Velvet rose shelton

DI Amy Winter faces her toughest case yet as a serial killer couple kidnap and hunt their prey. After capture, the victims are released from an unknown location each day. But freedom does not come easily, as the victim’s injuries become more severe, and if they haven’t escaped by day four, they won’t live to see the fifth.

Four-year-old Ellen is snatched by a stranger in the dead of night. Her devastated mother, Nicole, receives four identical phials and a threatening note in a familiar scrawl that chills her to the bone. But she always knew this would happen. She’s been expecting it for years. According to the note, one of the phials is poisoned. Nicole is given a deadly challenge: If she drinks one, the sadistic kidnapper will notify the police of Ellen’s location. The sender claims to be Luka Volkov, but Luka is supposed to be dead, killed long ago in a fire that haunts all those involved.

When hundreds of birds fall from the sky into Slayton's lake in a terrifying freak event, the waters are dredged - revealing a dark, long-held secret. An old pram is pulled from the depths, with the bones of a baby still strapped inside. It's the moment that new mother, Cora, has been dreading since she moved to Slayton - because someone knows, and is going to make her pay.

When an attempted murder is linked to a string of unsolved sexual attacks, Detective Chief Inspector Whitney Walker is incensed. All those women who still have sleepless nights because the man who terrorizes their dreams is still on the loose. Calling on forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish to help, they follow the clues and are alarmed to discover the victims all had one thing in common. Their birthdays were on the 29th February. The same date as a female officer on Whitney’s team.

By the time Laura and Olivia notice the headlights tailing them through the hills, it’s too late. What seems at first like a case of road rage quickly unfolds into a heart-pounding chase—and a battle for survival.

The night my mum disappeared, after a panicked 3am phonecall, I knew something was wrong. The police tried to reassure me. There had to be a logical explanation they said – perhaps she’s taking a break after the tragic death of my father. But I know my mum. Or do I? She would never leave without telling me. Or would she? The harder I look, the more I discover deep, dark family secrets I was not privy to. Worrying secrets I was never meant to know. Which means my parents have lied to me my whole life.