If books were babies, then Close My Eyes would have had many midwives. I'm deeply grateful to early readers Dana Bate a wonderful author in her own right Roger Bate, Philippa Makepeace, Eoin McCarthy and Jodie Marsh, who all helped when the book was at an embryonic stage.

My thanks to Sarah Ballard at United, who kept faith with the story as it developed and to the team at Simon and Schuster UK for their fantastic support all the way.

Thank you also to Zoe Pagnamenta and to everyone at St Martin's Press in the US for taking on my book with such enthusiasm. I'm especially grateful to Jennifer Weis, who brought a fresh pair of eyes to the story, offering some excellent advice as it neared completion.

And, finally, a massive thank you to Maxine Hitchcock, for not only having the most brilliant insights but always communicating them in the most encouraging and helpful ways.

Close My Eyes.

by Sophie McKenzie.

Reading Group Questions.

Close My Eyes Reading Group Guide.

1 One of the things which makes this novel work so well is the way the author gives us several possibilities, all equally credible, as to what might have happened to Geniver's baby. Discuss how this is achieved.

2 Which option is the one you are most inclined to believe until you find out the truth at the end of the novel?

3 As Geniver is a first-person narrator, we experience everything from her perspective. How does this bias your perception of people and situations from the beginning? Does it ever make you doubt her decisions?

4 There are multiple clues throughout the novel that point towards the several big reveals at the end. Do you think these are intentionally placed as hints or are they meant to further the paranoia and sense of unreliable perceptions?

5 When we first meet Lorcan he comes across as charming but untrustworthy. By the end of the novel his true character is revealed. Discuss his role in this novel.

6 A well-respected businessman who clearly adores his wife, how does your opinion of Art change during the course of the novel? How does the author achieve this?

7 The child's narrative that intersperses the story is a mystery until the very end. Who did you think it was? Discuss how the reveal of the child's identity and his specific loyalties change the way you think about the novel.

8 Throughout the novel there is an underlying tension and sense of paranoia. How does the author create this?

9 Both Morgan and Art are severely affected by their childhood relationships with their late father. How much does this early trauma contribute to their life decisions and personalities? Does the knowledge of their difficult childhoods make you more understanding of their adult actions?

10 What about Gen? Do her memories of her late father influence her actions in any way?

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Website: www.sophiemckenziebooks.com.

Kristina Ohlsson.

Silenced.

Fifteen years ago a young girl was brutally attacked in the meadow behind her parents' Swedish country home. The crime went unreported; the victim silenced.

Cut to the present. It is a bleak February morning in Stockholm, when an unknown man is killed in a hit and run. At the same time, a priest and his wife are discovered dead in their apartment. Meanwhile, out in Bangkok on a business trip, a young woman finds that her flight has mysteriously been cancelled and, whichever way she turns, all contact with home has been cut off.

Following a trail that leads all the way back to the '90s, Alex Recht's team at the Stockholm Police, along with Investigative Analyst Fredrika Bergman, uncover a terrible crime that was hushed-up, but whose consequences reach further and deeper than anyone could ever expect.

Intense, urgent and full of surprises, Silenced is a treat for anyone who loved The Bridge and The Killing.

'Compelling' Sunday Times.

Paperback ISBN 978-1-84983-131-4.

Ebook ISBN 978-1-84737-962-7.

Penny Hancock.

The Darkening Hour.

Dora on Mona.

'Mona is, I guess, a few years older than me. Crooked teeth. Poorly nourished, pale brown skin. Health care is expensive where she comes from. I'm helping her, I think. I'll improve her life. A fair exchange after all, she's here to improve mine.'

When Theodora Gentleman employs Moroccan immigrant Mona, she has little choice but to invite this perfect stranger into her home.

But when two women are forced to make their home under the same roof, power struggles are quick to occur. And Theodora soon begins to suspect that Mona is not all she seems.

Mona on Dora.

'When I arrived, Theodora opened the door herself. She smiled, though I know from experience that looks can lie. I could see straightaway that Dora needed me. This is good. Need creates opportunity. It gives me power.'

Mona knows that this job is the only hope left of supporting her elderly mother and daughter living back in Rabat. But with each passing day, Mona begins to realise that Dora might not be the kindly employer she had hoped for...

Hardback ISBN 978-1-47111-124-2.

Ebook ISBN 978-0-85720-626-8.

Kimberly McCreight.

Finding Amelia.

Single mother and lawyer Kate Baron is in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call. Her teenaged daughter Amelia has just been suspended from her exclusive prep school for cheating. When Kate eventually arrives at the school an hour later, she is greeted by news that no mother ever wants to hear.

A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself. But she soon discovers she didn't know Amelia quite as well as she thought. Who are the friends she kept, what are the secrets she hid?

And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world, and into the mind of a troubled young girl. Slowly, Kate reconstructs Amelia through her online world of texts, social networks and chat rooms the ordinary obsessions of a living, breathing girl; now, the precious final words of a dead one.

Then Kate receives an anonymous text: AMELIA DIDN'T JUMP. Is someone toying with her or has she been right all along? To find peace and the truth about her daughter, she must face a darker reality than she ever imagined...

Paperback ISBN 978-1-47111-129-7.

Ebook ISBN 978-1-47111-130-3.

Camilla Grebe & sa Trff.

More Bitter Than Death.

Sometimes reliving the past revives old demons . . .

In a Stockholm apartment, five-year-old Tilde watches from under the kitchen table as her mother is brutally kicked to death.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, psychotherapist Siri Bergman and her colleague Aina meet their new patients a group of women, all of whom are victims of domestic violence.

From Kattis, who was beaten by her boyfriend and lives under the constant threat of his return, to Malin, the promising young athlete who was attacked by a man she met online, and from Sofi, the teenager abused by her stepfather, to Sirkka, an older woman who had a troubled marriage each woman takes her turn to share her story in the safety of the sessions.

But as the group gets closer, it is not long before the dangers lurking in the women's lives outside invade the peace with shattering consequences. And somehow, the fate of five-year-old Tilde is intertwined with that of Siri and the other women, so that what started out as the search for peace will swiftly turn into a tense hunt for a murderer.

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-85720-949-8.

Ebook ISBN 978-0-85720-951-1.