A Simple Favour is a twisting free-fall ride filled with betrayal, reversal, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty. Now a major feature film starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively.

'Packed with betrayal, secrets and plenty of twists and turns' - Telegraph

What happened to Emily?

It starts with a simple favour - an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another.

As a widow and stay-at-home blogger mum living in suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily - a glamorous and successful PR executive. Their children are classmates and best friends - and so are they.

So, when Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son from school, she happily says yes.

But Emily doesn't come back.

No matter what the police say, Stephanie knows that Emily would never leave her son. Terrified, she reaches out to her fellow mummy bloggers. And she also reaches out to Emily's husband - just to offer her support.

But there are secrets that Stephanie hasn't shared. Secrets buried deep in the murky past . . .

For fans of Gone Girl and Big Little Lies, Darcey Bell ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing thriller that holds you in its grip until the final page.

What happened to Emily? It starts with a simple favour.

When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son from school, she happily says yes.

Their children are classmates and best friends. And five-year-olds love being together - just like she and Emily do. As a widow and stay-at-home blogger mum living in suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a glamorous and successful PR executive.

The trouble is that Emily doesn't come back. No matter what the police say, Stephanie knows that she would never leave her son. Terrified, she reaches out to her fellow mummy bloggers.

And she also reaches out to Emily's husband - just to offer her support.

What Stephanie hasn't shared is the secrets she has buried in a murky past.

'Sly, satirical, subversive: a deliciously poisoned cupcake of a story' L. S. Hilton, bestselling author of Maestra

'A compellingly creepy female protagonist who kept me guessing right up to the end' Michelle Frances, bestselling author of The Girlfriend

'Darcey Bell tackles a nightmare scenario brilliantly' Good Housekeeping

Debut-novelist Bell ramps up suspense with authority in this domestic thriller, in which actions seem as inevitable as they are chilling. The audience that made Gone Girl a publishing sensation is likely to take to this one, too