When I first walked into Jake and Megan’s immaculate home, I felt totally at ease. Sitting in the crisp white living room, they held hands and talked lovingly about their baby girl, Fern. As the weeks passed, I began to think I’d made a mistake in taking the job. Jake was overly friendly from the start, watching my every move and always offering to drop me home, even though it was out of his way. And Megan seemed to take pleasure in telling me off in front of her husband, blaming me for things I hadn’t done.

Natalie and Neil everything they could want: a stylish London house, two high-flying careers, a close-knit group of friends and family. And best of all: an ideal marriage. Having children, they’ve agreed, would only disrupt their carefree lives. But then Neil turns thirty-five, and suddenly he’s longing for a baby. However, Nat has not had a similar change of heart. As they no longer agree on this fundamental issue, their once perfect relationship starts to crumble. Nat starts to think about her exes and wonders if one of the men she has loved in the past can offer her a future.

My hand trembles as I stare at the anonymous text. On this sunny Saturday morning, our twin ten-year-old boys were playing in the park just down our tree-lined street. But only one of them has come home… and it’s all my husband’s fault. I race to Leo’s study and demand answers. As his face turns white, I know: one of his affairs has turned deadly. I always smell the unfamiliar perfume on his shirt. I try to pretend we are a happy family, for the sake of the children… but now, my child is in terrible danger.

I could tell when my son started hiding things from me. He used to walk to school with a mischievous grin on his beautiful face. Now he avoids eye contact and keeps his head down. Since I discovered he’s being bullied by a classmate, I’ve spent every day worrying, my stomach churning with anxiety from the moment he leaves the house to the second he walks back through the door. Everyone keeps telling me I’m overreacting, but I won’t risk my child’s safety. My husband and I try to talk to the other boy’s parents, but it only makes things worse. Then our precious child is hurt. Enough is enough.

Our new home was meant to be a chance for us to start again; to make new friends and forget the past. And as I look around the barbeque we’ve thrown for our neighbors, I dare to dream that things will be all right. I watch my husband joking as he flips burgers and my daughter turning cartwheels on our sun-bleached lawn. And then my gaze falls on my son, Jacob, and his new girlfriend, Rose, in her light blue jeans and her green crop top. There is a worried expression clouding her beautiful eyes.... The next day I get a call from Rose’s mother that chills me to the bone.

I tell myself that Max couldn’t kill anyone. He’s a family man now, different to who he was before. Even so, I should go to the police right away. But I can’t. Because if I do, I’m scared they’ll start to suspect me. How much do I really know about the girl in room 12? And if the truth comes out, how far will I go to protect my precious family?

Everyone thinks I’m living the perfect life. I have my dream job, a stunning apartment, and glamourous friends – who know nothing about my dark past. So I’m shocked when I run into Anna, who I haven’t seen in eighteen years. Everything about her reminds me of the life I’ve left behind. But as her eyes fill with tears and she tells me she’s lost her job and can’t pay her rent, I reluctantly offer her my spare room.

Leah and her three best friends get changed into their pyjamas, eat pizza, and argue about what film to watch. They laugh together, until the early hours. But the next morning, Leah blinks open her eyes and sees three empty sleeping bags. The other girls are gone. Twenty years later. In her small hometown, still-haunted Leah has never been able to shake off the rumours and whispers. How could she have slept through it all? She must know what happened.

Marianne has a life others dream of. A beautiful townhouse on the best street in the neighbourhood. Three bright children who are her pride and joy. Sometimes her past still hurts: losing her mother early, growing up in foster care. But her husband, Simon, is always there. A successful surgeon, he’s the envy of every woman they’ve ever met. Flowers, gifts, trips to France: nothing is too good for his family. Then Simon says another woman’s name. The way he lingers on it, Caroline, gives Marianne a shudder of suspicion, but she knows it’s nothing - she can’t entertain this flash of paranoia.

I gaze at my husband’s once handsome face, so still and pale in the hospital bed. The doctors say I should keep talking. He might be able to hear me even after the terrible accident that left him fighting for his life. But all I have to whisper to my husband is this: "I know what you did."

My husband is a doctor. He’s smart and charming, and everybody trusts him. Except me. On the surface, it looks like I have it all–the perfect marriage, the perfect husband, the perfect life. But it’s far from the truth. Doctor Drew Devlin is not the respectable figure he makes out to be. The reason we moved to this beautiful, old property with a gorgeous view of the sea was because we needed to put our past behind us. It should’ve been a fresh start for us both.

Katelyn smiles around at her husband and friends, gathered to celebrate her 36th birthday in their beautiful home decorated with fairy lights. But the next day Katelyn wakes up shaken and terrified in a hospital bed. She doesn’t remember the sweet taste of birthday cake icing, or how angry her best friend was at midnight, or the terrible things her husband said. She doesn’t remember the party at all. When she asks her husband what happened the night of the party he says "nothing". But her blood runs cold at the way his voice lilts slightly. The way it always does when he is lying.

Alice and Seth are a perfect love story: the handsome doctor and his beautiful fiancée. They’re wealthy, well liked and made for each other—the envy of all their friends. Alice can’t wait for the day of their dream wedding. But when she arrives at the altar, she doesn’t recognise the man waiting to marry her. When this stranger insists he’s Seth, her husband-to-be, the entire congregation seems to agree. Even her parents try to persuade Alice to go through with the wedding.

In the wake of my darling husband’s death, I am so lucky to have my three beautiful, grown-up daughters by my side at our holiday home in Scotland. We need some time together to recover from the shock. But I also need to set some things straight about their beloved father....

Jake and I were childhood sweethearts. Strong, dependable, and with a smile that melts my heart, he is the perfect husband and father to our beautiful little daughter. We have our money troubles–but getting a lodger, Kara, calms the panic I feel about our bills. Jake is reluctant but what choice do we have?