PSYCHO THRILLERS | Daily Mail Online

THE FAVOUR

by Laura Vaughan (Corvus £14.99, 336 pp)

It is always risky to write a book with no likeable characters, but this one is a treat because of the excellent insights it offers into the lives of a group of wealthy, ghastly, entitled young people known as The Dilettante.

Eighteen-year-old Ada Howell is not rich, but she is desperately trying to get in with this dreadful crowd while she is on a glitzy art history trip to Venice, funded by her godmother. 

When a tragedy occurs, Ada’s cold-blooded opportunism kicks in and she sees a chance to advance her social climbing into a future life of privilege. 

But it’s a gamble with dangerous and chilling consequences.

The storyline isn’t evenly paced, but the slower parts are saved by Vaughan’s elegant prose, which in turn is underpinned by an obviously detailed knowledge of fine art, Venice and horrible people.

THE DARE

by Lesley Kara (Bantam £12.99, 304 pp)

Lizzie and Alice are 13-year-old best friends who go for a country walk — but only one returns alive.

The survivor is Lizzie, who has epilepsy. She starts a furious argument when Alice admits she is keeping an important secret from her. 

In the middle of the argument, Lizzie has a fit and comes round to discover that Alice has been killed in a horrific train accident and she has no recollection of what happened.

At the time, Alice’s family don’t believe Lizzie isn’t somehow involved in the death. 

And, although Lizzie never really recovers from the loss, we meet her 12 years later, finally on the verge of happiness with her engagement to a local GP. 

When Alice’s older sister suddenly appears working as a nurse in Lizzie’s fiance’s surgery, she has to face old memories and new dangers. It’s a plot packed with surprises, and it has an ending that won’t disappoint.

THE HIDING PLACE

by Jenny Quintana (Mantle £14.99, 320 pp)

This story is told from the twin perspectives of Connie, a pregnant teenage mother in 1964, and, in 1992, her daughter Marina, who was abandoned by Connie and adopted.

The grown-up Marina has now moved into a flat at 24 Harrington Gardens — the London residence where she was abandoned as a baby — in an attempt to find out what happened to her mother and why she left her. 

Marina hopes that living there and meeting the other residents will give her the answers to her past.

Tension comes from the skilful zeroing in and out of Connie’s sad story and Marina’s desperation for a happy ending.

Using the house as the key to the mystery is a clever way of reflecting the different historical attitudes of people then and now.

To buy any book reviewed here, visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193