I am a writer of psychological thrillers. I have a keen interest in psychology and how events and experiences in our childhood shape who we become. When I work on a new book, I always build a detailed profile of my charactersā childhoods ā and as I write thrillers, these are often challenging ones with issues like narcissistic parents or siblings, coping with grief, mental illness, or bullying. My plot will always be at least partly driven by the secrets my characters form in their childhood or early life, and so I also really value this depth in the psychological thrillers I read.
The opening to this psychological thriller is stunning. Beautifully written, dark, tense and emotional ā there is no way you canāt read on. And the rest of the book is equally good. Thereās a complex plot that is revealed in bite-sized chunks at just the right time, the two main characters are likeable and authentic, and Cumminās writing style keeps you just on the right side of āon edgeā throughout the book. But the reason this thriller really stood out for me is how it explores intense relationships formed in childhood under extreme conditions, and how they play out in adulthood decades later.
When I Was Ten is the stay-up-all-night thriller by acclaimed crime author Fiona Cummins.
'Grips like a vice' - Val McDermid 'Absorbing, tense and beautifully paced' - Daily Mail
Twenty-one years ago, Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were killed in what has become the most infamous double murder of the modern age.
Their ten year-old daughter - nicknamed the Angel of Death - spent eight years in a children's secure unit and is living quietly under an assumed name with a family of her own.
Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked downā¦
This is a story about three brothers. It starts with the funeral of one of them (you donāt know which) and goes back over their lives to unravel the mystery. They are all very different and none of them are likeable, and yet I found myself invested in all of them, trying my hardest to like them despite what they did ā to each other and more widely. The book explores some serious issues around mental health and addiction, and I felt Nugent did this incredibly well ā with both sympathy and clearly lots of research. The story is also told very skillfully. It uses multiple characters and jumps between timelines but reads very smoothly.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runā¦
The first thing that drew me into this book is the feeling of āI could see that happeningā¦ what would I do if it were me?ā The second really enticing element comes when McAllister introduces a future timeline where the three siblings have had a falling out and their cover-up plan seems to have not worked. There is then a constant question of how did they get from here to there? The book is further enriched by the interesting relationships between the two sisters and brother. They each have their role in the family dynamic, largely set by a traumatic event in their childhood, and these have a significant impact on how they respond ā individually and collectively ā to this new highly stressful event.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING RICHARD & JUDY SUMMER PICK AND THIS SUMMER'S MOST COMPULSIVE NOVEL
'Incredibly tense and gripping' ADELE PARKS 'Kept me guessing and kept me fooled. Clever, pacy and so gripping that my heart raced' C.L. TAYOR 'This absolutely blew me away. Properly unputdownable' 5***** READER REVIEW 'Another unputdownable what-would-you-do thriller, rich with McAllister's trademark twists and emotional depth' ERIN KELLY ________
What would you do to protect your family?
ANYTHING.
During a family holiday in Italy, you get an urgent call from your sister.
There's been an accident: she hit a man with her car and he'sā¦
I heard that Lisa Jewell had the idea for this book after seeing a woman sleeping on the beach in France with her children and wondering what her story was. If thatās true, it shows what an incredible imagination she must have to build such an original and intriguing plot from that one image! The story centres on a house in Chelsea, but is really the tale of a mix of extreme characters living together, causing a terrible event, and the one truly innocent person in it all unravelling the truth 25 years later. Told via two timelines, this is one of those ājust one more chapterā kind of books.Ā
'I swear I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it. Gripping, pacy, brilliantly twisty.' CLARE MACKINTOSH
'Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive: an excellent holiday read.' GUARDIAN
'A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption.' IAN RANKIN ____________________________
FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THEN SHE WAS GONE
In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.
In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.
A witchy paranormal cozy mystery told through the eyes of a fiercely clever (and undeniably fabulous) feline familiar.
Iām Juno. Snow-white fur, sharp-witted, and currently stuck working magical animal control in the enchanted town of Crimson Cove. My witch, Zandra Crypt, and I only came here to find her missingā¦
The first thing that stood out for me about this book is that the narrator is in a coma ā scared of the people who are supposed to love her, but unable to defend herself. The second thing is the title. Sometimes I Lie sets you up for an unreliable narrator, which I love in a thriller ā especially when youāre not quite sure who is even telling the story at certain points in the book. This is a clever thriller that manipulates your thinking constantly. I found my loyalties constantly changing, which meant I could never quite trust anyone ā and also that I couldnāt stop reading it!
ALICE FEENEYS NEW YORK TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
āBoldly plotted, tightly knottedāa provocative true-or-false thriller that deepens and darkens to its ink-black finale. Marvelous.ā āAJ Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. Iām in a coma. 2. My husband doesnāt love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie.
Amber wakes up in a hospital. She canāt move. She canāt speak. She canāt open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesnāt remember what happened, but she has aā¦
From the outside, it seemsĀ GraceĀ has it all. Only she knows about the cracks in her picture-perfect lifeā¦ and the huge secret behind them. After all, who can she trust?
Her brotherĀ JoshĀ is thousands of miles away. Her best friendĀ CocoĀ walked away from her years ago, their friendship irreparably fractured. And her husbandĀ MarcusĀ seems like a different man lately.Ā But when her seven-year-old daughter makes a troubling accusation, Grace must choose between protecting her child and protecting her secretā¦Ā before she loses everything.
āRowdyā Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.
At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouseā¦
Haunted by her choices, including marrying an abusive con man, thirty-five-year-old Elizabeth has been unable to speak for two years. She is further devastated when she learns an old boyfriend has died. Nothing in her lifeā¦
