Stories about assisted dying always intrigue me. Do the people who help others to die do it out of compassion or out of a need to control others and feel powerful?

The angel of death in this story extracts a price for their help. A secret, no matter how mundane, must be given up in exchange for death.

Everybody in this story has a secret but Ruth, the main character, has perhaps the biggest secret of all.

Ruth, who is the VP of a retirement community, is a stickler for rules. She appears to have no flexibility in her outlook and no desire to ever colour outside the box.

When we discover the price that was paid the one time Ruth broke the rules, her inability to unbend and relax becomes a lot more understandable.

She carries the secret for nearly two decades and it affects every aspect of her life. Only one person shares her knowledge and it has extracted a terrible price from them.

The retirement community where Ruth is employed has a policy that allows residents to remain for the rest of their lives even if they run out of funds to pay the fees.

Suddenly, a lot more people seem to be dying, especially destitute residents. This is happening at the same time as a new management company is looking to maximise profits and Ruth has been overlooked for a promotion. Are all these things connected?

We get to see events from different points of view. Just as it seems we know for certain who did what and why we see the situation in a different light and everything changes.

I was intrigued by the chapters told from the Angel of Death's point of view. Trying to match what was said by the Angel to what I knew about the other characters was interesting. While it did lead me down some blind alleys I ultimately worked out who the Angel was before the big reveal.

Nothing was spoiled by knowing who the Angel was, there was so much more to this story than simply finding out who was the killer.

I enjoyed the way the story was concluded with all the outstanding questions answered and some people getting their well-deserved happy ending.

My first book by the author and i am always looking to read more thrillers.
Unfortunately, this book was a bit boring and very predictable for me. I really wanted to like the main characters but i just couldn't connect with them. The fact that she is old school and doesn't want to give up control it's understandable but that he was talking with his dead wife, i just think that he's having some mental health issues because it's ok to grieve and be hurt by the loss but he might need more help.
Overall was a good story but not what I'm looking for in a thriller.

I’ve got two elderly parents in a retirement community, so I spend a lot of time there. Thus, I was interested in a murder mystery dealing with a retirement community. The book starts with the concept of an “angel of death”, someone helping the elderly on their way in exchange for telling a secret. But the real story seems to be about Ruth, the VP of Operations at Serenity Acres. She’s an odd one, a real stickler for rules. She’s not an easy character to like, even though she’s very sympathetic to her “guests”. When the community is bought by a publicly traded conglomerate, the old ways are tossed out the window and Ruth’s concerns really make her the odd man out.

Ruth brings in Zach, her neighbor, a retired detective, to work as nighttime security. They have a dark history together, which we’re not privy to initially, and it’s damaged both of them.

The story alternates between Ruth and Zach. Zach’s sections include way too much of him talking to his dead wife, which annoyed me.

I can’t say this book enthralled me. I found the writing and plot to be pretty predictable and average. I had a good idea who the Angel was from early on. And the ending seemed rushed after such a long lead up.

I hadn’t realized this was the second in a series. But it’s easily read as a stand-alone.

My thanks to netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of the book.

Ruth is the VP of Operations at retirement facility Serenity Acres when the property gets bought by Lost Horizons. Lost Horizons would like to raise their income by increasing sales and increasing rates for their existing residents.

Ruth is an unbending rule follower who likes to tattle and have control. Suddenly residents are dying, and not from natural causes. Enter the Angel. Ruth enlists the help of her neighbor Zach who is a retired detective. Together they track down this Angel.

The book was rather slow for me and I kinda zoned out on some parts causing me to do a re-read. It just wasn’t the “can’t turn the pages fast enough kind of thriller for me”.

This is the second book of a series, but the author did a great job of giving background on the characters that I didn’t really need to read the first book.

Overall, not a great book for me.

Thanks to @netgalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

📚📚/5

A reasonably decent psychological book. Not quite as thriller like as I hoped. But a good story. Well written and interesting characters xx

I thought the book started off strong and then the ending was a bit rushed and weak. I thought it had an interesting premise but didn't live up to it.

This was an interesting book.
The premise is that there is an angel of death roaming around a retirement home killing off residents who are close to death. It’s straight forward and fascinating but unfortunately this book just isn’t that good.
It’s a shame because the characters are some of the most I’ve ever read and I loved to hate them.
The reveal of the killer and the climax are lackluster and the end is laughable and not in a good way.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this ARC.

Assisted dying fascinates me anyway so when I saw this book available for reviews on Netgalley I jumped at the opportunity.

The story itself is exciting and there is such an interesting dynamic between the main characters. Its fast paced without feeling rushed or too dramatic for the sake of drama which is brilliant. I love a chatacter that toes the line between is this good or is this evil and I think our angel character manages that perfectly.

The way this book is written is incredible!! I LOVE coming across a book that does it different to any other book I've previously read. We get 3 chapters per section of a characters PoV before the book continues the story from another PoV with the occasional chapter from the mysterious angel. I loved it. Sometimes I find that timelines can get confused/confusing when a book will chop and changes between where in the story we are at so I can't rate the way Riggs has chosen to tell hers any higher than I do.

While I guessed correctly about where I thought the story was going, it didn't spoil anything for me at all and I still had so much fun reading the book. I really liked the epilogue too, I feel like we got the closure that I wanted for this one.

It's a great book. 5/5.

This is my first book by this author and it wont be my last. Living in a retirement community and residents are dying at an alarming rate. Secrets, regrets and cover ups will keep you in suspense until the very end.

I just finished this latest thriller by Catharine Riggs, and I really enjoyed it! The first part of the book, and the characterization of Ruth, was four to five stars in my opinion. The second part of the book, and especially the end, wasn’t quite as strong, so I landed on three stars.

Ruth Mosby is the VP of operations at a retirement home for the wealthy in Santa Barbara. After working there for there for decades, she finds herself struggling to keep her job and her calm as new corporate management starts ruling with an iron fist in order to cut costs.

But when residents at the retirement home start dying off, Ruth gets suspicious. She works with her long-time neighbor and ex-detective Zach to figure out who is behind the deaths, but the two of them have a painful and dark secret that suddenly threatens to come to the surface.

The book mainly shifts between the POV of Ruth and Zach, although at times there are short inserts from the ‘Angel’ – the individual who is behind the deaths. Ruth is a very interesting character. She is ornery, obsessive-compulsive and almost too much of a stickler to like: she hides her compassion under a tough exterior. Zach, an alcoholic who is loosely practicing sobriety and still suffering from the trauma of his past, is unique and compelling, too. I could have done without hearing from the ‘Angel’: the motivations behind this individual didn’t fully fall into place or click for me. Also, it seemed clear to me who this individual was for a large part of the book.

Overall, I loved the uniqueness of reading a story focused on characters in their twilight years! I found the characters of Zach, and especially Ruth, to be the stand-out element of this book.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC. This will be available September 10!

Don’t sleep on the retirement community! Looks can be very deceiving. This book was crazy but I had to keep reading. It’s a sequel and at times it proved to be a bit challenging to me. I will say that this Author gave just enough to keep me still guessing as I continued to read on. Reading the first book would’ve given me more understanding in my opinion but at the same time it didn’t count this book out for me. It was very intriguing and interesting as well as lots of twists and turns. I give this book 4 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.#Netgalley

Though this is billed as the second in the Santa Barbara mysteries series, it does not seem like you need to read the first to understand this one. The majority of the plot does revolve around what the synopsis entails, but there is far more than meets the eye.

The characters, while purposefully unlikeable, are intriguing. The various interactions have various layers that are slowly peeled back until you really see their true colors. I did really enjoy the alternating POV and the quirks each of the three main narrators had.

On the plot side of things, the main narrative does bring up an excellent question of morality instead of a generic serial killer thriller vibe. I also enjoyed the various levels of secrets that were kept and gradually revealed. There is plenty of action towards the end, too. I do feel the "bigger corporation buying the underdog" plot was just there to build a sense of misdirection, but didn't serve any larger purpose.

This book is definitely worth the read.

Thank you to the publishers for an opp to read this ARC.

a wonderful book. I am so glad I found another author that really keeps you in suspense. Loved it!! Hopefully will see more of this author

This story is told from two perspectives, Ruth and Zach, which are both "lost" on many plans of their lives. They also share a dark and unsettling secret that unites them.

The plot is pretty good. The characters are a bit hard to digest though. They have, in my opinion, different and complicated personalities, not easy to cope with.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I didn't realise this was the second book in a series but it didn't hamper my reading of this one. I enjoyed the theme of this book and the exploration of euthanasia and all the twists and turns that lead us elsewhere as well.
I enjoyed the book and will search out the first one in the series to catch up!
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Thomas and Mercer & NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this book in exchange for the following review.

This is a clever premise, a series of deaths at an exclusive retirement home in Santa Barbara that happen at the hand of a 'death angel'. Alongside this, a damaged ex police detective and a senior member of the support team at the home suspect foul play and begin to secretly investigate.

This is the first book that I've read by this author and it stands alone as a decent read. It's slow paced at the beginning, but, romps along nicely in the second half and everything is neatly wrapped up at the end.

3* good read from me.

Thanks NetGalley and the author for this advance copy in exchange of an honest opinion.

I have never read a book by Catharine Riggs before. I really enjoyed it. The structure of the chapters was easy to follow, the characters were well developed without overly detailed. The idea of 'the angel' is very understandable to me, I believe in euthanasia so this book was very interesting. Of course, it all went in a different direction later on but it's to be expected in a thriller. I would definitely recommend this book.

3.5 stars!

When people start dying at a suddenly alarming rate at the retirement community where Ruth works, she convinces her long time friend/neighbor/ex-cop to help her investigate if the deaths are actually from old age.

Thankfully for me, I didn't have to read the first book in this series since I accidentally picked up the second one before the first. The real story doesn't start to get juicy until about half way through the book but once it does, its fast paced and has all the elements of a good mystery. Even though I found myself hating one of the viewpoints of this books (pretty sure it was entirely intentional for her to be so unlikable) I really liked the narrative of this book!

What a chilling, thrilling, creepy read! Twist and turns, shocks, and chills are sure to come while reading this book. I found it to be original and intriguing! And recommend to those who enjoy similar books to me!
Will highly recommend to those in Chapter Chatter Pub!

The book begins with the deaths of clients at an assisted living facility for the very wealthy. Our main character, Ruth, is the operations administrator. The story is brooding, as we learn the family backgrounds of the main characters. This is a very dark story about damaged people. This is the second book in the Santa Barbara series (What She Gave Away) that I have read by Catharine Riggs. I look forward to reading more by this author.