Books like 'He Started It'
Readers who enjoyed He Started It by Samantha Downing also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery psychological action / adventure thriller suspense crime journey family dark
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Martin Swans Diary: Black Water Crossing by Kyle Keyes
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMartin Swan was not a terrorist, nor a truck driver. He only replied to the want-ad because the wording linked Florida with Washington DC and wanted someone who could speak Arabic. The year was 2008. Jobs were scarce, gas prices high. The back page ad called for a big rig driver with a clean record, who could be at Black Water Crossing the day before Halloween... -
![Matching Configurations by Kyle Keyes]()
Matching Configurations by Kyle Keyes
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMatching Configurations is the second sequel to Quantum Roots, a light Sci-Fi adventure story that features everyday Olan Chapman as a hero vigilante who defends the weak and helpless victims of today's society. Like the first two editions of Quantum Roots, Matching Configurations is based on a growing belief that creation forms from recycled energy, and people evolve from recycled quarks... -
![The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly]()
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsMickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind... -
![The Pandarus File by Kyle Keyes]()
The Pandarus File by Kyle Keyes
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHelena Hollister was a New York City gold digger who latched onto her father-in-law's fortune by seducing a Hobbs Creek 24 yr old who suffered from motor slowness. Helena got away with murder and the money, while two backwoods lawmen failed to unravel the mystery of who killed Elmer Kane... -
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![The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice]()
The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAn Amazon Charts bestseller.The Amazon Charts bestselling author of Last Day delivers a haunting thriller about how far one wife is willing to go to expose the truth—and the lengths someone will go to stop her.After artist Claire Beaudry Chase is attacked and left for dead in her home on the Connecticut coast, she doesn’t know who she can trust... -
![The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion]()
The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsA 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... -
![A Summer of Good-Byes (Blue Triangle Press Book 2) by Fred Misurella]()
A Summer of Good-Byes (Blue Triangle Press Book 2) by Fred Misurella
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPASSION IN PROVENCE: Ben and Lee Alto follow Van Gogh’s 19th century path to Provence, hoping to find inspiration for their own lives and give their son, Misha, some insight into a world completely different from their own. They find art, of course, and a world of beautiful landscapes, warm temperatures, and, yes, wonderful food... -
![The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis]()
The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTHE MOST DIFFICULT CASE OF DETECTIVE JACKMAN’S LIFE. WHO ARE THE GUILTY ONES AND IS ANYONE REALLY INNOCENT? THIS TIME IT’S VERY PERSONAL FOR JACKMAN. Jackman’s sister-in-law Sarah disappears to London and throws herself into the river. What drove her to this? She was a woman with a seemingly happy home life and two beloved sons. DI Jackman and DI Evans dig into Sarah’s life... -
![The Lost Man by Jane Harper]()
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsTwo brothers meet in the remote Australian outback when the third brother is found dead, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane HarperTwo brothers meet at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback. In an isolated belt of Western Australia, they are each other’s nearest neighbor, their homes four hours’ drive apart... -
![Hide by Lisa Gardner]()
Hide by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsYou have good reason to be afraid. . . . It was a case that haunts Bobby Dodge to this day—the case that nearly killed him and changed his life forever. Now, in an underground chamber on the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital, the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses resurrects his worst nightmare: the return of a killer he thought dead and buried... -
![A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer]()
A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA chilling thriller of serial murder and dark secrets that will leave you wondering, is the past really in the past?Three Chicago women have been found strangled, embalmed, and posed as if still alive. Doubting the findings of the local PD’s profiler, The FBI calls on forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley to investigate... -
![The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino]()
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsYasuko lives a quiet life, working in a Tokyo bento shop, a good mother to her only child. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered. When Detective Kusanagi of the Tokyo Police tries to piece together the events of that day, he finds himself confronted by the most puzzling, mysterious circumstances he has ever investigated... -
![The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson]()
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 101 ratingsHarriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of iniquity and corruption... -
![The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean]()
The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA woman being held captive is willing to risk everything to save herself, her unborn child, and her captor’s latest victim in this claustrophobic thriller in the tradition of Misery and Room. On an isolated farm in the United Kingdom, a woman is trapped by the monster who kidnapped her seven years ago... -
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![Lost in the Crowd by M.J. Santley]()
Lost in the Crowd by M.J. Santley
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLost in the Crowd is an engaging, humorous, and sometimes poignant autobiographical story that will have you feeling as though you are right there with the author - laughing, crying, and stumbling through all the ups and downs of his amazing, hard-to-believe, often hilarious, crazy, heartwarming journey through life - a journey that recurrently seems to be influenced by mysterious forces... -
![Keep Her Quiet by Emma Curtis]()
Keep Her Quiet by Emma Curtis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'This is grip-lit at its best' Fanny BlakeJenny has just given birth to the baby she’s always wanted. She’s never been this happy.Her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can’t be his. He’s never felt so betrayed.The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She’s crazed with grief... -
![Gone for Good by Harlan Coben]()
Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsAs a boy, Will Klein had a hero: his older brother, Ken. Then, on a warm suburban night in the Kleins' affluent New Jersey neighborhood, a young woman--a girl Will had once loved--was found brutally murdered in her family's basement. The prime suspect: Ken Klein. With the evidence against him overwhelming, Ken simply vanished... -
![The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White]()
The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsShe’s come back to solve the mystery of her father’s death and confront her own dark past. When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself... -
![Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga]()
Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsJazz 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... -
![Never Tell by Lisa Gardner]()
Never Tell by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratings#1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner returns with an unpredictable thriller that puts fan favorites D. D. Warren and Flora Dane on a shocking new case that begins with a vicious murder and gets darker from there.A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun.D. D... -
![The End of Lies by Andrew Barrett]()
The End of Lies by Andrew Barrett
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMy name is Becky. I arrived home to find my husband, Chris, stabbed to death and a gang of men ransacking our house. Turns out that Chris has something that belongs to them. And if I want to stay alive, I have to find it and return it. They have given me seven days. And a beating. There is nowhere to hide and no time left to look. So I will stand my ground as the deadline approaches... -
![The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones]()
The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones brings a fresh, modern take to the thriller genre that will keep you guessing until the very end.“The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” -Jean Cocteau Some call him friend or boss. Some call him husband or dad. Some call him son, even a favorite son. But the only title that matters to him is the one the media has given him: The Poet... -
![The Silence Between Breaths by Cath Staincliffe]()
The Silence Between Breaths by Cath Staincliffe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEight people, one deadly secret.Passengers boarding the 10.35 train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston are bound for work, assignations, reunions, holidays or new starts, with no idea that their journey is about to be brutally curtailed... -
![The Redeemer by Jo Nesbø]()
The Redeemer by Jo Nesbø
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsA fantastically gripping thriller from the best-selling author of The Snowman.Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on a crowded Oslo street. A gunshot cuts through the music and the bitter cold: one of the singers falls dead, shot in the head at point-blank range... -
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![The Vacation by John Marrs]()
The Vacation by John Marrs
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Vacation is a compulsive, holiday-set thriller from John Marrs, the author of The One, now a Netflix Original Series.How far would you run to escape your past?Venice Beach, Los Angeles. A paradise on earth.Tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood.But for eight strangers at a beach front hostel, there is far more on their mind than an extended vacation... -
![Boetedoening (O'Loughlin by Michael Robotham]()
Boetedoening (O'Loughlin by Michael Robotham
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsRay Hegarty, a highly respected former detective, lies dead in his daughter Sienna's bedroom. She is found covered in his blood. Everything points to her guilt, but psychologist Joe O'Loughlin isn't convinced.Fourteen-year-old Sienna is Joe's daughter's best friend ? Joe has watched her grow up and seen the troubled look in her eyes... -
![If I Run by Terri Blackstock]()
If I Run by Terri Blackstock
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsCasey Cox has blood on the bottom of her shoes, in her car, on her clothes. But there's no point in trying to defend herself. She just has to run. Casey didn't kill her friend Brent. She discovered his body, but she'd never try to hurt him. He's the only person she's ever trusted enough to tell the truth about what happened to her father . . -
![Trespassing by Brandi Reeds]()
Trespassing by Brandi Reeds
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn 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... -
![Turning Angel by Greg Iles]()
Turning Angel by Greg Iles
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAfter winning the most dangerous case of his career, prosecutor Penn Cage decides to remain in his Southern hometown to raise his young daughter in a safe haven. But nowhere is truly safe -- not from long-buried secrets, or murder....When the nude body of prep school student Kate Townsend is found near the Mississippi River, Penn's best friend, Drew Elliott, is desperate for his counsel... -
![Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson]()
Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsDetective Alex Cross arrests renowned plastic surgeon Elijah Creem for sleeping with teenage girls. Now, his life ruined, Creem is out of jail, and he's made sure that no one will recognize him--by giving himself a new face.A young woman is found hanging from a sixth-floor window, and Alex is called to the scene. The victim recently gave birth, but the baby is nowhere to be found... -
![The Blackhouse by Peter May]()
The Blackhouse by Peter May
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA 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... -
![Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner, Elisabeth Rodgers]()
Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner, Elisabeth Rodgers
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 28 ratings#1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner, author of Catch Me and Love You More, returns with a heart-thumping thriller about what lurks behind the facade of a perfect family.This is my family: Vanished without a trace…Justin and Libby Denbe have the kind of life that looks good in the pages of a glossy magazine. A beautiful fifteen-year old daughter, Ashlyn... -
![Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben]()
Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsWith unmatched suspense and emotional insight, Harlan Coben explores the big secrets and little lies that can destroy a relationship, a family, and even a town in this powerful new thriller... -
![Run Away by Harlan Coben]()
Run Away by Harlan Coben
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsYOUR DAUGHTER IS MISSING.YOU'LL RISK ANYTHING TO FIND HER.And then you see her, frightened and clearly in trouble.You approach her, beg her to come home.SHE RUNS.You follow her into a dark, dangerous world where no-one is safe and murder is commonplace.NOW IT'S YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE.. -
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![The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low]()
The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us...Their rise was meteoric.Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.But on one Hollywood evening in 1993, they were on the world’s biggest stage, accepting their Oscar in front of the watching world.That night was the beginning of their careers... -
![Lotus Effect by Trisha Wolfe]()
Lotus Effect by Trisha Wolfe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom USA Today bestselling author Trisha Wolfe comes her most gripping psychological thriller yet. Lakin Hale, true crime writer and victim of an attack that left her for dead, helps crime solvers and victims close cold cases, yet there is one crime she hasn’t been able to solve: Her own... -
![One Fear by Belle Brooks]()
One Fear by Belle Brooks
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“My one fear is now my reality.” He didn’t offer his name when he fulfilled his need to include me as a player in his game. I’m number thirteen. Just a number given to the bitches who wronged him. I was blindsided. Stolen from my life. In his devilled eyes, I have a debt to pay…he wants my final breath to see us even... -
![The Tywi Estuary Killings by John Nicholl]()
The Tywi Estuary Killings by John Nicholl
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIs it revenge or is it justice?DI Gravel is supposed to be on mandatory leave, but when a severed head washes up on the estuary beach his holiday is cut short. Back on the job, he’s shocked when the case leads him to the victim from an old caseSeventeen years ago, the system failed Rebecca. They let the abuser of a six-year-old girl walk free... -
![The Blue by Lucy Clarke]()
The Blue by Lucy Clarke
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the tradition of Alex Garland’s The Beach, a spine-tingling adventure novel about a group of friends whose journey around the world on a yacht turns from a trip to paradise into a chilling nightmare when one of them disappears at sea.A group of friends. A yacht. And a disappearance-at-sea that turns paradise into a chilling nightmare... -
![The Private School Murders by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro]()
The Private School Murders by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn the sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Confessions of a Murder Suspect, James Patterson keeps the confessions coming breathlessly as Tandy Angel delves deeper into her own tumultuous history-and proves that she can rise above the sordid Angel legacy... -
![Dear Child: A Novel by Romy Hausmann]()
Dear Child: A Novel by Romy Hausmann
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA 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... -
![The Murder House by James Patterson, David Ellis]()
The Murder House by James Patterson, David Ellis
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsNo. 7 Ocean Drive is a gorgeous, multi-million-dollar beachfront estate in the Hamptons, where money and privilege know no bounds. But its beautiful gothic exterior hides a horrific past: it was the scene of a series of depraved killings that have never been solved. Neglected, empty, and rumored to be cursed, it's known as the Murder House, and locals keep their distance... -
![The Dry by Jane Harper]()
The Dry by Jane Harper
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsIn the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier... -
![I, Alex Cross by James Patterson]()
I, Alex Cross by James Patterson
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsCan Alex Cross survive his most chilling - and personal - case ever? Pulled out of a family celebration, Detective Alex Cross gets awful news: A beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Vowing to catch the killer, he quickly learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington, D.C.'s wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim . . -
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![The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent]()
The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTwo 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 ratingsTwenty 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... -
![The Last Thing She Ever Did by Gregg Olsen]()
The Last Thing She Ever Did by Gregg Olsen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a psychological thriller exploring the things we dare to do when no one is looking . . .The community along Oregon's Deschutes River is one of successful careers and perfect families. For years, up-and-comers Liz and Owen have admired their good friends and neighbors, Carole and David... -
![Caught by Harlan Coben]()
Caught by Harlan Coben
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 34 ratings17 year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her... -
![She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper]()
She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEleven-year-old Polly is smart far beyond her years. But she's a loner. Her mother tells her she has 'gunfighter eyes', like the father she's never met. In prison, about to be released, Nate runs afoul of the powerful leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. Marked for death on his release, Nate soon realizes that everyone he has ever loved is a target - including his daughter, Polly... -
![Into the Blue by Robert Goddard]()
Into the Blue by Robert Goddard
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHarry Barnett lives the life of an Englishman on permanent vacation in Greece, house-sitting for a powerful friend and hiding from a past disgrace. That is, until a guest at the villa disappears on a walking tour, and Harry is the number one suspect. While a Greek detective tries to trap him, and the British tabloids pillory him at home, Harry’s conscience is his worst enemy of all...
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