Showing results by publisher "Hachette UK - Bookouture" in Psychological

A year ago, someone broke into our home. He stood outside our bedroom, with our children asleep down the corridor, and knocked on the door. But the worst moment came later, when I found out who had nearly destroyed my family, and why. Now my husband has booked us a surprise vacation. In a beautiful cabin on the shore we will rest, talk, recover. But I can’t relax. When I drive to the store, or stroll down the beach, I am always looking over my shoulder, my heart racing. Because no matter how hard my husband tries to pretend, we both know it’s not over.

To the world, Mia Thornton is invisible. People would never guess that she found the will to dig her way out of a locked shed when she was just six years old. That she never saw her mother again. Now, all Mia longs for is a normal life. But when she runs into a group of colleagues one evening, she discovers that, once again, she’s been excluded. Stung at the rejection, she pockets the keys of one of the women in a petty act of revenge. Celeste is fearless, pretty, popular - everything Mia wishes she could be. The next day, Celeste is reported missing.

Lucy gets the same bus every day. She hopes to get a seat to herself, tries to avoid eye contact, and, if she’s really lucky, reads a chapter of her book. But it’s a Friday - and the bus is always crammed at the end of the week. Personal space doesn’t exist. She keeps her elbows close and clings to a pole at every juddering stop. When she gets off, something feels different. An envelope stuffed with thousands of pounds is in her bag. Is it the answer to her prayers, or the beginning of a nightmare? Because, in the end, everything has a price.

When Sophie’s life falls apart, she accepts an invitation from a childhood friend, Caroline, to visit her family’s beautiful beach house, miles from the nearest town. The silence is broken only by the rhythmic crash of the waves against the jagged black rocks below. But when Sophie arrives, she finds her friend much changed. Caroline - who used to be so warm and confident - is secretive and on-edge, spending long, unexplained hours away from her family. And then there’s Caroline’s little daughter Lucy - who stopped speaking soon after they moved in.

I wrap my arms around the tree trunk, pressing my cheek against it until the bark digs in and the missing poster is finally secured. I try not to look at the photograph on it. At the features so similar to mine. Perhaps this will be the year someone comes forward. Were crucial mistakes made by detectives from the very beginning? Could the pressure of living two lives have led my sister to run away - or even end it? Or did someone in her tight circle of friends and family have reason to want her gone? Someone out there must know something.

It’s 1985, and the disappearance of 10-year-old Lisa Cook shocks the nation. Her best friend, Kirsty, traumatized and fearful, gives evidence that helps to put the Cook family’s lodger behind bars. But what if Kirsty made a mistake? Now, decades later, Kirsty leaves a life she loves to move back to the hometown she hates - tortured by her memories, she’s determined to finally uncover the truth about what happened to Lisa that day. But someone is waiting for her there, someone close to her family. Someone who is hoping to finish off a job that was started years ago....

When three-year-old Sara disappeared from their lives, it tore the Turner family apart. Years later, they are still startling at every knock, convinced it is Sara at the door. But the only trace of the cherished little girl is a fading photo in the hall, a single white knitted baby shoe tucked behind the frame. Then, one day, as they pick at sandwiches in a crowded local café, a beautiful girl approaches, claiming to be Sara. With her wide green eyes and soft, straight hair, could she really be their long-lost girl? But where has she been all this time?

The moment my husband showed me Cliffside - a sleek and modern glass home perched on the edge of the jagged Big Sur clifftops - I fell in love. And right there and then I made a pact with myself. I am never leaving this house. But when my husband was killed on the perilous roads leading up to the house, weeks after we moved in, I had a decision to make - leave the home I love and start a new life or stay and shut myself off from the world? I am never leaving this house.

Skye Turner’s family fell apart the day her twin sister, Ginny, died. Everyone in their tiny community in the Scottish Highlands accepted it was an accident, but more than one person in town is haunted by a secret from that night.... Skye left after the funeral, believing her mother blamed her for Ginny’s death. Skye should have taken care of Ginny, should have been there to stop her falling from the cliffs that night. Over the years, she’s barely spoken to her mother, until the day she receives a phone call asking her to return home.

Nobody talks about my mother. Absolutely nobody. I have no idea what she was like. I’d always thought they kept quiet about her because they were sad. But what if it was because they were guilty?

It’s the fourth of July and the whole town is gathered at the local pool. Through the sweltering afternoon, we single mothers don’t mix with the other women - the ones with the perfect lives and happy marriages. Women like Sabine Miller. But when Sabine shoots me a desperate look across the water and suddenly disappears, my blood runs cold....

It’s been 25 years since Emma graduated from the prestigious Denham House Girls’ School. She thinks she’s finally shaken the shadow of the awkward, neurotic girl she was at school. But as a class reunion approaches, Emma finds herself right back there, moving into the headmaster’s old staff cottage with her daughter while her marriage implodes. It’s here though that Emma finds a photograph that had been hidden away: an explicit image of her school-friend Tessa, staring boldly at the camera, dated the day before her death.

When human remains are discovered behind a dumpster in Woodbridge, Virginia, Detective Amanda Steele rushes to the scene. Her heart drops when she arrives and is hit by the unmistakable stench of gasoline. Soon, her worst fear is confirmed: the victim was burned alive. With only an engraved gold wedding band surviving the blaze, Amanda knows it could be days before they have a confirmed ID. But when her partner Detective Trent Stenson arrives, he pales at the sight of the ring, recognizing it as belonging to his Aunt Gertrude’s husband, Don.

It’s a crisp spring morning when the small-town community around Briar Ridge Elementary School is shattered by devastating news. Bright and shy five-year-old Nicole has disappeared at recess. Nicole’s mother, Gia, is lost in her grief. On the same day her baby girl vanished, Gia found out she was pregnant with the sister Nicole had begged for. Gia is also devastated that her best friend, Karen, was supervising the playground when Nicole was taken. And when Nicole’s body is discovered, Gia can’t help but ask: Why didn’t Karen protect her little girl?

When Thea sees her old family home is up for sale - a beautiful old rectory in the small town where she and her childhood sweetheart, now husband, Drew, grew up - she knows she has to have it. Her parents moved her away suddenly when she was 11, but her childhood there was filled with happy memories. Drew seems less sure, but Thea is certain it’s the perfect place to raise their two children. But as the last boxes are unpacked, Thea can’t seem to settle. She thought the move would bring her family closer together, but Drew is getting more distant by the day.

Every October, the school where I work takes a trip to a local farm to pet the animals and search for the perfect Halloween pumpkin. This year is even more special, as my daughter, Claire, is coming. She’s so excited, and we really need some fun time together after what we’ve been through.

Nach einer unsteten Kindheit, die sie bei Pflegefamilien verbrachte, hat Hannah alles getan, um sich ein sicheres und geborgenes Leben zu schaffen. Sie mag ihre gemütliche Wohnung und ihren Job als Sozialarbeiterin. Manchmal macht sie sich Sorgen, dass sie sich mit ihren 36 Jahren vielleicht nie verlieben wird, aber ansonsten ist sie mit ihrem Leben zufrieden.

This trip was a chance to reconnect away from our busy lives. The five of us used to be so close—going right back to our college days, when we shared a rickety house and all our favorite clothes, as well as every high and low of our lives—but that was then. Now, the thought of three days in a small cabin far from anywhere, surrounded only by water and trees, with my four oldest friends makes my stomach sink and my hands sweat. Because if they knew what I’d done—the betrayals I’ve committed—they’d never forgive me. And neither would you.

My daughter is gone. She’s been taken. I grip the phone so hard I think it might break, and try to focus on what they’re saying. I realize I’m not crying, even though I feel like I’ve been split in two. And then they say a name that makes my blood run cold. Suddenly, my past and present collide. My heart pounds in my chest, memories flooding my head. I have to focus on my daughter, Nelle, but I can’t escape the panicked questions rushing in. How do they know about Betty? And what else do they know?

Jane Bryson obeys the rules. A long-standing science teacher at Ravenswood High School, she lives a simple life with her husband, Craig, and Moose the black Labrador. When free-spirited new English teacher Elena Mayfield joins Ravenswood, Jane’s excited to have a friend who is ready to challenge authority, and Elena’s soon shaking things up. When Elena starts a controversial club, Jane is ready to support her. When Elena begins an illicit romance with a colleague, Jane is there to help her shield her secret.