Are you in the mood for some intriguing thrillers? Need some escape from the humdrum of lockdown? There's nothing like a bit of secrets, lies and missing persons to take your mind off the everyday.
Lisa Jewell's The Night She Disappeared follows teenage mum Tallulah as she heads out on a date, leaving her baby son at home with her mother, Kim. At 11pm she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30am Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home. Friends tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a pool party at a house in the woods nearby called Dark Place. Tallulah never returns. The following year, while walking in the woods behind the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started as a head-teacher, Sophie sees a sign nailed to a fence. A sign that says: dig here...
While you are waiting to read The Night She Disappeared, you might enjoy the twists and turns of these other psychological thrillers.
A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena
You're home making dinner for your husband. You expect him any second. The phone rings--it's the call you hoped you'd never get. You jump in your car and race to a neighborhood you thought you'd never visit. You peer into the dark, deserted building. You brace yourself for the worst. And then, you remember nothing else. They tell your husband you've been in an accident. You lost control of your car as you sped through the worst side of town. The police suspect you were up to no good. But your husband refuses to believe it. Your best friend is not so sure. And even you don't know what to believe.
The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard
'I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man. Now I am the woman who is going to catch him...' You've just read the opening lines of The Nothing Man, the true crime memoir Eve Black has written about her obsessive search for the man who killed her family nearly two decades ago. Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle is reading it too, and with each turn of the page his rage grows. Because Jim was - is - the Nothing Man. The more Jim reads, the more he realises how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won't give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first.
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
When a local mother and her six-year-old daughter suddenly vanish into thin air, their close-knit suburban community is rocked by fear and suspicion. How could such a terrible thing have happened in their small town? Eleven years later, one of the women sensationally returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her – but no one is prepared for what they'll find. In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
In the Clearing by JP Pomare
Amy has only ever known life in the Clearing. She knows what's expected of her. She knows what to do to please her elders, and how to make sure the community remains happy and calm. That is, until a new young girl joins the group. She isn't fitting in; she doesn't want to stay. What happens next will turn life as Amy knows it on its head. Freya has gone to great lengths to feel like a 'normal person'. In fact, if you saw her go about her day with her young son, you'd think she was an everyday mum. That is, until a young girl goes missing and someone from her past, someone she hasn't seen for a very long time, arrives in town. As secrets of the past bubble up to the surface, this small town's dark underbelly will be exposed and lives will be destroyed.
Bring me Back by B. A. Paris
Finn and Layla: young and in love, their whole lives ahead of them. Driving back from a holiday in France one night, Finn pulls in to a service station, leaving Layla alone in the car. When he returns, minutes later, Layla has vanished, never to be seen again. That's the story Finn tells the police. It's the truth but not the whole truth. Twelve years later, Finn has built a new life with Ellen, Layla's sister, when he receives a phone call. Someone has seen Layla. But is it her or someone pretending to be her? If it is her, what does she want? And what does she know about the night she disappeared?
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