Ruin Falls by Jenny Milchman
My Rating:  4 of 5 Butterflies

Title:  Ruin Falls
Author:  Jenny Milchman
Series:  Stand Alone
Length:  352 pages
Publisher:  Ballantine Books (Random House, LLC)
Published:  April 22, 2014
Source:  Publisher via Edelweiss
Format:  Kindle
Genres:  Fiction; Psychological Fiction; Suspense Fiction
Subjects:  Parental Kidnapping; Mothers of Kidnapped Children; Missing Persons; Family Secrets

Synopsis:

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.

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.

I do want to start out by saying that I absolutely am closer to a 5 star rating rather than a four star rating, and would definitely give Ruin Falls a solid 4.5 rating, if only any rating systems gave you halves!

In my opinion, Jenny Milchman has introduced herself into the fiction world with a bang!  I read her first novel, Cover of Snow, about a year ago, and absolutely fell in love with her writing.  When I saw the opportunity to read Ruin Falls, I jumped on it as quick as I could.  Let me tell you, I was not disappointed.  I am impressed with Milchman's writing abilities, especially as a new author.  She definitely has phenomenal talent, especially when it comes to writing about twisted plots that leave you guessing until the very end.

The synopsis of this book drew me in, and each chapter that I read, left me deeper and deeper into the book, making each time I had to stop reading harder and harder to stop!  I thought that the plot was very unique and original!  I also learned a lot of new words while reading Ruin Falls!

I felt myself identifying with Liz, the main character.  I know if my children came up missing, I would stop at nothing to get them back, which is exactly what she does, even when she feels like she can no longer go on!  This book is definitely full of twisted relationships and outcomes that you wouldn't expect!

I must say that the more I read of Jenny Milchman, the more it leaves me craving more of her writing. I think that she certainly has proved herself to be an amazing writer that deserves the attention of anyone who enjoys a good suspense/psychological novel!  I know that I certainly will recommend this book to everyone I can!


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Disclaimer:  I was provided an ARC copy of Ruin Falls by the Publisher in return for an honest and unbiased review.