Books like 'The Short Straw'
Readers who enjoyed The Short Straw by Holly Seddon also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery psychological action / adventure crime thriller survival friendship domestic-drama
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The Traitor by Kimberley Chambers
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWith her mother dead and her father currently in prison awaiting trial for her murder, a pregnant Frankie is blamed for the tragedy and forced to live with her wideboy fiance, Jed O'Hara, in a trailer on his parents' land. Frankie struggles to adapt to their gypsy way of life, but when her daughter, Georgie, is born, things go from bad to worse... -
Reasonable Fear by Scott Pratt
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThree young women are found floating in a lake. The suspect is one of the richest and most powerful men in Tennessee. "Reasonable Fear" is the fourth of the bestselling Joe Dillard series offered by Scott Pratt. In this novel, Dillard has become the district attorney in Northeast Tennessee... -
One Way by Tom Barber
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNYPD Detective Sam Archer is on his way home on a Sunday afternoon in New York City. He’s been out of the field for over three months due to a broken ankle and a nasty case of pneumonia, but has just been given the all clear to get back out there again, starting tomorrow. Archer takes a seat on a bench in the Upper West Side, enjoying a cold drink and soaking up the last remaining sun of the day... -
Criss Cross by James Patterson
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA killer with all the skills of a master detective has made Alex Cross the subject of his deranged "investigation." In a Virginia penitentiary, Alex Cross and his partner, John Sampson, witness the execution of a killer they helped convict. Hours later, they are called to the scene of a copycat crime. A note signed "M" rests on the corpse. "You messed up big time, Dr. Cross... -
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Bedlam by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the international best-selling author of the DCI Ryan mysteries.In a world gone mad, who can you trust?Fresh from a high-profile case in the Paris fashion world, elite forensic psychologist and criminal profiler Dr Alexander Gregory receives a call from the New York State Homicide Squad... -
One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner, Hillary Huber
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFive men head into the woods for a bachelor party weekend. Only four return. The brand new thriller by New York Times no 1 bestselling author, Lisa Gardner.Hours stretch into days which stretch into weeks. Volunteers go home, police are assigned new missions and the missing hiker,Timothy O'Day becomes one more missing person, vanished without a trace... -
Gray After Dark by Noelle W. Ihli
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA merciless wilderness. A harrowing attack. A desperate escape.When a tragic accident sidelines Miley's dreams of Olympic gold, she takes a summer job at a mountain guest lodge.The Frank Church Wilderness is remote, but it’s the perfect place to train and recover. Local lore about a staffer who died years ago doesn’t scare her. But it should... -
12 by Nolon King, David Wright
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat Would You Do With the Last 12 Hours of Your Life?At 6 p.m. on a Wednesday in October, a gunman will enter Goldman’s Diner and commit one of the worst massacres the small coastal town of Palm Isles, Florida has ever seen.Twelve hours twelve lives are on borrowed time, unaware that death is coming, or that their paths will collide in one tragic moment... -
Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen the past unravels, all that’s left is death.Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.Lavender’s green,With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet...Categorized as:
crime domestic-drama thriller mystery suspense law-enforcement police-procedural killer -
Airliner Down by John Etzil
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFlight 2262 is bound for paradise, but a rogue terrorist could send it to the bottom of the ocean…Kevin can’t wait to land in Hawaii for a romantic getaway. But when the off-duty pilot takes a glance at his GPS, he’s in for a surprise: the plane is headed to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And he’s the only one who knows it…Expecting the worst, Kevin heads to the cockpit... -
The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsVictoria Barnett has it all.A great career. A handsome and loving husband. A beautiful home in the suburbs and a plan to fill it with children. Life is perfect—or so it seems.Then she’s in a terrible accident… and everything falls apart.Now Victoria is unable to walk. She can’t feed or dress herself. She can’t even speak. She is confined to the top floor of her house with twenty-four-hour care... -
Dark Night of the Soul by Kristi Belcamino, Sonja Field
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGia Santella, the fast-driving, hard-drinking, karate-trained free spirit, has finally put her dark past behind her. UNFORTUNATELY, the past isn't done with her yet. The third book in a new, exciting series featuring an unforgettable new character by the Anthony, Barry & Macavity finalist and crime writer .. -
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... -
Dark Rivers of the Heart / Sole Survivor / Intensity by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDean Koontz is one of the world's top-selling authors with total worldwide sales of his novels at 225 million copies! He achieves what few writers can: he creates books that consistently jump to the top of the bestseller lists in both hardcover and paper... -
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Naked Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLucas Davenport finds some changes — and some nasty surprises — in store, in the chilling new novel by the number-one-bestselling author.After thirteen years and thirteen Prey novels, John Sandford's writing is as fresh as ever. His last book, Mortal Prey, was "a model of the genre" (People) and "the cop novel of the year" (Kirkus Reviews)... -
One By One by Freida McFadden
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsOne by one, they will get what they deserve...A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation.She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with two other couple friends. It sounded like heaven... -
Stranded by Sarah Goodwin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEight strangers.One island.A secret you'd kill to keep.When eight people arrive on the beautiful but remote Buidseach Island, they are ready for the challenge of a lifetime: to live alone for one year.Eighteen months later, a woman is found in an isolated fishing village... -
The Advocate's Felony by Teresa Burrell
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSabre Brown’s phone rings at 2 a.m. It’s her brother Ron. After seven years in the Witness Protection Program, someone has discovered his whereabouts, and has tried to kill him. He’s called to warn Sabre that she is in imminent danger. Sabre and her private investigator, J.P., leave sunny San Diego to search for her brother in the cold, wintry Northwest... -
Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIf I stay, he will kill me. If I leave, he'll destroy Addie and Drew.Jillian Kane appears to have it all - a successful career, a gorgeous home, a loving husband, and two wonderful children. The reality behind closed doors is something else entirely... -
A Vivacious Little Valentine by Meredith O' Reilly
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAlways on the outside looking in.At least, that's how Quinn Barkley feels, living and working at Rawhide Ranch, surrounded by men and women who have found their perfect match.Then Ryder Moore shows up, and for the first time in years, Quinn finds herself believing she can have everything she's ever dreamed of. The sweet, loving Daddy her heart needs.. -
Gia and the Forgotten Island by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn exciting new series character ...Gia Santella is a fast-driving, hard-drinking, karate-trained free spirit, who is gorgeous, sexy, and a young heiress. She also has a fierce temper and zero tolerance for people in power preying on the vulnerable ... especially when the injustice takes place in her neighborhood... -
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... -
Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay, Joe Knezevich
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Elevator Pitch comes a gripping psychological thriller about a formerly missing woman who has suddenly returned under mysterious circumstances.One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace... -
A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDIE HARD meets TALK RADIO in this heart-pounding, relentlessly fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Fourth Monkey—master of suspense, J.D. Barker. "I'm going to offer you a choice." Controversial satellite radio talk show host, Jordan Briggs, has clawed her way to the top of the broadcast world... -
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Dead Jealous by Helen H. Durrant
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDEAD JEALOUS by Helen H. DurrantA teenage girl’s body is found in the back of a car on the notorious Hobfield housing estate. No one had reported her missing, but she’s been dead for a week.Meanwhile, an old jar is brought into the station. It was found carefully wrapped in a blanket, with a child’s pink hairclip. The jar contains ashes and bone fragments... -
The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTHE MUST-READ RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK. Chilling, moving and unputdownable, The Memory Wood is a thriller like no other. 'Beautifully told, with two superbly drawn young protagonists, Lloyd is a rare new thriller talent' Daily Mail'Superbly creepy, with an unexpected twist' Guardian'Brilliant writing, a terrifying story, and characters so real it feels like you know them... -
The Abduction by Mark Gimenez
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsBen Brice lives alone in the New Mexico wilderness where he battles memories of Vietnam with oceans of Jim Beam. Miles away in Texas, his estranged son, John, an Internet geek-turned-billionaire, half watches his daughter Gracie's soccer game while conducting business on his cell phone. When her mother Elizabeth arrives, the coach reports that her uncle has already collected Gracie... -
Saint/Sinner by Sam Sisavath
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTHERE IS NO REST FOR THE WICKED.After spending ten years of her life hunting her sister’s killer and barely surviving, Allie Krycek is ready to move on. She’s got a new job, in a new city, with a new man in her life. Things are finally looking up.Too bad there are people determined to ruin Allie’s second chance... -
Color Of Blood by Keith Yocum
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDennis is glad to be back at work. His wife’s death left him devastated but he’ll do anything to lose himself into work at the Inspector General’s office of the CIA. A brilliant, if prickly investigator, he’s spent his career chasing down the Agency’s thieves and liars... -
Running Cold by Susan Walter
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this heart-pounding story of deception, murder, and survival, a former Olympian retreats to the Canadian wilderness for a fresh start, only to find out that the past will always catch up to her.Julie Adler’s perfect facade is shattered by grief when her husband commits suicide... -
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 Perfect Lie by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTHE PERFECT LIE is book #5 in a new psychological suspense series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has over 1,000 five-star reviews.When a gorgeous, popular gym trainer is found murdered in a wealthy suburban town, criminal profiler and FBI agent Jessie Hunt, 29, is called in to find out who killed her... -
The President's Henchman by Joseph Flynn
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsAccording to the polls, it's only a matter of time - and not that long a time - before the United States elects its first female president. Which will make her husband - what? Well, if he's the ex-cop who solved the murder of the president's first husband and brought the killers to justice ... and if he's not the kind of guy to stand on formality .. -
Last of the Magpies by Mark Edwards
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe chilling conclusion to the #1 bestseller The Magpies. Twelve months ago, Jamie Knight walked straight into Lucy Newton’s trap. Both Jamie and his ex-wife Kirsty barely survived. Now, with the police investigation into Lucy’s disappearance going nowhere, Jamie teams up with a true crime podcaster to track down his nemesis... -
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All He Has Left by Chad Zunker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPower, money, and dark family secrets are a killer combination in a propulsive novel of suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Family Money.After Jake Slater’s wife dies in a tragic hit-and-run, all he has left is his daughter, Piper―nearly lost, too, in a brutal custody battle with his wealthy in-laws... -
The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOne of today's most electrifying suspense novelists, "New York Times" bestselling author Lisa Gardner returns with a shattering thriller that dares to play on our deepest vulnerabilities. In this masterful new novel, the killer may very well be the one you sympathize with the most... THE FIRST RULE IS NEVER BLAME THE VICTIM.They survived what no woman should ever have to endure... -
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... -
The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsClaire Cook has a perfect life. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish... -
Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAlternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereWhen young, pretty Catherine Bailey meets Lee Bright-man, she can't believe her luck. Gorgeous, charismatic, and a bit mysterious, Lee seems almost too perfect to be true...Categorized as:
crime domestic-drama friendship survival thriller 21st-century abuse action-adventure -
Someone Savage: A Thriller by Mike McCrary
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA gripping, fast-paced thriller for fans of Harlan Coben, Karin Slaughter, and Rachel Abbott.Last night two children knocked at his door. Someone is looking for them…Nicholas Hooper wanted to be left alone. Looking to escape his past and his unfortunate present, the best-selling author rented a luxury house in the Poconos to finish what very well could be his very last book... -
Under the Beetle's Cellar by Mary Willis Walker
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGoing forward without a past isn not easy to do. But Buhlaine Sims has been doing it for as long as she can remember. Then her father returns to town, and Buhlaire's world is turned upside down... -
Midday by David B. Lyons
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"An intense, addictive, and incredibly clever read." - The Writing Garnet Could you hold your nerve to steal eight million euro in order to save your partner’s life? That’s the dilemma facing Vincent Butler – a well-respected bank manager in Dublin’s city centre... -
City of the Dead by Kristi Belcamino
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsShe lives life fast, hard, and deadly…Gia Santella no longer cares about the consequences. She copes with her parents death by drinking, spending, and kicking ass when it’s necessary. After an unexpected letter reveals that her loved ones’ tragedy was murder, Gia changes her focus to revenge...Categorized as:
crime thriller action-adventure amateur-sleuth assassinations book coming-of-age fiction -
Nine Lives by Tom Barber
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt’s New Year’s Eve. A major terrorist cell is planning a series of attacks across London over the next forty-eight hours. The government has surveillance on the group, a man undercover, and prepare to move in, to take out the terrorists before they can strike. But they lose contact with their inside man... -
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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... -
Shark River by Randy Wayne White
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe past comes disconcertingly alive for Doc Ford, in a series that continues to grow in popularity and acclaim... -
The Program by Gregg Hurwitz
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe series that started it all!In this powerful follow-up to his action-packed thriller The Kill Clause, Gregg Hurwitz, the new maestro of pulse-pounding suspense, ratchets up the excitement with another sensational page-turner featuring Tim Rackley, a driven lawman motivated by honor, morality, and a deep sense of justice.Called back into the fold of the U.S... -
Tampa Burn by Randy Wayne White
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe abduction of Doc Ford's son pulls the former assassin back into business--and into the trap of an avenging politico with a twisted and violent plan of revenge... -
Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGame Warden Mike Bowditch must chase down a cunning and dangerous fugitive in the North Maine Woods in this nail-biter of a thriller from Edgar Award-nominated author Paul Doiron, Pitch Dark.Legendary bush pilot Josie Jonson can’t believe her luck when a skilled builder just happens to show up after she purchases land near Prentiss Pond... -
My Daughter's Secrets by E.V. Seymour
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGrace has the perfect life.Then her husband replaces her with a younger, blonder version.Three years later, Grace’s sixteen-year-old daughter Tara is stabbed to death in a seedy hotel.Grace’s life stops.After a harrowing trial, Tara’s boyfriend is convicted of her murder. At least now it’s over.Until someone breaks into Grace’s house and ransacks Tara’s belongings...
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