Showing results by publisher "Hodder & Stoughton" in Suspense

Early one Monday morning, much like today, journalist Alex Kubelick walks up to a total stranger and slaps him across the face. Hard. He thanks her. They've both just earned Emoticoins in a new, all-consuming game that trades real-life emotions for digital currency. Emoticoins are changing the face of the global economy - but someone or something seems to be controlling the game for their own nefarious purposes. As Alex begins to pick apart the tangled threads that are holding the virtual game together, she finds herself on the run from very real enemies.

You shared your life online. Now how will you get it back? Twitter. Facebook. WhatsApp. Google Maps. Every day you share everything about yourself - where you go, what you eat, what you buy, what you think - online. Sometimes you do it on purpose. Usually you do it without even realising it. At the end of the day, everything from your shoe size to your credit limit is out there. Your greatest joys, your darkest moments. Your deepest secrets. If people want to know everything about you, all they have to do is look. But what happens when someone starts spilling state secrets?

A suicide. A drowned man. A sudden death. For some people it's just another day's work. In Amsterdam there's a council department known affectionately as the Lonely Funerals team. It exists to arrange burials for the abandoned or unknown dead, with the care and dignity that every life deserves. Pieter Posthumus hasn't been doing the job long, but he's determined to do it well. He finds that he cares deeply about the people whose files land on his desk.

What would you do to protect your family? Tell a lie? Break the law? Or solve the problem...for good? The body in Lauren James' back garden belongs to her ex-boyfriend, Ritchie. DI Gardner thinks it's an open-and-shut case. But he reckoned without the interference of Lauren's father, local businessman and aspiring politician Walter James. And he couldn't know about the secrets that everyone involved wants to hide.

A stunning and original debut crime thriller starring Harry Kent, a police surgeon who uncovers a shocking conspiracy after a hostage situation goes wrong. Dr Harry Kent likes to keep busy: juggling hospital duties with his work as a police surgeon for the Metropolitan Police - anything to ward off the memories of his time as an army medic. Usually the police work means minor injuries and mental health assessments.

A twisty story of murder, guilt and unintended consequences, perfect for fans of Kerry Wilkinson and Mel Sherratt. Two hundred and fifty thousand people go missing in the UK every year. Ninety-one percent of those reported to police are found within 48 hours. Ninety-nine percent of cases are solved within a year. And one percent stay gone. Troubled teenager Emma Thorley vanished without a trace 11 years ago. But now a body has been found....

The explosive follow-up to Eye Contact finds DI Harland face-to-face with a killer.... He didn't intend to let her get so close. But now that Kim's become important to him, Robert Naysmith decides to tell his girlfriend his deadly secret. He wants her to recognise the power he holds. He hopes he won't have to kill her. Detective Inspector Harland hasn't forgotten the serial killer who got away from him. But with nothing to go on, he fears he will never bring him to justice.

A pulse-pounding mystery of one man's undoing. You just might not know which man. Still mourning the death of his wife, private investigator Mark Novak accepts a case that may be his undoing. On same day his wife died, the body of a teenage girl was pulled from the extensive and perilous cave system beneath Southern Indiana. Now the man who rescued the girl, who was believed to be her killer, begs Novak to uncover what really happened.

Book four in the Hull-based crime series, Taking Pity takes detectives McAvoy, Ray and Pharaoh on their most dangerous case to date. DS Aector McAvoy's family is in hiding. He has lost his way. His boss Trish Pharaoh gives him a distraction in the form of an old case. The Winn family was killed 40 years ago: were the police right about who pulled the trigger? But McAvoy's enemies - the ruthless criminal organisation known as the Headhunters - are pitiless

No good deed goes unpunished in this third thrilling instalment in the acclaimed Hull-based DS Aector McAvoy series. From the Richard & Judy featuring, Sunday Times best-selling and Kindle chart-topping author of Dark Winter. Philippa Longman did what we all aim to do. She did the right thing. She's about to pay for it with her life.... DS McAvoy has spent his career playing by the rules. He has the scars to show for it.

The owners of a villa on the Costa del Sol have invited a young British couple to 'house sit' while they are away. For Jonno and Posie, just embarking on a relationship, this is supposed to be a carefree break in the sun. But when the Secret Service team arrives in paradise, everything changes.

Despatches from the secret world behind the headlines. Former SAS legend Chris Ryan brings you his seventeenth novel, filled with his trademark action, thrills and inside knowledge. Osama Bin Laden is dead. The President of the United States knows it. The world knows it. And SAS hero Joe Mansfield knows it. He was on the ground in Pakistan when it happened. He saw Seal Team 6 go in, and he saw them extract with their grisly cargo.

A best friend murdered. A marriage going nowhere. A deadly obsession. Nicky's had more than her share of heartache. So when she meets a hot young stranger she thinks a little flirting can help her forget the past. She's married, but it's innocent enough. Except what starts as fun leads to a terrible ordeal, and a dark secret. Nicky's about to discover that the scars of love can last a lifetime.

This is the tale of three 14-year-old girls and a volatile combination of lies, jealousy and perversion that ends in tragedy. Except the tragedy is even darker and more tangled than their tight-knit community has been persuaded to believe. Blackly funny and with a surreal edge to its portrait of a northern English town, Jenn Ashworth's gripping novel captures the intensity of girls' friendships and the dangers they face in a predatory adult world they think they can handle.

Teenager Nikki Bell is the only witness to the brutal murder of two members of her family and their cleaner. She's lucky to be alive. But the murder isn't a one-off. It's part of a bigger, more violent attack planned on affluent families in the area - and now Nikki, as the only living witness, is a dangerous threat to the well-orchestrated scheme. As the net draws tighter around the killers, DI Rio Wray must do whatever it takes to keep Nikki alive. But when you're dealing with criminals, there's no line they won't cross....

When Pax, a middle-aged second-rate actor, scores an audition for a blockbuster, he is convinced fate has taken pity on him and he will finally get to spend some time in the limelight. He leaves his flat in a hurry, ignoring the alarming sounds coming from the apartment above. He is beside himself when he learns what devastating consequences his decision had: not only was his neighbour Alex assaulted and left for dead, he is also his girlfriend Emi's son....

Maggie is a husband watcher. A snooper, a marriage doctor, a destroyer of dreams, a killer of happy ever afters. She runs her own private detective agency specialising in catching those who cheat. Helene is a husband catcher. A beautiful wife, a doting stepmother, a perfect homemaker and a dazzling presence at parties. She has landed herself with one of the most eligible bachelors in town - handsome property developer Gabe Moreau. Alice is just a teenager. A perfect daughter to Gabe, a kind stepchild to Helene, a tragic girl to a dead mother.

Sara is lonely. No one talks to her - not even her bad-tempered workaholic husband or her two beloved sons. Her solace is her house, the biggest in the village, hidden away behind high hedges. Then she strikes up a friendship with Katie, a college student living nearby, and a new world opens up. Her neighbours have been dying to get to know her, and they rush to help when Sara is devastated by a terrible accident.

Nuala knows nothing of her husband James' past. He made her swear that she would never contact his family and never, ever visit the place he was from. But now James is dead, and Nuala is alone. Grieving and desperate, she decides to ignore his warning. Nuala is about to find out that some secrets are better left buried - and that uncovering the truth about the man she married will have terrible consequences....

Glamorous Margot Jones is the fashion editor at glossy women's magazine Haute and pregnant with her first child. Margot's used to her carefully curated life being the object of other women's envy - who wouldn't want her successful career, loving husband, beautiful house and stylish wardrobe? Maggie, a freelance journalist, certainly knows she doesn't measure up. So when Margot gets in touch to suggest she apply for her maternity cover at Haute, Maggie seizes the chance at living a better life - even if it's only temporary.