Books like 'The Light of the Fireflies'

Readers who enjoyed The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  mystery  horror  psychological  thriller  suspense  drama  family  literary-fiction  dark 

  • One Among Us by Paige Dearth

    One Among Us by Paige Dearth

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    A kidnapped girl is forced into human sex trafficking Eleven- year-old Maggie Clarke is abducted from her loving family and thrust into the indescribably horrific and largely unknown underworld of human sex trafficking. In captivity, Maggie's life turns into a nightmare most children couldn't imagine...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  realistic  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion

    The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    A gripping and emotional novel that will leave you wondering about the neighbors next door...On a cold January night, Sharon Lemke heads outside to see a lunar eclipse when she notices something odd at the house behind her backyard. Through her neighbor's kitchen window, she sees what appears to be a little girl washing dishes late at night...
  • Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

    Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They're admired in their community and are a loving family—until their world falls apart the day their son Sebastian is taken.A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  secrets  suspense  thriller  adult
  • Untitled by Dot Hutchison

    Untitled by Dot Hutchison

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    A fourth book is coming with a release date estimated Spring 2019...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  literary-fiction  suspense  thriller  adult
  • Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel

    Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Six women—mothers, daughters, sisters—gone missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this harrowing novel tells the story of two sisters, both of whom could be the next victims, from the internationally best-selling author of Betty."Capture[s] what goes horribly wrong when women don’t fit a customary victim profile..
  • These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

    These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world. For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that's exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he's got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness...
  • Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein

    Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    We don’t pick and choose what to be afraid of. Our fears pick us.Tash Carmody has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn’t real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory’s never spoken about the week she went missing...
  • Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga

    Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    Jazz Dent has never been closer to catching his father.Jazz has been shot and left to die in New York. His girlfriend, Connie, is in the clutches of Jazz's monstrous father, Billy--the world's most notorious serial killer. And his best friend, Howie, is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's new home...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  realistic  secrets  suspense
  • Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan

    Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Her children have a deadly secret. Can she uncover it before the police do?Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving...
  • The Last Child by John Hart

    The Last Child by John Hart

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he'd been taught since birth to trust...
  • Trespassing by Brandi Reeds

    Trespassing by Brandi Reeds

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In a novel of mounting psychological suspense, a young mother follows a dangerous path to find her missing husband.Veronica Cavanaugh’s grasp on the world is slipping. Her latest round of fertility treatments not only failed but left her on edge and unbalanced. And her three-year-old daughter, Elizabella, has a new imaginary friend, who seems much more devilish than playful...
  • The Blackhouse by Peter May

    The Blackhouse by Peter May

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    A brutal killing takes place on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland: a land of harsh beauty and inhabitants of deep-rooted faith.A MURDERDetective Inspector Fin Macleod is sent from Edinburgh to investigate. For Lewis-born Macleod, the case represents a journey both home and into his past.A SECRETSomething lurks within the close-knit island community. Something sinister...
  • The Pale White by Chad Lutzke

    The Pale White by Chad Lutzke

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    After being held against their will in a house used for trafficking, three girls plan their escape.Alex: A hardened goth-punk who’s convinced she’s a vampire with a penchant for blood.Stacia: A seventeen-year-old raised by an alcoholic mother, her fellow captives the only family she’s ever truly had.Kammie: The youngest of the three—a mute who finds solace in a houseplant...
  • Black for Remembrance by Carlene Thompson

    Black for Remembrance by Carlene Thompson

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Caroline Webb knows what it means to lose the person you love most. Twenty years ago, her five-year-old daughter, Hayley, was the light of her life, her treasure, her angle. Then came the terrible day when Hayley was kidnapped from her favorite swing. More than a month passed before her burned, lifeless body was found. All that remained was the silence of Caroline's heartache--and her guilt..
    Categorized as:
    crime  suspense  thriller  adult  book  contemporary  fiction  horror
  • Vicious by Kevin O'Brien

    Vicious by Kevin O'Brien

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    NO MOTIVE For more than two years, he held Seattle in a terror grip. A cold-blooded killer who abducted young mothers right in front of their sons and murdered them execution style. Then, as suddenly as the killings began, they seemed to stop.NO MERCY Susan Blanchette is looking forward to a relaxing weekend getaway with her fianc�, Allen, and young son, Matthew...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  family  suspense  thriller  adult  book  contemporary
  • Either Side of Midnight by Tori de Clare

    Either Side of Midnight by Tori de Clare

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    WHAT IF THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE TURNED INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE? When nineteen-year-old Naomi Stone is snatched from her husband at knifepoint on the night of their wedding and taken to a deserted cemetery, she knows her life is finished. Drugged and disorientated, she loses consciousness as she lies in an open grave with a gun to her head...
  • Keep It In The Family by John Marrs

    Keep It In The Family by John Marrs

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    In this chilling novel from bestselling author John Marrs, a young couple’s house hides terrible secrets—and not all of them are confined to the past.Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC...
  • You're Family Now by Jack Stainton

    You're Family Now by Jack Stainton

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘ EPIC!! EPIC!! EPIC!! This book had EVERYTHING I love in a book!! ' Goodreads ReviewerHe only had to do one thing. Love her family…Matt Walker was a chancer; he’d spent his entire profession chasing the next job. His personal life took on a similar mantra; a succession of one-night stands and brief relationships. Life was slowly drifting him by...
  • My Perfect Daughter by Sarah A. Denzil

    My Perfect Daughter by Sarah A. Denzil

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Most mothers hope their little girl turns out like their dad, but not Zoe. She hopes the apple falls far from the tree.Zoe didn't meet her daughter the way most mothers do. She finds five-year-old Maddie alone and dirty on a countryside road. Frightened for Maddie's safety, she picks her up and takes her back to her father, not knowing what she's about to step into...
    Categorized as:
    crime  suspense  family  thriller  dark  drama  audiobook  fiction
  • You Let Me In by Lucy Clarke

    You Let Me In by Lucy Clarke

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Spine-tingling, chilling, and utterly compulsive, YOU LET ME IN is the stunning new novel from Richard & Judy Book Club author, Lucy Clarke Nothing has felt right since Elle rented out her house . . . I’M IN YOUR HOUSE There’s a new coldness. A shift in the atmosphere. The prickling feeling that someone is watching her every move from the shadows...
  • No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara

    No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Two children get on the train. Only one gets off...No one saw it happen.You stand on a crowded tube platform in London. Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you. As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind.Everyone is lying.By the time you get to the next stop, you've convinced yourself that everything will be fine...
  • Because She Loves Me by Mark Edwards

    Because She Loves Me by Mark Edwards

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    A gripping tale of jealousy, obsession, and murder, from the #1 bestselling author of The Magpies . When Andrew Sumner meets beautiful, edgy Charlie, he is certain his run of bad luck has finally come to an end. But as the two of them embark on an intense affair, Andrew wonders if his grasp on reality is slipping. Items go missing in his apartment. Somebody appears to be following him...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  realistic  suspense  thriller  adult  audiobook
  • People Like Them by Minka Kent

    People Like Them by Minka Kent

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Nobody’s perfect—although one beautiful couple certainly comes close. Discover the cracks beneath the polished surface in this unsettling short story from bestselling author Minka Kent.Veronica and Ryan Hartley are the envy of Auburn Drive. When the exclusive neighborhood hosts its annual progressive dinner party, the couple’s perfection is on display...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  crime  thriller  dark  family  fiction  audiobook  mystery
  • Dear Child: A Novel by Romy Hausmann

    Dear Child: A Novel by Romy Hausmann

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A woman held captive finally escapes—but can she ever really get away?Gone Girl meets Room in this page-turning, #1 internationally bestselling thriller from one of Germany’s hottest new talentsA windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare.She says her name is Lena...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  secrets  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • Only the Innocent by Rachel Abbott

    Only the Innocent by Rachel Abbott

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Every moment of Sir Hugo Fletcher’s life has been chronicled in the British press: his privileged upbringing, his high-profile charity work to end human trafficking, even his two marriages. But when the billionaire philanthropist is discovered murdered in his London home, tied naked to a bed, the scandal is only a shadow of the darkness lurking off-camera...
  • The Good Samaritan by John Marrs

    The Good Samaritan by John Marrs

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  literary-fiction  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

    I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls—beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard—has disappeared...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  suspense  thriller  audiobook  book
  • The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent

    The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent

    Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    Two sisters raised in fear are about to find out why in a chilling novel of psychological suspense from the author of The Thinnest Air.Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York...
  • The Woods by Harlan Coben

    The Woods by Harlan Coben

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 40 ratings
    Twenty years ago at summer camp, Paul Copeland's sister died in the woods, the alleged victim of a serial killer. Her body was never found. Now, Paul is the prosecutor for Essex County, New Jersey, immersed in one of the biggest cases of his career-a case that will change everything he believes about the past...and the truth...
  • Here To Stay by Mark Edwards

    Here To Stay by Mark Edwards

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    A beautiful home. A loving wife. And in-laws to die for.Gemma Robinson comes into Elliot’s life like a whirlwind, and they marry and settle into his home. When she asks him if her parents can come to stay for a couple of weeks, he is keen to oblige – he just doesn’t quite know what he’s signing up for...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  secrets  suspense  thriller  adult
  • Sleep Tight by Rachel Abbott

    Sleep Tight by Rachel Abbott

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    How far would you go to hold on to the people you love?When Olivia Brookes calls the police to report that her husband and children are missing, she believes she will never see them again. She has reason to fear the worst; this isn’t the first tragedy that Olivia has experienced...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  literary-fiction  suspense  thriller  adult
  • The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

    The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    "So that was all it took," I thought. "That was all it took for me to feel like I had all the power in the world. One morning, one moment, one yellow-haired boy. It wasn't so much after all."Meet Chrissie... Chrissie is eight and she has a secret: she has just killed a boy. The feeling made her belly fizz like soda pop...
  • Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán, Sophie Hughes

    Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán, Sophie Hughes

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!From a global star and International Booker Prize finalist, a razor-sharp, unforgettable novel about a maid who’s seen too much and a family at a breaking pointA young girl has died and the family’s maid is being interrogated. She must tell the whole story before arriving at the girl’s death...
  • No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

    No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

    Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge woke one morning to discover that her entire family, mother, father, brother had vanished. No note, no trace, no return. Ever. Now, twenty-five years later, she'll learn the devastating truthSometimes better not to know. . . Cynthia is happily married with a young daughter, a new family. But the story of her old family isn't over...
  • The Girl Before by Rena Olsen

    The Girl Before by Rena Olsen

    Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true . . . wasn’t? Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  realistic  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • Robe de marié by Pierre Lemaitre

    Robe de marié by Pierre Lemaitre

    Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Sophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget.One morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead. She has no memory of what happened. And whatever the truth, her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her.Her only hiding place is in a new identity. A new life, with a man she has met online...
    Categorized as:
    crime  drama  journey  suspense  thriller  adult  audiobook  book
  • Nobody Knows You're Here by Bryn Greenwood

    Nobody Knows You're Here by Bryn Greenwood

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A desperate woman fights to escape captivity in this gripping thriller from the New York Times -bestselling author of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Beatrice is about to lose everything when a kind stranger offers her a cup of coffee and a job. It seems like a promise of a better life . . . until she wakes up under lock and key in an isolated mansion in the woods...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  crime  thriller  dark  drama  mystery  fiction  audiobook
  • The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

    The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A rash of grisly serial murders plagued Seattle until the infamous "Beacon Hill Butcher" was finally hunted down and killed by police chief Edward Shank in 1985. Now, some thirty years later, Shank, retired and widowed, is giving up his large rambling Victorian house to his grandson Matt, whom he helped raise...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  suspense  thriller  adult  audiobook
  • Problem Child by Victoria Helen Stone

    Problem Child by Victoria Helen Stone

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    She’s cold, calculating, and can deceive with a smile. Jane Doe is back in the Amazon Charts bestselling series - and this time she's met her match.After a brutal childhood, Jane Doe has been permanently wired to look after herself and only herself. Now, looking next to normal, Jane has a lover and a job. But she hasn't lost her edge. It sharpens when she hears from her estranged family...
  • The Liar's Daughter by Megan Cooley Peterson

    The Liar's Daughter by Megan Cooley Peterson

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Piper was raised in a cult. She just doesn't know it. Seventeen-year-old Piper knows that Father is a Prophet. Infallible. The chosen one.She would do anything for Father. That's why she takes care of all her little sisters. That's why she runs end-of-the-world drills. That's why she never asks questions. Because Father knows best.Until the day he doesn't...
  • The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

    The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of legendary horror author Vincent Taylor, famous not only for his novels but for being the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his siblings...
  • Smilin' Sam's Corn Maze by Stephanie Perry Scissom

    Smilin' Sam's Corn Maze by Stephanie Perry Scissom

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    When her seven-year-old daughter Lizzy disappeared into a corn maze on Halloween night in 1984, Catherine Bryant didn’t think she’d survive the loss.For nearly forty years, Catherine has struggled with her grief and guilt, so when her doctor delivers a fatal diagnosis, it’s almost a relief.But something is happening to Catherine...
  • Silent Victim by Caroline Mitchell

    Silent Victim by Caroline Mitchell

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Emma’s darkest secrets are buried in the past. But the truth can’t stay hidden for long.Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen.It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  realistic  suspense  thriller  adult
  • Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf

    Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    A gripping thriller about three young girlfriends, a dark obsession and a chilling crime that shakes up a quiet Iowa town, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence .For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover--movies and Ouija and talking about boys...
  • In the Blood by Lisa Unger

    In the Blood by Lisa Unger

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    A Best Book of the Year -- Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee, Silver Falchion Award Winner, Suspense Magazine Best Books, Sun-Sentinel Best Mystery Novels, CBC Morning Show Top Pick, Indie Next Pick and Amazon Best Book of the Month. Liar, liar, pants on fire . . . College senior Lana Granger has told so many lies about her past that the truth seems like a distant, cloudy nightmare...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  secrets  suspense  thriller  audiobook
  • The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis

    The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A dream girls trip to a luxurious French chateau devolves into a deadly nightmare of secrets and murder in this stylish, twisty thriller for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and Lisa Jewell.Welcome to picturesque Provence, where the Lady of the Chateau, Séraphine Demargelasse, has opened its elegant doors to her granddaughter Darcy and three friends...
    Categorized as:
    crime  drama  family  suspense  thriller  book  contemporary  female-mc
  • The Clinic by Cate Quinn

    The Clinic by Cate Quinn

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    From the critically acclaimed author of Black Widows comes a thriller set in a remote rehab clinic on the Pacific Northwest coast, in which the death of a woman inside prompts her sister to enter the clinic as a patient in order to find the truth...
  • You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz, Scott Brick

    You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz, Scott Brick

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Mike Wingate, abandoned by his father at four and raised in foster care, is finally living the life he always dreamed of — he’s happily married with a precocious 8-year-old daughter, and his construction company is about to finish a “green” housing development that will secure a solid future for them all...
  • The Doll House by Phoebe Morgan

    The Doll House by Phoebe Morgan

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    You never know who’s watching…Corinne’s life might look perfect on the outside, but after three failed IVF attempts it’s her last chance to have a baby. And when she finds a tiny part of a doll house outside her flat, it feels as if it’s a sign.But as more pieces begin to turn up, Corinne realises that they are far too familiar...
  • Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

    Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    A young lawyer's outwardly perfect life spirals out of control as she takes on her first murder case in this dark and twisty debut thriller for readers of Paula Hawkins, A.J. Finn, or Shari Lapena.Alison has it all. A doting husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise--she's just been given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems... Just one more night...
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