Now we’re well and truly into December, here are some of my most-anticipated titles to be read this winter, over the next few months…
The Crow Girl – Erik Axl Sund [published 6 April 2017]
[Synopsis]
The most terrifying thriller you’ll read this year
It starts with just one body – the hands bound, the skin covered in marks.
Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg is determined to find out who is responsible, despite opposition from her superiors. When two more bodies are found, it becomes clear that she is hunting a serial killer.
With her career on the line, she turns to psychotherapist Sofia Zetterlund. Together, they uncover a chain of shocking events that began decades ago – but will it lead them to the murderer before someone else dies?
White Bodies – Jane Robins [published 28 December 2017]
[Synopsis]
Felix and Tilda seem like the perfect couple: young and in love, a financier and a beautiful up-and-coming starlet. But behind their flawless façade, not everything is as it seems.
Callie, Tilda’s unassuming twin, has watched her sister visibly shrink under Felix’s domineering love. She has looked on silently as Tilda stopped working, nearly stopped eating, and turned into a neat freak, with mugs wrapped in Saran Wrap and suspicious syringes hidden in the bathroom trash. She knows about Felix’s uncontrollable rages, and has seen the bruises on the white skin of her sister’s arms.
Worried about the psychological hold that Felix seems to have over Tilda, Callie joins an internet support group for victims of abuse and their friends. However, things spiral out of control and she starts to doubt her own judgment when one of her new acquaintances is killed by an abusive man. And then suddenly Felix dies—or was he murdered?
It Started With A Tweet – Anna Bell [published 7 December 2017; I’m on the blog tour with a review on 21 December!]
[Synopsis]
Can Daisy Hobson log off for love…?
Could you survive a digital detox? This hilarious new romantic comedy from the author of The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart is perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond and Sophie Kinsella.
Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. A marketing manager by day, she tweets her friends, instagrams every meal and arranges (frankly, appalling) dates on Tinder. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall . . .
Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy’s problems – a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria, that she just happens to need help doing up. Soon, too, Daisy finds herself with two welcome distractions: sexy French exchange-help Alexis, and Jack, the brusque and rugged man-next-door, who keeps accidentally rescuing her.
But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village? And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone?
Close to Home – Cara Hunter [published 28 December 2017]
[Synopsis]
Someone took Daisy Mason. Someone YOU KNOW.
Last night, 8-year-old Daisy Mason disappeared from her parents’ summer party. No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything – or at least that’s what they’re saying. DI Adam Fawley is trying to keep an open mind. But he knows that nine times out of ten, it’s someone the victim knew. That means someone is lying. And that Daisy’s time is running out…
Introducing DI Fawley and his team of Oxford detectives, CLOSE TO HOME is a pulse-pounding race against time and a penetrating examination of what happens to a community when a shocking crime is committed by one of its own.
The Child Finder – Rene Denfeld [published 11 January 2018]
[Synopsis]
Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight years old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as The Child Finder, Naomi is their last hope.
Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl too.
As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
Anatomy of a Scandal – Sarah Vaughan [published 11 January 2018]
[Synopsis]
An astonishingly incisive and suspenseful novel about a scandal amongst Britain’s privileged elite and the women caught up in its wake.
Sophie’s husband James is a loving father, a handsome man, a charismatic and successful public figure. And yet he stands accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is convinced he is innocent and desperate to protect her precious family from the lies that threaten to rip them apart.
Kate is the lawyer hired to prosecute the case: an experienced professional who knows that the law is all about winning the argument. And yet Kate seeks the truth at all times. She is certain James is guilty and is determined he will pay for his crimes.
Who is right about James? Sophie or Kate? And is either of them informed by anything more than instinct and personal experience? Despite her privileged upbringing, Sophie is well aware that her beautiful life is not inviolable. She has known it since she and James were first lovers, at Oxford, and she witnessed how easily pleasure could tip into tragedy.
Most people would prefer not to try to understand what passes between a man and a woman when they are alone: alone in bed, alone in an embrace, alone in an elevator… Or alone in the moonlit courtyard of an Oxford college, where a girl once stood before a boy, heart pounding with excitement, then fear. Sophie never understood why her tutorial partner Holly left Oxford so abruptly. What would she think, if she knew the truth?
The Chalk Man – C. J. Tudor [published 11 January 2018]
[Synopsis]
None of us ever agreed on the exact beginning.
Was it when we started drawing the chalk figures, or when they started to appear on their own?
Was it the terrible accident?
Or when they found the first body?
The Confession – Jo Spain [published 11 January 2018; I’m on the blog tour on 19 January with a review!]
[Synopsis]
Late one night a man walks into the luxurious home of disgraced banker Harry McNamara and his wife Julie. The man launches an unspeakably brutal attack on Harry as a horror-struck Julie watches, frozen by fear.
Just an hour later the attacker, JP Carney, has handed himself in to the police. He confesses to beating Harry to death, but JP claims that the assault was not premeditated and that he didn’t know the identity of his victim. With a man as notorious as Harry McNamara, the detectives cannot help wondering, was this really a random act of violence or is it linked to one of Harry’s many sins: corruption, greed, betrayal?
This gripping psychological thriller will have you questioning, who – of Harry, Julie and JP – is really the guilty one? And is Carney’s surrender driven by a guilty conscience or is his confession a calculated move in a deadly game?
Hydra – Matt Wesolowski [published 11 January 2018; I’m on the blog tour with a review on the 19 January!]
[Synopsis]
One cold November night in 2014, in a small town in the north west of England, 26-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and younger sister to death with a hammer, in an unprovoked attack known as the “Macleod Massacre.” Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation. King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five witnesses and Arla herself, as he questions whether Arla’s responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out. As he unpicks the stories, he finds himself thrust into a world of deadly forbidden “games,” online trolls, and the mysterious Black-eyed Children, whose presence extends far beyond the delusions of a murderess.
Great line up Laura! The Chalk Man and The Confession are both absolutely superb. I’ve got It started with a Tweet, Hydra and Anatomy of a s Scandal on my list, too.
Thanks, so pleased to hear The Chalk Man and The Confession are great reads, even more excited now! I hope you enjoy the others on your list too, I’ll keep an eye out to see what you think of them too! 😀
Great line up Laura! The Chalk Man and The Confession are both absolutely superb. I’ve got It started with a Tweet, Hydra and Anatomy of a s Scandal on my list, too.
Thanks, so pleased to hear The Chalk Man and The Confession are great reads, even more excited now! I hope you enjoy the others on your list too, I’ll keep an eye out to see what you think of them too! 😀
The Chalk Man sounds so intriguing!
It does, doesn’t it! I can’t wait to start it; heard very good things so fingers crossed it lives up to it!
The Chalk Man sounds so intriguing!
It does, doesn’t it! I can’t wait to start it; heard very good things so fingers crossed it lives up to it!
A great winter line up! Enjoy ????
Thank you, I can’t wait to get going on them! Have a great reading week! x
A great winter line up! Enjoy ????
Thank you, I can’t wait to get going on them! Have a great reading week! x
I loved Anatomy of a Scandal!
Ooh I keep hearing this which is making me even more excited to start it! 😀
It was a real page turner for me.
I loved Anatomy of a Scandal!
Ooh I keep hearing this which is making me even more excited to start it! 😀
It was a real page turner for me.
I keep seeing Crow Girl everywhere and I am really intrigued to read it!
thank for this post.
Me too, it looks like an interesting read! Hopefully it will live up to its great reviews!
I keep seeing Crow Girl everywhere and I am really intrigued to read it!
thank for this post.
Me too, it looks like an interesting read! Hopefully it will live up to its great reviews!