discovers that her father may have been killed by someone close to her. Someone who’s been hiding in plain sight all these years.

Now it’s a race against time. Can Jane discover the shocking truth about her father’s death before it’s too late? Can she right the wrongs of the past?

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Kevin is a Guidance Counselor by day and a psychological thriller author during his off hours. He puts an original slant on some common experiences and creates engaging stories with a personal twist. Kevin lives in Dublin, Ireland with three great kids, a frenetic Westie, Alfie, and a wife who makes him laugh, which is really all he could ask for.

My thoughts: moving in to her childhood home to care for her ailing mother brings all sorts of memories back for Jane, not least the murder of her father on the driveway, never solved, it still haunts her.

Her husband Joe resents being expected to help care for his mother-in-law and has plenty of secrets of his own, as their marriage struggles, he withdraws further.

Then there’s Jane’s odd brother Dan, always in his cycling gear, despite supposedly having a high flying finance job, he has plenty of time to pop in at random points during the day, make creepy comments and then cycle off.

As the family soldier on, Jane’s mother’s health continues to fail, she drinks too much despite the medication she’s on and her memory wanders, does a care home feature in her future sooner rather than later?

Joe confides in Dan, which can’t end well, and Jane wants to confront her husband about his secrets. As things come to a head, will Jane finally learn the truth about her dad’s death and will everyone survive the answers?

Gripping and full of twists and turns, this is a sinister and tragic family thriller.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

Nina always wanted a child of her own. Now she has one.

 Nina feels trapped. Her partner Gary is controlling, his daughter hates her, and she’s recently suffered a miscarriage. Just as her life seems hopeless, Alex, the son she gave up for adoption nearly 20 years ago, shows up at her door. Somehow, he has tracked her down.

 Their reunion is everything Nina has hoped for. Now she has a child of her own, someone in the family who really cares about her.

 But honeymoons are brief and this one is no exception.

 Far from welcoming him, Gary is hostile to Alex and as their arguments become increasingly vicious, it soon becomes clear that Nina must choose between them.

But how will the abusive Gary react if she rejects him? And can she trust Alex? Is he really the loving son he seems to be – or does he have a sinister agenda of his own?

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Iain Maitland is the author of three previous psych thrillers for Inkubator Books: The Soulmate, The Perfect Husband and The Girl Downstairs.

 Iain is also the author of two memoirs, Dear Michael, Love Dad, a book of letters written to his eldest son who experienced depression and anorexia, and (co-authored with Michael) Out Of The Madhouse.

 He has also written a semi-autobiographical novel, The Old Man, His Dog & Their Longest Journey.

 He is an Ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity. He talks regularly about mental health issues in schools and colleges and workplaces.

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My thoughts: Nina hasn’t had a very happy life, her parents were very strict and used their religious beliefs as a stick – and when she got pregnant as a teenager sent her to an even stricter aunt and forced her to give up her son. She even lost her boyfriend when his family moved away.

Now she’s in a relationship with the rather repugnant Gary and his awful daughter Chloe is also living in her house. She’s recently lost a baby, one she wanted.

When a young man knocks on the door and claims he’s her long lost son Alex, she’s overcome. And immediately feels a connection – instantly feeling as though everything’s coming together.

But Gary is suspicious of this sudden “cousin” who is now staying with them. And despite his own nastiness, might be right. Monsters often recognise each other. As the situation in the house deteriorates, and Gary’s past starts to catch up with him too, Nina feels like she’s losing something. A chance encounter with her lost love, Ryan, her teenage boyfriend (and Alex’s father) gives her a spark of hope, but it might be too late…

Loads of shocking twists and turns, that I did not see coming, this is gripping, OMG stuff, clever and well written, and with an ending that throws in more surprises, I felt so bad for Nina, nothing in her life has gone well and she’s so desperate for happiness.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

My mother is obsessed with every detail of my wedding – controlling my dress, my ring, my happiness. But when the day finally comes, will she really let me go? Last year, my sister’s fiancé was murdered on his wedding day. And I found my mother’s corsage next to his body…

I’m beaming as I walk down the aisle, but my smile masks a prickling fear, even though this is supposed to be the happiest day of my life.

My husband-to-be, Owen, is everything to me, with his sandy hair and sparkling blue eyes. He keeps telling me it will all be fine. I pray he’s right as I slip a gold band onto his finger with trembling hands.

Please let me be wrong about what my mother did. Please let Owen be safe.

But when the priest asks if anyone objects, I turn to look at my mother. Her eyes are icy beneath the brim of her hat, and she’s staring right at me.

Is my husband’s life in danger? Or is it mine…?

A page-turning, addictive psychological thriller from an Amazon no. 1 bestseller with twists that will have your head spinning until the very end. Fans of The Housemaid, The Family Upstairs and The Perfect Marriage will be absolutely gripped!

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Samantha Hayes grew up in a creative family where her love of writing began as a child. Samantha has written eight thrillers in total, including the bestselling Until You’re Mine. The Independent said “fantastically written and very tense” while Good Housekeeping said “Her believable psychological thrillers are completely gripping.” Samantha’s books are published in 22 languages at the last count.

When not writing, Samantha loves to cook, go to the gym, see friends and drink nice wine. She is also studying for a degree in psychotherapy. She has three grown-up children and lives in Warwickshire.

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My thoughts: Moving back home with her loving fiancè, to live with her impossible, manipulative mother, who might be a murderer, Lizzie and Owen are determined to make the best of a bad situation. Even if Lizzie’s mother insists on organising their wedding herself.

Lizzie harbours plenty of suspicions about her mother, especially as she never really knew what was going on in her parents’ life, her dad’s currently in a psychiatric hospital, her sister avoids their mother and now she’s completely paranoid.

But she thinks she’s right to be. There are a lot of questions about her mum, why she left her job so abruptly, blaming Lizzie, whether she was involved in the tragic death of sister Shelley’s fiancè Rafe on their wedding day a year before, and more.

As she starts to dig into her mother’s history, asking her dad some questions too, and the police are asking a few questions about Rafe’s death again, perhaps she’ll finally get some answers, but it isn’t until her wedding day that the truth will all be revealed…

If you like complicated domestic thrillers, where the characters aren’t asking the right questions and a very dysfunctional family, who could all do with some communication lessons and probably therapy, a lot of secrets and tragedy, then you’ll enjoy this, with its twists and misdirection.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.