Eight Minutes - Roger David Francis

She woke up at eight minutes past six. Again. And again. And again.

Nicole has a simple plan. Drop three-year-old Rosie at the nursery. Find a job. Reclaim a little of herself. It should be the easiest morning of her life.

But when she wakes up and it is eight minutes past six - again - Nicole realises the easiest morning of her life has become a nightmare she cannot escape.

Trapped in a loop of the same horrifying day, she finds herself at the mercy of Sandy, a nursery worker with a vicious tongue, and the shadowy Alfred, whose influence seems to reach into every corner of her existence. Her daughter is being used against her. The people she loves are changing beyond recognition. And the harder Nicole fights to break free, the more a terrible truth begins to claw its way to the surface.

Because Rosie knows a name that should never have been spoken.

Penny.

The twin who took her first breath at six o'clock in the morning and her last, eight minutes later - four minutes before Rosie entered the world. A daughter Nicole has never spoken of. A guilt she has buried so deep she believed it was gone forever.

She was wrong.

Beneath the relentless horror of the loop, beneath the strangers who seem to know her darkest secrets, beneath everything Nicole has built to keep the past at bay - something has been waiting. Patient. Certain. And now it wants what it is owed.

Eight Minutes is a breath-stealing psychological horror thriller about guilt, grief, and the devastating price of running from the truth. Dark, twisting, and emotionally raw - it will burrow under your skin and refuse to let go long after the final page.

Perfect for fans of C.J. Tudor, Behind Closed Doors, and The Woman in the Window.

Some secrets don't stay buried. Some debts cannot go unpaid. And some mornings last forever.