I would like to thank my brilliant agent, Becky Ritchie, for her support and enthusiasm, and my fantastic editor, Tash Barsby, who has done an amazing job with a complicated plot structure – the next one will be simpler, I promise! Thank you to Tash’s colleagues for reading and picking up on things I missed, and to Hannah Bright for the hard work she’s put into publicizing my books. To Vivien Thompson and the eagle-eyed proofreading team. To the staff at Richmond Waterstones, you have been amazing from the start. Thanks also to Monica Byles for her advice on my chapter plan, to Bella Bosworth, my first reader, and to Oliver Day, whose graphic descriptions of the hypnagogic hallucinations that he’s suffered from since childhood inspired me to write this book. Thanks to the memory of Biff, the extraordinary little rescue dog who Toffee is drawn from; to the PrimeWriters – we go from strength to strength – and the newly inaugurated Psychological Suspense Authors’ Association. Thank you to Dead Good Books and to the book bloggers, reviewers and my friends on Twitter for your continued goodwill. To Steve, Max and Lulu and all my friends and family, I couldn’t do this without you. And last but not least, thank you for those chance conversations that spark ideas. They do say, be careful what you tell an author.

If you enjoyed this then don’t miss these two other gripping thrillers by Emma Curtis

WHEN I FIND YOU

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE TAKES ADVANTAGE OF YOUR GREATEST WEAKNESS?

ONE LITTLE MISTAKE

YOU TRUSTED YOUR BEST FRIEND … YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE.

And don’t miss the chilling new Emma Curtis thriller

KEEP HER QUIET

One night. One fateful act. Four lives changed for ever.

Jenny has just given birth to the baby she’s always wanted. She’s never been this happy.

Her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can’t be his. He’s never felt so betrayed.

The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She’s crazed with grief.

When chance throws Hannah into Leo’s path, they make a plan that will change all of their lives, with shattering consequences.

Years later, a sixteen-year-old girl reads an article in a newspaper, and embarks on a journey to uncover the truth about herself. But what she learns will put everything she has ever known – and her own life – in grave danger. Because some people will go to desperate lengths to protect the secrets their lives are built on …

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