The Perfect Couple
Page 32
‘Gemma! Come on!’
Clare again.
‘Coming! Just settling the baby, one minute, I promise!’
I turned back to the pram. His eyes had opened again, wide dark pools framed by fluttery lashes. Dark hair too, a surprising amount of it, not just wispy peach fuzz but a thick dark mop, soft curls on his forehead. Eyes like Danny’s, hair like Danny’s. Danny’s son. Son of the Lookalike Killer. A baby who looked just like his father, like his grandfather. Like four dead men, his father’s victims. I looked into my child’s eyes, and suddenly I felt a creeping sensation, like insects running across my skin. I shivered, and turned again to check the door, testing the chain, taking deep breaths, trying to slow my suddenly racing heartbeat. It was fine. We were safe, we were OK. The house was full of people, full of love and laughter. For today, at least, nothing bad could happen here.
I looked at my baby again. He’d fallen asleep, lashes resting delicately on his cheeks. I gripped the pram handle, watching him for a moment, the way the blanket gently rose and fell with each tiny breath. I glanced at the door again, checking one more time. Then I wheeled the pram carefully into the living room and went to join the party.
Keep Reading …
Enjoyed The Perfect Couple? Make sure you’ve read Am I Guilty?, Jackie Kabler’s previous psychological thriller!
I never thought it would happen to me …
One moment I had it all – a gorgeous husband, a beautiful home, a fulfilling career and two adorable children. The next, everything came crashing down around me.
They said it was my fault. They said I’m the worst mother in the world. And even though I can’t remember what happened that day, they wouldn’t lie to me. These are my friends, my family, people I trust.
But then why do I have this creeping sensation that something is wrong? Why do I feel like people are keeping secrets? Am I really as guilty as they say? And if I’m not, what will happen when the truth comes out …?
Click here to order a copy of Am I Guilty?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My previous book, Am I Guilty?, marked a change in genre for me; my first three books were a series of cosy crime novels, but I had increasingly begun to feel that I wanted to try writing something a little darker. It was a huge risk, and I really wasn’t sure whether I could it pull it off. The response, however, has been amazing, and I want to begin these acknowledgements by saying a massive thank you to everyone who took a chance on me and my first psychological thriller/suspense/domestic noir/whatever you want to call it novel. I am so grateful not only to my agent and publisher (more on them later) but to all of the book bloggers, reviewers and fellow authors who have supported me through this change in direction, and to everyone who bought and read and wrote such wonderful reviews about the book.
Now here we are with psychological thriller number two. The idea for The Perfect Couple came to me rather randomly, when I was sitting in our garden in Gloucestershire one sunny day playing the ‘what if” game that so many authors play: what if this happened? What if that happened? What if a woman came home from a business trip one day to find that her husband had simply vanished? And so another book baby was conceived.
As always, writing a novel and getting it to the point where it is ready to be released into the world is by no means a solo effort: so many people help to make it the very best it can be. My husband, friends and family, who know how important writing is to me and give me the time and space to do it. My wonderful agent, Clare Hulton, who is always there if I need a helping hand. The team at HarperCollins and One More Chapter (and oh my goodness, what a summer party that was!) especially my fantastic editor, Kathryn Cheshire (thank you so much for your brilliance when it came to editing The Perfect Couple – there were moments when I thought I’d never get this book right, and you got me there in the end!); marketing queen, the super-stylish Claire Fenby, always so supportive; my fabulous copy editor Janette Currie; and the very talented Lucy Bennett, who designed the cover.
Thank you yet again to all the members of the wonderful book blogging community, who are always so kind and supportive, shouting loudly about cover reveals and release dates and taking the time to write such considered reviews; none of us could do this without you.
And of course, thank YOU. Without readers, we are nothing. When I wrote the acknowledgements for my very first book back in 2015, I told my agent and publisher that my book deal had made a little girl’s dream come true and a big girl very happy. Even now, I sometimes still can’t quite believe that I get to sit at home making up stories and that people are willing to pay money for them; it really is a dream come true. Thank you so very much.
About the Author
Jackie Kabler was born in Coventry but spent much of her childhood in Ireland. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then a television news correspondent for twenty years, spending nearly a decade on GMTV followed by stints with ITN and BBC News. During that time, she covered major stories around the world including the Kosovo crisis, the impeachment of President Clinton, the Asian tsunami, famine in Ethiopia, the Soham murders and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Jackie now divides her time between crime writing and her job as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. She has a degree in zoology, runs long distances for fun and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
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Also by Jackie Kabler
Am I Guilty?
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