He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker Published by Atria Books on February 2nd 2016
Pages: 352
Amazon
“A nail-biting thriller...clever twists and turns will keep readers in suspense, and just when they think they have figured out what happened to Celine, the story veers in another direction.”—Publishers Weekly
The USA TODAY bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series makes her suspense debut with this sexy, heartpounding story of a young woman determined to find justice after her best friend’s death, a story pulsing with the “intense, hot, emotional” (Colleen Hoover) writing that exhilarates her legions of fans.
A woman who almost had it all . . .
On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?
A man who was supposed to be her salvation . . .
Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what’s left of her best friend’s belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.
Until he became her ruin.
On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.
The book blurb should have the following warning: “You’d better hold on tight because you’re about to embark on one hell of a suspenseful rollercoaster.” Instead, the blurb says this book is, “sexy,” and, “hot.” I think that’s misleading. This isn’t a racy romance novel with a little whodunit thrown in. Yes, there are some romantic aspects that help propel the plot, but He Will Be My Ruin is first and foremost an edgy, hardcore, emotional thriller that kept me guessing until the end.
Maggie Sparks refuses to accept that her best friend, Celine, committed suicide. She is convinced foul play is involved, and while she is packing up Celine’s apartment, she sets out to prove Celine was murdered. The more she digs, the more Maggie discovers secrets hidden by the friend she thought she knew, and the number of questions raised only increases.
Maggie is my kind of heroine: fearless but not foolish; strong yet sensitive; determined and intelligent. There are a variety of well-developed secondary characters, and no matter how much I enjoyed them, I could never completely remove them my list of suspects. There’s the laidback affable apartment super, the sexy successful governor’s son, the crotchety private investigator, the wiry tech geek, and the dismissive detective. I especially loved Celine’s nosy elderly neighbor.
This is a thinking person’s mystery, with lots of twists I didn’t see coming. As one character warned, no one can be trusted and, therefore, nobody was beyond my suspicion. I went back and forth a half dozen times trying to decide who the killer was.
I really enjoy seeing villains finally getting their due, so the fade to black climax left me somewhat unsatisfied. The epilogue, however, is enjoyably lighthearted and a much needed reprieve from an otherwise tense story. In the end, K.A. Tucker has written a well-plotted page turner that’s sure to capture the attention of any mystery lover.
Recommended for fans of:
Dogged heroines
Suspense
Mysteries
Tea parties
** ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review. **
About K.A. Tucker
K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.
She is the internationally bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series, He Will Be My Ruin, Until It Fades, Keep Her Safe, The Simple Wild, Be the Girl, and Say You Still Love Me. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women.
K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto.
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