Books like 'Paper Girls'
Readers who enjoyed Paper Girls by Alex Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery serial killer crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural noir kidnapping vigilante justice
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Woman in the Water by Elle Gray
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCharlotte's body lays lifeless floating in a pool. Ruby red water surrounds her.Her daughter's desperate screams fill the air..."Mom?!!!!".Charlotte MacMillan, the mother of three, found dead. Murdered in broad daylight.Only two know the twisted truth. The victim and her killer.To solve this case, Paxton must bring light to the unrelenting darkness.Unmask the truth behind the devastating lies... -
Her Last Call by Elle Gray
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“Come out, come out, wherever you are...” A beautiful young woman trapped within a killer’s sick and twisted game.Stella Hughes called for help, but help did not come in time.She could not hide, fight, or escape.Stella was ensnared in the killer’s web.The victim of a twisted serial killer’s mind... -
Six Graves by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s a typical teenage bedroom with posters covering the walls and clothes littering the floor. But the girl lying on her bed, wearing a delicate chain around her neck, is lifeless. A circle of red stains her white vest top and Kim feels a sharp stab of sadness... -
Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe woman’s bright blonde hair floats in the breeze. She almost looks like she could be resting on the soft green grass. But her brown eyes stare unblinking up at the sky, and the final cut across her mouth is dark with blood... -
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Bad Blood by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe victim is lying under the trees, arms lifted above his head, unnaturally still. His muscles are slack. His eyes are empty. There are no signs of life. But he is not quite dead…When Detective Kim Stone races to the crime scene, there is no body waiting for the paramedics are desperately trying to save the victim’s life... -
The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhat would you do if there weren't any consequences?After twenty years on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Logan thinks he has seen it all.He is wrong.When a nurse is murdered on her way home from nightshift, Jack and his team go on the hunt for her killer... -
The Girl and the Unlucky 13 by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"Who are you?""I am the unlucky 13…"Throughout the years FBI agent Emma Griffin had to overcome experiences of trauma and devastating losses.The loss of her mother and the mysterious death of her ex.She has spent most of her life trying to bring light to darkness and uncover the disturbing truths that were kept hidden by those who live in the shadows... -
Stone Cold Dead by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGetting blood from these stones will be all too easy.In the middle of one of Norfolk’s most brutal winters a frozen body is discovered on the legendary Stone of Ling. With Robert Kett out of action the case falls to DC Kate Savage and DI Pete Porter, and it quickly becomes clear to them that the young man wasn’t just killed, he was sacrificed.And he isn’t alone... -
Lucas Davenport Novels 1-5 by John Sandford
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSuspense fans will love this "sterling quintet"* of novels featuring Minneapolis homicide investigator Lucas Davenport from "one of the most consistently entertaining crime writers working today" (Booklist). The first five in the # 1 New York Times bestselling series, with introductions by John Sandford included... -
Three Little Pigs by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHe will find the truth. Even if it kills him. Five months ago, DCI Robert Kett’s wife Billie was snatched from a London street. Five months of no leads, no evidence, and no suspects. Until now... -
The Devil's Cliff Killings by Simon McCleave
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA missing teenager. A web of prison corruption and human trafficking. Can DI Ruth Hunter blow the lid off the case in time to save a sixteen year old girl?Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter has resolved to put the grief of her missing partner behind her and continue to make a life away from London in Snowdonia... -
Whip Crack by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery time you hear his voice, another child will die.DCI Robert Kett’s family may be whole again, but he is a broken man.Suspended from duty, he takes his girls out of the city for a much-needed holiday on the Norfolk Coast.Instead of the peace he desperately needs, however, Kett finds a community in chaos. Four teenagers are missing, and time is running out before they meet a horrific fate... -
The Bonnie Dead by Andrew Raymond
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA stolen child. A killer stalking the streets of Glasgow. A troubled detective running out of time.Five years ago, DCI John Lomond led the search for notorious Glasgow child-killer ‘The Sandman’, until personal tragedy forced him off the case.In Lomond’s absence, the killer was never found... -
Frozen Souls by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe looked like an angel. She lay perfectly still, silky blonde hair falling to her pale shoulders. Icicles clung to her eyelashes as snowflakes fluttered to the frozen ground, burying her body.As a snowstorm wreaks havoc in the mountain town of Crooked Creek, a woman is found buried in ice. Detective Ellie Reeves is first on the scene... -
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The Kid: A Suspense Thriller by Dustin Stevens
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat do you do when somebody targets one of your own?Alone on the couch one night, Reed and his partner are both summoned to the hospital to find two of their colleagues have been viciously attacked, left for dead on the side of the road with very little evidence to go on... -
Cold Comfort by Trevor Douglas
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHow do you catch a killer who never leaves a clue? Bridgette Casseldhorf is a rookie detective working her first murder case. The circumstances surrounding the murder of a young woman lead Bridgette to believe it’s the work of a serial killer, but nobody is listening... -
Guilty Mothers by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShe lies on the floor, her blue eyes wide and unseeing, arms outstretched as if begging for help. Kneeling next to her, wearing a purple sequinned ballgown and holding a knife in shaking hands, is her daughter… In a quiet kitchen, where two mugs wait by the kettle to be filled, Sheryl Hawne lies in a pool of blood... -
The Bones She Buried by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJosie works until her arms ache, until the paramedics arrive and pull her gently away from the woman’s cold, fragile body. Noah’s voice cracks beside her as he calls the time of death for his own, beloved mother... -
Out of Her Mind by T.R. Ragan
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCrime reporter Sawyer Brooks still grieves for the family she and her two sisters never had. Raised in a house of horrors, they continue to fight through the trauma—releasing their rage by seeking justice for those who are just as vulnerable as they were... -
Her Dying Secret by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsShe gently opens the woman’s tightly clenched fist, uncurling each finger to reveal a square of folded paper hidden in her palm... -
The Crying Season by D.K. Hood
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe light fades as she runs for her life, the forest now becoming quieter around her. The only noise she hears is the sound of footsteps following her... It’s hiking season in Black Rock Falls and the small town in Montana is flooded with visitors. But when a hiker finds a human skull on a deserted trail in the woods that surround the town, Detective Jenna Alton is called in to investigate... -
Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe sound that wakes her from sleep is unmistakable—someone is in their house...Categorized as:
crime justice law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense vigilante action-adventure -
You Better Run by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDead.Who is this girl?How did she end up in the pool?Was she even at the party?Even more strange is when they pull her out of the water, Meg realizes the girl looks very familiar. As a matter of fact, she looks just like her.Like an identical twin.But Meg has no twin, at least none that she knows of, and no one at the party knows this girl or can say where she is from... -
Jack Frost by Christopher Greyson
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat do you get when you mix Agatha Christie's masterpiece And Then There Were None with the blockbuster television show Survivor? JACK FROST! Jack has a new assignment: to investigate the suspicious death of a soundman on the hit TV show Planet Survival. Jack goes undercover as a security agent where the show is filming on nearby Mount Minuit... -
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Dawn Girl by Leslie Wolfe
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA GRIPPING SERIAL KILLER THRILLERHer blue eyes wide open, glossed over. A few specks of sand clung to her long, dark lashes. Her beautiful face, immobile, covered in sparkling flecks of sand. Her lips slightly parted as if to let a last breath escape...Categorized as:
crime kidnapping law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult book -
Never Ever by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFormer FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas returns in Willow Rose’s most hair-raising thriller yet. Ex-agent Eva Rae Thomas is on the run. The past month she has done things she never knew she was capable of while hunting for her kidnapped daughter. Eva Rae has risked everything, -her career, -her newfound love, -her freedom. She’s looking for the man they call the Iron Fist... -
What You Did by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFormer FBI-profiler Eva Rae Thomas faces the most personal case in her career, as bestselling author Willow Rose’s new hit-series continues. Three girls disappear on prom night at the local high school. One of them is the prom queen...Categorized as:
crime kidnapping law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense adult amateur-sleuth -
Five Days Post Mortem by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHer body floats. A bloated thing half atop the river. Naked. Pale. Mouth and eyes open wide. When two fishermen discover a corpse floating in the Clackamas river, profiler Violet Darger heads to rural Oregon to hunt another serial killer. What she discovers in the woods might change the course of her life... -
Bad Dog by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSome legends can kill you. When a young woman is brutally murdered in the Norfolk countryside, the locals blame Black Shuck—a legendary wild dog. There’s only one problem: the wounds weren’t made by an animal. DCI Robert Kett is battling a black dog of his own... -
The Talisker Dead by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPulling on the threads of your past... is enough to kill you...When a teenage islander goes missing on Burns Night, D.I. Duncan McAdam takes a strong interest despite the apparent lack of concern shown by the boy's father. When a woman's body is soon discovered in Talisker Bay, with a single stab wound to the chest, Duncan and his team realise they have a killer on the island... -
Perfect Silence by Helen Sarah Fields
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratings'Relentless pace, devilish cleverness and a laser-sharp focus on plot.' Chris BrookmyreWhen silence falls, who will hear their cries?The body of a young girl is found dumped on the roadside on the outskirts of Edinburgh. When pathologists examine the remains, they make a gruesome discovery: the silhouette of a doll carved in the victim's skin...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense police-procedural vigilante justice kidnapping mystery -
The Final Vow by M.W. Craven
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe next unmissable novel* in the Sunday Times bestselling, multi-award-winning Washington Poe series. Poe and Tilly be prepared for the most twisted thrill-ride so far . . .An invisible killer with a 100% success rate. No one is safe. Not even those closest to Washington Poe . . .A shooting at Gretna Green. A bride is murdered on her wedding day, seconds after she slips on her new ring...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural mystery fiction audiobook serial-killers -
Unquiet Souls by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat is the link between the abduction of a little girl and a dead prostitute? When the body of a prostitute is found, followed by the discovery of children locked in an attic, DI Gus McGuire, newly returned to work, is given the case. But what at first appears to be a simple murder soon turns into an international manhunt for the members of a twisted child trafficking ring... -
The Recipient by Audrey J. Cole
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSergeant Wade McKinnon knows who killed Samantha the moment he arrives at her crime scene. Problem is, he watched her killer die a year ago.A year after serial killer Michael Rhodes is executed and allowed to donate part of his brain as an organ transplant, Wade gets called to a murder scene that shares uncanny similarities to those of the late Michael Rhodes... -
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Her Final Word by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRather be the hunter than the prey. Inspired by a true story. Ella Maria Chauncey walks home after a night out with her friends, hurrying to get back before her parents realize she's been out with the boy they don't want her to date. Living in the gated community of Lyford Cay, in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods, she believes it is safe. Ella Maria never makes it home... -
Dark Water by Caro Ramsay
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA bitterly cold February in Glasgow. In the attic of a deserted tenement, the body of a man is found hanging, his face disfigured beyond recognition.Around his neck is a sign that reads: I Am Stephen Whyte.Investigating officers DI Anderson and DS Costello believe the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old unsolved case.Ten years ago, a young woman was brutally attacked and left for dead... -
The Girl With No Name by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDetective Josie Quinn is horrified when she’s called to the house of a mother who had her newborn baby snatched from her arms... -
Mad Jack by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSomething sinister lurks behind the perfect homes and well-manicured lawns of Mulberry Grove. Wealthy tech investor Jack Harlow, known to the FBI as Mad Jack, has been running a personal development program for the past ten years. Locals call it a cult. Few leave, and those who try, end up dead under mysterious circumstances. Six couples in all over the last five years... -
Dark Justice by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA ruthless killer intent on wreaking havoc in San Francisco through a series of senseless slayings will do anything to escape detection, including making sure Gia Santella is the one who takes the fall ...After years abroad, Gia Santella has finally gone home to San Francisco searching for meaning in a life full of loss... -
Border Line by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsnot a choice...It's her destiny.Gia Santella has settled into domestic life with a vengeance. The days of drinking too much, driving too fast, and going home with an assortment of cute boys have come to a screeching halt.But her world is upended when a little girl escaping a brutal life in Guatemala is thrust into her life... -
The Sleepover by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRoxy had a secret. Now she’s gone. When fourteen-year-old Roxy says she’s going for a sleepover at her best friend Ellie’s house, Cathy sees no reason to check her daughter’s story. The two families are neighbours, and the girls are in and out of each other’s homes every day. It is a decision she will regret... -
Chosen Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA New York Times bestseller! Lucas Davenport returns in the most harrowing and unexpected Prey novel yet—the story of a congenial man, and his most uncongenial obsession...An art history professor and writer and cheerful pervert, James Qatar had a hobby: he took secret photographs of women and turned them into highly sexual drawings. One day, he took the hobby a step further and..Categorized as:
crime kidnapping law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Hunter of the Dark by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA brutal killer is on the streets of Rome. He leaves no trace. And shows no mercy.A series of gruesome murders leaves the police force in Rome reeling, with no real clues or hard evidence to follow. Assigned to the case is Sandra Vega, a brilliant forensic analyst, struggling to come to terms with the crimes and her own past... -
Her Last Breath by Charlie Gallagher
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDiscover a crime thriller which will have you gripped from the explosive start to one of the most shocking endings of the year. DETECTIVE GEORGE ELMS THOUGHT HE’D SEEN IT ALL, UNTIL HE COMES UP AGAINST SERIAL KILLER HENRY ‘THE BULL’ ROBERTS. Henry Roberts had a type — young, blonde, attractive women. He is three years into a life sentence. Two of his victims were never found...Categorized as:
crime kidnapping law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult -
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Taker of Lives by Leslie Wolfe
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA GRIPPING CRIME THRILLER How can you outrun a killer you won’t see coming?They are the most violent, blood-thirsty, and vicious of criminals. While hunting for them, FBI profilers call these monsters UNSUBS, short for unknown subjects of ongoing investigations...Categorized as:
crime kidnapping law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Raven Song by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOne song for the dying... sung by the dead...When the body of a young woman is discovered at the home she shared with her disabled daughter, DI Tom Janssen and his team must investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.The woman was a single mother, well regarded and popular among the group she frequented, but she had a chequered past... a life she kept secret from those around her.. -
Love You Dead by Peter James
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn ugly duckling as a child, Jodie Bentley had two dreams in life—to be beautiful and rich. She's achieved the first, with a little help from a plastic surgeon, and now she's working hard on the second. Her philosophy about money is simple. You can either earn it or marry it. Marrying is easy, it's getting rid of the husband afterwards that's harder, that takes real skill... -
You Are Dead by Peter James, Daniel Weyman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsYou are Dead is the eleventh thrilling crime novel in Peter James' Roy Grace series, read aloud by Daniel Weyman.They were marked for deathThe last words Jamie Ball hears from his fiancée, Logan Somerville, are in a terrified mobile phone call. She has just driven into the underground car park beneath the block of flats where they live in Brighton. Then she screams and the phone goes dead... -
Last Day Alive by J.R. Adler, Jeneva Rose
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsOne hot summer’s evening, ten-year-old Piper Chase went for a bike ride. She never came home…Piper cycles off one hot Oklahoma evening for a sleepover with her new friend Miley from summer camp. But when she doesn’t come home, her grandparents raise the alarm. Their little angel is missing, last seen on her pink bicycle, heading towards the dark woods on Black Heart Lane... -
Deadly Pursuit by C.M. Sutter
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFans of James Patterson and Michael Connelly will love C.M. Sutter! A sadistic scene unlike any that Homicide Detective Jesse McCord has ever witnessed unfolds on a park bench in front of him. Jesse knows this isn’t just another Chicago murder...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural vigilante justice mystery fiction serial-killers
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