Book Extract: The Surprise Party by Julia Crouch #NetGalley #BooksOnTour @bookouture

Book: The Surprise Party
Author: Julia Crouch
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 17th June, 2024

Description

This trip was meant to save our marriage. Instead it will destroy everything…

To celebrate my special birthday, my husband and I have returned to the beautiful Greek island village where we spent our honeymoon. As the boat pulls in to the harbour, I feel hope rise in my heart. The white houses, the blue doors, the brilliant turquoise of the sea, are just as I remember. If two weeks in this paradise won’t fix our marriage, nothing will.

But then the next day a boat arrives, full of my friends and family. My grown-up children jump on to the shore, grinning and holding balloons. My husband beams at me and says, “Surprise!”

I can’t believe it. It was meant to be just the two of us. This was my chance to confess what I’ve been hiding for years, the truth that will change everything.

Now I’m surrounded by all the people I’ve been desperate to escape, all the secrets I’ve been pretending I don’t know. I force a smile on to my face, but inside I want to kill my husband.

But even after my party ended in disaster, I didn’t expect anyone to die…

A completely gripping psychological thriller about the darkness at the heart of a family and how far a mother will go to protect her children that will keep you glued to the pages as you discover twist after twist. Fans of Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware and Lucy Clarke will love The Surprise Party.

Buy Link: Amazon

Extract

PROLOGUE

MONDAY

‘Help!’ Please don’t let her be the next one to die. She hangs from the cliff edge, one hand clinging onto an ancient iron stake hammered into the stones. Will it hold her? Her feet flail in the air beneath her, trying to find a niche, a crevice, a crack. ‘Help!’ Her free hand grasps at rock as she tries blindly to find something, anything to hold on to. Her nails are ripped and bleeding. She can’t look down, but she knows that beneath her are rocks and bones and blood. ‘Help me!’ Above her, the one who pushed her off stands on the ledge, shouting at the sky. Stones rain down from the mountain; some skitter and fall onto her. Someone is coming. A roar and a scuffle on the ledge above her make her scream. The sound of fists meeting flesh, cries of pain. Even if the one who pushed her off loses this fight, she’s not sure if the attacker is going to save her. They could just stamp on her hand, make her fall to the rocks and the bones and the blood below. Please don’t let her be the next one to die. Her feet find a hold, but it crumbles away—

Author Bio

Julia started off as a theatre director and playwright. While her children were growing up, she swerved into graphic design. After writing and illustrating two children’s books for an MA, she discovered that her great love was writing prose. The picture books were deemed too dark for publication, so, to save the children, she turned instead to writing for adults. Her first book, Cuckoo, was published in 2011, and she has been writing what she calls her Domestic Noir novels ever since. She also writes for TV and teaches on the Crime Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. She has three grown up children and lives in Brighton with her husband and two cats, Keith and Sandra.