I regret that I struggled through this book to the end, trying hard to engage in the plot and connect with the characters. I thought from the summary that this would be the type of book I would enjoy more, but I found the story too melodramatic, the psychopathology of the villain lacked credibility and felt overdone to me. As I did not like the married couple and their cold to hot, to cool relationship I was unable to feel much buildup of suspense.

The premise is a good one. The couples two children are in summer camp, and they go on holiday to their summer cottage in hopes of rekindling their marriage. They meet a friendly man pretending to be a neighbour who later returns and kidnaps the woman and later takes her husband as a hostage. The man tells her that she is someone from her past. She must tell him his name in three guesses. If she is wrong on the first two guesses he will cut off a toe and then a finger from her husband. If her third guess is wrong, her husband will die. This is not a simple task. The madman no longer resembles the person he once was. He has had extensive plastic surgery and now looks like George Clooney. Must have cost millions!!

Her mind is working as she mentally searches for undesirable men in her past; ones she has wronged or ones she feels treated her badly. All the while she hears her husband screaming in pain and sees his blood. Finally, she guesses correctly on her third attempt. She is told that her abductor decided to kill her husband anyway.

He then takes the kidnapped wife elsewhere by car. In his delusion, he believes they made a romantic connection in the past and were meant to be together forever. At times he seems to think she is connected to his abusive, drug-addled mother. They travel by car while she fears he intends to rape and murder her. She must use all her wits to avoid this outcome. The police are trying to discover his true identity and capture him, saving the woman from a very dangerous situation.

In the meantime, her badly injured husband is desperate to engage in his own pursuit. This seems brave and admirable, except in his pain and illness he persuades his brother-in-law to help him. This is selfish, as he is endangering the man who is a friend, and they are interfering with a police investigation and pursuit.

The placement of the backstories of the principal characters slows down the pace, and I felt detracted from the tension. A secret backstory for the husband seemed too coincidental. Since I failed to connect with the main characters, not finding them particularly likeable, I wasn’t fully engaged in the outcome. I would have preferred a more subtle, less dramatic approach. Sometimes less is more. I notice that my impressions were quite different from many readers who found this an enjoyable, suspenseful read. Prospective readers should not be deterred by my misgivings.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC in return for my honest review.

The premise of this book was really cool but the story itself fell a little short for me. It centers around Ellie and Neil, a couple with 2 kids who take some time to themselves at their recently-purchased vacation home while their kids are at camp, only to be kidnapped by a psycho from Ellie's past.

Most of the book is more of a suspense thriller than a mystery, with the kidnapper staying one step ahead of the police and family looking for Ellie. I found this to be a tad unrealistic, as he did things that would have surely gotten him easily caught in the real world, yet remains elusive for much of the book. Continually, I found the kidnapper's personality to be hard to follow- he had moments of lucidity and moments where he regressed to childhood, and it didn't ring true to me. Still, the pace was fast and the story sped along.

My main issue with the book is the end. Without giving spoilers, there is a revelation that seems far too coincidental to ever happen in real life, and also conflicted (I thought) with the rest of the book, making the whole point of the story somewhat unclear.

The author also wrote a forward in this book where she says something to the extent of getting the idea because life seemed less fun and going downhill after 40 and she thought it would be fun to tie back to the crazyfun people had in their 20s. While she ended this by saying she has resolved to have fun and love herself at any age, the whole thing made me feel kind of sad about aging and I felt indignant about her saying 40 was old. Maybe this is an over-reaction but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

All in all, this was an OK read but not super memorable to me. There were just too many things that didn't make a lot of sense. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I did enjoy this one but it started to strain the lines of realism and believability. However, mesmerizing in its own way

I'm not sure about this book. I really dislike reading about abuse, and I felt there was a lot of it. The story was good, but parts were so hard to read. It started out good, but as it went on, it was increasingly hard to read.

I found the basic plot and pacing of this novel to be good, but it lacked something for me. I found I didn't have much attachment to the protagonists, or a driving desire to have the plot's mysteries revealed. I was able to pick this book up and put it down easily, unlike other thrillers I've read. Lee Goldberg's Lost Hills, for example, was a book I consumed almost in one sitting.

I liked the story idea. That was intriguing and definitely worth a read. However, there were masses of things I didn't like that made the story hard to follow. Continues time jumps for one. I understand we needed to know character background but it was difficult to focus on what was happening in the present when they were either jumping forward or backwards. This could be a point for Clive's unstable frame of mind. Clive himself was a character that was not. Going into his point of view was unnecessary and at times did not help the story at all. The inconsistency of Ellie and Neil was something that bothered me as well. At times they were unlikeable and wild and free, then they were freezing people out, had strong moral objections which clashed with what they had previously said. Neil especially, I could not read his point of view. Whilst it was interesting to learn about Ellie and Neil and Clive's pasts intertwined, it was not a shocking revelation due to how unlikeable the writing was.

A shout-out to Dundurn Publishing and Netgalley for sending me an e-copy to read prior to publication in 2020.

Ellie and Neil drop off their two children at summer camp and head for their vacation cottage to renew their relationship. When their dog, Hamish, decides to explore the neighbor’s yard, Ellie meets her nearest neighbor and invites him over for dinner. All goes well until this neighbor returns again while Neil is out and kidnaps Ellie in her own home telling her he is her soulmate. He devises a game for her to play. “Tell me my name” and if you get it wrong I cut off one of your husband’s toes, and the second wrong answer removes a finger. Three errors and Neil dies. The perp has had lots of work done so recognizing him is not that easy.

You might want to set an app on your phone reminding you to breathe. I noticed I kept holding my breath during the tense parts, which was most of the time. For a debut book, the pacing was spot on. Nothing moved slowly in this book except maybe the police. I think Ruddy has a great future ahead of her writing thrillers.

I did have one minor problem near the end. Too much coincidence in a place as large as Toronto. I totally believe that storyline could have been omitted without taking away from the thrills.

But on the whole, a riveting read.

This was a fast paced story with a twist at the end. It was told from the different view points of the characters which worked well, although there were a few times I felt things were a little unbelievable but it didn’t put me off finishing the book. An all round good read.

Just what the world needs…another dud of a thriller. Back to me for me. And sure, yeah, it’s statistics, you can’t just make these female thrillers to be so ubiquitous and expect originality all the time, but still…some disappointment will be had. The plot here involves a wife and a mother who gets kidnapped by a George Clooney lookalike (I know, right) who proceeds to go all Rumpelstiltskin on her…so he’s all like tell me my name, tell me my name and she’s all like, let me scroll down my mental rolodex of creeps over the years and he’s all like ok, but while you do, I’ll cut off your man’s (also kidnapped) fingers and toes. That’s just for starters. Eventually, it just, not quite spirals, that implies dynamics, but more like rolls into a predictable survival thriller of sorts, the battle of wills between the three of them. All the characters are thoroughly blah, including the handsome psycho, who was (surprise, surprise) messed up by his cruel whore of a mommy. The female protagonist is nothing special and her spouse’ main drama is a one time cheat/one night stand he profoundly regrets. There’s also a lady cop on the case, tough despite her small stature, because she says things like go have an intercourse with a rapey waterfowl, though not in those very words. The mystery aspect here is nearly nonexistent, this is a straight up suspense thriller, albeit not all that heavy on either. The plot doesn’t attempt any dizzying twists either. The book basically takes it pretty easy. It’s easy reading all around. Mild, inoffensive and bland, the way some (I don’t, but some) might describe Canadians and yes, this author and the book are both Canada set Canadians. So anyway…not much to recommend here. In fact, the best thing about this book might have been that it was the kind of blah that lent itself easily to being sped read, so at least it didn’t waste too much of my time. But time was wasted and only the bare minimum of entertainment was offered in return. Sure, it’s a debut, the author might get up to speed eventually, but for what it is now, it really isn’t worth reading, unless you specialize in trite thrillers of limited thrilling. Pass. Thanks Netgalley.

LTS

A while back I saw a post on another site from a book buddy. They were explaining their rating system & how they’d finally reached a place where they didn’t feel guilty about not finishing a book. But instead of using DNF, they elected to go with LTS….Life’s Too Short. So I’m going to shamelessly steal their idea & apply here.

When I decide to put a book down, it’s rarely due to poor writing skills. Instead, It’s like walking past a shop window & seeing a sweater that catches my eye. Everything about it screams “Pick Me!” so I dash inside & try it on. Then I look more closely. Hmmm….something’s not quite right. Maybe it’s the material, maybe it’s me. But clearly we’re not meant for each other.

That sums up my experience with this book. I had problems connecting with any of the characters & that hindered my ability to suspend my disbelief far enough to accept some of their actions & truly be gripped by the story. When I got to the 60% mark, I found my mind wandering to all the books waiting for me in my massive TBR pile & decided my buddy had it right. Life’s too short to not be fully engaged by what I’m reading.

So it all comes down to a simple mismatch between reader & book. But just like with the sweater in the window, I know there are others out there that will find it a perfect fit.

(Because I cannot post without giving a star rating, I'll go with 2.5 - 3 stars for the portion I read)

Thank you NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the eARC.
Unlike other very favorable reviews I can't say I enjoyed this book. It's set in rural Ontario, where a couple want to reconnect while their children are at camp. A man overpowers the woman while her husband is out shopping and, unless she can call him by his name, will harm and eventually kill him. According to the man they know each other and he's her soulmate. She doesn't recognise him and delves through her past, eventually realizing she does know him. But does she know her husband?
The premise is good, but I couldn't get invested in the story or the people and the writing, to me, was poor. One of the blurbs said if you like Ruth Ware you would like this book, but I think that's a gross exaggeration.

I wanted to love this book because the description sounded like my cup of tea, but I couldn't. The pacing was too fast and some more time developing the different characters would have been nice. If things would have been more fleshed out, I would give this book a higher rating.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review

This one was pretty twisty- some more obvious than others but still an enjoyable ride. You really do you fall in love with the main female character. Solid four