Family Suspense Thrillers

Every family has secrets, and on the hottest day of the year, the truth is about to come out. As a tragedy unfolds behind closed doors, the dawn chorus is split by the wail of sirens. And one by one the families who tried so hard to welcome the Wests begin to realise: Hogarth Street will never be the same again.

My daughter’s boyfriend feels like one of the family. I couldn’t be happier to have him living with us. But now my daughter’s disappeared… I never wanted to have an empty nest. So when my daughter, Liv, asks if she and her new boyfriend, Jensen, can move in, I’m thrilled. Jensen is so helpful. He tells me how he loves being part of a close-knit family. He’s felt so alone since his parents died. And for me, his presence goes a little way towards replacing the son I lost.

Matt Walker was a chancer; he’d spent his entire profession chasing the next job. His personal life took on a similar mantra. Life was slowly drifting him by. Until one evening, in a hotel bar, following a fortuitous meeting with the quiet and unassuming Julia. She knew of an opportunity that would be the perfect fit for Matt; one he simply couldn’t let go. Not only did the subsequent interview provide him his with dream job; it would also be where he met the love of his life. Matt and Amelia spent each day working hand-in-hand, and every evening in premarital bliss.

Maria, Alex, and Antonio Capello were raised by their gangster father with just one rule: family is everything. Now he’s dead, Maria works as a lawyer by day and a mob boss by night, risking everything if her secret life is ever revealed.

My heart is thumping with fear as I stare out at the snow-capped mountains. This ski trip to the French Alps was meant to be a chance for me and my two sisters to put the past behind us after years of not speaking. Instead, I'm expecting the police to knock on the door of our chalet. I'd planned for our families to get to know each other, sipping hot chocolate while laughing together around the fireplace. I didn't think our winter getaway would end in murder.

The Glass family business is crime, and they’re good at what they do. Vengeance took Luke Glass behind bars - but now he's free and he's never going back. Luke wants out of the gangster life - all he has to do is convince his family to let him go. His brother holds the reins of the South London underworld in his brutal hands - nobody tells Danny Glass no and expects to live - not even DCI Oliver Stanford, bent copper and one of the Met's rising stars.

Special Agent Nikki Hunt feels her chest tighten as she looks down at the body sprawled beside the lilac bushes. This morning, her ten-year-old daughter Lacey witnessed the murder of local mother Elle Harper. Out riding her bike, Lacey saw the killer escape from the house and rushed inside to protect Elle’s daughters Maisy and Maya. Nikki promises Lacey she’ll do whatever it takes to help the poor innocent girls who now sit in her house clutching their teddies. But before she has a chance to return them to the safety of their stepfather Tim, he’s reported missing.

When estate agent Laura Bradley is asked to sell number 1 Aspen Hollow, it feels like a dream come true. The house is beautiful—five bedrooms and a perfect garden, surrounded by lush woodland. Laura loves finding a family their dream home, even as each night she returns to a cramped single room. Laura tries to ignore the red paint thrown at the walls of the house, the strange noises upstairs and the threatening messages she is receiving. Whatever its history, the beautiful house deserves a second chance.

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs saying the words every mother dreads. The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl. After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law, Diane, finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over. But then her perfect family starts to fall apart....

It’s almost Christmas and Bunny McGarry is not in the festive spirit. His mood is not improved when an old friend becomes the victim of a violent assault and, for reasons he can’t understand, the police force he is a member of has decided not to investigate. Getting to the bottom of the case ends up putting him on the wrong side of some powerful people.

1926: The murderer Gerald Ponsonby has been caught, thanks to Boots, and is facing trial. He hates Boots and the whole Adams clan and is hungry for revenge. When a dapper, quiet, but rather odd lodger turns up at Doreen Paterson's house, nobody thinks anything is amiss. Certainly not Doreen - who works for Boots in Adams Enterprises and thinks him just wonderful. Could the strange lodger be plotting the downfall of the irrepressible, outrageous, and larger-than-life Adams clan?

Fear and dread fill Matt Walker's veins as he returns to his West London apartment. He promised himself things would be different this time, yet here he was again—haunted by the same demons and sins of his past. Before long, Lisa and baby George join him in the idyllic village they so hoped would be their fresh start. But all is not as it seems; shadows lurk behind closed doors and Matt is convinced he is being watched. Then Lisa makes a discovery which throws her life into turmoil, her world spinning out of control. Little does she know how far-reaching its consequences will be.

Nancy Byrne might be the head of the notorious Byrne crime family, but she’s determined to give her little daughter, Scarlett, the best start possible. After the death of her beloved father, the notorious gangster Jimmy Byrne, nothing’s stopping Nancy from making money on her own terms - even if she has to combine motherhood with providing for her entire family. But with enemies at their door, she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her loved ones.

The Queen of Scottish Gangland Thrillers is back! Donnie Black. Charming, successful... and utterly terrifying, he rules the Glasgow underworld with an iron fist. Nothing - or no one - will stop him and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty to grow his fortune. Layla Black. She's been married to Donnie for twenty years, enjoying the lavish world he has worked hard to create. But behind the perfect image, Layla is crumbling, numbing her pain with alcohol. But Layla doesn't know the secrets Donnie keeps - and the truth will send her spiralling.

Like many old New England families, the Kellings live to die. Although their family vault is spacious and comfortable, it will not do for Sarah Kelling's great-uncle Frederick. In his will, he demands to be buried inside the ancient family tomb at Boston Common, which hasn't admitted a new member in more than a century. But when the Kellings crack the old vault's door, they find a recently built brick wall - and behind it lays a surprisingly fresh corpse, a skeleton with rubies in its teeth.

On a humid summer day in Alabama, a mayor’s wife turns up brutally murdered under a railroad bridge. Standing next to her body is fourteen-year-old Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevieve Hill. The locals are quick to level their verdict on young Mason: he did it. The town detective calls in local autism expert Casey Walker to consult on the case. At first, Casey tries to keep an open mind. But the more time she spends with Genevieve, the more her unease grows, and she suspects that Genevieve is doing more than just protecting her son.

Phillip Murphy is a family man. He worships his old mum; he takes care of his siblings who help run his business empire; he dotes on his two young sons who will one day take over. And then there's his wife and saviour, Christine, whom he loves with a vengeance. To Phillip Murphy, family is everything. Christine has always understood this about her husband. But there is another side to Phillip, and it's a side he never wanted his wife to see.

Matt Walker had just witnessed the murder of Graham Meadows, his psychopathic brother-in-law; or so he thought. After all he had been through, what, or who, could he believe anyway? Eighteen months previous, after meeting the love of his life, Matt had envisaged finally settling down. However, soon after he married Amelia, his life began to spiral out of control; ever since the day she introduced him to The Family. Yet somehow he managed to escape, free to start over.

The Family Man died twenty years ago, cheating DCI John Drake of the chance to bring him to justice. But when a mother is found with her entire family brutally murdered at an isolated house in Yorkshire, the grim discovery bears all the hallmarks of the dead serial killer’s work. Haunted by what he’d witnessed during the original investigation, Drake knows his experience makes him the obvious choice to head the specialist team investigating these latest killings.

It’s their daughter’s graduation and Rachel and Ed Hartley are expecting it to be one of their family’s happiest days. But when she stumbles and falls on stage during the ceremony, a beautiful moment turns to chaos: Gemma has been shot, and just like that, she’s fighting for her life. PI Matthew Hill is one of the first on the scene. A cryptic message Gemma received earlier in the day suggests someone close to her was about to be exposed. But who?