Three thrillers not for the faint-hearted

Have you got the stomach to read about disappeared children and extreme abuse? Are you prepared to be plunged into a horrifying scenario? Yes? Then you will be interested in the following three books, each immersing you in a mother’s absolute nightmare. 

Here and Gone by Haylen Beck (Harvill Secker, 2017)

An intriguing thriller about a woman and her two children who are plunged into a nightmare of harrowing evil. This sort of book is the type often turned into film, and it seems it has already been picked up by James Shamus, a prominent screen writer and producer (Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

(Haylen Beck is the pen name of Stuart Neville, author of the Serena Flanagan detective series set in Belfast)

99 Red Balloons – by Elisabeth Carpenter, (Avon, 2017)

Two young girls go missing – twenty years apart. Is there a connection? If you are up for an emotional rollercoaster ride, then this psychological thriller is for you. An excellent debut novel. 

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips  (Doubleday, 2017)

Another tense thriller and debut novel dealing with motherhood, this time from America. I’ll never see the zoo as a safe place to take small children again – words that spring to mind – terror, fear, a mother’s love ...