Committed:- A New Take on Terrorism By Chris Merritt

When we think of terrorism, what probably comes to mind is the deadliest attacks of the new millennium: 9/11, Madrid, London, Mumbai, Paris. We think of groups like ISIS, Al-Shabaab, and Boko Haram. For most of the 21^st Century, Islamist extremism has grabbed the headlines. Not so today.

In 2021, for the first time since 9/11, the FBI classified far-right extremism as a bigger threat inside the US than that posed by Islamic terror groups. In fact, since 9/11, racially-motivated extremists have killed more people in the US than Islamists. Violent far-right groups like Atomwaffen Division and Hammerskins have significant followings in Europe, North America, and Australasia. 

Membership of these fringe groups has grown along with the popularity of mainstream far-right political parties, standing for election on anti-immigration, nationalist platforms. However, Western governments have done little to tackle their spread, hate speech, or the violent threat they pose. 

In some cases, politicians have even supported the actions of far-right organisations, for example, Trump telling the Proud Boys – who were among the leaders of the US Capitol riots – to ‘stand by’ on national TV. Troublingly, serving law enforcement and military personnel are often among those identified as members of such groups.

While far-right terrorism might seem a world away from Islamic extremism, the two share more in common than you might think. Central to participation in each is the process of radicalisation: the development of an extreme ideology based on hatred of those who believe something different.

As a psychologist and former diplomat who has worked in conflict zones where people killed each other over their beliefs, I was fascinated by the psychological link between these two types of extremism. In my new book, Committed, I explore the parallels between them in the conversion of ordinary people to terrorist ideologies. But how does this conversion happen?

Humans are more susceptible to messages when they come from an authority figure or group to which we feel aligned. We consider ourselves part of the ‘in-group’, and we begin to feel negatively towards any ‘out-groups’. Extremists create this sense of affinity by tapping into racial, economic, social, political, and religious divisions, over-simplifying and exploiting them by manipulating their adherents to hate the ‘out-group’ that supposedly hates them. With this justification, violence is just a short step away.

My main character, Ellen McGinley, was a CIA undercover operative during a deadly Islamist terror attack in Paris, five years ago, which she blames herself for not preventing. In the present day, she is trying to confront a domestic terror threat in the US which no one else believes is real, and she won’t stop – even if it costs her everything.

In occasional chapters narrated by one of the domestic terror group, Peter, we see from the other side how someone might come to be drawn into a radical group. Poverty, hatred, a sense of being betrayed by those in power, personal failure, social rejection, and frustration are all factors that contribute to the characters’ susceptibility to join an extreme group and engage in violence.

Though Committed is a work of fiction, the issues at its heart are very real. And as society, we ignore them at our peril.

If you’d like to read more, you can purchase Committed here: https://t.co/C4kmTAIFIk

Committed by Chris Merritt (Headline)

Former CIA undercover operative Ellen McGinley is battling to overcome PTSD when she stumbles upon a domestic terror plot. The deadly attack is due to take place in six days and will strike at the very heart of her homeland. For Ellen, it's a chance to find redemption for her greatest mistake - one she will never allow herself to forget. But no sooner than she alerts the authorities, she finds herself diagnosed as delusional and locked in a psychiatric ward. No one believes her story. She's the only one who thinks the danger is real, which means she's the only one who can stop it. Ellen must draw on all her old skills to escape, stay alive, protect her family, and find those responsible - before all hell breaks loose.

Chris Merritt is a clinical psychologist and former diplomat. As a member of the British foreign service, he completed postings in Jerusalem and Iraq. He has also lived and worked in the US. Committed is his eighth novel.

More information about the author can be found on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter @DrCJMerritt on Instagram @cjmerritt81 and on Facebook.

September Books to Look Forward to from Bookouture

 

Bring Her Home is by S A Dunphy. She had taken only one step towards the hotel when she heard the car door opening, and then something had her by the shoulders in a grip like steel. Penny tried to fight, but it was no good. The last thing she heard as consciousness drifted away was the whisper of a familiar song… On a cold night in October a pretty, blonde girl named Penny O’Dwyer is snatched from the quiet main street of a small, coastal town in the west of Ireland. No one saw anything, and a desperate search leads nowhere… Until her abductor sends a video declaring Penny only has ten days to live and a deadly countdown begins. Criminal behaviourist Jessie Boyle hoped never to work a case in Ireland again. But when her career in London is cut short by a brutal tragedy, she returns to her homeland to grieve – only for her oldest friend to call in a long overdue debt. ‘Help us catch this monster and bring Penny home. We need you, Jessie.’ Throwing herself into the investigation, Jessie makes a chilling discovery: Penny wasn’t the first girl to be taken. As her team find more missing women, she becomes convinced that a serial killer has been hiding in plain sight for years. Nothing seems to tie the victims together, until Jessie realises that each abduction site is linked to the old Irish myths she read as a child. Time is running out for Penny, and Jessie’s only hope is to understand the killer’s twisted logic. But he is closer than she imagined… and Jessie is next in his sights. Will she risk everything to save an innocent life?

She pulls the door of her office closed and hurries over to her beaten-up old Toyota parked in a deserted alley. Slipping into the driver’s seat, she checks the rear-view mirror, and her heart stops. Staring back at her are the dark eyes of a stranger. She opens her mouth to scream, but it’s already too late… When secretary Annie Parkes is snatched from the street outside of her workplace, David Kane is tasked with finding her. Strong, highly skilled, and secretive, he’s a loner and an outsider; the only man the military trust to find Annie before her kidnappers make good on their promise to kill her. But as Kane pulls Annie from a derelict building, gunshots ringing through the deserted streets around them, he realizes rescuing her is just the beginning. He needs to keep her close to find out who is behind her capture, and to keep her safe. Hiding out in a remote part of town, Kane feels the walls he put up around himself many years ago begin to slip in front of Annie. Could she be more than just a job? With an old enemy hot on his tail, showing any weakness could be fatal—but when Annie is dragged back into danger once again, could he already be too late? Lose Your Breath is by D K Hood.

The New Home is by Chris Merritt. You never know what’s happening behind closed doors… Freya loves her new home on a quiet suburban street. And her beautiful neighbour Emily is everything she’s ever wanted in a best friend. Finally, she has somebody to share her secrets with over a glass of wine. But as Freya watches her new friend setting the table for dinner one evening, she sees something shocking that makes her think that Emily’s life might not be as perfect as it seems. Days later, Emily and her daughter vanish… When you meet Emily’s husband, you will think you know what he’s hiding. You will ask yourself whether Emily and Freya really did meet by chance. You will think you know what happened to Emily and her little girl the night they went missing. But when you discover the truth, it will shake you to your core and you will lie awake at night wondering if you can ever really trust the people in the house next door...

The rain hammers the glass outside. My husband has stoked the wood burner with a fresh supply of logs, and I’ve just put a joint of beef in the oven. It’s the most clichéd Sunday afternoon ever, and it’s the most heavenly one, too. Little do I know that days later, the ash in the fire will be all that remains of us… My perfect life… I thought I had it all – a dream job as a doctor in small town, a stunning home and a family I adore – but that illusion shattered the moment my husband Jeremy left on a work trip and vanished without a trace. Now my son and I are all alone in the world. My missing husband… My best friend thinks Jeremy had an accident up in the mountains, that I’ll never see him again and need to move on. I know he loves us too much to ever abandon us, but my head is still spinning with the texts I found on his phone before he left. Did I ever really know the man I married? The night I can’t remember… Everything changed the night of the medical conference weeks before Jeremy disappeared. I wrack my brains for answers, but my memory goes blank after my first drink. Ever since, I’ve felt like I’m being followed and can’t explain why panic thunders in my chest every time I see my newest patient. If he’s not local to the village, then why does he seem so familiar? And so dangerous? As I piece together the shards of what really happened that fateful evening, only one thing can possibly be true: everyone is lying, even me… The Trapped Wife is by Samantha Hayes.

The Couple Upstairs is by Shalini Boland. Our new home was supposed to be a chance to leave our past behind. But was moving here the worst mistake of our lives? All our friends and family were gathered, glasses raised to toast our fresh start. It should have been a night for happiness and celebration. Zac and I had worked so hard for this: our first home together, just minutes from the sea. But the dream quickly turned into a nightmare… We’d invited our neighbours too. I wanted to make a good impression – to show them we’re exactly the sort of people they want living on their street. I hadn’t thought about who they might be, the strangers I was letting in. It was going so well. There was laughter in the air and the wine was flowing. But then I noticed the narrowed eyes, the whispers. And then the lights went out. As my heart thumped in my chest, all the little things that had been going wrong since we moved here flashed through my mind: the food poisoning, the arguments, the flood of nasty reviews shaking my business. Am I going crazy? Or is someone trying to destroy us?

When Lady Swift is invited to her old school, she walks through familiar classrooms, finds her favourite books in the library… and surely that’s not a body? Time for a lesson in murder! Autumn, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift is invited to her old school, St Mary’s, as a guest speaker. Her favourite teacher, Mrs Wadsworth, has asked that Eleanor talk about her intrepid travels around the globe – travelling the Silk Road by bicycle, crossing the Himalayas and even befriending the Maharaja of India. But in the circumstances, perhaps it would have been a good idea to talk about her career as a daring detective… Because no sooner has Eleanor brushed up on her times tables then she is greeted by terrible news: Mrs Wadsworth has been murdered. Eleanor is utterly devastated but she owes it to her dearest teacher to find out who killed her and why. So, alongside Gladstone the bulldog, it’s best paw forward to track down a villain. But when the art teacher is also found dead, Eleanor is sure someone is trying to do away with the people who taught her everything. As Eleanor delves into possible motives, she discovers a clue in the most unlikely place: her mother’s old school diary. Does the route to the murderer lie within a secret passageway her mother uncovered? Can Eleanor nail the culprit in time or is the killer coming for her next? A Lesson in Murder is by Verity Bright.

The Perfect Daughter is by Kerry Wilkinson. Rain pounds the windscreen in the pitch-black evening. She knows this winding country road like the back of her hand, dodges the potholes with ease. But then she hears a crunch. A thud. She slams on the brakes. Since Katie’s dad left it’s just been the two of us, but we’re a team – singing in the kitchen at cheesy pop songs, tackling her homework. My teenage daughter is everything to me. But one night, as we’re curled up in front of the TV, the messages start. I keep my phone away from Katie so she can’t see the terrifying words: I know what you did. Now you’re going to do something for me… I have no choice but to obey. Because if I go to the police, come clean about what I did to protect my girl, all the questions and prying eyes would soon discover Katie’s secret too. And that would tear her life apart. So I drive where they tell me, do what they say, send the photo evidence they want. I feel sick when they ask me to cause someone harm, and it’s clear they know everything about our lives. I thought I was keeping a secret to keep my girl safe. But have I actually put her in even more danger?

Scarlet Drew is new to London’s criminal underworld, but she’s hell bent on making a name for herself as joint head of the family firm alongside her aunt Lily. But when Scarlet finds herself alone with a rival business owner at a black-tie event, she is little prepared for what happens next. Determined not to let the drunken lech get away with his crime, Scarlet hatches a plan for revenge – she’s going to steal his most valuable asset and put her name on the map. But as she gets to work, she fails to notice a silent stranger watching her every move. Someone knows exactly what she’s up to, and is plotting their own way to get their hands on the priceless goods. Face to face with a new enemy, Scarlet fears the Drews may have finally met their match. With the whole family at risk, it’s going to take everything they have to stop their empire going up in smoke. But will everyone survive the fight? Her Rival is by Emma Tallon

Marissa lives alone in her tiny one-bed apartment. It’s quiet and safe; all she’s ever wanted. But when the police knock on her door with the news that her last remaining family member has died, she comes face to face with the family secret she has spent a lifetime running from. A witness saw her car outside his house that day, but Marissa knows she’s innocent. She hasn’t seen her uncle in years and remembers going to bed in her own home that night. But she’s had blackouts before and can’t always trust her memory. Days later, Marissa’s neighbour is found dead in his home, exactly like her uncle. It was no secret that Marissa didn’t get on with her neighbour, but she’d never want to see him hurt. What She Did is by Carla Kovach.

The Liar's Child is by Sheryl Browne. I’ll do anything to protect my daughter… When I pick my beloved daughter Poppy up from school one afternoon, my mind races when I see the little girl holding Poppy’s hand. With the same heart-shaped face, long brown hair and dark eyes, the two girls look identical. In fact, they look like sisters. Is the secret I’ve been holding on to for so long about to be revealed? That night, I cuddle Poppy even harder, desperately trying to decide what to do. And then my husband’s phone vibrates. A message. And then another. And another. All from a number I don’t recognise. Is someone going to tell my husband what I did? Could I be about to lose everything I have worked so hard to protect? But I’ve spent so long hiding the truth, I never stopped to wonder if I was the only liar in the family… The only thing I’m sure of is that nobody is going to take my child away from me.

She lifted up her granddaughter from the cot, clutched her to her chest and, without looking at her beautiful daughter lying dead on the floor of her bedroom, ran from the house. Only when she was outside did she let a wail escape her lips, frightening the baby who joined in her screams. When Isabel Gallagher is found murdered on the floor of her baby’s nursery by her mother, it’s a gruelling case for Detective Lottie Parker. Isabel’s pyjamas have been ripped, her throat cut and an old-fashioned razor blade placed in her hand. As Lottie looks at the round blue eyes and perfect chubby cheeks of Isabel’s baby daughter, she can’t understand who would want to hurt this innocent family. That very same day she receives a call with devastating news. Another young mother, Joyce Breslin, has gone missing, and her four-year-old son Evan has been abducted from daycare. Lottie is sure that the missing mother and son are linked to Isabel’s death, and when she finds a bloody razor blade in their house, her worst fears are confirmed. Desperate to find little Evan, Lottie leaves no stone unturned as she delves into Isabel and Joyce’s pasts and when she realises the two women have been meeting in secret, she knows she must find out why. But when Joyce’s body is found in a murky pond and some little bones are found on a windy hillside, it feels as if this merciless killer will stop at nothing. The bones aren’t Evan’s but can they give Lottie the final clue to find the innocent child before more lives are taken? Little Bones by Patricia Gibney.

Inspired by the true crime story of the Rillington Place murders comes a chilling, fictional re-telling of one of Britain’s most infamous serial killers. Queenie Osbourne is the talk of London. Rising to fame as a singer after the Second World War, she is about to head to New York to make her fortune. On the surface John Reginald Christie is an ordinary man. By day he wanders the bustling city streets. By night he is entertained by Queenie and her band. He is always searching for prey. Soon a young waitress named Joy catches his eye and his dangerous obsession begins. Joy is preparing to wed Charles Gilchrist, one of the city’s most eligible bachelors. But Queenie has always held a flame for him and the spark between them is obvious. When Queenie commits the ultimate betrayal against Joy, she knows her bright future is at risk. With nowhere else to turn, there is only one man who can help her. But Queenie has no idea of the dark secrets which lie behind the door of 10 Rillington Place. As Christie watches her approaching, will he risk everything for his highest-profile victim yet? The Girl at My Door is by Rebecca Griffiths.

The Silent Witness is by Carolyn Arnold. It’s 4 a.m. when her mom shakes her awake. “Get up baby, we’re going to play hide and seek.” The little girl presses back into the dark space, holding her breath as she hears the shots ring out. She knows she’s next… When the bodies of a local family are discovered on a quiet street in the small town of Dumfries, Virginia, Detective Amanda Steele takes charge of the case. Brett and Angela Parker were shot three times each, leaving no hope of survival, and their tidy suburban home has been ransacked. But there is no sign of their beloved six-year-old, Zoe. Zoe is the same age as Amanda’s daughter was when she died, and Amanda can’t bear the thought of another little girl in danger. She’s organizing a search for the child, when she notices something strange about the ottoman at the foot of the Parkers’ bed. She opens it to find Zoe, mute and traumatized, but alive. With Zoe completely uncommunicative, Amanda must find another way to untangle what destroyed this seemingly perfect family. It’s clear that the killer is searching for something the Parkers had, and until she has this monster behind bars, Amanda fears that he may return for Zoe. When she learns that Brett Parker cut short the family’s recent lakeside vacation, she wonders why. What happened at that lake house, and did it ultimately get them killed?Amanda heads out to Lake Chesdin on the feeling it might be key to the case, and when she finds a cell phone in the murky waters next to the Parker cabin, she knows she’s made a breakthrough. But then terrible news reaches her from Dumfries; Zoe has been taken from her school playground.Someone wants to silence the Parker family for good, can Amanda catch them before the little girl she’s desperate to protect pays the price?

February Books to Look Forward to From Bookouture

 

Kitty Underhay’s hymn book is open… at murder. Winter, 1933. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a restorative break from sleuthing on a visit to her family at Enderley Hall. The only thing marring her peace – aside from the uncomfortable sensation she has of being watched – is the obvious history between her beau, ex-army captain Matthew Bryant and another guest, the beautiful Juliet Vanderstafen. So, when the parish clerk is found dead on her front doorstep, Kitty leaps at the chance of distraction. The police are happy to conclude that Miss Plenderleith met her unfortunate end on a patch of ice, but Kitty isn’t convinced this was a case of bad weather and worse luck. And when the Reverend Crabtree fails to show for tea the next day, she heads to the church to speak to him. But she arrives to find the clergyman hanging from the bell rope, dead. With Matt seemingly wrapped up with his alluring Austrian, Kitty must solve the case on her own. But as she snoops into parish affairs, she makes some less-than-saintly discoveries. Just who has broken the sixth commandment? Meanwhile the killer is preparing a churchyard grave for Kitty, and she’ll have to use all her wits to avoid falling in… Murder in the Belltower is by Helena Dixon.

Beneath Her Skin is by Gregg Olsen. The girl was slumped over the edge of the old clawfoot tub, her eyes tiny shards of broken glass, her expression void of anything. Her long, wet hair dripped onto the floor. She was dead. When the body of troubled teen Katelyn Berkley is found in her bathtub, the close-knit community of Port Gamble, Washington is shaken to its core. All signs point to a suicide but what makes her death even more tragic is that Katelyn survived a horrific bus crash ten years ago, which took the lives of several young girls and has scarred the town ever since. Hayley and Taylor Ryan are identical twins who grew up with Katelyn and have spent the last 10 years getting over the crash. Ever since that fateful night the twins have shared a secret: they can hear the dead. And it soon becomes clear that Katelyn is communicating with them. Whilst the town believes it was a tragic accident, something much darker lies behind Katelyn’s death. And all the time, someone is watching Port Gamble, someone who doesn’t want old secrets to surface…

Just as the lightning bolt of memory passed, a pair of hands grabbed Olivia’s shoulders and shoved her body backwards against the wooden floor. I’m not going to die here, am I? she thought, though the answer seemed all too clear. Am I? Port Gamble, Washington: When the body of English exchange student Olivia Grant is found at the palatial home of local schoolgirl, Brianna Connors, the town assumes that it’s a Halloween prank gone wrong. But when Brianna and her boyfriend Drew are spotted casually shopping the next day, people start to talk: how could they be so unaffected by Olivia’s death? Twins Hayley and Taylor Ryan have received signs from beyond the grave for as long as they can remember. As the local police piece together the mystery, the girls begin to receive messages suggesting that something darker was at play that night. The killer had a target and they’re not done yet. When the prime suspects disappear, the twins know that time is running out. But to get to the killer, they will first need to confront a close family member who harbors a long-held secret and committed the ultimate act of betrayal. Dying to Be Her is by Gregg Olsen.

His Hidden Wife is by Wendy Clarke. The first time you see them, out for an evening walk on the cliffs, you’ll think they’re the perfect family. You’ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughter’s hand. But you have no idea what’s really happening in their house… If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife. You might notice that the woman doesn’t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesn’t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if that’s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck. When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, you’ll question whether it was really an accident at all. And when the husband starts dating someone new – a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife – will you say something this time? Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.

Silent Voices by Patricia Gibney. The words blurred as she read the note. She could feel her blood turning to ice. ‘Before you make the biggest mistake of your life, meet me. If you don’t, her blood will be on your hands.’ When Beth Mullen returns home, expecting to find her twin Rachel waiting for her, the silent house sends a shiver down her spine. She races upstairs to find her beautiful beloved sister cold in her childhood bed, her sparkling blue eyes closed forever, the morning after attending a glittering party… Newly engaged Detective Lottie Parker knows that Rachel has been murdered the minute she enters the bedroom. Rachel’s neck is bruised and a shard of glass placed in her throat. Confronted with such a horrifying killing, Lottie wastes no time in pursuing every clue. While interviewing the partygoers, Lottie discovers that Rachel’s handbag and keys are nowhere to be found. But as she is searching for them, a brilliant young doctor is found murdered with glass in her throat. The doctor was nowhere near the party and Lottie is forced to question everything. Two beautiful young women with the world at their feet have been brutally silenced. Why did the killer need them to die? Desperate to find proof of what really happened to Rachel that night, Lottie gets close to the hostess of the party, whose two daughters were friends with Rachel. But Lottie’s hunt for the truth is getting under the killer’s skin, and when Lottie’s fiancé Boyd goes missing, will she be able to find him before it’s too late? Or will he too be silenced forever?

Please forgive me for what I’m about to do… Standing at the school gates, he waits until the last child leaves the safety of the playground. And then he follows at a distance, keeping to the shadows. Only he knows what’s going to happen next. In a quiet church, on a busy London street, 12-year-old Donovan Blair is found dead. His hands are clasped together as if in prayer. Just hours ago, he was happily playing with his friends at school, but now his body is lifeless, and his killer is long gone. Detective Dan Lockhart is working alone on his wife’s missing person’s case when he receives a call telling him to get to the crime scene at St Mary’s Church immediately. Bringing in psychologist Dr Lexi Green to help profile the murderer, Dan is convinced that the killer has provided a clue by leaving the body in a prayer position, and Lexi agrees. As they try to get into the mind of the person responsible, another victim is found. A 13-year-old girl, left in a different church, posed in exactly the same way. Fearing the murderer may already have another child in his sights, Dan and Lexi work together to establish links between the two deaths, and soon discover that not only were both children in care – they had attended the same school. And when it emerges that Lexi’s new boyfriend works there, things become difficult between her and Dan. How much can he tell Lexi about the case? And could she be at risk? As Dan makes a breakthrough in the investigation, he receives devastating news about his wife, Jess. But with children’s lives at stake and Lexi in danger, Dan must put his personal emotions aside and chase the killer. Can he and Lexi work out who is behind the murders before another vulnerable child is taken? Lost Souls is by Chris Merritt.

Her Perfect Life is by Sam Hepburn. One woman has nothing to lose. The other has everything. To the outside world,Gracie Dwyer has it all: the handsome husband, the adorable child, the beautiful home and the glittering career. Juliet’s life couldn’t be more different. A single mother struggling to make ends meet, she lives in fear of her vindictive ex-husband taking their five-year-old daughter from her. So when Gracie moves into Falcon House, just streets away from Juliet, she sees an opportunity. If Juliet can just get close to Gracie, maybe her fortunes will begin to change. After all, if anyone has luck to share around, it’s Gracie Dwyer. And if cracks begin to appear in Gracie’s perfect life, well, it’s Juliet who will be there to pick up the pieces. Because no one’s life is really that perfect – and sometimes all it takes is a little push to expose the darkest of secrets…

Who better to catch a murderer than a woman raised by one? The beautiful young woman’s long black hair clings to her face like seaweed. As Nadine turns the body, she prays this will be different: but seeing the wounds, her prayers go unanswered. It’s just like the others. An exact match to her mother’s victims. Keeping her head down and refusing to let anyone get close is Agent Nadine Finch’s atonement for never realising her mother Arleen was a serial killer. But when the body of a young woman is found drifting in the warm Sarasota Bay waters, right where Nadine grew up, the past she’s worked so hard to keep hidden comes calling. Rushing to the scene, Nadine is the first to notice the circle carved around the girl’s ring finger. It’s the exact same marking Arleen left on all her victims. Suddenly, Nadine is a teenager again, watching her mother come home to their trailer in the middle of the night, covered in blood. With a heartbroken family reeling, and no witnesses or forensic evidence, Nadine has no choice but to face her demons and visit her mother in prison. When her mother whispers a name Nadine hasn’t heard for years, the case takes a terrifyingly personal turn, and returning home, the bag of bloodied clothes left on Nadine’s bed tells her someone is watching her every move… With her dark family history out in the open, it’s not long before suspicion falls on Nadine herself. As her team turn against her, the closer she gets to her mother and this case, the more danger she’s in. Time is running out. Can she catch the killer—or will she be the next victim of this dark family legacy? A Killer's Daughter is by Jenna Kernan.

Her Perfect Bones is by Ellery Kane. The girl’s body is curled up like a shell and almost completely buried in sand. Only her fingertips can be seen, reaching helplessly up towards an escape she will never find… Seventeen-year-old Shelby Mayfield sits alone on a bus to Fog Harbor, California. Aside from a few items of clothing, all she has with her is twenty-two dollars, the ragdoll she’s kept since kindergarten, and the devastating secret she’s been hiding. How long will it be before her family realizes she’s gone? Can anyone see the fresh bruise on her cheek beneath the makeup? Perhaps she was a fool to believe the person she is meeting in this remote little town could help her… When a girl’s body is found hidden in a barrel in a woodland cabin, the local police are at a loss. The film from an old camera found looped around her neck is their only lead, but Criminal Psychologist Olivia Rockwell’s blood turns to ice when she recognizes the ragdoll in one of the girl’s last photographs. She used to own one just like it, and it can only mean one thing: if she doesn’t dig deep into the mind of a deadly killer from her past—her own father—more innocent lives will be in danger…

“Please, not in front of my daughter,” she pleaded. “She’s just a little girl.” He leaned closer, so close she felt his heated breath on her face. The blue jays that had been filling the valley with their chirping fell silent all at once when the woman’s cry ripped through the clear mountain air… Detective Kay Sharp vowed she’d never return to her childhood home. On the night of her thirteenth birthday her broken family was shattered beyond repair, and leaving was the only option. Unable to fix her own past, she’s been an FBI profiler for over a decade, desperate to save others. But now Kay’s back and only she can solve the crime that has rocked the tight-knit community of Mount Chester to its core. A dead woman has been found by Silent Lake under the dew-covered Fall leaves, her hair braided and her body wrapped in a blanket. This small town may be a stranger to murder, but Kay recognizes the signs of a serial killer. She’s certain that the ritualistic nature of the scene means it’s just a matter of time until he strikes again––unless she catches him first.  As yellow do-not-cross tape flaps in the biting wind, another woman is reported missing. Kay leads a frenzied search for out-of-towner Alison Nolan and when she locates her car, Kay’s blood turns to ice as she shines her flashlight on the backseat and sees a teddy bear. Alison’s six-year-old little girl, Hazel, has vanished too. Kay knows the missing-person investigation could turn into a murder case at any second. But as she hunts for the culprit, her own past closes in on her. Can she find the killer before it’s too late? And will the secret she thought she’d buried stay that way? The Girl From Silent Lake is by Leslie Wolfe.

Cry For Help is by Wendy Dranfield. Shivering in the early morning chill, the caretaker flips the switch on the Ferris wheel and stumbles back in shock. The teenage girl’s body is slumped in a halo of pretty colored lights, long red hair spilling over her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes fixed forever on her dangling feet. When teenager Nikki Jackson’s body is found at an amusement park, just hours after Fourth of July fireworks lit up the night sky, the Lost Creek police rule her death as suicide—a devastating final act from a girl who had lost all hope. But the absence of the knife used to make the wounds on her delicate wrists makes Detective Madison Harpe rthink otherwise. And the partial fingerprint found on the girl’s face proves her right. Someone else was with Nikki in her final moments… Back home in Colorado for the first time in seven years to investigate the murder of a woman with ties to the son she lost to the care system, the pressure is on for Madison to work both cases at once. Fearing the team has missed a vital clue, Madison searches the crime scene alone and finds the last thing she ever expected: a note proving the victims knew each other, and that the cases are linked. Is this a coincidence, proof a dangerous murderer is on the loose, or a trap set to lead Madison off the trail? It’s only when Madison finally finds the knife used to harm Nikki, tucked in an almost impossible to find hiding place, that she knows she is closing-in on a twisted killer. But the last person she expects to see dragged into the department in handcuffs is her own missing son…

MISSING – Have you seen this girl? Nineteen-year-old Leila Hawkins was last seen on 24 June, 1994, when she left her parents’ anniversary party early and ran into the stormy night wearing her twin sister Stella’s long red coat. She was never seen again. Stella holds the missing poster flat against the tree trunk and presses to make sure it’s secure. She tries not to look at the photograph on it. At the features so similar to hers. This time every year she decorates the small seaside town they grew up in with pictures of her beautiful missing twin. But after almost twenty-five years, is it even worth hoping someone will come forward? The last thing Stella ever expects is a direct response from the person who took Leila. Wracked with guilt about the secret she’s been keeping since the night of the party, and completely alone in the world without the other half of her, Stella agrees to his strange request: private, intimate details of her life in return for answers. But as the true events of the night of the party play out before her, Stella feels closer to Leila than she ever dreamed she’d be again – too close. Will it be too late before she realises she’s walked right into a deadly trap? Will she suffer the same fate as her sister? The Girl in the Missing Poster is by Barbara Copperthwaite.

Be Mine Forever is by D K Hood. Gray clouds gather overhead as she runs along the dark road. Not a soul is out in the storm, or so she thinks. As the vehicle pulls up alongside her, she sees a familiar face behind the wheel and thinks she’s safe. Little does she know, she has just put herself in unthinkable danger… When local cheerleader, Laurie Turner, goes missing after practice and her bright red pick-up truck is found abandoned by the side of a quiet road, Detective Jenna Alton fears the worst. Visiting Laurie’s family house, Jenna senses that the teenager’s home life isn’t as perfect as her father would have people believe. Quick to temper and full of hatred towards Laurie’s mother, Dr Turner doesn’t seem to know the first thing about his own daughter, let alone how long she’s been missing for. With the clock ticking, the whole town takes to the streets to find the missing girl and, after a frantic search, a terrible discovery is made at the bottom of an old mine shaft on the outskirts of town. Laurie’s pale body is totally still and Jenna is sure somebody in the local community is her killer. When another cheerleader goes missing, Jenna thinks that someone close to the school is picking the teenagers off one by one. As she talks to the other students, it becomes clear that there are plenty of people who’d like to silence the girls forever. Then her own deputy David Kane comes face to face with the murderer, and Jenna has to race to save him. Can she do so before it’s too late? Or will another young life be taken?

She didn’t see the patch of black ice until it was too late. The car started to spin, and as it veered off into the deep ditch and the mounds of snow beside the road, she saw him. The little boy frozen in the ice. When the remains of two bodies are found in an open grave along a desolate highway in Stillwater, Minnesota, Special Agent Nikki Hunt knows exactly who they are. The bright blue jacket lying on the frozen earth belongs to Kellan Rhodes, the missing boy she’s desperately been trying to find for the last two days. The other body is his mother Dana, who had been Nikki’s lead suspect. Although the wounds on Dana’s body suggest she murdered her son and took her own life, Nikki finds evidence that suggests she was a victim too. Dana was desperately trying to regain custody of Kellan, and Nikki finds boot prints at the scene that belong to someone else. When another child is reported missing, local journalist Caitlin Newport claims the cases are linked: Zach Reeves was taken away from his own mother in a custody battle, just like Kellan was. Caitlin once helped Nikki find out the truth about her own parents’ murders, but her desire for a story nearly cost Nikki her life. Now, Nikki must decide if she can trust Caitlin again, before time runs out to find the killer and bring Zach home alive… One Perfect Grave is by Stacy Green.

Everyone in the village admires Anna because she’s a wonderful mother. Juggling family life with a small sewing business, she’s the one they turn to for a warm hug after a hard day. Her kind, polite daughters are a credit to her – even Bay, her stepdaughter, whom Anna loves as much as her own two girls. But normal family life changes overnight when Anna’s middle daughter’s beauty catches the eye of a stranger in a café. As jealousy erupts between the siblings, Anna’s perfect blended family begins to unravel around her. A devastating secret about the dangerous game they played when they were little girls threatens to break the surface – and the bonds of this close-knit family forever… To save her girls, Anna must rethink everything she ever thought she knew about love, motherhood and family. She must pick a side, an impossible decision for any mother, but believing the wrong daughter could be fatal. Anna has already sacrificed so much for her family, but there are no limits to what a mother will do for her daughters… The Pretty One is by Clare Boyd.