LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 CWA TWISTED DAGGER AWARD

Your child said it was an accident. Then it happened again.

'The best hook of any thriller in the last few years.' - Helen Fields, bestselling author of The Institution

'Twisty, relatable and relentlessly gripping.' - T.M. Logan, author of The Dream Home

'Brilliantly written and genuinely terrifying.' - that's life (Crime Scene)

When you look down at your newborn baby, you realise they were right, those smug parents you've always rolled your eyes at: you'd do literally anything for your child. To make them happy, keep them safe.

So when Joseph Carver wakes one night to find his teenage son Max scrubbing the kitchen, hands wet with blood and panic flooding his voice as he promises it was an accident, he didn't mean to do it, Joseph does the only thing he can. He helps Max bury the body.

Joseph thinks that's the end of the nightmare. Until he finds Max with stricken eyes and bloody hands once again . . .

You'd do anything for your child - even cover up a murder. But would you do it twice?

'Lloyd is a rare new thriller talent.' - Daily Mail

'0 to 100mph from the get-go!' - FIVE-STAR Reader Review

'Remarkable. Stunning prose and compulsive reading. It's undoubtedly the best thriller I've read in a long, long time.' - Lesley Kara

'Absolutely grabbed me from the first few pages, and that grip didn't loosen until the very last page!' - FIVE-STAR Reader Review

'An intense, atmospheric, and truly original thriller.' - Shari Lapena

'Keeps you on the edge of your seat, with twists you don't see coming.' - FIVE-STAR Reader Review

'Fiendishly clever' - Sunday Times

'Such a great read...the best so far.' - FIVE-STAR Reader Review

'Propulsive, sinister, gripping' - Alex Michaelides, bestselling author of The Silent Patient

'Doesn't just hook you - it grabs you by the throat.' - FIVE-STAR Reader Review

'Original, creepy, utterly addictive.' - Andrea Mara, bestselling author of It Should Have Been You