In a suspenseful follow-up to her critically acclaimed Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman ratchets up the tension with this edge-of-your-seat story of a mother determined to find her missing children.
Review
I recently read Ruin Falls by Jenny Milchman, a suspense author. This is her second novel and I found it to be quite a good read. Typically, the suspense genre is not one of my favorites, but the description on the jacket caught my attention right away and what I found between the pages lived up to the description on the jacket.
A synopsis from Goodreads is as follows:
Liz Daniels has every reason to be happy about setting off on a rare family vacation, leaving behind her remote home in the Adirondack Mountains for a while. Instead, she feels uneasy. Her children, eight-year-old Reid and six-year-old Ally, have met their paternal grandparents only a handful of times. But Liz’s husband, Paul, has decided that, despite a strained relationship with his mother and father, they should visit the farm in western New York where he spent his childhood.
On their way to the farm, the family stops at a hotel for the night. In the morning, when Liz goes to check on her sleeping children, all her anxiety comes roaring back: Ally and Reed are nowhere to be found. Blind panic slides into ice-cold terror as the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of the kids. Soon, Paul and Liz are being interviewed by police, an Amber Alert is issued, and detectives are called in.
Frantic worry and helplessness threaten to overtake Liz’s mind—but in a sudden, gut-wrenching instant she realizes that it was no stranger who slipped into the hotel room that night. Someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Though she knows that Ally and Reid are safe, Liz will stop at nothing to find them and get them back. From her guarded in-laws’ unwelcoming farmhouse to the deep woods of her own hometown, Liz follows the threads of a terrible secret to uncover a hidden world created from dreams and haunted by nightmares.
On their way to the farm, the family stops at a hotel for the night. In the morning, when Liz goes to check on her sleeping children, all her anxiety comes roaring back: Ally and Reed are nowhere to be found. Blind panic slides into ice-cold terror as the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of the kids. Soon, Paul and Liz are being interviewed by police, an Amber Alert is issued, and detectives are called in.
Frantic worry and helplessness threaten to overtake Liz’s mind—but in a sudden, gut-wrenching instant she realizes that it was no stranger who slipped into the hotel room that night. Someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Though she knows that Ally and Reid are safe, Liz will stop at nothing to find them and get them back. From her guarded in-laws’ unwelcoming farmhouse to the deep woods of her own hometown, Liz follows the threads of a terrible secret to uncover a hidden world created from dreams and haunted by nightmares.
This book kept my interest the whole time I read it. It was an interesting concept, that the fact that it is not a stranger who “kidnaps” her kids but someone she knows and loves. The idea of kidnapping is not an original concept; however, the reason the person takes the kids is a somewhat original idea. Some parts of the book reminded me of the idea behind the show Doomsday Preppers and that made it interesting. For her second novel, Milchman provides a truly suspenseful story where you suspect everyone because the cast of characters are all shady and seem to have secrets to hide. I would recommend this book to anyone who is also a fan of Laura Lippman, Liane Moriarty, or even James Patterson.
Guest Reviewer: Kara C. Kelly
About the Author
Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from the Hudson River Valley of New York State. Her debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, was published by Ballantine/Random House in January 2013 and her follow up novel, RUIN FALLS, will be published in April 2014.
Her short story 'The Closet' was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2012, and another short story, 'The Very Old Man', will be published in EQMM this year. The short work 'Black Sun on Tupper Lake' appears in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II.
Jenny is the Chair of International Thriller Writers' Debut Authors Program. She is also the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which was celebrated in all 50 states and four foreign countries by over 700 bookstores in 2013. Jenny hosts the Made It Moments forum on her blog, which has featured more than 250 international bestsellers, Edgar winners, and independent authors. Jenny co-hosts the literary series Writing Matters, which attracts guests coast-to-coast and has received national media attention. She also teaches writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop and Arts By The People.
Her short story 'The Closet' was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2012, and another short story, 'The Very Old Man', will be published in EQMM this year. The short work 'Black Sun on Tupper Lake' appears in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II.
Jenny is the Chair of International Thriller Writers' Debut Authors Program. She is also the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which was celebrated in all 50 states and four foreign countries by over 700 bookstores in 2013. Jenny hosts the Made It Moments forum on her blog, which has featured more than 250 international bestsellers, Edgar winners, and independent authors. Jenny co-hosts the literary series Writing Matters, which attracts guests coast-to-coast and has received national media attention. She also teaches writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop and Arts By The People.
A copy of this book was received for review and there was not monetary compensation.
