The Woman Outside My Door

Product Description
From “a bright new voice in psychological thrillers” (Erin Kelly, USA TODAY bestselling author of He Said/She Said), The Woman Outside My Door is an unputdownable page-turner about a young mother who can’t shake the feeling that her son’s “imaginary” friend is putting him in very real danger—perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Mary Kubica. \nAll children have imaginary friends, Georgina tells herself. It’s perfectly normal, and they all grow out of it in the end. But when her seven-year-old son, Cody, tells her about New Granny, the friend he’s met in the park, Georgina is instantly suspicious. Something—call it maternal instinct—tells her he isn’t making it up.\nBut maybe Georgina
is losing her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all. And with her own mother’s recent death leaving her bereft and trying to cope with life as a busy working mom, it’s no wonder she’s feeling paranoid that Cody has invented a “New Granny” to replace his beloved grandmother.\nHer husband, Bren, becomes the voice of reason, assuring Georgina that it’s just a game, the product of their son’s overactive imagination. But what if Cody’s imaginary friend is not so imaginary after all?\n“Packed with jaw-dropping moments,
The Woman Outside My Door is a twisty thriller with hidden depths” (Robyn Harding, internationally bestselling author of
The Party) that will keep you guessing until the shocking last page.
About the Author
Rachel Ryan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She can usually be found writing in coffee shops, hanging around libraries, or walking the streets of Dublin, making up stories.
The Woman Outside My Door is her first novel.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One\nCHAPTER ONE
DUBLIN, IRELAND, 2014\nOn that crisp January afternoon, the park lay silvery and deserted, coated in a thin layer of frost. The grass crunched under Georgina’s feet as she followed shrieks of laughter to a cluster of evergreen bushes and trees.\n“Boys!” she called towards the bushes. “Out where I can see you, please!”\nLuke and Patrick, her son’s friends, tumbled out first. They were giggling, faces flushed so pink Georgina doubted they felt the cold at all.\n“Come on, you two, back to the playground.”\nThey bolted off obediently. But Cody did not emerge.\n“Cody?”\nGeorgina waited. Her breaths clouded the air.\n“
Cody!”\nOf course her child would be the defiant one. Georgina sighed.\n“Cody, don’t make me come in there and get you.”\nStill nothing. Luke and Patrick had reached the playground. Their delighted screams echoed over the otherwise silent fields. A distant dog walker was the only other person in sight.\n“Cody!”\nJust as Georgina was about to push through the branches herself, the leaves shivered, and her son appeared.\nHer annoyance melted away in the face of that cheeky half smile.\n“Come on. Your friends are at the playground.” She ruffled his muss of dark hair as they began to walk.\nHe was sucking on a lollipop he hadn’t had earlier.\nGeorgina frowned. “Where did you get that?”\nCody took the lollipop out of his mouth. “The old lady gave it to me.”\n“What old lady?”\n“The old lady in the bushes.”\nHe popped it back in his mouth and made to run off after his friends. Georgina stopped him.\n“You were talking to an old lady in the bushes? Just now?”\nCody nodded, impatient to be off.\n“Why would she give you a lollipop, Cody?”\nHe shrugged. “She said she was my granny.”\nThe shiver that traveled down Georgina’s spine had nothing to do with the cold. Each hair on the back of her neck stood up as if brushed by a spiderweb.\n“Cody,” she said, when she trusted herself to speak, “that’s not right. You know Granny is dead.”\n“
I know that,” Cody said scornfully. “
She said it. Can I go, Mom,
please?”\nGeorgina nodded, too shaken to continue the conversation, and watched him tear off to the playground.\nShe turned back towards the bushes. They were still. She looked arou