PSYCHO THRILLERS

AND SO IT BEGINS by Rachel Abbott

(Wildfire £12.99, 416 pp) IF YOU are a tad sniffy about self-published authors, Rachel abbott may change your mind. she has already sold 2.75million copies of previous titles as a bestselling author on Kindle.

This is her first mainstream publishing deal, and it’s unashamedly mass-market, but there is nothing trashy about the elegant control abbott applies to her storytelling.

Even her walk-on characters are vivid creations. sergeant stephanie King is investigating the death of a man whose wife has admitted to killing him. Despite starting the story in such a novel way, abbott manages to conjure a complex mystery that keeps us guessing until the very last page.

along the way, she raises tricky moral questions about when and why it might be justified to murder someone. This is an old-fashioned blockbuster crammed with drama and laced with up-to-date psychological insight.

BEFORE I FIND YOU by Ali Knight

(Hodder £20.99, 352 pp) Maggie calls herself a ‘sex detective’. she is the boss of the Blue and White agency and specialises in tracking down cheating husbands. she is also a bit of a hard-nut philosopher who believes cheating is the great leveller: being rich or beautiful is no protection.

Enter Helene, who is both. she is the wife of a cheating, wealthy property developer.

Helene, Maggie and young alice, Helene’s 18-year-old stepdaughter, who is a spoilt brat, take it in turns to tell this sometimes over-complicated story.

alice’s mother died in a car accident and she is the key to the drama. But detective Maggie’s one-liners and dodgy demeanour make her a more compelling character and she is obviously auditioning for a return appearance in Knight’s next book.

On the whole, Maggie deserves another chance — in a new story that is perhaps less overwrought.

YOUR CLOSEST FRIEND by Karen Perry

(Penguin £7.99, 416 pp) Karen PERRY was the joint pen name of the bestselling writers Karen Gillece and Paul Perry, and this is Karen’s first outing flying solo under that well-established moniker.

The basic idea is original and impressively contemporary. Two young women meet and become instant friends while sheltering above a sandwich shop during a terrorist attack in london.

Traumatised and terrified by the events, producer Cara ends up telling amy, a striking american, the deepest secrets of her marriage. Unfortunately, amy has her own secrets, which she doesn’t divulge — including that she is a sociopath with murderous tendencies. so, when Cara later starts to receive anonymous threats, she welcomes offers of help from amy — with devastating consequences.

The plot relies a little too much on coincidence and the dialogue is awkward at times, but an excellent final twist makes up for these shortcomings.