Books like 'The Darkness that Divides Us'
Readers who enjoyed The Darkness that Divides Us by Renate Dorrestein also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary psychological coming-of-age crime family
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Stone Sober by Gwyn McNamee
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsStone Hawke is precisely the kind of man women are warned about—handsome, intelligent, arrogant, and intricately entangled with some dangerous people. I should stay away, but he manages to strip my soul bare with just a look and dominates my thoughts. Bad decisions are in my past. My life is (mostly) on track, even if it is no longer the one to medical school... -
The Boy Under the Table by Nicole Trope
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTina is a young woman hiding from her grief on the streets of the Cross. On a cold night in the middle of winter she breaks all her own rules when she agrees to go home with a customer.What she finds in his house will change her life forever.Across the country Sarah and Doug are trapped in limbo, struggling to accept the loss that now governs their lives... -
Justified Steel by M.J. Fields
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen offered the keys to the kingdom, I all but pissed on the throne.I didn’t need the figurative crown to become the king, and I sure as hell didn’t want anything more to do with the little queen.When the power started to shift and lives were being torn apart, justice needed to be served... -
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Blood Brothers: A gritty, unforgettable gangland thriller from bestseller Heather Atkinson by Heather Atkinson
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen you’re running the streets, loyalty is everything…Gangs rule the streets of the rough Gallowburn Estate in Glasgow, but the deepest rivalry of all is between Jamie Gray and his friends, known as the Blood Brothers, and their enemies, the Lawsons... -
Finding Me by Judith Keim
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSheena Sullivan Morelli and her sisters, Darcy and Regan, receive the unexpected news that their Uncle Gavin Sullivan, the black sheep of the family, has left them a hotel on the Gulf coast of Florida. The gift comes with a twist. They must live together for one year at the hotel and prepare the hotel to receive guests within a year... -
The Stepchild by Nicole Trope
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThree-year-old Millie Everleigh disappears on a crisp winter’s day, and nothing is as it seems…It’s the phone call every mother dreads.I’m climbing into the car after a trip to the grocery store. As the engine starts, my phone rings. It’s my stepdaughter, Shelby, who is babysitting my three-year-old little girl Millie.‘I only went upstairs for a second,’ she says through her sobs. ‘She’s gone... -
Where Women Are Kings by Christie Watson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsElijah, seven years old, has a history of disruptive behaviour. His adoptive mother Nikki believes that she and her husband Obi are strong enough to accept his difficulties – and that her being white will not affect her ability to raise a black son... -
Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSix 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.. -
What She Saw by Wendy Clarke
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe lied to her daughter to save her family. Everyone knows Leona would do anything for her daughter Beth: she moved to Church Langdon to send Beth to the best school, worked hard to build a successful business to support them and found them the perfect little cottage to call home. Leona and Beth hike together, shop together, share their hopes and fears with one another... -
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn alternative cover edition for the ISBN can be found here."Ned was beside me, his messages running easily through him, with space between each one, coming through him like water. He was the go-between, going between the animal kingdom and this one. I watched the waves as they rolled and crashed towards us, one after another, never stopping, always changing... -
The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBrighton Beach, 1993Teenagers Nell and Jude find the body of a young woman and when no one comes to claim her, she becomes known as the Brighton Mermaid. Nell is still struggling to move on when, three weeks later, Jude disappears.Twenty-five years on, Nell is forced to quit her job to find out who the Brighton Mermaid really was - and what happened to her best friend that summer... -
Last Seen by Lucy Clarke
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsIn a small seaside community, there’s always somebody watching… Twisty, pacy, and superbly plotted, Last Seen is the perfect psychological page-turner for fans of Clare Mackintosh and Sabine Durrant. Seven years ago, two boys went missing at sea – and only one was brought to shore. The Sandbank, a remote stretch of coast dotted with beach huts, was scarred forever... -
Let the Light Shine by Nick Alexander, Penelope Rawlins
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom Nick Alexander, the number one best-selling author of The Photographer's Wife and The Other Son.Penny and Victoria are about as different as two siblings can be, one with a smart London lifestyle, the other struggling to make ends meet. But they are joined by more than blood, and their shared tragic past is affecting the present more than they realise... -
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Christina by Leanne Davis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMy entire life I’ve lived with shadows lurking behind what otherwise appears like the perfect family. My mother often disappears into her bedroom for days at a time because her life becomes too much to deal with. I never understood it. I know there are family secrets. I hear the whispers and innuendos. But no one wants me to know the truth. The thing is: I’m not a little girl anymore... -
The Night She Vanished by Wendy Dranfield
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMy parents seem to be the perfect couple. But no one knows what I know... Everyone in the small Midwestern town of Henderson looks up to my perfect parents. With dependable jobs as a midwife and the town sheriff, they help this close-knit community feel safe. But the locals didn't grow up in my parents' house. They don't know what I know. And they wouldn't believe me if I told them.. -
Hunger for Life by Andy Marr
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn the day of his graduation, James says goodbye to the future and moves back to his parents’ house in Myreton, the sleepy village of his childhood. He’s not happy, but the thought of continuing his life anywhere else seems unthinkable while his sister, Emma, continues to suffer with the illness that’s plagued her since she was a child...Categorized as:
family coming-of-age romance fiction contemporary mental-illness psychological medical -
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains... -
Glen Affric by Karine Giébel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBestselling French author of psychological suspense Karine Giebel makes her American debut with this dark and haunting novel about the unbreakable bond between two brothers, both treated unfairly by the world—for fans of Karin Slaughter and Stieg Larsson.“I’m so stupid. I barely have a brain at all... -
Secrets Mothers Keep by Anya Mora
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOn Friday night in the clay fields of Bethel Creek, seventeen-year-old Daniel Reyes is found brutally attacked and left for dead. On Saturday morning, Cora Maxwell finds her teenage son’s clothes covered in blood. A small town torn apart by a horrific hate crime. An investigative reporter hell bent on finding the truth. A mother’s worst nightmare... -
Deserve To Die by Miranda Rijks
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDom and Stacey have the perfect life. Until they meet Tamara. Brilliant, beautiful, she hides a horrifying secret. One that may destroy them all.Happily married with two wonderful children, Dom and Stacey are living the dream. He runs a successful design agency, she is finding fame as an author of children’s books.Everything is perfect... -
Nathan's Run by John Gilstrap
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTwelve-year-old Nathan Bailey, accused of murdering a cop, becomes the target of a nationwide manhunt even as a vicious hit man is closing in on him. Orphaned and alone, Nathan has no one to count on but himself. To stay alive he must exercise all his agility and cleverness... -
The Thorn Girl by Laura Elliot
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA swallow flutters its wings into a dimly lit attic as Adele Foyle stumbles across the secret diary of the mother she has never met, and a shocking account of a crime committed over twenty-five years ago... -
My Sister's Husband by Nicola Marsh
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe sunroom at the back of the house is just as I remember. I can’t taste homemade lemonade or smell oatmeal cookies without thinking of home, of the beautiful cliffs of Martino Bay, and I feel welcomed. But all thoughts of a happy family reunion are destroyed the moment I see him… He’s as handsome as I remember: broad shoulders, piercing blue eyes, hair the colour of burnt toffee... -
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The Perfect Mother by Caroline Mitchell
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe thought they wanted her baby. But they won’t stop there. Roz is young, penniless and pregnant. All she wants is to be the perfect mother to her child, but the more she thinks about her own chaotic upbringing, the more certain she is that the best life for her baby is as far away as possible from her hometown in Ireland... -
The Girl She Wanted by K.L. Slater
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhat if my sister is unstable and everyone can see it but me? What was she really doing standing over Florence’s cot in the middle of the night?Alexa has always looked up to her older sister Carrie. Carrie lives in Alexa’s family home, and adores her one-year-old niece Florence. Alexa doesn’t know how they would cope without her... -
The Ex-Wife by Jess Ryder
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsYou’ve got everything she wants …Newly married Natasha has the perfect house, a loving husband and a beautiful little girl called Emily. She’d have it all if it wasn’t for Jen, her husband’s ex-wife who just won’t leave them alone …Then Natasha returns home one day to find her husband and Emily gone without trace... -
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... -
It's One of Us by J.T. Ellison
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"A heart-stoppingly tense thriller about the price of secrets and the layers behind every marriage." —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman In Cabin 10Everybody lies. Even the ones you think you know best of all . . . Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients... -
My Mother's Eyes: A Short Story by Jeremy Ray
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“You’re wrong, Jordie. You’ll see. Draw me just one more time.”No one knows if his mother will come out of her coma, so fourteen-year-old Jordie memorializes her in the only way he knows how: by drawing her. His older brother doesn’t approve of these sketches, but Jordie’s determined to capture the person she used to be... -
A Lovely Lie by Jaime Lynn Hendricks
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIs it better to believe a lovely lie or know the horrible truth?1999: The night of their senior picnic, Scarlett Russo and her best friend Pepper were involved in a car accident that left two of their classmates dead. Afterward, they lied to the police, protecting each other from the consequences... -
A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.A whirlwind romance.When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant... -
The Narrator by K.L. Slater
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat if the chance of a perfect life… put your daughter in grave danger?Being a single mother is tough, but I’d do anything for my little girl Scarlet. I’d given up on my career as a voice actor when the call came, but suddenly I was the new narrator for a secret book from bestselling author Philippa Roberts, who has been missing for eight months. It was a lifeline for me and my daughter... -
Brothers & Sisters by Adele O'Neill
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat lengths would you go to protect the ones you love? When the complex web of dark family secrets begins to gradually unravel, Tim and his sister Rose are consumed by trying to protect their 46-year-old secret, a secret that was never meant to be told. Faced with an impossible dilemma, they must decide whether to tell the truth or face the consequences... -
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Learning Not to Drown by Anna Shinoda
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFamily secrets cut to the bone in this mesmerizing debut novel about a teen whose drug-addicted brother is the prodigal son one time too many.There is a pecking order to every family. Seventeen-year old Clare is the overprotected baby; Peter is the typical, rebellious middle child; and Luke is the oldest, the can’t-do-wrong favorite. To their mother, they are a normal, happy family... -
Cause for Alarm by Erica Spindler
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCause For Alarm by Erica Spindler released on Jan 25, 1999 is available now for purchase... -
The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt starts in a suburban backyard with Darren Keefe and his older brother, sons of a fierce and gutsy single mother. The endless glow of summer, the bottomless fury of contest. All the love and hatred in two small bodies poured into the rules of a made-up game. Darren has two big talents: cricket and trouble... -
My Sister and Other Liars by Ruth Dugdall
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSam is seventeen, starving herself and longing for oblivion. Her sister, Jena, is mentally scarred and desperate to remember. Between them, they share secrets too terrible to recall. Eighteen months earlier, Sam was still full of hope: hope that she could piece together Jena's fragmented memory after the vicious attack that changed their family forever... -
My Little Girl by Shalini Boland
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratings‘I’m sorry. Your daughter is missing…’Claire Nolan receives a panicked phone call, telling her that her seven-year-old daughter Beatrice has gone missing on a trip to the local fair.It’s every mother’s worst nightmare. And it’s happening to her... -
The Halo Effect by Anne D. LeClaire
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this tour de force, a father, shaken by tragedy, tries to avenge his daughter’s murder—and restore his family’s shattered life. It was supposed to be a typical October evening for renowned portrait artist Will Light... -
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... -
No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTwo 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... -
The Curfew by T.M. Logan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsYour son said he was home. WHY DID HE LIE? It's time to preorder the brand new up-all-night thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Richard and Judy pick The Holiday, now a major TV Drama.I should have known something was wrong. I should have sensed it. Felt it in the air, like the build-up of pressure before a thunderstorm, that heavy, loaded calm... -
Three Mothers by Hannah Beckerman, Kristin Atherton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Forgetting : a tense, character-driven suspense with a final twist that will make you gaspA heartbroken motherWhen seventeen-year-old Isla Richardson is killed in a hit-and-run incident, a community’s lives are thrown into disarray. For Isla’s mum, Abby, it is her second devastating bereavement, having lost her husband five years ago... -
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At the Quiet Edge by Victoria Helen Stone
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA young mother has done everything possible to put the past behind her, but it might not be enough in a gripping novel of suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Jane Doe novels.Abandoned by her fugitive ex-husband, Lily Brown is rebuilding her life on the edge of a Kansas town that still feels the sting of his crimes... -
The Other Daughter by Shalini Boland
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNine years ago her daughter was taken. And now she’s back. Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found... -
Little Whispers by K.L. Slater
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYou shared a secret with the wrong person.Janey Markham is thrilled to be moving with her family to Buckingham Crescent, the smartest address in a desirable suburban town.Worried she’ll be excluded by the glossy local mothers, Janey is thrilled when she meets Tanya, the kind of woman she has always looked up to... -
Real Life by Adeline Dieudonné
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA fierce and poetic debut on surviving the wilderness of family lifeAt home there are four rooms: one for her, one for her brother, one for her parents…and one for the carcasses. The father is a big game hunter, a powerful predator; the mother is submissive to her violent husband’s demands... -
What It Seems by Emily Bleeker
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA page-turning novel of suspense about the perfect family, and the perfect lies, by the bestselling author of When I’m Gone and The Waiting Room.Adopted by her controlling foster mother at the age of eight, twenty-year-old Tara has seen little of the outside world. Lonely, punished for the slightest offense, her only distraction comes from watching the Feely family’s online videos... -
We Used To Live Here by Daniel Hurst
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery house has secrets. But not all of them stay buried forever...When the Burgess family move into their 'forever' home, it seems like they are set for many happy years together at their new address. Steph and Grant, along with their children, Charlie and Amelia, settle into their new surroundings quickly...
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