Blood Rubies opens with jewel thief Rune Sarasin tied to a chair inside a burning building on the brink of collapse and asking, "as she had repeatedly over the past seven days, just how it had come to this."

What follows is the answer to that question: Just how did a small-stakes jewel thief living in Bangkok wind up trapped in a burning building in New York City? It starts with a jewel theft gone wrong, as Rune and her boyfriend, Kit, lift a bag of rubies off an American gemstone trafficker. But when the two realize they've been identified--and that Kit's kid sister has gone missing--they are sucked into a series of plots more complex than either could have imagined.

In Rune, Mailan Doquang has created a criminal to root for, a slightly damaged "thrill-seeker and adrenaline addict" who fancies herself something "like Robin Hood, only she and Kit kept the profits." With Rune at the novel's center, Doquang launches into a fast-paced mystery filled with action and adventure: Rune zooms across Bangkok on the back of Kit's motorcycle, breaks into a priest's office, finds herself on the wrong end of a sex trafficking ring, winds up in cahoots with the very man she stole from in the first place, and more. It's a lot to pack into one novel, and it can feel chaotic at times. But Blood Rubies proves that it's worth suspending disbelief to get lost in an exciting, suspenseful trip around the world with a heroine determined to save herself, the people she loves--and maybe the jewels she stole, too. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

2.75 ⭐️
The book description grabbed my attention, I feel like it fell a little short or like something was missing. I received this as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

A good book that suffers in my comparison to the late Roger Hobbs.

The author does well in understanding the thief's mind and then betrays her by allowing every choice to advance in her favor.
The book tried rasing the stakes by adding risks but without developing who Rune is, so that I was vested

The Ghostman series was cut short but realized HOW to raise the thrill and anxiety and not just the volume of the violence.

Glad I read
But I can't see me rereading as with great stories

Blood Rubies is an action packed thriller that spans multiple countries and multiple high stakes!

When jewel thief Rune has her first operation go wrong, she finds herself entangled in the web of a wealthy smuggler named Charles Lemaire. Charles tracks her down and tells her to find the rubies she lost, or he will kill her partner in crime, who is also her boyfriend. At the same time, her boyfriend Kit's sister Madee has gone missing, so now Kit and Madee's lives are at stake while Rune tries to save both of them and find the rubies she lost while searching for Madee. The more she searches for the rubies, the worse crimes she discovers, while all she wants is to protect the ones she loves.

This was so intense! The scenes give you such a strong sense of place as Rune tries to get out of the mess she's made, making it feel like a cinematic spy thriller. I loved this one and fans of action packed thrillers will too!

Can a quick-witted jewel thief survive the maelstrom of crimes in which she finds herself?

The offspring of a Thai gemstone dealer and an American mother, Rune Sarasin has never felt that she fully belonged to either of her parents’ cultures. After she was falsely accused of deliberately hurting a girl who had mercilessly bullied her as a teen (even her parents didn’t believe her side of the story) she was sent away for psychiatric treatment for two years. She emerged a very angry young woman who has stopped trying to please anyone but herself, and has left the US to spend time in Thailand. She doesn’t speak Thai very well, which the Thais with whom she comes into contact regularly remind her. Her strongest skill sets are stealthy observation and knowledge of quality gemstones, so her foray into the career of a jewel thief was a logical move. She steals from the very rich, just like Robin Hood….but keeps the spoils for herself and her partner in love and larceny, a young Thai named KIt. Then comes the night that she steals a pouch of valuable Myanmar rubies from unscrupulous American jewel smuggler Charles Lemaire…she barely makes it out of the hotel where she made the snatch to hop on the back of Kit’s Ducati for a breakneck ride through the streets of Bangkok with Lemaire’s enforcers in hot pursuit. Only when they have made it to safety does Kit tell her his news….his rebellious teenage sister, whom he has raised since an accident killed their parents years ago, is missing. In a country where corruption is a way of life, even for many in the police, the two set out to try to find her themselves. Instead, they lose the rubies and are captured by the irate and vengeful Lemaire. With Kit’s life in the balance, can Rune find the missing rubies to return to Lemaire and find Madee, who could be a victim of the rampant sex traffickers in Thailand or worse, before the clock runs out on them all?
From the opening scene, with Rune tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse that has been set on fire, through some of the nastiest corners of Bangkok’s slums, luxurious hotels and the auction hall at Sotheby’s, the reader is treated to memorable locations (some glamorous, some heart wrenchingly tragic) and some endearing but flawed characters. Rune (which means “happy” in Thai, though she is anything but) is a very smart but troubled young woman who has experienced prejudice and betrayal in her life often enough to have accrued a lot of anger and attitude, but not much impulse control….and she gets herself into (and sometimes out of) trouble with great frequency. Kit experienced loss at a young age, and has become an overly protective big brother to Madee, who in true teen fashion is acting out and rebelling at every turn. Rune and Kit both have deep streaks of loyalty to those in their life whom they love, which fuels their frantic search for Madee. The story races along as Rune deperately tries to meet Lemaire’s deadline while bulldozing her way through the slum area known as Khlong Toei, getting arrested, roughed up, added to a cargo of trafficked young girls….and more. She’s by turns impulsive, naive, crafty, and driven by fury. With an ending that hints at a possible sequel, this is an action-packed thriller that fans of Marie Lu, Lisa Unger and Alafair Burke should enjoy. While I’d love to have seen a bit more character development and found a couple of plot twists that strained credulity, I found Blood Rubies to be a gripping thriller which grabbed my attention from page one and didn’t let go till the end….and even then left me looking ahead to a future installment. Many thanks to NetGalley and Mysterious Press/Penzler Publishers for allowing me an early peek at this story by first-time author Mailan Doquang.

Seven days are all it takes for Rune Sarasin’s life to completely derail.

This was an interesting mystery novel. Not groundbreaking by any means, but decently tense with some good atmosphere.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mysterious Press for this ARC,

"Blood Rubies" is the story of a jewel heist gone terribly wrong. When Rune steals a pouch of highly valued rubies and then loses them in the slums of Bangkok, what ensues is a fast-paced tale of human trafficking, revenge, and redemption. On top of that, the sister of Rune's boyfriend goes missing. Is it connected or not?

The author does an incredible job of painting a very vivid picture of Rune's environment. I could almost feel the humidity of Bangkok radiating through the pages. The heist story is also very intriguing as more characters start to enter into the scene.

This is a very fast-paced novel, which I was excited about. The beginning of the novel opens with Rune tied to a chair and a fire raging outside her door. I knew I was in for a wild ride as the author flashbacked and continued the story that led to this situaiton.

My only two points of criticism are that I wish the character of Rune and her backstory was a bit more fleshed out, and I did not enjoy the ending at all. Overall, I enjoyed seeing Rune navigate the numerous conflicts and situations that inevitably came her way.

I received my copy of this book from NetGalley as an ARC on behalf of Mysterious Press in return for my honest review.

Blood Rubies at its core is a book about a jewel heist gone wrong. But the book struggled to stick to one storyline and diverted quickly to many different loose threads that were never fully tied up. Our main character Rune was underdeveloped and perhaps misassigned in her role as a jewel thief. We never really got a good picture of how or why she got into the heist business, other than a brief nod to the fact that her father seemed to have been a gemologist. She also appeared to struggle with anxiety, which is not a strong characteristic for a criminal, but if done correctly and with more intention might have worked. In this case though it did not, and it left me feeling instead that she was just really bad at her job. The ending was shocking, but not in a good way. Instead, it left me feeling like (sing along because you know you know this one!) "All that work and what did it get me!"

While this story ultimately did not work, the author is talented, and I enjoyed their writing style. I just wish they had some more guidance and done some more editing, because I do believe there is a worthy story in here but seems like they let all their ideas out of the bag at once and they did not mesh well together.

This was a good book! It was full of action and kept me engaged. I wanted to keep reading! Great book for a debut novel!

I received an ARC copy of Blood Rubies from the Author and the fine folks at NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This story takes place in the nation of Thailand as two jewel thieves, Rune Sarasin and her boyfriend (and partner in crime) Kit break into the Bangkok hotel room of a wealthy smuggler of gemstones, Charles Lemaire and attempt to steal a pouch of rubies from said hotel room. Rune nearly gets caught by hotel security as she makes her escape and Lemaire's goons give chase through the streets of Bangkok, but they are no match as the two thieves make their way through the streets of Bangkok on a Ducati motorbike.

As their adrenaline rush starts to wear off, Kit delivers the terrifying news that his teenage sister, Madee, has gone missing in the dangerous Khlong Toei slum. They attempt to find her by tracking her cell phone to an area surrounded by a church and a local youth facility, where Rune comes into contact with a priest and a children services worker who are involved with the smuggling of young women to countries outside of Thailand for nefarious purposes. The night gets even worse when Rune realizes she lost the pouch of gems somewhere in the slum while searching for the teenage girl.

Her boyfriend, Kit, is taken prisoner by Charles Lemaire and his goons in return for the missing rubies..

In return for his freedom, Rune is sent to New York to steal a rather valuable ruby ring that was part of the art collection of a rich benefactor.

As a debut novel, I would give this author a solid three and a half stars (which would round to four stars for Goodreads) for this strong effort and the vivid picture that they are able to paint in the reader's mind and believe that this novel would be enjoyed by readers and afficiandos of crime fiction.

As with most of my literary ramblings, this is just my five cents worth.

I just reviewed Blood Rubies by Mailan Doquang. #BloodRubies #NetGalley