Baby Thrillers

The day I was told I’d never be able to have a child, my world came crashing down. My husband says he still loves me, but I lie awake at night, wishing we could have a family. One morning, my husband’s side of the bed is cold and empty. I hear a noise and head downstairs. In the middle of the rug in my living room is a wooden drawer. Swaddled inside, with perfect rosy cheeks and beautiful round blue eyes, a baby gazes up at me.

My life changes forever when my little girl appears in a basket on my doorstep, her long lashes fluttering, only a few hours old. She’s so tiny and precious; my heart is hers in an instant. My husband Tom and I have always longed for a child, so we agree not to tell the authorities. We won’t risk them taking her away. And I know if they find out my history, they’d never let me keep her…I’m so grateful to have my beautiful baby, who we call Daisy. But while Tom refuses to talk about it, I can’t stop wondering who her biological parents are and why they left her with us?

It’s every mother’s nightmare - the abduction of her baby. That’s how it starts for Erin Vogel when she is attacked and left unconscious in her apartment. When she awakes it is to find that Georgia, her six-month-old daughter, has been taken. But Erin is given a chance to get Georgia back. At an unthinkable price. Like most mothers, she has always said she would do anything for her child. Now the strength of that bond is about to be put to the ultimate test.

All I’ve ever wanted is to be a mother. And as soon as I looked into the beautiful, bright blue eyes of this baby tucked in her blanket, my world felt complete. Stepping into the cold air outside of the hospital doors, a shiver runs through me. I know my life will never be the same again. I slip off her little white medical bracelet and put it in the pocket of my jeans. I think of the woman upstairs in the hospital room who will soon return and find her child gone. I hesitate. Am I doing the right thing?

It is supposed to be a dream. James and I have been trying for years. But now it is starting to feel like a nightmare. Doctors don't ask questions, or care about how you're feeling. They just tell you what to do. They never listen. Mam and James don't understand either. James thinks I'm being anxious and Mam says it'll pass. It always does. That's what she did when Dad died. I've never felt more alone. Or scared. Then I joined an online group for mothers. A sisterhood, really. They might be on a screen, but sometimes it feels like they know me better than James.

She bursts into my life like a storm, and nothing is the same again. One by one, I watch as my friends fall under her spell. Only I see that her smiles don’t reach her cold, furious eyes. And when I’m accused of things I didn’t do, when my home is vandalized, I know she’s behind it. But she only lets her mask slip when no one is looking, so if I say anything, I’ll look crazy. So when the baby shower comes around, I’m sitting on a velvet sofa in a posh hotel room, surrounded by balloons. But that afternoon, I finally learn the unbelievable truth. There is no baby....

The only people who’ve been inside our house are the ones I thought I could trust. Someone close is watching me, speaking to Olivia and trying to make me look like a bad parent. I don’t care what my husband says. I’m more scared than I’ve ever been in my life, but my precious child means everything to me. They have no idea how far I’ll go to protect my daughter…

Childbirth is hard enough under even the best circumstances. But when baby Chase suffers a catastrophic brain injury at birth, his parents are drawn into a hellish whirlwind of medical and legal drama. Thaddeus Murfee, a resourceful, young lawyer, files a malpractice lawsuit on their behalf, but there’s one major problem: the hospital has forged medical records to cover up their mistake. When the case takes an unexpected twist, can Thad stay one step ahead?

When Tuppence was born, I thought I was complete. Even when my marriage to Leon began to falter, at least I had my baby girl to look after. Adults have problems all the time, but children have a way of making them seem so insignificant. But then Tuppence goes missing and I realise how my life has been teetering on the brink for so long. Now it's just me and my husband again, the two of us and all our problems, and we're forced to work together as a team to get our beloved daughter back.

Twenty-two-year-old Annie Schrijver works in the picturesque Albert Cuyp flower market. But then she goes missing, only to be found barely alive, tied to a stone angel in a graveyard. But Annie seems to have been the lucky one, as a body is found nearby. Detective Pieter Vos knows that if he is to outwit the murderer, he will need to employ everything he has to avert a greater tragedy.

Six-week-old baby Jessica is abducted from a local nursery. And Detective Tom Mariner realizes he's not going to get the time-off he was hoping for. The police get a good description of the woman who took Jessica, but the appeal to the public doesn't generate a single lead. Then the kidnapper calls demanding money for Jessica's safe return . . . and a terrible discovery is made in the woods. Can Mariner get to bottom of a complex case which involves much more than child abduction?

It's 1996. Detective Sergeant Tom Thorne is a haunted man. Haunted by the moment he ignored his instinct about a suspect, by the horrific crime that followed and by the memories that come day and night, in sunshine and shadow. So when seven-year-old Kieron Coyne goes missing while playing in the woods with his best friend, Thorne vows he will not make the same mistake again. Cannot. The solitary witness. The strange neighbour. The friendly teacher. All are in Thorne's sights. This case will be the making of him...or the breaking.

All my adult life, I've longed for a baby. We tried IVF. We tried everything. Now, we're waiting to adopt. We have a beautiful home and all the love in the world to give a child. But we're told it will take years. Then one day, at Rocky Point Beach, one thing leads to another. I make a split-second decision—and I come home with a baby. He has tiny red bow lips and the chubbiest cheeks. He's gorgeous. I call him Jonah.

Fifteen year old Marilyn turns up alone and frightened on Inspector Ramsay’s doorstep so he takes the young girl home to the isolated coastal community known as the Headland. And in the Howes’ dark and cluttered kitchen they find Kathleen safe and apparently well, though acting rather mysteriously. Six months later, Ramsay has more or less forgotten the strange incident, busy as he is on the trail of a local child abductor. Until he receives news that Mrs Howe has disappeared once more.

When Melissa Crawford snatches a crying baby from outside a house, she knows she's done the right thing. She can't bear to see the baby suffer one more day in that house, with those people. With her, baby Gabriel will be safe and loved. She is his grandmother after all...But as Melissa is making her escape, she is involved in a terrible accident which forces her into hiding. She can't believe she's been so careless - now she has to lay low and let the dust settle. Gabriel's parents won't care where he is, they'll be glad he's gone but if she goes to prison who will care for the little baby?

Her life was perfect. Until the video. Scarlett’s golden life suddenly unravels when someone sends a shocking video of her to everyone she knows. The only people who claim they haven’t seen it are the friends in her new mothers’ group: Cora, Emma and Asha. Scarlett is forced to delve into her past to discover who is out to get her. But as her circle of trust gathers around her, she has to ask - are her friends as innocent as they seem?

Charlotte Morgan knows how it feels to desperately want a baby. As a child, seeing her mum devastated by losing her longed-for babies, Charlotte wished another woman could give her mother what she so craved. Now Charlotte’s a mum herself and knowing how much love her daughter, Alice, brings into her life, she vows to help others achieve their dreams of becoming a parent. When she meets Malcolm and Brenda on a surrogacy website, it seems she's found the perfect couple. In their late 40s, they have wealth and an enviable life, but there’s one thing missing – a child of their own.

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his uncle's house in lockdown Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib. At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby's cries, and during the days, he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby's cheeks. Who is lying, and who is telling the truth?

I haven’t slept properly since Riley was born. I love my baby so much–every noise he makes and every sleepy blink has me rushing to his side to make sure he’s safe. Yet the lack of sleep is getting to me. There are terrifying blanks in my memory, and my temper is blindingly short. I can’t rely on my partner–I don’t even know where he is half the time. But at least I have Maggie next door. She tells me this is just what new motherhood is like, so I have no choice but to ignore the blackout rages and blurred vision, for Riley’s sake…

Mark and Melissa Cain are thrilled to have found Jade, a babysitter who is brilliant with their young children. Having seen her own house burn to the ground, Jade needs them as much as they need her. Moving Jade into the family home can only be a good thing, can’t it? As Mark works long hours as a police officer and Melissa struggles with running a business, the family become ever more reliant on their babysitter, who is only too happy to help. And as Melissa begins to slip into depression, it’s Jade who is left picking up the pieces. But Mark soon notices things aren’t quite as they seem. Things at home feel wrong, and as Mark begins to investigate their seemingly perfect sitter, what he discovers shocks him to his core. He’s met Jade before. And now he suspects he might know what she wants.