One Mistake: A totally unputdownable gripping psychological thriller
Page 29
Sign up here!
The inspiration for this story came from three different strands; news stories that I found equally shocking and which, when combined together, made a perfect storm.
The first strand is, sadly, a recurring theme in the news – innocent people being drugged and abused by a wide variety of perpetrators. There have been several such cases and it feels like a frighteningly common occurrence; one that tumbles an innocent life into a nightmare scenario.
The second strand was an article about mothers on benefits selling sex in lieu of rent, or to earn money to buy food, and it made me think about debt and how prevalent it is in our society today. How people who are struggling to survive have to consider the unthinkable just to get by.
The third element of the story, which really hit home to me after doing research, was the amount of abusive videos available online. We are talking millions. And these don’t go away, even if the perpetrators are caught and punished; the videos have a life of their own once they have been circulated. This means that people are re-victimised every time a video is shared. It makes you wonder if the internet is a blessing or a curse, doesn’t it?
My heart goes out to anyone who has been in any of these situations and I sincerely hope they find the strength to seek the help they need to come to terms with what has happened to them and move forward with their lives.
I hope you loved One Mistake; if you did, I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers – you can get in touch on my Facebook page, and through Twitter, Instagram or Goodreads.
Many thanks,
Rona Halsall
Books by Rona Halsall
One Mistake
Her Mother’s Lies
The Honeymoon
Love You Gone
Keep You Safe
Her Mother’s Lies
Get it here!
‘She hasn’t told you, has she?’ He squeezed his eyes shut. She watched the muscles of his jaw tense, then his eyes blinked open and he took a deep breath… ‘I’m not your father.’
He was there for her first steps, for her first day of school. He helped her with her homework, and took her for ice cream at the weekends. And then, two days before her ninth birthday, Martha’s father walked out. She never knew what went wrong, but she and her mother Fran never saw or heard from him again.
Fifteen years later, frustrated in a life which consists of caring for an increasingly-ill Fran, and heartbroken after the death of a beloved friend, Martha decides she needs some answers, and she knows it’s time to track down the father who left them behind.
Except when she comes face-to-face with him for the first time in fifteen years, he tells her a brutal truth.
He isn’t her father.
Her mother has been telling lies.
And not just about who her real father is…
A page-turning, gripping psychological thriller for fans of Paula Hawkins, Clare Mackintosh, and C. L. Taylor.
Order now!
The Honeymoon
Get it here!
‘I’m your husband, Chloe. We’re a partnership now and we do what’s best for us as a couple. Staying here is going to be the best option.’ He picked up his drink and took a sip. ‘It’s not open for discussion. We’re not going home.’
Chloe had the dream wedding. Dan is her perfect man. They haven’t known each other for long, but as she walked down the aisle and saw him standing by the altar, tears glistening in his eyes, she knew this was forever.
Later, as they relax on a beautiful island, settling in to their new married life together, they congratulate themselves on their lovely wedding day, and Dan jokes that he’d like them to stay there forever.
But as the honeymoon goes on, he becomes increasingly adamant. They shouldn’t leave. In fact, he won’t let her…
An utterly gripping psychological thriller for fans of Gillian Flynn, Clare Mackintosh, and The Wife Between Us.
Order now!
Keep You Safe
Get it here!
I have to get my little boy back…
I’ll never forget the feeling of holding him in my arms. The softness of his skin. The sweetness of his smile.
But my husband took our son away. He said it was for the best.
He said he’d keep him safe.
And he was always a good father… even if he failed me when I needed him most.
I know I should trust him to protect our little boy… so why can’t I?
A totally gripping psychological thriller about the power of a mother’s love, and the lengths she will go to to protect her child – perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, The Girl on the Train and C.L. Taylor.
Order now!
Acknowledgements
Writing is a collaborative process. Yes, the initial idea is mine, but so many people help to shape it during the process of turning that initial nugget of an idea into the 95,000 words of a book!
As always, I’d like to thank my agent, Hayley Steed of Madeleine Milburn TV, Film and Literary Agency, for her enthusiastic support and wise words. I am so proud to be part of team MM!
My publishers do a fantastic job of turning a rough idea into a finished book, and I have to thank my editor, Isobel Akenhead, for her creative input from the ideas stage right through to final draft. Getting the story right is definitely a team effort. Big thanks to managing editor Alex Holmes for doing a fantastic job of organising copyeditors, proofreaders and the audio production. And then there’s Kim Nash and Noelle Holten in the publicity team, who shout about my books and get them noticed. Supported by Alex Crow and the marketing team, who produce the best graphics and do all sorts of magic with adverts behind the scene! There are many other people, I know, within Bookouture who will have had an input at some stage, so I thank you all for your dedication and hard work in making my book the best it can be.
My little team of early readers braved a rough second draft to point out the mistakes and make the book better, so big thanks to Kerry-Ann Mitchell, Gill Mitchell, Sandra Henderson, Wendy Clarke and Sarah Hardy – your feedback was very much appreciated. Also thanks to Hailey Mitchell for letting me use her name and job!
I would also like to thank members of the admin team at the Fiction Café Book Club (a great place for book lovers to hang out) for letting me use their children’s names for characters in this book. Thank you Wendy Clarke for Sophia, Chloe Jordan for Amelia and Michaela Balfour for Ezra.
As always, thanks to my book club for lively discussions and enthusiastic support.
Last but not least, thanks to my kids, John, Amy and Oscar, for their interest, enthusiasm and moral support, and my husband, David, for picking me up when I’m down, reassuring me that I really can do it and making lots of cups of tea.
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www
.bookouture.com
Copyright © Rona Halsall, 2020
Rona Halsall has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-619-6
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.