PSYCHO THRILLERS

CHRISTENA APPLEYARD

LITTLE DISASTERS by Sarah Vaughan

(S&S £14.99, 432 pp)

SArAh VAUGhAn brings to this book the same tensionbuilding expertise that made her bestseller Anatomy Of A Scandal such a success.

But this storyline is much more domestically rooted, and it’s a change of pace that some of her fans might not find as gripping.

The story revolves around a young mothers’ friendship group and what happens after one of them, Jess, turns up at A&e with her baby, Betsey, who is vomiting. One of the group, Liz, is a doctor there, and when Betsey is diagnosed with a fractured skull, Liz becomes suspicious.

Distrust and secrets invade the previously easy intimacy of the friends. Buried traumas and blame games threaten to destroy everything they have. Vaughan combines a convincing plot with a perceptive handling of difficult issues around modern female friendships and postnatal depression.

STRANGERS by C.L. Taylor

(Avon £12.99, 352 pp) The opening of this book is a real cracker. Three strangers stand around a dead body. They are Gareth, a shopping centre security worker who looks after his dementiaafflicted mother; Ursula, a delivery driver trying to bury the details of a painful past; and Alice, who is in a new but slightly strange relationship with enigmatic Simon.

On the face of it they have nothing to connect them. The story moves back from that gripping scene of the three of them with the dead body, and cleverly ties their stories together.

The storytelling is fast-paced and satisfying, and the characters are particularly relatable, which continues to make Taylor’s books so easy to read.

THE MURDER GAME by Rachel Abbott

(Wildfire £14.99, 416 pp) ThiS book has a distinctly old-fashioned feel. The setting is a stately home called Polskirrin perched on a cliff in Poldark country, where a group of old friends and their partners are gathering.

it gets even more Agatha Christie-esque when Lucas, the wealthy owner, holds a macabre reunion party a year after a terrible death they would all rather forget.

At the party, all the guests have a designated costume and everyone is expected to play a truth game. Controlling Lucas makes all the rules.

At the centre of this is a once-happy couple’s marriage crumbling under the strain of secrets and suspicion, and the power of Lucas. enter the straight-talking Sergeant Stephanie King and it’s a perfect Christie set-up.

Abbott is a gifted storyteller and this book is a total delight.