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The Good Mother: A tense psychological thriller with a shocking twist
A. L. Bird
‘Oh. My. Word. This is a one sitting read kind of book. The kind with a twist that will have you gasping out loud.’ – Katherine Sunderland, BibliomaniacThe greatest bond. The darkest betrayal.Susan wakes up alone in a room she doesn’t recognise, with no memory of how she got there. She only knows that she is trapped, and her daughter is missing.The relief that engulfs her when she hears her daughter’s voice through the wall is quickly replaced by fear.The person who has imprisoned her has her daughter, too.Devising a plan to keep her daughter safe, Susan begins to get closer to her unknown captor. And suddenly, she realises that she has met him before.The Good Mother is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller for fans of C L Taylor, Kathryn Croft and S K Tremayne.Read what people are saying about The Good Mother‘if you like psychological thrillers this one will keep you guessing till the end’ – Elaine Makri, Goodreads‘5*: gripping from beginning to end’ – Shirley Jones, Goodreads‘Nothing in this story is quite what it appears’ – Rosemary Smith, Goodreads‘From the start this was chilling and made my heart beat extra fast. A psychological thriller with lots of tension…Could not put it down! No spoilers but highly recommend it. 5*****’ – Laurel Cherkas, Goodreads‘Not much keeps me awake until 2am, but my goodness, this brilliant psychological thriller did just that!’ – Philippa McKenna, Goodreads‘I loved this book…I couldn't read it fast enough.A real page turner’ – Aarti Shah, Goodreads‘So cleverly written that I had no inkling as to how the tale would unfold.’ – Melanie Hughes, Goodreads‘Lots of twists and turns and shocks along the way and the ending packs a real punch!’ ‘ Fiona McCormick, Goodreads
The greatest bond. The darkest betrayal.
Susan wakes up alone in a room she doesn’t recognise, with no memory of how she got there. She only knows that she is trapped, and her daughter is missing.
The relief that engulfs her when she hears her daughter’s voice through the wall is quickly replaced by fear.
Because the person who has imprisoned her has her daughter, too.
Devising a plan to keep her daughter safe, Susan begins to get closer to her unknown captor. And suddenly, she realises that she has met him before.
The Good Mother
A. L. Bird
Copyright (#ulink_0ac53238-7b1d-5415-9279-d8ce2f088ae4)
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016
Copyright © A. L. Bird 2016
A. L. Bird asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 9781474049566
Version date: 2018-09-20
A.L. BIRD
lives in London, where she divides her time between writing and working as a lawyer. The Good Mother is her major psychological thriller for HQ Digital, the fourth novel she’s written for the imprint. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London, and is also an alumna of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course, which she studied under Richard Skinner. Amy is a member of the Crime Writers’Association. For updates on her writing follow her on Twitter, @ALBirdWriter
I am grateful to everyone who has given me the time, support and encouragement to write this novel. My wonderful editor Clio Cornish, who knows what I’m trying to write even before I’ve written it; my super-savvy agent Amanda Preston of LBA for her off-the-cuff creative brilliance and industry insight; my loyal family for the hours of childcare that enabled me to be closeted away in this new world; to Dr Abigail Crutchlow for her advice on characters (any straying from psychological truth is due to my artistic licence, not your input) and of course my readers, for coming back for more. Thank you.
And to my little one – welcome. May I be the best mother to you, always.
Contents
Cover (#u64ad3082-5b89-5a33-9125-b6c5838ad4ad)
Blurb (#u28a57408-3fe5-5b44-b3cb-a150993be522)
Title Page (#uea1ca237-a5e7-5436-a8a3-c9ea7820494f)
Copyright (#u03a88ec7-26fe-5cf9-9a39-dc724e63891c)
Author Bio (#u7a7a2862-d076-59d0-94f5-b599088815c9)
Acknowledgement (#u3705efad-af31-5ed4-9cae-1b89315a14c9)
Dedication (#u1c78e4ad-e279-543a-b833-772ea6264d30)
Prologue (#ulink_89a99db6-0360-56c6-a5f1-1e1c2eb047a3)
Chapter 1 (#ulink_b19bec36-dd76-5024-a068-55b7ed3fb099)
Chapter 2 (#ulink_882a8558-be54-50c3-b051-4c4dacb12d0d)
Chapter 3 (#ulink_32a558e2-389a-5bf1-bc98-4a45033ec25e)
Chapter 4 (#ulink_c57b1fb7-c50b-5267-938c-3ba03c46fd86)
Chapter 5 (#ulink_fe388479-f232-56e5-9ea8-812655983fab)
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
