Psychological Twists

My baby is due in two weeks. Hand on my bump, I swear to my little girl, I won't be anything like my mother. I'm walking home after the perfect baby shower, enjoying the cool summer evening breeze. I can't wait to rest my aching feet. I'm almost at my door when the world goes black.

Stella McKinney has a great life. With a Malibu beach house, doting husband, and a flourishing business, everything is coming up roses - until it isn't. When her beloved husband Grant begins behaving out of character and devoting more time to his career, Stella has reason to question his fidelity for the first time in their marriage. As Stella's quest for the truth morphs into a sick obsession, the last thing she expects is a perfect stranger to show up at her door, a beautiful woman who knows intimate details about Stella and Grant that no one else could possibly know.

RUNNING MAY BE THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS THEM ALIVE Celebrating their wedding anniversary out on a quiet lake, Robert and Helen Harris's night quickly turns from intimate to deadly when they are attacked by an intruder, leaving their young daughter, Jess, an orphan. Fifteen years later, Jess is an adult. Graduated from university and settled into a new city and job, she has found herself in an abusive relationship with her boss, Sean, who is a cruel and easily angered man. Seeing an opportunity to flee and make a fresh start, Jess runs. Living life simultaneously to Jess, Arina is ...

She was supposed to be the perfect mother—until the night everything went wrong. When Peyton Hayes survives a horrifying car crash with her six-year-old son, she awakens to a living nightmare: a year of her memories erased, a nagging suspicion that she wasn’t alone in the car, and cryptic warnings scrawled on slips of paper. Everyone insists her life is flawless—her ex-husband suddenly wants back in, her best friend is eerily devoted, and her son flinches whenever she asks about that fateful night. But Peyton’s half-glimpsed flashbacks scream that something far darker lurks beneath ...

There's a darker side to the festive season screaming to be let out in this Christmas edition of Twisted Tales... Read on in terror to five chilling stories of horror and suspense, with a couple centering around that magic time of year!

It’s the fourth of July and the whole town is gathered at the local pool. Through the sweltering afternoon, we single mothers don’t mix with the other women - the ones with the perfect lives and happy marriages. Women like Sabine Miller. But when Sabine shoots me a desperate look across the water and suddenly disappears, my blood runs cold....

In Betrayed by the Badge, evidence clerk Rachel Turner uncovers a deadly trail of corruption inside her own police department—and becomes the target of a powerful conspiracy. Reluctantly partnered with Internal Affairs investigator Marcus Wade, Rachel must fight for justice while navigating betrayal, danger, and undeniable attraction. As threats close in and secrets unravel, trust is their only weapon—and love may be the cost of seeking the truth in a world built on lies.

It seemed like a dream come true when we first moved in. A chance to leave my stressful job behind and fix things with James. But something gnaws at me each morning as I wave my husband off to work from our gated community, accept a coffee from Lin, our housekeeper, and watch my kids play in these eerily perfect, car-free streets. When a neighbor’s body is found floating in a pool during a party, the other wives say it was a tragic accident. But there are also whispers about the family who lived in our villa before us—just vanished one day, they say.

Ella thought she was alone. Her quiet townhouse was her sanctuary, a place where she could curl up under her favorite blanket, lose herself in her favorite shows, and forget the world outside. But someone else has been watching. Someone who knows her routines, who whispers along to the lines she’s memorized, who moves her things just enough to make her doubt her own sanity. As the days blur together, her sense of safety unravels, each creaking floorboard, each misplaced mug, each shadow stretching a little too long becoming a reminder that she isn’t as alone as she thought. Because ...

One honeymoon resort. Two couples. Everyone has something to hide. On the surface their lives seem perfect. Beauty, money, love. They have it all. Tansy and Daniel. Nikki and Arne. Two newlywed couples enjoying their enviable honeymoons at the same luxurious resort. But behind the filtered photos and fake smiles is the truth.

***A new beachside thriller novella written by bestselling author Vanessa Jones*** When Emma flees her past to Safety Cove, she settles in to finish writing her breakthrough book. She grows fond of the small beachside town, getting to know the neighbours, even the distressing ones that threaten her to leave. But when she finds something unspeakable in the shed, she realises that there is more than just heavy morning mist that hangs over the small town. There are secrets that, once uncovered, are dangerous to know. This is a short story/novella. Praise for The Tens - a gripping thriller ...

For fans of tightly written suspense with unexpected twists, welcome to The Domino Effect, the third book in the Riley Scott detective series. The Domino Effect will have you up late at night with the lights on, checking under the beds and behind doors, turning pages, trying to figure out what is coming on the next page. The FBI estimates there are at least 25 serial killers active in the United States at any given time, committing roughly 150 murders a year. The chances of a random detective becoming involved in one of those investigations is slim to none, but Riley Scott has been through ...

It’s been years since Grace, Felicity, Alice, and Hannah were together. The “Wild Girls,” as they were once called, are no longer so wild. Alice is a teacher. Hannah has a new baby. Grace is a homebody. Only Felicity seems to have retained her former spark. Then Felicity invites them all on the weekend of a lifetime—a birthday bash in Botswana. It will be a chance to have fun and rekindle their once bomb-proof friendship… and finally put that one horrible night, all those years ago, behind them for good.

With two young children, Mary hasn’t slept in what feels like years. For his part, Tim never feels safe enough to sleep. And so one hot, exhausting night, the two strangers meet while seeking solace in a nearby park. There, they witness something horrific: a violent attack in the window of a neighbouring house. Bonded by what they’ve seen, Tim and Mary are desperate to find answers. And when they see news reports of a missing woman who was last seen walking alone not far from them, the pair are convinced it’s her they saw being attacked—no matter what the police say.

Could you take a life to save your own? Faith's world will never be the same again. Not after he took everything from her. Now, there's only one way to stop the man who murdered her sister, and it will push her to the edge. After coming to terms with her involuntary commitment to Little Lake State Hospital, Faith discovers the monster who fractured her life is posing as her psychiatrist. Dr. Robert O'Reilly has only one promise: tell anyone about the horrible things he's done, and he will kill her mother. With no choice but to keep O'Reilly happy, Faith must suppress her desires for revenge...

From the best-selling author of ADMIT TO MAYHEM of the Lillian Dove Mystery Series, comes this jaw-dropping, fun-filled thriller sent in the Pacific Northwest. Cookin' Up Murder by D.J. Adamson is a fast-paced, gripping mystery that will keep you turning the pages until the very end. When a high-profile baker is found dead under suspicious circumstances, private investigator Tuesday Welsh dives into a case that’s as complex as it is dangerous. As she uncovers a trail of secrets, lies, and hidden motives, Tuesday realizes the killer is closer than she thought—and could strike again at ...

A murder mystery book set in the village of Bracken during a seemingly peaceful summer evening. When Inspector Windmere escapes to the idyllic Dahlia and Crown inn for a much-needed holiday, he finds his retreat cut short by the shocking murder of Sir Henry Walden. In the quaint village of Bracken, where gossip runs rampant and the simplest conversations are laced with tension, the tranquility is shattered as dark secrets threaten to unravel the lives of its inhabitants. The investigation into Sir Henry's death reveals a tapestry of suspicion woven with hidden motives and long-buried ...

Halloween meets Fight Club in this unflinching man vs. himself slasher thriller... Disturbing, voyeuristic, and creepy for the sake of being creepy, Parasomniac, is a twisted and cerebral tongue-in-cheek genre read that you won’t soon forget... Miles Hogan enjoys a peaceful existence as a docile cleaning and maintenance professional. Unfortunately, his gentle personality makes him a target for bullies in his day-to-day life. Despite the mistreatment and constant mocking, he keeps his head down and his mind on work. All the while, he can’t find any relief at home either. Suffering from a...

When Stacey’s ex-husband turns up on her doorstep begging her to help save his kidnapped thirteen-year-old daughter, Lyra, the terror is all too familiar. Stacey’s own violent kidnapping thirty years ago was never solved, and while a severe case of amnesia spares her from recalling the specific horrors, she remembers enough… Stacey knows her father never paid the ransom—she has the missing pinkie finger to prove it. She knows she was only saved because of an anonymous tip-off to the police. And she knows her captor was never apprehended.

With a sting set for a downtown bar, Special Agent Lara Grant and her team are on high alert to snare the most dangerous man in Manhattan. No one tears their team apart and gets away with it. Their aim: to get the perp's DNA from his shot glass.... Mission accomplished, but each step forward in the case takes them two steps back into Lara's past - this time to the years before her undercover assignment and a family torn apart by a brutal murder. But Lara knows she can focus only on the present.