Jess Ryder Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Jess Ryder is a pseudonym used by a screenwriter, television producer, and novelist, Jane Page. She is a psychological thriller and mystery writer published by Bookouture. Jess also writes books for teens, children, and young adults under the pen name Jan Page.

She has experience as a scriptwriter and loves watching shows on crime drama.

Lie to Me
Since four, Meredith hadn’t seen her mother, Becca, when she was admitted to a psychiatric home. Since then, she had enjoyed her father’s upbringing, who gave her undivided attention and cared for her needs from when she was a child to being an adult.

All the questions about her mother were quickly diverted whenever she brought them to the table. From that time, she has learned to keep the nagging thoughts to herself and has now returned home to give a hand in packing. Her father wants to move to a smaller place in another area.

In the course of packing, she goes to clean the attic, where she finds an old videotape made by her mother in it herself at the age of four. She approaches her father, who is tending to the bonfire with the tape on her hand—his reaction to the video alarms Meredith, after trying to snatch the video from her to destroy it.

Lucky for her, she clings on tight and refuses to let go of it. Seeing her father’s reaction makes her more eager to view the video as she wonders what might be so bad that he doesn’t want her to see. Her father warns her not to watch, but she ignores him and runs off feeling upset.

Meredith watches the three-minute video from the past, which shatters her life and makes her doubt everything she knew about her life. She is baffled, and she doesn’t know whether there is any truth in the story that her mother made her to say on camera.

She remembers very little about her mother since they never interacted for long and even wondered what happened to her mother. Her long-absent mother is making accusations while encouraging the young Meredith to say odd things on camera on the premise of ‘keeping mom safe. As much as Meredith recalls, her mother abandoned her long ago and might have died after suffering from schizophrenia for many years.

The things she sees in the video don’t add up, and her father refuses to answer any questions. She wonders about the secrets her mother kept in the past. Her quest to find answers leads her to Darkwater pool, the location of a murder that occurred more than thirty years back. She wants to know how her mother is connected to the place and who she can trust in her quest to get answers. Could there be a link between her mother and the victim? She has to look at the events surrounding Cara Travers’s death.

Meredith is a fantastic character, and her father, Graeme, is charming and delightful. The kind of father-daughter relationship they have is refreshing. The story is narrated from diffrent points of view, switching from Meredith and Cara- the murdered woman and Jay- the boyfriend- into a suspect. The story alternates between Meredith’s story set in the present and Cara’s set back in 1984.

The chapter on Jay’s view shows that he is a man on the edge doing everything possible to escape his past. Jay may be found innocent of the murder because of Becca’s testimony, which confused the court and led him to be set free. The impact of Becca’s testimony on the case drags Meredith into a cold case investigation alongside her detective ex-boyfriend, Eliot.

Eliot mainly focuses on his career, and he doesn’t share some of his findings with Meredith leaving her frustrated. Meredith becomes more determined to find out the truth on her own. The mystery of who killed Cara is intriguing and keeps the reader guessing about the last reveal. The twists and turns keep the reader engaged to the end.

The Ex-Wife
Natasha is an ordinary lady trying to make ends meet when she’s struck by a car driven by a handsome gentleman while cycling to work. They get to know each other, and after courting, Natasha and the gentleman, Nick, get married.

She’s now happily married and has accepted to give up her youth to be with him. She lives a luxurious life and has been blessed with a beautiful daughter named Emily. Natasha is so happy to be a mother to Emily Nick left his ex-wife, Jen, to start a new life with Natasha. However, Jen has always been present in their lives since their marriage.

Life would have been better if Jen had left her family alone. She has a habit of constantly calling Nick, making special family times uncomfortable for Natasha. She lets it be because she believes that her relationship with Nick is so strong and stable for an ex-wife to destroy.

The marriage starts showing signs of strain, and Natasha has begun planning her life without Nick. Just before she can leave, she returns home to find her husband and daughters are gone with no trace. She had gone to the daycare to pick Emily when she was informed that she never showed up that day.

She runs back home and calls local hospitals but later notices something strange at home. All their belongings are gone, and this makes her more devastated. She is filled with anger, grief, and confusion. All Natasha wants is to get her daughter back, even if that means accepting Jen’s assistance. The situation forces her to swallow her pride and reach out to the only person she believes might have a clue of the whereabouts of her daughter and husband, but can Jen be trusted? Does she have another choice?

The story is narrated from Natasha, Jen, and mysterious Anna’s points of view. The story’s twists and turns keep the reader guessing as they flip pages to the last. The Ex-Wife is a roller coaster psychological thriller filled with Lies, betrayal, and deception.