I have always been intrigued by missing persons. I wonder how their family copes with having no closure on the situation and how they can live wondering where their loved one is and whether they are dead or alive. I have read these recommended books many times to satisfy this craving. I enjoy a sense of the macabre even though the story may be about mundane everyday topics. This only adds to the sense of dread and wonder. I enjoy the intriguing twists and turns, keeping me on my toes and wanting more until the end. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I have.
I recommend this book because of its overriding sense of menace despite the fact it refers to a somewhat mundane topic. I have read this book many times and am in awe of it every single time I pick it up, becoming engrossed immediately and unable to put it down.
The writing is superb, and the characters are ordinary, believable, and hard to get out of your head, as is the explosive ending.
'Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together---my future, my past, the whole of my life---and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!'
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries.…
I loved this author’s brilliant writing and also
the sense of menace that oozes from every page. As each page turns,
you delve deeper into mundane activities with family filled with the
possibility of murder. Culminating in a clever ending, carrying out an
everyday household task.
A very clever book that I’ve read time and time
again. Even long into the night.
A contemporary psychological thriller in the style of Ruth Rendell, from one of today's most versatile and compelling storytellers.
It was easy for Elizabeth. She married the man she loved, bore him two children and made a home for him which was the envy of their friends.
It was harder for Ruth. She married Elizabeth's son and then found that, somehow, she could never quite measure up...
Isolation, deceit and betrayal fill the gaps between the two individual women and between their different worlds. In this complex thriller, Philippa Gregory deploys all her insight into what women want and what…
What Happened to Frank? is the first book in the Meg Sheppard Mystery Series. Meg is an amateur sleuth who owns racehorses and lives on a horse farm. Her beloved border collie, Kelly, is usually at Meg's side as she investigates murders and solves other mysteries. The books are action-packed…
I was intrigued by the twists and turns in this story. The writing is matter-of-fact, describing everyday events that culminate in a wonderfully unexpected ending.
I love the characters and, even though the main character is really not nice, I was drawn to him, realising that the influence of your parents, your upbringing, can affect who you are.
A psychological thriller following Teddy Brex, a handsome, young autistic man who comes to the aid of Francine Hill, a beautiful young woman traumatised by the murder of her mother, and now stifled by the overprotectiveness of an obsessive stepmother; but Teddy has already committed two murders.
I was drawn to this book by the insight into the mind of a mother who swears that the child she sees is not her own, despite reassurances from her husband, friends, and doctors, who say it is.
I always feel a sense of heart-thumping dread as I read it. I want to help the mother, who nobody will listen to. I feel it is a great piece of suspenseful writing.
One of the Sunday Times 100 Best Crime Novels and Thrillers Since 1945
The first extraordinary psychological suspense thriller from internationally bestselling author Sophie Hannah. Not to be missed for readers of Clare Mackintosh and Paula Hawkins
'Terrifying' Scotsman 'Ingenious' Sunday Times
It's every mother's nightmare . . .
She's only been gone two hours.
Her husband David was meant to be looking after their two-week-old daughter. But when Alice Fancourt walks into the nursery, her terrifying ordeal begins, for Alice insists the baby in the cot is a stranger she's never seen before.
Dolça Llull Prat, a wealthy Barcelona woman, is only 15 when she falls in love with an impoverished poet-solder. Theirs is a forbidden relationship, one that overcomes many obstacles until the fledgling writer renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his bestseller.
I recommend this book and the author’s fabulous writing, comprising of
dread and humour (which I love), all rolled into one. Three separate case
histories, interlinked, each littered with fabulous, memorable
characters. Jackson Brodie, the Detective trying to solve the case, is one of the best, with brilliant detective skills and a haunting
personal life.
An intriguing mix of family drama and mystery, giving it
more depth than just an ordinary thriller. I have read this book many
times, and it’s always new, never boring, and the ending is still a surprise.
Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge ...
Sylvia Day, owner of the Sylvia Day Detective Agency, is contacted by the new officer in town, Detective Inspector Nathan Royle, who asks to meet with her to discuss a missing girl, Miranda Wilson. A local walker sees a body in the river, only for it to be that of a mannequin; a clue on its body, which Sylvia and Nathan follow, hoping it will lead them to the missing girl.
Miranda Wilson’s diary refers to “R” who she arranged to meet on the day she disappeared. Sylvia and Nat try to track down “R” following the clues found on each mannequin. Will Sylvia and Nat crack all the clues and find Miranda Wilson unharmed?
A decades-old secret. A missing woman. A private investigator with everything to prove.
Newly minted PI Paula Moore takes on her first case: find Marion Taylor, who vanished from Portsmouth, England, years ago. Paula’s search leads her across the ocean to San Francisco—only to discover Marion has changed her name,…
You’re grieving, you’re falling in love and you’re skint. On top of it all, Europe’s going to Hell in a handcart. Things can’t get any worse, can they?
London, 1938. William is grieving over his former teacher and mentor, killed fighting for the Republicans in Spain. As Europe slides towards…
