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Margareta Osborn

All her life Julia Gunn has been weighed down – first by a controlling father, then by a staid older husband, and always by a long-buried secret from her teenage years. Now she’s going to do something for herself.

Except en route to a new life on the coast at Lakes Entrance she finds herself – courtesy of a rockslide – stuck in the remote mountain town of Lake Grace. Yet maybe fate is on her side. Because Lake Grace is home to Rick Halloran – ex-rodeo king, sculptor and grazier – and the man with whom she enjoyed a brief, unforgettable romance twenty years ago. Not only that, but Julia has dreamed of running her own cafe, and she’s just spotted a For Sale sign outside the prettiest little tea-room by the lake . . .

Julia is finally on the verge of the life she’s always wanted. Then her long-buried secret knocks at the door . . .

 Paula Hawkins

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return.

With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.

Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.

Michel Bussi

Picture the scene – an idyllic resort on the island of Reunion. Martial and Liane Bellion are enjoying the perfect moment with their six-year-old daughter. Turquoise skies, clear water, palm trees, a warm breeze…

Then Liane Bellion disappears. She went up to her hotel room between 3 and 4pm and never came back. When the room is opened, it is empty, but there is blood everywhere. An employee of the hotel claims to have seen Martial in the corridor during that crucial hour.

Then Martial also disappears, along with his daughter. An all-out manhunt is declared across the island. But is Martial really his wife’s killer? And if he isn’t, why does he appear to be so guilty?

 J.P. Delaney

Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.

The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating.

Emma

Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

Jane

After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

 Harlan Coben

Ten years after the high-profile kidnapping of two young boys, only one returns home.

A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For ten years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken? And most critically: What can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend?

Harlan Coben delivers a thriller about friendship, family, and the meaning of home.

 Fiona McCallum

A tender story of one woman’s journey through grief, and learning to live life again.

Hannah Ainsley has the perfect life — an adoring husband, a close relationship with her parents, a wonderful job, and amazing friends. Best of all, it’s Christmas — her favourite day of the whole year! It’s a time to share with her family and friends, and enjoy the festivities.

But this year will be like no other. Tragedy strikes and Hannah’s world is shattered. If she’s going to cope, she’s going to need all the support she can gather and draw on every bit of her strength. Life will never be the same again but it’s soon clear she has no alternative but to pull together a future from the remaining fragments.

As Hannah heads towards the next festive season she will have to make a decision — should she stay with the people who have supported her or should she leave? Could the answer lie in a delayed gift?

Fiona McCallum’s most touching novel so far is a rich tapestry of deep emotions that is sure to capture the hearts of many.

 A.S. Patric

Black Rock White City is a novel about the damages of war, the limits of choice, and the hope of love.

During a hot Melbourne summer Jovan’s cleaning work at a bayside hospital is disrupted by acts of graffiti and violence becoming increasingly malevolent. For Jovan the mysterious words that must be cleaned away dislodge the poetry of the past. He and his wife Suzana were forced to flee Sarajevo and the death of their children.

Intensely human, yet majestic in its moral vision, Black Rock White City is an essential story of Australia’s suburbs now, of displacement and immediate threat, and the unexpected responses of two refugees as they try to reclaim their dreams. It is a breathtaking roar of energy that explores the immigrant experience with ferocity, beauty and humour.

 Megan Miranda

Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.

Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

 Garry Disher

A small bushfire, but nasty enough for ice cooks to abandon their lab. Fatal, too. But when the bodies in the burnt-out Mercedes prove to be a pair of Sydney hitmen, Inspector Hal Challis’s inquiries into a local ice epidemic take a darker turn. Meanwhile, Ellen Destry, head of the new sex crimes unit, finds herself not only juggling the personalities of her team but hunting a serial rapist who leaves no evidence behind. The seventh instalment in Garry Disher’s celebrated Peninsula Crimes series sets up new challenges, both professional and personal, for Challis and Destry.

‘Peninsula Crimes’ consists of police procedurals based on the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne, featuring Inspector Hal Challis and his partner – in life and work – Ellen Destry. As the series has progressed Disher has been switching the focus between these two more and more, creating an interesting dynamic in their professional and personal partnerships, and giving the series a lot more depth as a result.

1. The Dragon Man (1999) introduced readers to Challis and Destry, the fictitious town of Waterloo, and a flawed, complicated and tricky bunch of characters – many of whom are ongoing. The Peninsula has always been a favourite Melbourne summertime holiday destination, with safe beaches and plenty of camping opportunities, and that sort of village influx feeling is beautifully depicted, as is the chaos that a possible serial killer invokes, along with the standard annoyances of aggravated burglaries, letterbox torching and vandalism.
2. Kittyhawk Down (2003) and again there are the mindless petty crimes and annoyances that seem to go with idiots on holidays; there are personal complications aplenty for all the cops, plus murders and general mayhem.
3. Snapshot (2005), cementing this series as something to be followed closely. Spouse-swapping parties, spite, senior police interference (and personal connections) all combine with a known killer but an unclear motive to give a reader plenty to be enthralled by.
4. Chain of Evidence (2007) with Disher abruptly yanking Challis out of the now familiar Peninsula setting and sending him off to a remote town in outback South Australia where his father is dying. As the focus switches from Destry back on the Peninsula tracking down a ring of paedophiles, to Challis in the outback searching for the truth about the disappearance of his brother-in-law, there is clear evidence of a master plotter and storyteller at work here.
5. Blood Moon (2009), it’s Schoolies Week so there’s trouble enough without the hint of romantic interest between Challis and Destry tumbling into rapid cohabitation with mixed feelings on both their parts and plenty of career implications from above. Combine that with some very pointed digs at community planning out of control, people who move to rural areas and then try to change everything that made them want to go there in the first place, a bullying and controlling husband, sexual assault and bashing, and Disher is juggling a lot of elements and doing it with aplomb.
6. Whispering Death (2012) again saw Challis pitted against the upper echelons, while dealing with home invasions, a sinister twist in a rapist’s behaviour and a cat burglar who normally is very careful to avoid muddying the local waters. Once again readers will be struck by the cleverness of this plot, where even those elements that might be considered a little clichéd are elegantly delivered, and the timing is absolutely spot-on.

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 M.J Arlidge

Prison is no place for a detective. Helen Grace was one of the country’s best police investigators. Now she’s behind bars with the killers she caught.

Framed for murder

She knows there is only way out: stay alive until her trial and somehow prove her innocence.

Locked up with a killer

But when a mutilated body is found in the cell next door, Helen fears her days are numbered.

A murderer is on the loose.
And she must find them.
Before she’s next . . .