Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a writer for almost as long as I have been a reader, and I have always been attracted to the darker side of ordinary life. I write psychological suspense thrillers, always featuring a family in crisis. I am fascinated by what happens behind closed doors and what the headlines do not tell you about a situation. Most people love a good secret exposed, and I am no different. I look at those around me and wonder, ‘What are you hiding?’ because everyone is hiding something. And I want to know what it is.


I wrote

Book cover of The Family Across the Street

What is my book about?

On a broiling summer’s day in a typical Australian suburb, there is a family in crisis. 

Logan, an ex-convict desperate…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Sharp Objects

Nicole Trope Why did I love this book?

I love this book because a sense of unease fills this novel from page one. Camille returns to her hometown to cover the unsolved murder of a preteen girl. It’s not an assignment she wants, preferring to avoid her family and her memories. Her recollections of her disturbing, abusive childhood and the death of her sister make this a compulsive read.

Her own fragile mental state and self-harm force the reader to question her even as she questions herself. I loved this book because it made me so uncomfortable while I was reading it that I just had to know the truth about a fractured childhood.

By Gillian Flynn,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Sharp Objects as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW AN HBO® LIMITED SERIES STARRING AMY ADAMS, NOMINATED FOR EIGHT EMMY AWARDS, INCLUDING OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds…


Book cover of Little Fires Everywhere

Nicole Trope Why did I love this book?

A perfect family in a perfect suburb has their lives upended by the arrival of a single mother and her child.

I loved how tightly Elena is holding on to everything she grew up with and holds dear. I have to admit that I saw myself in her need to control everything. Her life is a filtered family portrait with all the blemishes airbrushed out, and the arrival of a single mother, Mia, throws everything into chaos. So may lies and so many secrets are all revealed in this slow burn.

By Celeste Ng,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Little Fires Everywhere as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The #1 New York Times bestseller!

"Witty, wise, and tender. It's a marvel." -Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train and A Slow Fire Burning

"To say I love this book is an understatement. It's a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears." -Reese Witherspoon

From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Our Missing Hearts comes a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their…


Book cover of Darling Girls

Nicole Trope Why did I love this book?

This domestic suspense novel explores a less traditional family.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are foster children who end up together on an idyllic farming estate, but their lives are filled with manipulation, secrets, and lies. Their foster mother, Miss Fairchild, is a complicated and scary character, and her abuse of her young charges is difficult to read.

By Sally Hepworth,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Darling Girls as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER... Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three…


Book cover of Girl A

Nicole Trope Why did I love this book?

A true crime story based on a house of horrors where six children were kept captive by violent and hideously abusive parents.

I think saying I loved it is a stretch, but I definitely couldn’t stop reading it, even as I grew more and more uneasy with each flashback, and the truth about their experiences was slowly revealed.

By Abigail Dean,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Girl A as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
“Pitch-perfect... Dean tells this story with such nuance and humanity, you’re desperate to step into its pages." —The New York Times

“Heart-stopping psychological drama… A modern-day classic." —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author

“A gripping story about family dynamics and the nature of human psychology.” —Good Housekeeping

She thought she had escaped her past. But there are some things you can’t outrun.

Lex Gracie doesn't want to think about her family. She doesn't want to think about growing up in her parents' House of Horrors. And she doesn't want to think about her…


Book cover of The School for Good Mothers

Nicole Trope Why did I love this book?

I loved this dystopian novel about what can happen to a mother having one bad day when the government and a world gone slightly mad get involved.

I struggled to feel sympathy for Freida, wanting to always put myself in the category of ‘I would never do that,’ but the more I read, the easier it became to identify with someone whose whole life was upended by a single mistake. The terrifying interference of a bureaucracy kept me glued to the pages.

By Jessamine Chan,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The School for Good Mothers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN OBAMA'S 2022 SUMMER READING PICK

'A taut and propulsive take on the cult of motherhood and the notion of what makes a good mother. Destined to be feminist classic - it kept me up at night' PANDORA SYKES
'A haunting tale of identity and motherhood - as devastating as it is imaginative' AFUA HIRSCH
'Incredibly clever, funny and pertinent to the world we're living in at the moment' DAISY JOHNSON

'We have your daughter'

Frida Liu is a struggling mother. She remembers taking Harriet from her cot and changing her nappy. She remembers…


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of The Family Across the Street

What is my book about?

On a broiling summer’s day in a typical Australian suburb, there is a family in crisis. 

Logan, an ex-convict desperate to keep his job, attempts to deliver a computer to a woman who won’t open the door, not because she doesn’t want to, but because she can’t. The novel explores what is going on in the house and the reaction of neighbors who are concerned for the family. It also takes the reader into Logan’s world and his need to change his life for the better.

Book cover of Sharp Objects
Book cover of Little Fires Everywhere
Book cover of Darling Girls

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,355

readers submitted
so far, will you?

You might also like...

No, You're Crazy

By Jeff Beamish,

Book cover of No, You're Crazy

Jeff Beamish Author Of No, You're Crazy

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jeff's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

When sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton's home life falls apart, she is beset by a rare mental illness that makes her believe she's clairvoyant. While most people scoff at her, she begins demonstrating an uncanny knack for sometimes predicting the future, using what could either be pure luck or something more remarkable.

When she helps her drug-addicted father win enough casino cash to accidentally overdose, she becomes the target of violent people determined to exploit her, and she goes on the run. Ashlee reaches out to a distant relative, traumatized war journalist Mike Baker. Soon, at least in Ashlee's eyes, they are…

No, You're Crazy

By Jeff Beamish,

What is this book about?

When sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton's home life falls apart, she is beset by a rare mental illness that makes her believe she's clairvoyant. While most people scoff at her, she begins demonstrating an uncanny knack for sometimes predicting the future, using what could either be pure luck or something more remarkable. And when she helps her drug-addict father win enough casino cash to accidentally overdose, she becomes the target of violent people determined to exploit her, and she goes on the run. Ashlee reaches out to a distant relative, traumatized war journalist Mike Baker. Soon, at least in Ashlee's eyes, they…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in family secrets, murder, and murder mystery?

Family Secrets 209 books
Murder 1,073 books
Murder Mystery 565 books