Showing results by publisher "Embla Books" in Thriller & Suspense

How well do you really know the people closest to you? Aria Miller used to think she had the perfect life, but now that the honeymoon phase is all but a distant memory, she can't shake the feeling her perfect life is a sandcastle waiting to collapse. Recently she's felt a prickle of anxiety when her husband Ethan says he has to work late. She's trying to shake the feeling that he's been lying. After all, trusting men has never worked out well for Aria... But sweet, kind Ethan has never given her a reason not to trust him, has he?

DS Lucas Walker is on assignment for the AFP, and it couldn't be more personal. This is his last chance to take down Stefan Markovich - the Vandals leader who tried to have him killed after Walker uncovered his drug operation, and has evaded justice for years. Having tracked Markovich to Berlin, Walker heads to Germany lure his nemesis out of hiding and into custody. And there is another draw for Walker in Berlin: he finally gets to see Barbara again.

Izzy Blake hasn't seen sunlight in four years. She only eats when she's been good. She only gets to wash when he says so. Izzy has fought to maintain her identity and sanity, clinging to memories of the life she once knew. Her parents, her job, her real name. But it's hard, she's been in the cellar so long. Every day is the same. Dark. Pain. Alone. Until one day the door opens and it's not him. It's a woman. Who clearly has no idea that her boyfriend has Izzy chained up in their wine cellar.

Jen Beeny is leaving her turbulent past behind and now it's time to start living. Or at least she's trying to. Between her dead-end job, live-in-landlord and disastrous dates, life in London is not quite turning out as she'd planned. When her dates start to go missing, Jen is determined to ignore the sense of dread building inside her. She continues on with life...until the police come knocking. All signs suggest Jen is the culprit, and the internet sleuths are gaining traction. But Jen didn't do anything wrong, did she?

Jo is five months pregnant with the baby she's always dreamed of, and the perfect marriage to David, the love of her life. But there's something she's been hiding from him... a lie that could change everything. Then David disappears. No note. No warning. No trace...

Pregnant with her first child, Lucy's life should be full of excitement and hope. Instead, her days are clouded by moments she can't explain - forgotten plans, misplaced belongings, a creeping sense that something is slipping through her fingers. They say every new mother feels like this, it's just baby brain, but the sleepless nights bring strange dreams and flashes of memory she can't quite place. Everyone insists she's fine. Lucy's not so sure. Because something, or someone, doesn't want her to remember.

If Piddlington Gazette editor, Harry Hedges, thought the sleepy Dorset town had earned a respite from murder after not one, but two bodies turned up on its roundabout last year, he's got another think coming. First, someone has been placing sinister effigies among the streets of the local Model Village: seemingly harmless fun until one turns out to be a dead ringer for the town mayoress, a woman best known for her big development plans and even bigger list of enemies.

DS Lucas Walker is back home in Queensland, working in the small outback town of Katima following the dramatic fallout from his last case. As he adjusts to this career detour, his focus suddenly shifts when the body of a young man is found hanging in the local park. What at first looks like a tragic suicide, soon leads Walker down a treacherous path. Similarities with an unsolved case arise, and when Walker and his young partner are first on the scene of a shocking murder the scope of what they could be dealing with explodes.

It began with the whispers. In the woods, in the park, and always at night. Then they came into town, down dark alleys, and in the shadows. Before long, the black-eyed children were moving closer, until finally there was a knock on the door. When the couple were found dead with their faces frozen in horror, the children were nowhere to be seen. Until it happened again. Join Detective Sarah Noble as she investigates another dark case in the town of Slayton.

At thirty-six, Katie Cope's life hasn't turned out the way she planned. She had big dreams of becoming an investigative journalist, but then her best friend from college disappeared. Claire was driving home for Thanksgiving and never made it. Her abandoned car was found at a trailhead in the Rockies, but she was never seen again. Now Katie's husband Howard has sold his San Diego business for more money than they ever dreamed. She's found a beautiful new housing development in the breathtaking wilderness of the Colorado mountains. It's just the fresh start we need, she tells him.

Detective Fraser Brodie is at a grisly crime scene on the Isle of Harris. Local aristocrat Lord Edward Devlin has been brutally murdered, his skull bashed in. The violent and bloody scene is all the more shocking for the fact that the victim was eighty. As forensics comb for evidence they uncover a second body - but this crime is not recent. Why are these remains on the Devlin Estate, and are the two deaths somehow connected?

Aspiring writer, Camille Fletcher is struggling to get by in the world after leaving university. But she has no idea how hard things are going to get.... First an old friend dies in tragic circumstances. Then another girl. And another. The police say there are no suspicious circumstances, they don't see a link. But what if there was a link? What if the rumours are true, what if her ex-boyfriend was responsible? When does she stop dismissing the rumours as the work of internet trolls and start believing them? Because the police don't know what Camille knows...

When a fire destroys the Empress Theatre, a devastating tragedy unfolds. Amelia 's mother lost her peace of mind forever when she left her daughter alone for a few life-changing moments. The dance school lost their beloved teacher, Hilary , who died saving the lives of her young pupils. Karin lost her memory, and the answers she desperately craves. Claudia lost the one thing that would have made her perfect life complete.

Annie is five when her beloved big sister, Gemma, leaves for school and is never seen again. The police search for weeks and Annie never gives up hope that Gemma will one day come home to her. Now, twenty years after her sister mysteriously vanished, Annie returns to her childhood home to care for her ill mother. Opening the door to Gemma's room, Annie finds it untouched from the day her sister disappeared, with her make up still on the dresser and her books open on her bed. Annie is certain that the answers to what happened to Gemma are here in her old room.

Jen Cartwright returns from holiday to find her new next-door neighbour is Stacey Abbott, her childhood bully. It could be coincidence—but when Jen's close friends start to abandon her, and Jen's livelihood becomes threatened, it seems that the vendetta from the past has begun again. But why now, twenty years later? And if Stacey isn't to blame, then who is? Or is Jen inventing her own nightmares as her career and marriage seem to be foundering around her?

Catherine is frantic. It's her husband Simon's turn to take their son to nursery and he's nowhere to be seen. He promised he'd be here. So, where is he? And why isn't he taking her calls? Her worst fears are soon realised when the police arrive at her door to tell her that Simon is missing, presumed dead. Refusing to accept that he's gone, Catherine spends her days retracing his last steps, and her nights searching the streets in desperation. She will not rest, she will not sleep, until she's put her family back together.

I should never have gone to her house. But I was desperate to ask her some questions about that night. About what she saw when Joe fell from the bridge. All I wanted was some honesty, for someone else to have seen what I saw. I never meant to hurt her. To push her. As she lay at the bottom of the stairs, blood pooling around her head, I knew it was the end for me too. I kept expecting the knock on the door, the police, the handcuffs. But it never came. On the news, they are reporting someone has come forward and confessed to her murder. But that can't be true. Because her killer is me.

When April joins a support group for young widows, she's looking for comfort after her husband's sudden death. What she finds instead is a group in turmoil. Set up by well-meaning amateurs, the founders are tussling for control of the group, and everyone's on edge. The founders are fighting for control, members are keeping dangerous secrets, and forbidden relationships are threatening to tear the club apart. And then there's Nick, the newest addition, whose charm feels just a little too calculated. But the most dangerous secret of all? Not all members are who they seem to be.

When ordinary mum Frankie moves into her new seaside home, it is a dream come true. Her new neighbours - glamorous Zara, ambitious Nadine and social butterfly Geneva - soon take her under their wing. Geneva - soon take her under their wing. The four women become inseparable. Until the morning when Geneva's body is found on the beach. Suspicion is immediately cast on Geneva's husband. Everyone believes he must be guilty. But when the police don't charge him, he vanishes without trace. Now, five years later, he's back.

Forensic entomologist Vanessa Marwood has built her career on her love of insects and the vital information these tiny creatures can provide at the scene of a crime. Just as she is about to board a plane for her dream job at a lab in New York, Vanessa receives a call about a chilling set of murders in her hometown. Not only have four innocent victims lost their lives in a single night, but the killer has sewn spider silk into their wounds. Vanessa swore she would never return to Greensands. But this case, and the dark secrets of her childhood, are drawing her back.