When Rachel moves into a new apartment with her young daughter, Lily, it’s with a huge sense of relief. After escaping an abusive marriage, this perfect downtown fourth-floor rental, within minutes from the lake, feels like the new beginning the two of them deserve. But soon handwritten letters begin to arrive for someone called Annie. Alex says she was just the tenant who lived there before, who moved out one day without a word. Tentatively Rachel opens the first letter, intending to return it to the sender.

I’ve never felt welcome in my husband Dominic’s family home. His parents make it clear I’m a poor comparison to his perfect first wife, Carla. But we’re here for Christmas, so it’s important to pretend everything is fine. Until Dominic’s mother bustles into our bedroom. Smiling thinly, she blindsides me: ‘You won’t mind, will you. Carla is coming for the holidays. She’s still one of the family to us, and she can’t get home because of the storm.’ My eyes widen—did she and Carla plan this on purpose? I know Dominic won’t say a thing. He never stands up to his parents.

In the pretty, leafy suburb of Ridgeview Pines everyone uses an online message board called The Neighbor List to find out everything that’s happening locally. It makes people feel safe and protected, part of a small and caring community. Jessica Millstone recently moved to the area with her husband and young daughter, and signs up immediately. She loves her warm, inclusive new neighborhood. So when Barbara Draper - who lived two doors down from Jessica and posted on the message board regularly - is found dead, eve

I look at our neighbours gathered in the garden for our annual summer barbeque, sipping chilled wine and smiling at my two daughters sprawled on the grass. I go inside to help refill glasses and then I hear it. A shrill scream that stops me in my tracks. I race outdoors to silence, a sea of bewildered faces. My first thought is for my girls, but they are there unhurt. With relief, we push the chilling sound to the back of our minds, returning to our drinks and conversations like it never happened.

Hickory Hills is the perfect place to raise a family. Everyone knows everyone. Sometimes, that’s a bad thing. The morning after the Halloween party, the word spreads from house to house, each resident gasping at the news, each mother holding their child tighter. Shelby has gone missing. My daughter should be distraught, but she’s claiming they weren’t even friends anymore. When I go to talk to her, I hear her giggling on the phone with Shelby’s boyfriend. And then I find her Halloween costume, stuffed into a bag in her closet, covered in blood.

How well do you really know your own family? The wife: Eve is desperate for her life to be perfect. Living in a beautiful house, with gorgeous views of the countryside, is all she’s ever wanted. And she’ll do whatever it takes to hold onto her dream life. The son: Joe is a model student; he never puts a foot wrong. He knows his mother wouldn’t tolerate it. Until the night of his sixteenth birthday party, when things go horribly wrong and someone in the house is left fighting for their life. As the blue flashing lights of the police and ambulance arrive, all eyes are on the Griffiths family.

I used to enjoy my job. I was good at it and felt fulfilled. I also used to enjoy spending time with the people I worked with. They say you spend more time with your work colleagues than you do with your family members, but that was fine by me because I made two very good friends at the office. I also allowed myself to get a little too close to my boss, but I soon realized that was a mistake. Unfortunately, it was too late by then, and as my personal and professional lives quickly blurred into one, that was when everything changed.

Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client yet: Melody Wells. Melody paints a picture of serenity and empowerment in the lavender haze of her visualization workshops—however, the one thing she can’t manifest are the pages her publisher is demanding for her new motivational book. Enter Anne.

Ten years ago, a boy named Samuel Murray went missing from the quiet village of Buckthorpe and was never seen again. Rosie Sharpe cried over her missing friend for weeks after. But her little sister, Heather, knows that Rosie’s tears hide the truth. Because the night Samuel was last seen, Heather watched her older sister climbing back through the window of their childhood bedroom. Her jacket torn, her eyes wild, and her body trembling with fear. Heather never told anyone what she saw, but secrets can’t stay buried forever....

Daisy Costigan is desperate to leave her violent, controlling husband, Bruce. But she knows he'll never let her go. And if she tries to escape, he's promised he'll do whatever it takes to track her down and have his revenge. She's trapped. One day Daisy meets a charming stranger in a bookstore. His name is Marco and he overhears Daisy's terrified phone conversation with controller Bruce. Marco makes Daisy an offer. He'll take care of Bruce if she'll help him with a little problem—his wife.

As if my mum breaking her hip and being rushed to hospital isn’t shocking enough for one day, now in her post-operative delirium, she’s just told me I’m not her daughter. That she has never been able to have children. The nurse reassures me that people are often confused after a trauma. But I know this woman so well and I can tell there’s a grain of truth in what she says. Which begs the questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? When I dig into the truth, I suddenly stir up a hornet’s nest of secrets, lies – and possibly a crime so unfathomable – that stretches back decades.

Gloria is used to solitude. Widowed and still grieving her late husband, she spends her days with only her faded photographs for company. But when a young woman is murdered nearby, Gloria grows anxious. Living alone in old farmhouse, surrounded by empty woods, there’s no one for miles who would hear her scream. When freelance travel writer Beth arrives with her trailer to live on Gloria’s land, Gloria is relieved not to be alone. The police have no suspects in the murder, and fearless Beth makes Gloria feel safe.

Accidents happen, no matter how careful or well-intentioned you are. Psychiatrist Eve Thayer frequently reassures her patients of that fact. There are even times when accidents have good consequences—like when Eve met her now-husband, Nathan, at his collision shop after another car ran her off the road. After a whirlwind courtship, Nathan and Eve have settled into domestic life. They have a lovely home on a quiet street, a beautiful baby girl, and even the perfect babysitter to care for her. And yet, something isn’t quite right.

She knows everything about you… but can you trust her? I walk in to my interview with Ava Green and carefully hand over my application. It’s all made up, of course, but Ava doesn’t have to know that. There is so much worry in her blue eyes. Her phone pings with constant messages and a small stain marks her crisp shirt. Breakfast with her two little girls before heading out to this high-flying job every morning can’t be easy. Ava needs me, I think. More than anything.

You trust them with your child. You shouldn’t. Each Monday after school, I look after my daughter Coralie and four other kids from her class. We go to the park when it’s sunny, snuggle on the sofa reading books when it rains. Tuesdays to Fridays, the other parents take them. It’s perfect–a circle of free childcare, of fun and friendship for our children. But this morning, we all received an anonymous note. And now I’m terrified.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh, leafy air, Abigail promises herself: Today she is going to make her parents accept her future husband Pete’s family. She’s planned three days away from it all in a beautiful, forested nature reserve. Out here, with almost no one else around, their families will have nowhere to run. They might have clashed from the moment they met—with their stark differences in backgrounds and personalities—but now, Abigail thinks, they will have to get along.

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 realize 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.

I look at our neighbours gathered in the garden for our annual summer barbeque, sipping chilled wine and smiling at my two daughters sprawled on the grass. I go inside to help refill glasses and then I hear it. A shrill scream that stops me in my tracks. I race outdoors to silence, a sea of bewildered faces. My first thought is for my girls, but they are there unhurt. With relief, we push the chilling sound to the back of our minds, returning to our drinks and conversations like it never happened.

Jane Bryson obeys the rules. A long-standing science teacher at Ravenswood High School, she lives a simple life with her husband, Craig, and Moose the black Labrador. When free-spirited new English teacher Elena Mayfield joins Ravenswood, Jane’s excited to have a friend who is ready to challenge authority, and Elena’s soon shaking things up. When Elena starts a controversial club, Jane is ready to support her. When Elena begins an illicit romance with a colleague, Jane is there to help her shield her secret.

When Rachel moves into a new apartment with her young daughter, Lily, it’s with a huge sense of relief. After escaping an abusive marriage, this perfect downtown fourth-floor rental, within minutes from the lake, feels like the new beginning the two of them deserve. But soon handwritten letters begin to arrive for someone called Annie. Alex says she was just the tenant who lived there before, who moved out one day without a word. Tentatively Rachel opens the first letter, intending to return it to the sender.

Chloe is serving a life sentence. In her own home. Ever since the horrific day her mother died, Chloe's life has been anything but normal—more like a carefully constructed prison. Her father hasn't let her go to school, have friends, or leave the house alone. As she grows up, Chloe begins to question the motives behind her dad's obsessive control. What would happen if she broke one of his many rules? And what exactly is he hiding under the overgrown grass in the back garden?

Daisy Costigan is desperate to leave her violent, controlling husband, Bruce. But she knows he'll never let her go. And if she tries to escape, he's promised he'll do whatever it takes to track her down and have his revenge. She's trapped. One day Daisy meets a charming stranger in a bookstore. His name is Marco and he overhears Daisy's terrified phone conversation with controller Bruce. Marco makes Daisy an offer. He'll take care of Bruce if she'll help him with a little problem—his wife.

A dark, compelling new thriller from best-selling authors Sarah A. Denzil and Anni Taylor. Young backpackers Gemma and Hayley arrive at a remote fruit farm in Australia’s Northern Territory, out of money and desperate for work. The weeks go on, a blur of fruit picking, parties, campfires and wading beneath waterfalls in the nearby hot springs. Until the night the girls find themselves on a dark highway, bruised and bloodied. Senior Detective Bronwen McKay and psychologist Megan Arlotti question the terrified girls.

It’s the moment single-mum Kate has been dreading. With her only daughter, Chloe, about to leave home, she’s terrified by the prospect of an empty nest. That is until she meets charming lawyer Adam. He could be the perfect catch - if it wasn’t for his clingy son. Because Ben has a crush on Chloe. A crush that is fast becoming an obsession. Flattered by the attention, Chloe is happy to string him along - for now at least. But Kate can see the danger signs, even if her daughter can't.

Jenny sits in the same seat on the same train every week, seeing familiar faces come and go. Until a chance encounter shatters her world. Sixteen years ago, Jenny survived a traumatic ordeal that left her best friend, Susie, missing and presumed dead. The world has its theories about what happened to Susie Patterson, and one of those theories points the finger at Jenny. Now she lives a quiet life, volunteering at a crisis helpline while trying to deal with her own anxiety and the true crime fans obsessed with finding her missing friend.