You thought you were home alone. Anya is enjoying a relaxing bath when she hears a noise coming from the ceiling. Through the open bathroom door, she sees the attic hatch swing down, and a masked figure drops to the floor. Thirty seconds later, Anya is dead. You're not afraid of being alone in the dark. You're afraid you're not alone. Across town, Anya's old school friend, Julia, sees an online video of a masked figure climbing out of an attic. She suddenly realizes why the footage is eerily familiar: it was filmed inside her own house in a luxury gated community, designed to keep intruders out. And now your worst fears are coming true. Why would a stranger target Julia? Unless of course, it's not a stranger at all.

Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs with their husbands and children, thirty-something Hannah finds new community in an internet true crime forum that's on a mission to solve the murders of four women who were dumped in a ravine outside Atlanta. When a handsome lawyer named William is arrested for the killings, with evidence of his guilt piling up as quickly as the bodies, Hannah begins writing him letters, it's the perfect outlet for both her frustration at her failure to launch and her feminist rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first--until William writes back. Their correspondence tips Hannah's interest in the case from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. When she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial, finding herself quickly embedded in a colorful group of fellow true crime junkies and trial chasers. But, a fifth woman is soon found in the same ravine while William is on trial, and the jury has no choice but to find him 'not guilty.' Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release, and they quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss. Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder.

It's the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story. After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory... So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence. When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions, and begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap... Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans.

Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until, one quiet evening, two detectives show up at her front door. "Mrs. Cass, we were hoping your son could answer a few questions about the girl who disappeared last night..." A high school girl has vanished from Erika's quiet suburban neighborhood. The police suspect the worst--murder. And Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive. Erika has always sensed something dark and disturbed in her seemingly perfect older child. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth--Liam may have done the unthinkable. Now she must ask herself: How far will she go to protect her son?

In 1992, Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah's death is ruled an accident. And every year, the family returns to prove that's true. But on the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah's death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them--the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died. Haunted by the specter of that night, the Lingates find their legendary unity pushed to a breaking point. Enlisting the help of family assistant Lorna Moreno, Helen plots her escape from her paranoid, insular family. But when Lorna disappears and the investigation into Sarah's death is reopened, Helen has to confront the fact that everyone who was on Capri thirty years ago remains a suspect--her controlling father, Richard; her rarely lucid aunt, Naomi; her distant uncle, Marcus; and their circle of friends, visitors, and staff. Even Lorna, her closest ally, may not be who she seems. As long-hidden secrets about that night boil to the surface, one thing becomes clear: Not everyone will leave the island alive.

With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she's lying dead in a pool of blood. Columbia's death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on--at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author's illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won't stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out?

Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she'd likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her work as a librarian in Maine. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured salesman whose job took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger. A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he'd worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern--five unsolved cases of murdered women. Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is... but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.

The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh's backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again. Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy's presence keep appearing in Ethan's backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle? The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed ghosts roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate. The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place--be it quiet forest or suburban street--is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.

Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn't a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms--like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children's book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed. But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt that implies he's aware of her surveillance, her tenuous hold on a normal life crumbles. Driven by compulsion, she enacts the most powerful ritual she has to reclaim control--a midnight visit to the Cayatoga Bridge--and arrives just in time to witness Kurt's suicide. Before he jumps, he slams her with a devastating accusation: his death is all her fault. Horrified, Katrina combs through the clues she's collected about Kurt over the last three years, but each revelation uncovers a menacing truth: for every moment she was watching him, he was watching her. And the past she thought she'd left behind? It's been following her more closely than she ever could have imagined. A gripping page-turner, as well as a sensitive exploration of mental health, Liar, Dreamer, Thief is an intimate portrayal of life in all its complexities--and the dangers inherent in unveiling people's most closely guarded secrets.

At the Royal Karnak Palace Hotel, under the hot Saharan sun, Maggie Burkhardt has a comfortable suite, a loyal confidant in the hotel manager, Ahmed, and a handful of sympathetic friends, other 'long-termers' like herself who understand her deep grief for her late husband, Peter. In this luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile, Maggie is merely the sweet old lady in Room 309. Maggie has come to the Royal Karnak to escape. But not in quite the same way as most other guests who are staying here during the waning days of the pandemic. A compulsive meddler, Maggie may have found herself in hot water at her last hotel in Switzerland and she just might have needed to get out of the country fast...but all that's behind her. That is, until one morning when she notices a new arrival at check-in: a somber young American woman named Tess and her impish eight-year-old son, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie invites them into her world. Soon, Maggie realizes that in her longing to be a part of their family, she has let in a cunning enemy who might lead to her undoing. In scrawny Otto, Maggie Burkhardt has finally met her match.

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly. What have you done? The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked. But Diana Brewer isn't lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer. How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia. Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.

It was meant to be a harmless prank. Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn't have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn't call her the Little Sheriff for nothing. But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. Their bond--forged when May was just twelve years old--has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends. What had they gone and done?

Influencer Meredith Lee didn't teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone really blame Mer for doing a little stalking? Nothing serious, more like Stalking Lite. Then, Mer gets lucky; she finds one of Aspen's kids' iPads and swipes it. Now, she has access to everything: the family calendar and Aspen's social media accounts. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up in Aspen's place for meetings with potential sponsors? Mer's only taking back what she deserves--what should have been hers. Meanwhile, Aspen doesn't understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn't find out who's behind everything, she might just lose it all. What everyone seems to forget is that Aspen didn't become one of TikTok's biggest momfluencers by being naive. When Meredith suddenly goes missing, Aspen's world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive--but she won't let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.

A taut, powerful mom-noir psychological thriller following a mother who must confront a sudden and terrifying change in her daughter after the abrupt death of their babysitter. Charlotte's daughter, Stella, is sensitive and brilliant, perhaps even a genius, but a recent change in her behavior has alarmed her parents. Following the sudden death of Stella's babysitter, Blanka, the once disruptive and anti-social child has become docile and agreeable. But what's unsettling is that she has begun to mirror Blanka's personality, from Blanka's repetitive phrases to her accent, to fierce cravings for Armenian meat stew after being raised a vegetarian. Charlotte is pregnant with her second child, and depleted and sick with the pregnancy. She is convinced that Blanka herself is somehow responsible for Stella's transformation. But how could Blanka, dead, still be entwined in their lives? Has Blanka somehow possessed Stella? Has Stella become Blanka? As Charlotte becomes increasingly obsessed, she is sure that only she can save her daughter... even though it's soon clear that her husband believes this is all in Charlotte's head. Helena Echlin's singular, chilling voice holds light to the blurred lines of diagnosis in children and to the vital power of maternal instinct. Kaleidoscopic and tense, pulse-pounding and genuinely creepy, and infused with shades of the supernatural, Clever Little Thing is an ode to motherhood and a nuanced critique of the caretaking industry, a page-turner that will haunt readers long after its epic, surprising finale.

These new, recent, and reformulated stories by Joyce Carol Oates, collected here for the first time, showcase a wide range of crime fiction and psychological suspense. A young, insecure woman finds her relationship changing as she grows more and more dependent on a man who likes to take her on long walks beside a dangerously roaring creek. Another woman, nervous around men, not quite knowing how to act when paid a compliment, becomes flustered when a doctor suggests they go out for coffee, or possibly a drink. She finally decides that she will join him when he suggests they meet at his home. A man is so forgetful that his wife panics and yells into his phone, asking where their daughter has gone. A young man is curious to see why sirens have filled the night and the police arrest him, beginning an unimaginable nightmare. A woman resents that a colleague has achieved greater success and thinks she ought to do something about it. It is impossible to know where a story by the creative genius of Joyce Carol Oates will end and what frightening paths will lead to that end.

Most family reunions end in tears. This one will end in murder. Meet the Agarwals, who have gathered on a private, luxury island off the west coast of Scotland for a much-anticipated family reunion: Raj, the patriarch and a business tycoon, is about to announce to his wife and three children the succession plan for his multimillion-dollar Delhi-based company. Shalini, the fragile matriarch, is ready to have her husband to herself after years of sacrifice to the family business. Myra, the golden child, owner of the island and host of the reunion, is, unbeknownst to her family, on the brink of bankruptcy. Aseem, the son and supposed heir, is torn between his love for his wife and his duty to family. Aisha, the youngest, a party girl whose antics are legendary, can't pass up an opportunity to wreak havoc. And then there's Zoe, Aseem's wife, the outsider whose #instaperfect life is built on a foundation of lies. They've all got secrets they would die to protect. Who will survive this high-stakes reunion, and who will become a victim of their own greed? One thing is certain: this family gathering will shatter more than just their illusions of unity.

Charismatic daredevil and extreme adventurer Maverick Dillan invites you to the ultimate game of hide-and-seek. But as the players gather on Falcao Island, the event quickly spirals into a chilling test of survival. A storm rages as a deadly threat stalks the contestants, turning the challenge into something far more sinister than the social media stunt it was intended to be. Enter Adele, a single mother with a fierce determination to protect her children at all costs. When she begins the game, she unwittingly enters a twisted web of deception and intrigue. Can she maneuver through the treacherous storm and the relentless competition and get home to her family? In a ruthless battle for survival where the stakes are higher than ever, the blurry line between the virtual and the real proves that the only person we can trust is ourselves.

Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home. Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just wants peace. If only nearby Kettleton County didn't cast such a dark shadow. It's where José Nochelobo, the love of Vida's life and a cherished local hero, died in a tragic accident. That's the official story, but Vida has reasons to doubt it. The truth can't be contained for long. Nor can the hungry men of power in Kettleton who want something too: that Vida, like José, disappear forever. One by one they come for her, prepared to do anything to see their plans through to their evil end. Vida is no less prepared for them. Vida, the forest, and its formidable wonders are waiting. She will not rest until goodness and order have been restored.

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she'll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start. Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She's doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it's a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren't adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head? Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O'Connor has misgivings about her colleagues' investigation of Kira's death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it's like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn't so quick to discount Nancy's claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. As a named partner at her firm, life is going exactly how she planned. The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He's a struggling writer who has had little success in his career and he tires of his and Sarah's relationship as she is constantly working. Out in the secluded woods, at the couple's lake house, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers. But one morning everything changes. Kelly is found brutally stabbed to death and now, Sarah must take on her hardest case yet, defending her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

From the comfort of her beautiful mountain-top retreat, Katherine Winston creates her bestselling young adult series, Girls with Unusual Powers. No one in the nearby small town has any idea of her true identity. To them, she's just the reclusive woman on the mountain, and Katherine is grateful to be left alone. It wasn't always this way. Though her parents were as neglectful as they were wealthy, Katherine built up a busy, full life. Then tragedy struck and she retreated, panic-stricken at the idea of engaging with anyone again. Aside from her two faithful dogs who provide companionship and security, Katherine mostly interacts with people anonymously online through reader fan pages. Now one of those fans appears to be in danger, and Katherine desperately wants to help. But that means moving beyond her isolated world for the first time in years. More and more, Katherine can't shake the feeling that some of her fears may be justified. Someone is watching her, she's sure of it, and they're getting closer all the time. And only by leaving her self-imposed exile can she hope to find the answers she needs, the courage to trust again, and an unexpected new beginning.

Welcome to Eris: an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day. Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago. Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation. But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling. And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge.

On a blistering summer day in 1968, nine-year-old Tommy vanishes without a trace from Coram House, an orphanage on the shores of Lake Champlain. Some say a nun drowned him, others say he ran away. Or maybe he never existed. Fifty years later, his disappearance is still unsolved. Struggling true crime writer Alex Kelley needs a fresh start. When she's asked to ghostwrite a book about the orphanage--and the abuses that occurred there--she packs up her belongings and moves to wintry Burlington, Vermont. As Alex tries to untangle the conflicting stories surrounding Tommy's disappearance, her investigation takes a chilling turn when she discovers a woman's body in the lake. Alex is convinced the death is connected to Coram House's dark past, even if local police officer Russell Parker thinks she's just desperate for a career-saving story. As the body count rises, Alex must prove that the key to finding the killer lies in Tommy's murder, or risk becoming the next victim.

A single mother is desperate to protect her family as they are targeted by a group of violent conspiracy theorists in this riveting and all too plausible thriller from USA Today bestselling author Alison Gaylin. Meg Russo was behind the wheel when it happened. She and her husband Justin were driving their daughter Lily to college, the family celebrating the eighteen-year-old's future. Then a car sidled up beside them, the young men inside it behaving erratically. The Russos' car went off the road, and Justin didn't survive the accident. Four months later, Meg works to distract herself from her grief, reopening her small local bookstore. But soon after returning to work, bizarre messages and visitors begin to arrive, with strangers threatening Meg and vandalizing the store. They are obsessed with a young adult novel tiled The Prophesy, which was published 30 years earlier. An online group of believers are convinced the book predicted a plague, and social media posts link it to Satanism. People are sure it heralds the apocalypse. These conspiracy theorists vow to seek revenge on its author... Meg. As the threats turn more violent, Meg begins to suspect that Justin's death may not have been an accident. To find answers and save herself and Lily, she must get to the root of the lies fueling these people to come after them--and find a way to face them head on.

Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way from being an invisible wallflower. Her hard work and immaculate planning have paid off now that she's a prominent socialite, but that doesn't mean she's had it easy along the way. Less than a year since her husband Jackson's tax evasion scandal, Amber is still at the top of the Bishops Harbor community pecking order, free to do as she wishes while Jackson sits in prison. But that freedom is quickly coming to an end. With Jackson getting released from prison, Amber's time--and money--is vanishing. Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson Parrish, swearing she would never go back. But when her daughter, Tallulah, runs away from home, desperate to see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer to allow him supervised visits. Once out of prison, Jackson swears he's a changed man but Daphne knows all too well that Jackson can't be trusted. When a ghost from Amber's past emerges looking for revenge, the three of them find unlikely allies in one another, but who is playing whom? When all is said and done, they'll have to fight tooth and nail for everything they have left in this zero-sum game.