Five Thrillers With Shocking Premises
Some books grab you with a brilliant opening sentence.
Others grab you with a character you immediately care about.
And then there are the books that stop you in your tracks with one simple question:
What if?
A really good premise can be enough to make you pick up a book, read the blurb, and think, I need to know what happens.
Here are five thrillers with premises that will make you do exactly that.
What if your daughter was arrested for murder?
That's the situation facing Irina when her teenage daughter, Bethany, is arrested after a stabbing at her school.
The evidence against Bethany is mounting. But she isn't saying anything to defend herself. Is she guilty? Has someone threatened her? Or is there something else going on?
Irina begs her friend, Rose, who has been involved in solving several crimes in her local community, to find out what really happened. But as Rose investigates, the situation becomes increasingly dangerous, and Bethany's entire family is threatened.
When someone you love is accused of murder, how much would you be prepared to do to prove their innocence? And what if the evidence says they're guilty?
Knife Edge is Book 4 in my Murder Mile series, featuring Rose Marsden, but can be read as a standalone thriller.
Would you kill your wife to save your daughter?
Imagine someone kidnaps your five-year-old daughter. You would do anything to get her back.
Anything.
But then the kidnapper gives you a condition. You can have your daughter back, but first you have to kill your wife.
What would you do?
It's a horrifying choice because there is no good answer.
Kill your wife and you become a murderer.
Refuse, and your daughter could die.
Either way, you lose someone you love.
Her Last Tomorrow takes one of the most powerful instincts imaginable, a parent's determination to protect their child, and turns it into an impossible choice.
Because if someone threatened your child, how far would you go to save them?
What if you left your six-month-old baby home alone while you went to a dinner party next door... and came home to find her gone?
Imagine being invited to dinner at your neighbour's house. There's just one problem. Your neighbour doesn't want your six-month-old baby there.
So you leave her at home.
She's asleep. You're right next door. You have the baby monitor and you take it in turns to check on her. What could possibly go wrong?
Then you go home. You race upstairs. And she's gone.
Now the police are in your house, asking questions. Why did you leave your baby alone? Who knew she was there? And what aren't you telling them?
Because the police quickly realise that this isn't simply a case of a baby being taken.
Both parents have secrets.
And if there's one thing a missing child guarantees, it's suspicion.
What if your husband was murdered... and the police discovered you'd wanted him dead?
A husband has been brutally murdered.
His wife is devastated.
Or is she?
Because this isn't a straightforward murder investigation. The wife had wanted her husband gone. And now he's dead.
That doesn't necessarily mean she killed him. But how do you convince the police of that? Especially when your marriage was abusive and you had a very good reason to want your husband out of your life?
Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Fiona 'Fifi' Fielding is fighting for her own future after her career has been damaged by her violent temper. The investigation will force her to confront a woman whose story is far from straightforward.
The Widow is a dark British police thriller that asks an uncomfortable question about the difference between wanting someone dead and actually killing them.
What if you inherited a fortune and a mansion, but there was one condition: you had to catch a killer first?
Who wouldn't want to inherit a fortune? Especially if it came with a mansion.
But imagine discovering that there's a condition attached.
You have to catch a killer first.
When Sarah's Aunt Evelyn dies, Sarah discovers that she has inherited a hidden fortune, including a foreboding mansion in Northumberland. But Evelyn's final wishes come with a challenge.
A girl disappeared from the house many years ago. She was never found. Sarah must return to the house and uncover the truth about what happened to her.
Only then will she inherit everything.
But someone wants the secrets of the house to remain hidden. And that someone may have killed before.
The Inheritance combines a murder mystery with a dark old-house mystery, family secrets and a very unusual motive for solving a crime.
Which book would you choose?
All five books begin with a question that is difficult to ignore.
What if your daughter was arrested for murder?
Would you kill your wife to save your daughter?
What if your brother was a serial killer?
What if your husband was murdered, but you'd wanted him dead?
What if you had to catch a killer to inherit a fortune?
That's what I love about a really good thriller premise. Before you've even opened the book, it's already made you ask yourself a question. And once you've started wondering what would I do?, there's only one thing left to do.
Turn the page and find out.
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