Monday 12 October 2020

Books to Look Forward to from HarperCollins

 

January 2021

The Therapist is by B A Paris. When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they've dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive... As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating, grisly secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before. Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbours are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem...

The Wife Who Knew Too Much is by Michele Campbell. He said it was forever. HE LIED. A decadent summer thriller about marriages tainted by ambition, wealth, and desire from the Sunday Times bestselling author of It's Always the Husband and A Stranger on the Beach. She's in too deep.... Meet the first Mrs Ford. Beautiful. Accomplished. Wealthy beyond imagination. Married to a much younger man. And now... dead. Meet the second Mrs Ford. Waitress. Small-town girl. Married to a man she never forgot, from an affair ten years before. And now, she's wealthy beyond imagination. But who is Connor Ford? Two wives loved him, and knew him as only wives can... Who is the victim? Who is the villain? And who will be next to die?

To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero... Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there's no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper. One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. Unconvinced by the police's attempts to uncover who did it, she starts investigating, and soon hooks up with the salt-of-the-earth Suzie, a local dogwalker, and Becks, the Vicar's 'perfect Home Counties' wife. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club. And when another body turns up, they begin to realise that they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. Because the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape... The Marlow Murder Club is by Robert Thorogood.

Welcome to The Island. Where your worst fears are about to come true... It was supposed to be the perfect holiday: a week-long trip for six teenage friends on a remote tropical island. But when their guide dies of a stroke leaving them stranded, the trip of a lifetime turns into a nightmare. Because someone on the island knows each of the group’s worst fears. And one by one, they’re becoming a reality. Seven days in paradise. A deadly secret. Who will make it off the island alive? The Island is by C L Taylor. 

The Players is by Darren O'Sullivan. A stranger has you cornered. They call themselves The Host. You are forced to play their game. In it one person can live and the other must die. You are the next player. You have a choice to make. This is a game where nobody wins...

February 2021

Find You First is by Linwood Barclay. One will change your life. One will end it. Who will... Find you first. With just months to live, a billionaire businessman decides to track down his long-lost children. But a deadly killer is one step ahead of him. Tech billionaire Miles has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of - except time. Now facing a terminal illness, Miles knows he must seize every minute to put his life in order. And that means taking a long hard look at his past. Somewhere out there, Miles has children. And they might be about to inherit both the good and bad from him - possibly his fortune, or possibly something more deadly. So Miles decides to track down his missing children. But a vicious killer is one step ahead of him. One by one, people are vanishing. Not just disappearing, every trace of them is wiped. It's a deadly race against time...

The Jigsaw Man is by Nadine Matheson. There's a serial killer on the loose. The race is on before more bodies are found. But will it take a killer to catch the killer? When body parts start washing up along the banks of the river Thames, the Serial Crimes Unit is called to investigate, and it quickly becomes apparent to DI Henley that there isn't just one victim. There are two. The murders are hauntingly familiar to Henley. The modus operandi matches that of Peter Olivier, the notorious Jigsaw Killer. But Olivier is already behind bars, and Henley was the one who put him there. Olivier is the last person Henley wants to see but she needs his help. He might be their best chance to stop the copycat before more body parts start turning up. But when Olivier learns of the new murders, helping out Henley and the SCU is the last thing on his mind. All bets are off and the race is on to catch the killer before the body count rises. But who will get there first - Henley or the Jigsaw Killer?

Dead Head is by C J Skuse. Can a serial killer ever lose their taste for murder? Since confessing to her bloody murder spree Rhiannon Lewis, the now-notorious Sweetpea killer, has been feeling out-of-sorts. Having fled the UK on a cruise ship to start her new life, Rhiannon should be feeling happy. But it’s hard to turn over a new leaf when she’s stuck in an oversized floating tin can with the Gammonati and screaming kids. Especially when they remind her of Ivy – the baby she gave up for a life carrying on killing. Rhiannon is all at sea. She’s lost her taste for blood but is it really gone for good? Maybe Rhiannon is realising that there’s more to life than death...

Home can be the most dangerous place... In a small London bedsit, a radio is playing. A small dining table is set for three, and curled up on the sofa is a body... Jenn is the one who discovers the woman, along with the bailiffs. All indications suggest that the tenant - Sarah Jones - was pretty, charismatic and full of life. So how is it possible that her body has lain undiscovered for ten whole months? Safe and Sound is by Phillipa East.

March 2021

Two Wrongs is by Mel McGrath. One girl jumped. And then another followed... In the city of Bristol, young women are dying in mysterious circumstances. The deaths look like suicides - but are they something more sinister? Honor is terrified that her daughter might be next. But as she looks for clues as to what really happened to the girls, she stumbles upon a link to a dark secret in her own past - one that she's kept from her daughter. Now Honor has the chance to avenge her child for the terrible events of years ago. But how far will she go to protect her daughter and right the wrongs done to her family?

Some secrets aren't meant to be kept... When Grace returns to Abi's life, years after they fell out at university, Abi can't help but feel uneasy. Years ago, Grace's friendship was all-consuming and exhausting. Now happily married, Abi's built a new life for herself and put those days behind her. And yet as Grace slips back into her life with all the lethal charm she had before, Abi finds herself falling back under her spell... Abi's husband, Rohan, can't help but be concerned as his wife's behaviour changes. As their happy home threatens to fall apart, he realises that there's something deeply unnerving about Grace. Just what influence does this woman have over his wife, and why has she come back now? House of Whispers is by Anna Kent.

The Silent Friend is by Diane Jeffrey. One night changed everything. For Laura and Sandy, one tragic event changed the course of their lives forever. Now they are the only ones who understand each another, drawn together by the night that changed everything. But one of them is keeping a secret that could destroy their fragile friendship. Only she knows just how closely their lives are linked. When the secret is revealed, will their friendship survive? Or will the truth tear them apart?

Confessions on the 7:45 is by Lisa Unger. Everyone has a secret. Who would you trust with yours? On Selena Murphy's train home from work, a mysterious woman named Martha strikes up a conversation and shares a confession: she's having an affair with her boss. In turn, Selena shares her own secret: she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. At Selena's station the two women part, and Selena never expects to see her again. Until she receives a message. I'd love to continue our conversation. Can we get together? It's Martha, by the way. From the train. But Selena never gave Martha her number. She brushes the message off - until days later her nanny goes missing, and Selena begins to wonder if it's all connected. Who is Martha, really? And what does she want with Selena?

April 2021

The Girls are All So Nice Here is by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn. Nice girls can do bad things... When Ambrosia first arrives at prestigious college Wesleyan, she's desperate to fit in. But Amb struggles to navigate the rules of this strange, elite world, filled with privileged 'nice' girls - until she meets the charismatic but troubled Sully, with whom she forms an obsessive friendship. Intoxicated by Sully's charm and determined to impress her, Amb finds herself drawn deep into her new best friend's dangerous manipulations. But if she wants to play Sully at her own game, Amb has no idea just how high the price will be...

DS Joe Romano has been working dead-end cases since returning to Leeds from a stint at Interpol. But that's all about to change. When small-time drug dealer Craig Shaw goes missing, nobody but Romano wants to waste much time investigating. Until Shaw turns up dead. Romano is partnered with the straight-talking DS Rita Scannon-Akhtar. Together the pair delve into the murky world of right-wing activists and drug dealer rivalries. But when a second body turns up, with no connection to the first victim beyond the fact they were both criminals, the stakes suddenly get higher. They need to act fast, because the killer is trying to send a message. And they're not going to stop until they're caught. Right to Kill is by John Barlow. 

The Choices is by Kerry Barnes. The wrong choice may just get you killed... Mike Regan and Zara Ezra believe the so-called Governor is safely locked away - in Zara's hangar. But less than twenty-four hours later, the Governor is loose and out there, wreaking havoc. After what Zara made him do to his own son, she knows he'll be back with more than murder on his mind. Moving the families to a safe place was all the firm could do to protect them. But now one of the boys goes missing. It can only mean one thing - the Governor has started his revenge. Zara is faced with an unimaginable choice just as she forced the Governor to make his - only this time, it could cost the man she loves his life.

Wild Girls is by Phoebe Morgan. Four friends, a luxury retreat, It's going to be murder. It's been years since Grace, Felicity, Alice and Hannah were together - The Wild Girls, as they were once called, are no longer so wild. Alice has settled with a new baby and partner. Hannah is now a teacher. Grace has gone to ground. Only Felicity seems to have the same spark she once had. And now Felicity has invited them all on the weekend of a lifetime - a mini-break in Botswana to celebrate her birthday, a chance to put that night two years ago behind them, when things went so very wrong between them, and their bomb-proof friendship was shattered for ever. But on arriving at the luxury safari lodge, a feeling of unease settles on Grace, Hannah and Alice. Felicity isn't there to meet them. There's no sign of the party she promised. The awful phone signal means that they are on their own, in the wild... It's a weekend with a difference. But who is hunting who?

May 2021

Both of You is by Adele Parks.Leigh Fletcher: happily married step-mum to two gorgeous boys goes missing on Monday. Her husband Mark says he knows nothing of her whereabouts. She simply went to work and just never came home. Their family is shattered. Kai Jannsen: married to wealthy Dutch businessman, Daan, vanishes the same week. Kai left their luxurious penthouse and glamourous world without a backward glance. She seemingly evaporated into thin air. Daan is distraught. DCI Clements knows that people disappear all the time – far too frequently. Most run away from things, some run towards, others are taken but find their way back. A sad few never return. These two women are from very different worlds, their disappearances are unlikely to be connected. And yet, at a gut level, the DCI believes they are. How could these women walk away from their families, husbands and homes willingly? Clements is determined to unearth the truth, no matter how shocking and devastating it may be. 


Grace, Meg and Daphne, all in their seventies, are minding their own business while enjoying a cup of tea in a café, when seventeen-year-old Nina stumbles in. She’s clearly distraught and running from someone, so the three women think nothing of hiding her when a suspicious-looking man starts asking if they’ve seen her. Once alone, Nina tells the women a little of what she’s running from. The need to protect her is immediate, and Grace, Meg and Daphne vow to do just this. But how? They soon realise there really is only one answer: murder. And so begins the tale of the three most unlikely murderers-in-the-making, and may hell protect anyone who underestimates them. A Beginners Guide to Murder is by Rosalind Stopps.

Version Zero is by David Yoon. Three friends. One broken world. And a quest to save it. Sometimes you have to break something in order to fix it... Max is fortunate enough to be employed by Wren, the world's most powerful social media company. He works in a sprawling campus made of glass on a project so secret he can tell no one about it. But one day he discovers something sinister going on beneath the surface of the company. A terrible secret that makes him rethink not only his work but also the true consequences of modern technology. When Maxi is fired from Wren for asking the wrong questions, he joins up with his two best friends to form Version Zero, a top-secret group with a simple goal: break the internet and build something better and kinder in its place...

The Motive is by Khurum Rahman. Business has been slow for Hounslow's small time dope-dealer, Jay Qasim. A student house party means quick easy cash but it also means breaking his own rules. But desperate times lead him there - and Jay finds himself in the middle of a crime scene. Idris Zaidi, a Police Constable and Jay's best friend, is having a quiet night when he gets a call out following a noise complaint at a house party. Fed up with the lack of excitement in his job, he visits the scene and quickly realises that people are in danger after a stabbing. Someone will stop at nothing to get revenge . . .

June 2021

Local Woman is Missing is by Mary Kubica. A woman and her child are taken. But only one will return... 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....
















                                                                                                                                                                       




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