Showing results by publisher "Bookouture" in Thriller & Suspense

Hidden deep in the forest, schoolgirl Felicity Parker is found carefully laid out on a rock with nothing but a freshly picked bunch of flowers next to her lifeless form. Detective Jenna Alton is called in to investigate the gruesome discovery. With the body found just off a popular hiking route, Jenna believes the killer is a visitor to the town...until a second local girl is discovered.

Little Lorna Bell is from a notorious family on a rundown estate. Everyone thinks she's a nasty piece of work. The schoolchildren call her a thief. But Lorna's hair is matted, her shoes pinch her feet, and school teacher Claire Penny can't help herself; some kids just need a bit more support, a bit more love, than the rest. As the bond between teacher and pupil grows stronger, Claire sees Lorna's bruises, and digs to uncover the disturbing tale behind them. Heartbroken, Claire knows she has to act. She must make Lorna safe.

When beloved local teacher and devoted mother, Claire Nelson, is discovered murdered in her kitchen, stab wounds covering her delicate pale skin, FBI Special Agent Val Costa is drawn out of retirement. Claire’s two children are in pieces, and Val won’t rest until they have the justice they deserve. Battling nightmares about the serial killer she escaped just weeks ago, Val has her work cut out for her. A church regular, Claire was adored by her neighbours and spent her spare time helping the homeless. Who would want to hurt this beautiful soul?

When six-year-old Olivia Adams disappeared from her back garden, the small community of Stoneridge was thrown into turmoil. How could a child vanish in the middle of a cozy English village? Thirteen years on and Olivia is back. Her mother is convinced it's her but not everyone is sure. If this is the missing girl, then where has she been - and what happened to her on that sunny afternoon? If she's an imposter, then who would be bold enough to try to fool a child's own mother - and why?

Grace hasn't been the same since the death of her best friend, Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie's words the last time she saw her and, in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie's. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn't know about her best friend. When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie's father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie's sister, steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family, and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and her boyfriend Dan's home. But something isn't right.

Lizzy Beresford is at home alone when she finds a chilling letter in her kitchen. Someone has been into her home - someone who wishes Lizzy harm. In her little country cottage, with her doting boyfriend, not far from the close-knit village, Lizzy can’t imagine who might want to hurt her. But when the threatening letters keep coming, she starts to suspect everyone around her. Desperate, Lizzy reaches out to her sister, Emma. They haven’t spoken in years, not since the argument that tore them apart. But Emma says: ‘I’ve been receiving letters too....’

The boy studied the bruise turning yellow at the base of his neck. With quick fingers his mother tightened his tie and pulled his collar high above it. Her eyes alone said, We will not speak of this.... Years later a man is found shot dead in a local park. On his phone is a draft text: I can’t keep this secret any longer. The recipient is unnamed. Detective Robyn Carter knows this secret is the key to the case, but his friends and family don’t offer any clues, and all her team have to go on is a size-ten footprint.

Twenty-five years ago: teenage Leah had a sleepover with her three best friends. By morning, the other girls were missing. This small town has been searching for answers ever since. Now it’s happened again. Three boys decide to camp in a field next to one of their homes. When dawn comes, dew glistens on their empty tents. Overgrown farmland is searched. Three distraught families are desperate for news. A mother herself now, Leah’s heart breaks as terrible memories flood back.

Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, and she is excited. She is about to take a step into her new future. By Sunday morning, Ali’s life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows that something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt, and she has no memory of what happened to her.

On a damp October day, a body is found in an abandoned hospital, too burnt to be identified, but detective Alex King knows that every victim is someone’s daughter or son. Pushing aside her own troubles, Alex puts everything into finding the killer, but when someone else is found dead, she begins to suspect that the body in the hospital was just the first of many. Just as Alex uncovers a heart-breaking link between the victims, she finds her own safety under threat. Is this a figure from her past hell-bent on revenge, or could the murderer be even closer than she thinks?

She races home, her young son clasped tightly to her chest, glancing over her shoulder at every face she passes. She reaches the safety of her home, closing the door behind her. Little does she know the danger that awaits her inside… When local vicar, Sally, packs away the brightly coloured toys and dog-eared books left over from a morning parent and toddler group, her heart pounds as she discovers a note left behind.

The perfect daughter. The perfect girlfriend. The perfect murder? Jenna is seriously ill. She's lost all hope of getting the heart transplant she needs to live. But just as her life is ebbing away, she receives a donor heart from a girl called Callie. Who was Callie and how did she die? Jenna is determined to find out.

Robert kisses his wife on the head before heading out to the shop for more wine; he walks up the hill, takes a left across the footbridge, and jumps to his death on the busy motorway below. Two years later, Francesca and her young daughter are leaving London for a fresh start. Money is tight, and Robert’s mother has found them a little cottage in her village. Francesca is grateful for the help, but why does Robert’s mother want to keep them so close? Does she know about what Francesca did in the hour before Robert’s death?

The last thing to go through Dominique Thomas's head was the image of her teenage daughter's face and her heart lifted. Then the shot rang out. They were the perfect family. Successful businessman Ben Thomas and his wife Dominique live an enviable life, along with their beautiful children: teenager Ruby and quirky younger daughter Mouse. But on Christmas Day the police are called to their London home, only to discover a horrific scene: the entire family lying lifeless, victims of an unknown assailant.

Time stops for Jen when her beloved daughter, Gracie, is involved in a terrible car crash. Pronounced dead at the scene, it's a miracle when paramedics manage to then resuscitate the little girl. The relief Jen feels at Gracie's recovery is matched only by her fury at the driver of the car - her ex-husband's new girlfriend, Ella. Jen has never trusted Ella, and now her worst fears have been confirmed.

Three minutes. That's all it takes for Meredith's entire world to fall apart when she watches the videotape of her four-year-old self with Becca, the mother she's never known. Can there be any truth in the strange and dangerous story her mother forced her to tell on camera? The search for answers leads Meredith to Darkwater Pool, the scene of the murder of a young woman, Cara, over 30 years ago. What could possibly be the link between her mother and the victim? The problem is, she's not the only one looking....

They told us he had been missing for nearly two days, that he probably drowned. They told us a lie. Megan was 10 years old when her older brother, Zac, went missing among the cliffs, caves, and beaches that surround the small seaside town of Whitecliff. A decade later, a car crash has claimed the lives of her parents. Megan and her younger sister, Chloe, return to Whitecliff one summer for the first time since their brother's disappearance.

Her dark skin looks almost grey; the effect of the elements and death’s touch. Her limp body left pressed against a wire fence like trash. I make a silent promise that I will do everything I can to catch the person who did this to her. Exactly a year ago, Amy, a young detective on Detective Kate Matthews’ team, was killed when she was sent undercover to catch a serial killer targeting young girls. Kate never forgave herself for letting the killer slip through her fingers. As the case is reopened and the campaign to find the culprit begins again, Kate is told to stay well away, and for good reason: another girl’s body has been found.

“Can you start right away?” I can hear the desperation in Dr Roth’s voice. He’s longing for someone to look after his poor, sick wife Sabrina in their perfect Florida home. The job pays an awful lot. And I really need the money. As long as they don’t ask too many questions… Dr Roth has made it clear I have to make sure she takes her medication. Because if she doesn’t, there’s hell to pay. Three times a day, I count her sedative pills carefully. Sabrina rambles about the death of a child.

Two days ago, FBI Agent Val Costa came face to face with a serial killer known as the Bear. One of only two women ever to survive, she's forever branded with his signature: a curling “S” carved into her skin. Val knows it’s only a matter of time before he takes another victim. Forced home to recover, Val returns to Red Rose County, California, to be with her son. But the very next day she finds the close-knit community panic-stricken over the disappearance of blonde-haired, freckled-faced local teen, Scarlett Douglas.