Australian Thrillers

When your builder finds bones under the floor of your heritage home, what do you do? For TV researcher Poppy McGowan, the first step is to find out if the bones are human (which means calling in the cops and delaying her renovations) or animal (which doesn't). Unfortunately, "help" comes in the form of Dr Julieanne Weaver, archaeologist, political hopeful, and Poppy's old enemy. She declares the bones evidence of a rare breed of fat-tailed sheep, and slaps a heritage order on the site.

Thomas and Viv Adler have a picture-perfect family. Affluent and attractive, with two well-mannered kids almost out of the nest, they live in a beautiful house in a well-to-do neighborhood. Their jobs are secure; their children are thriving; the world is their oyster. Until one morning, when they wake up to find that their house and car have been pelted with eggs. Thomas dismisses it as the work of a few out-of-control kids, but when a smoke bomb is tossed on their front lawn, and the tires on their BMW are punctured, he begins to worry.

In the cold, wet summer of 1960, 11-year-old Joy Henderson lives in constant fear of her father. She tries to make him happy but, as he keeps reminding her, she is nothing but a filthy sinner destined for Hell.... Yet, decades later, she returns to the family's farm to nurse him on his death bed. To her surprise, her 'perfect' sister, Ruth, is also there, whispering dark words, urging revenge. Then the day after their father finally confesses to a despicable crime, Joy finds him dead - with a belt pulled tight around his neck.

Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long hot summer of 1992—the summer the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. Hannah, beautiful Cordelia and Ruth vanished during the night of the school's Showstopper concert at the amphitheater by the river, surrounded by encroaching bushland. Now, years later, Tikka has returned home to try and make sense of the summer that shaped her, and the girls that she never forgot. Blackly comic, sharply observed and wonderfully endearing, this is a haunting coming-of-age story with a shimmering, unexplained mystery at its heart.

You should not have come to the island. You should not have been speeding. You should not have tried to hide the body. You should not have told your children that you could keep them safe. No one can run forever.

Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to consider - that her murdered sister is gone forever and there is nothing she can do about it. Rather than grieving and moving on, Zara decides she will do whatever it takes to claw her sister back from the grave - even trading in the occult. Jude Wolf may be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul has been slowly turning necrotic. It's a miserable existence marred by pain, sickness, and monstrous things that taunt her in the night.

Kate arrives on the wild, remote island of Rathlin in the freezing Irish Channel for a ten-day writers’ retreat. Plagued by memories she can’t unravel and desperate to understand the breakdown of her marriage, Kate is determined to leave the retreat with answers. As the retreat’s director uses techniques that tap into the eerie mythology of the island, Kate becomes increasingly fascinated by him and her surrounds. But when the temperature plummets and the strange therapy intensifies, her memories unspool.

Within hours of arriving in New York City, Jane is dragged into a case and finds herself up against one of the toughest minds she’s ever had to crack: a Silicon Valley billionaire whose ex-business partner has just been murdered. Sarah Noble is the darling of the tech world–the genius behind an AI defence system that hijacks enemy missiles. But when Sarah’s estranged business partner is killed in a mysterious plane crash, suspicion immediately falls on one of the few people who could hack the plane’s guidance system and had a motive to do so: Sarah herself.

Camryn Lane is living her dream: after years of struggle and rejection, her first novel has finally been published. She’s on top of the world–until she receives a disturbing email from an unknown sender. Rattled, Camryn swallows the sick feeling and resolves to put the missive out of her mind. But when she checks her ratings online, she finds an aggressive one-star review, and soon Camryn’s book is flooded with negative reviews and publicity. Could the reviewer be the same person who sent the ugly email? And why do they want to ruin her?

Poppy's world has tipped sideways: the husband who never wanted children has betrayed her with her broody best friend. At least Annalise is on her side. Poppy's new friend is determined to celebrate their freedom from kids, so together they create a Facebook group to meet up with like-minded women and perhaps vent a little about smug mums and their privileges at work.

London, 1850. Constance Horton has disappeared. Maude, her older sister, knows only that Constance abandoned the apothecary they call home, and, disguised as a boy, boarded a ship bound for the Arctic. She never returned. 'A tragic accident', the Admiralty called it. But Maude Horton knows something isn't right. When she finds Constance's journal, it becomes clear that the truth is being buried by sinister forces. To find answers - and deliver justice for her sister - Maude must step into London's dark underbelly, and into the path of dangerous, powerful men.

For much of their lives, Joy has been telling Cassie and Andie one big, fat lie: that they are from the future, and that when they turn 21 they will travel back to the year 2050. What started as a colourful tale to explain how the girls came to live with her has now become a decade's-long deception. Worse still, Joy has started to believe it herself. The big lie is certainly preferable to the truth she just can't face - about what happened to the girls' real mother, Britney; and how far Joy's gone to keep them 'safe'...

Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His professor is taken in for questioning, and rumors swirl that his death is the result of a student-teacher bad romance. The story hits the media, an investigation is opened and the professor is suspended. Marlitt Kaplan has never investigated love affairs. A former detective turned research assistant, she misses the excitement of her old job. When her mother, a colleague of the accused professor, asks for her help, Marlitt finds herself in the impossible position of proving something didn't happen.

In the darkest hour, a blood-soaked teenager flees the rural Gerandaroo football oval. Eight months later, Bess, a young teacher, returns home to Gerandaroo. A childhood game of dare with her former best friend forces Bess to form a women's footy team to play against Denby, a rival town. Bess reluctantly recruits players, but the team has to contend with hostile locals - including Bess's own father. Will this help the small community to come back together - or will it be the final thing that blows everything apart?

Trapped ghosts, evil witches, and tormented vampires. With ultimate power at stake, can newly awoken witch Holly keep it together long enough to survive? Holly Burke has a big problem. Dark spirits are prowling outside her house, witches want to steal her powers, and she keeps spontaneously shooting electric sparks out of her hands. With danger lurking around every corner, her only allies are two vampires who have major problems of their own — one may or may not be cursed, and the other is in the middle of an existential crisis. She’s already lost so much, and with her own life on the ...

An ancient malice. An unknown legacy. Just when things were looking up, the world begins to crumble…again. Holly Burke is haunted by the legacy left behind by not only the Trine, but her own family. Handed everything that ever belonged to the witches of Dunloe, she doesn’t know what to do with it all. How do people go on living after the end is written? But when mysterious happenings begin to crop up all around town, Holly realises that for the supernatural, there’s no such thing as a ‘happily ever after’. Reports of strange lights, shadowy figures, mutilated cattle, and diseased ...

Once-rising literary star Olivia Fitzgerald is in a downward spiral. After her second novel, a retelling of Rebecca, fails, her third novel can’t find a publisher. And Olivia's boyfriend breaking up with her hasn’t helped her creativity much either. Broke, newly single and struggling to write another book, she jumps at the chance for a high-paying ghostwriting job when her agent calls with the opportunity.

A chilling secret. A relentless enemy. When the battle ends, who will be left standing? In the shadow of Australia's rugged High Country, a devastating battle is brewing. Grace and Lawson, their shapeshifter allies face an ominous ultimatum: fight for survival or die trying. But when Winslow captures someone dear to Grace, the stakes skyrocket, and they are forced to mount a daring assault on Winslow's underground facility. It’s a battle that will destroy his sinister experiments once and for all, but he has weapons and dark magic of his own lying in wait… As secrets unravel and ...

For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since that summer before senior year. Once, she had Alex, her loyal best friend, the one who always had her back. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every cross-country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam. Sam, who told her she was everything and left her breathless with his touch. Now, July is alone. Every single person in her small town of Lithia has disappeared.

For as long as she can remember, twenty-eight-year-old Leah has suffered from akinetopsia—her eyes can’t process movement, only still images. As she walks around her neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, her white stick tapping the pavement, most people assume she’s blind. But Leah sees a good deal, and she remembers every image her eyes capture. Accustomed to a solitary life in her rambling apartment complex, Leah’s routine is thrown out of whack when someone new moves in next door. Alice is beautiful and kind, but Leah can smell waves of anxiety coming off her.