The Girl I Was Before

This instant New York Times bestseller, in the tradition of The Girl on the Train, The Silent Wife and Gone Girl, is an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman's seemingly good fortune and another woman's mysterious fate through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death and deception. 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.

I’m the selfish one. I suppose that’s the nicest thing people say about me. I’ve heard the other things, too. “Paige Owens is a pretty girl with nothing else to offer. She’s just a good time at a party. She’s stupid, heartless, cold and useless. All she cares about is getting a guy to look at her. Why would anyone want to be her friend?” Some of those things are true. Others were true. They’re all hurtful. None of it matters. I’m ready to make the hard choices. I’m ready to face the consequences. I’m ready to be the girl I was before, and I’m done being the one who lost her way. I’m ready to become the girl Houston Orr sees when he looks at me. Houston isn’t a star athlete. He doesn’t play in a band. He’s never going to be president, and his life is so far away from simple and easy it isn’t even funny. He wasn’t part of my plan. But I’m starting to think plans are overrated, and maybe our stories are what we make them. And mine depends entirely on me, and the choices I make…starting now. Houston is my fairytale. He’s perfectly imperfect. He’s poetry and life. He’s truth and heartbreak, all rolled up in a tall body with dark hair, broad shoulders and green eyes that lull me into submission. He’s nothing I ever thought I wanted, but the very thing I need. He’s the only guy I’ve ever really loved, and he thinks I’m a princess. I fell into him, and now I’m holding on. But sometimes life takes away our ability to choose. Sometimes…things aren’t in your control. Sometimes, it hurts to be selfless. My only hope is that when it comes time to choose, I get it right. Welcome to my once upon a time and wish for happily ever after.

In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true...wasn’t? Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters. The last thing her husband yells to her is to say nothing. In chapters that alternate between past and present, the novel slowly unpeels the layers of Clara’s fractured life. We see her growing up, raised with her sisters by the stern Mama and Papa G, becoming a poised and educated young woman, falling desperately in love with the forbidden son of her adoptive parents. We see her now, sequestered in an institution, questioned by men and women who call her a different name—Diana—and who accuse her husband of unspeakable crimes. As recollections of her past collide with new revelations, Clara must question everything she thought she knew, to come to terms with the truth of her history and to summon the strength to navigate her future.

National Bestseller The Perfect Life. The Perfect Love. The Perfect Lie. Abbie awakens in a daze with no memory of who she is or how she landed in this unsettling condition. The man by her side claims to be her husband. He's a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley's most innovative start-ups. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their young son and the perfect wife. He says she had a terrible accident five years ago and that, through a huge technological breakthrough, she has been brought back from the abyss. She is a miracle of science. But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins questioning her husband's motives—and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together forever? And what really happened to her half a decade ago? Beware the man who calls you . . . the perfect wife.

A crime thriller with a brilliant twist you won't see coming! You can't outrun the past...

She'll juggle your balls. For Stella Allesandro, chaos is good. She's a rising star at a leading sports publicity firm. She's known throughout the industry as the jock whisperer—the one who can tame the baddest of the bad boys in professional sports without losing her signature smile. But Cal Hartshorn is an entirely different kind of chaos. He'll fix your broken heart. This former Army Ranger and now-famous cardiothoracic surgeon fails at nothing…except talking to a woman he's adored from afar. Whether on the battlefield or operating room, he's exacting, precise, and efficient, but all of that crumbles when Stella is in sight. Cal always knows—and gets—what he wants, and now he wants all of her. His forever girl. But Stella isn't convinced she's anyone's forever.

‘So addictive, it should come with a health warning’ Observer She was his. She was perfect. And then, she was gone.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER | THE SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH 'Imaginative, unusual, clever and fun' Sunday Times 'A twisty, exciting read' Sabine Durrant 'A dark, sexy mystery' Metro ********** Claire Wright isn't who she seems. A British drama student, in New York without a green card, Claire takes the only job she can get: working for a firm of divorce lawyers, posing as an easy pick-up in hotel bars to entrap straying husbands. When one of her targets becomes the subject of a murder investigation, the police ask Claire to use her acting skills to help lure their suspect into a confession. But right from the start, she has doubts about the part she's being asked to play. Is Patrick Fogler really a killer . . . Or the only decent husband she's ever met? And is there more to this set-up than she's being told? And that's when Claire realises she's playing the deadliest role of her life . . . ********** See what everyone is saying about JP Delaney, the hottest new name in psychological thrillers: 'DAZZLING' Lee Child 'ADDICTIVE' Daily Express 'DEVASTATING' Daily Mail 'INGENIOUS' The New York Times 'COMPULSIVE' Glamour Magazine 'ELEGANT' Peter James 'SEXY' Mail on Sunday 'ENTHRALLING' Woman and Home 'ORIGINAL' The Times 'RIVETING' Lisa Gardner 'CREEPY' Heat 'SATISFYING' Reader's Digest 'SUPERIOR' The Bookseller 'MORE THAN A MATCH FOR PAULA HAWKINS' Sunday Times A Sunday Times bestseller in August 2018.