Averil Dean

With haunting prose and deft psychological insight, Averil Dean spins a chilling story that explores the dark corners of obsession – love, pain and revenge.

Ten years ago, someone ruined Alice Croft's life. Now she has a chance to right that wrong – and she thinks she's found the perfect man to carry out her plan.

After watching him for weeks, she breaks into Jack Calabrese's house to collect the evidence that will confirm her hopes. When Jack comes home unexpectedly, Alice hides in the closet, fearing for her life. But upon finding her, Jack is strangely calm, solicitous…and intrigued.

That night is the start of a dark and intense attraction, and soon Alice finds herself drawn into a labyrinth of terrifying surrender to a man who is more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. As their relationship spirals toward a breaking point, Alice starts to see just how deep Jack's secrets run – and how deadly they could be.

"Crisply written, wickedly suspenseful… A dark, sensual nightmare, and it is the reader who won't want to close her eyes until all of the book's tantalizing secrets are finally revealed. Don't miss it.”
 – David Bell, author of Never Come Back and Cemetery Girl

Previously published as The Undoing

On a bitter January evening, three people are found murdered in the isolated Blackbird hotel. 

Best friends since childhood, Eric, Rory and Celia have always been inseparable. Together they've coped with broken homes and damaged families, clinging to each other as they've navigated their tenuous lives. Their bond is potent and passionate–and its intensity can be volatile. 

When the trio decides to follow Celia's dream of buying and renovating the Blackbird, a dilapidated hotel that sits on the perilous cliffs of Jawbone Ridge, new jealousies arise and long–held suspicions start to unravel their relationship. Soon they find themselves pushed to the breaking point, where trust becomes doubt, longing becomes obsession, and someone will commit the ultimate betrayal. 

An unflinching story of ambition, desire and envy, The Undoing traces the events leading to that fateful night, revealing the intimate connections, dark secrets and terrible lies that wove them together–and tore them apart.