You were a terrible book, but made me laugh which I desperately needed right now. Lord. I am going to try to do a non-spoiler review on this. I should have known I was in for something I was not going to like after the author starts off with the following:

"The idea for the novel came to me one summer day as I was pondering what it meant to be forty. As a mother, wife, and full-time employee at a small media company in Toronto, I came to the rather bleak conclusion that life after forty was all carved out -- the future, no longer that bright bountiful sea of possibility, but rather a dark, receding lake where rock bottom lurked menacingly close. Were all my opportunities drying up? If I wanted to change the course of my life at this age, was it even possible?"

Yeah. I don't know either. Here we go.

So "Tell Me My Name" follows married couple Ellie and Neil Patterson. The couple drop off their two kids at summer camp and make their way to a cottage they just bought. Neil is hoping that they get the fire going again in their marriage. Ellie is hoping so too. She has been dissatisfied with the state of her marriage and upset since her publishing company went kaput. You will read a lot in this book about that though I don't imagine for a second that Ellie reads books. Anyway, Ellie and Neil get frisky and meet their new neighbor Jake who seems to be...unnerving at times. When Ellie lets him in one day she is chloroformed and wakes up to her husband tied to a bed and her tied to a chair. Ellie is being given three chances by Jake to tell him his name or he's going to take Neil's toe, finger, and then his life. The book then follows Ellie remembering men from her past.

I am laughing right now. Sorry.

Back to the book. Ellie is a mess. You find out about her family's backstory and it's worse than anything I saw on Lifetime. Ellie's sister Bethany who was a gifted dancer ends up in a vegetative coma after a car accident left her injured. Ellie and her other sister whose name I am blanking on are left to deal with the fall out in their family. Her sister is pretty nasty and self involved and Ellie is angry over the fact her parents keep letting her get away with things. Then Ellie starts acting out when she gets to her 20s until she meets her now husband Neil in a bar. She likes Neil, but has a preference for men who look like George Clooney. Okay, still laughing because the George Clooney thing becomes an element of this messed up plot. Anyway Ellie and Neil you have to wonder about since you don't get why they are together. Only married for 10 years I think, the two of them have definitely let the flames burn out. And we find out that Neil is hiding something from Ellie and then we have like two reveals about that and I went are you serious and kept reading. There's also multiple mentions of Ellie's dancing and I kept thinking she looked like this in my head:

[image not inserted here]

The bad guy is a mess. And apparently has superpowers since he kept coming back like the Terminator. I won't get into him at all except nope. And then we get a final reveal about the guy at the end and I went how many twists is this? Six?

The lead detective on this case sucks and ends her calls and conversations by saying toodles-oo and I wanted to smother myself.

There's also the brother in law who should have told Neil to shove it through most of this story and the sister in law who...I don't even understand her purpose. There are so many side characters in this story which made my head hurt.

The writing was bad, laughably so at certain points and the linkage between things was not set up very well. I just started calling things coincide #1, #2, and so on. The author in the beginning talks about how this is a book about love, acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go and I went yeah that's where you went wrong. The whole book is very disjointed I found and throwing in the overall plot with the nonsense with Neil and everything else going on made for a messy book.

The flow doesn't work very well since we jump around in the third person to multiple people. I don't know if it would have been better to say with just Ellie or Neil. Honestly I don't know what could have saved this book.

The setting of this book takes place in Toronto. I am not familiar with the city and can't say much about it since the book jumps all over the place.

The ending was a whole mess. I really wanted to tell the author her trying to tie everything together showed she didn't really have a good grasp of writing. Honestly I felt at times I was reading different stories trying to force themselves into one coherent one.

This is a fast-paced suspenseful thriller, and a book that I devoured in no time. The story is set just outside Toronto where married couple, Ellie and Neil, have finally bought their dream house. While the children are away at camp, they spend some long-awaited time together. In recent years they have drifted apart a little, and this alone time gives them space to reconnect. 

All is going well until Hamish, their dog, decides to take a little adventure and explore the area. Oblivious to boundaries, Hamish ventures onto their neighbours' land. Ellie, in hot pursuit, expects the worst, having been told by the sales agent that her neighbours are not the sociable sort. Yet, when a man introduces himself as Jake Palmer, the grieving widower and her next-door neighbour, she is surprised by his warmth and welcoming tone and - inadvertently -invites him round for dinner.

Jake and Neil seem to get on well that evening, and everything is going well. Ellie and Neil rekindle their romance and the future is looking rosy.

Until Jake arrives the next day when Ellie is alone in the house. His tone has changed, and the charming man of yesterday is not so pleasant. In fact, he is insistent and demanding, and intent on kidnapping Ellie by fair means or foul. 

Later, when she finds herself strapped down and groggy, he reveals his real motives. He merely wants her to remember him, asking her to say his name out loud. It seems simple enough, he clearly knows Ellie, but admits to having changed a lot since those days. And he doesn't mean he's grown as a person, or changed his ways, but rather that he's changed his face. Ellie can't place him, and when he adds more context to the "game", she realises that by not naming him he will harm her husband. The stakes are high, and Ellie's thinking time is limited, plying even more pressure on her. 

As she thinks back, trying to identify who he might be, the tension mounts. It's a page turner as the reader waits to see if she can tell him his name. If she can't, what will become of Neil? If she can, what will become of her?  

The concept is so exciting and addictive, I just had to keep reading. However, as the story developed, there were quite a few "convenient" recollections that determined the outcome. And, by 75% in, I had gleaned enough from this foreshadowing to see the twist coming. 

Nonetheless, a great read. Definitely an author whose books I'll seek out again. 

Many thanks to @netgalley and @dundurnpress for this ARC; I've reviewed this honestly and of my own free will.

I read this mystery/thriller as an ARC from Dundurn Press, who is also my publisher.
Tell me My Name is a psychological page-turner and filled with tension. Ruddy, the author, weaves together the histories of a couple before they met, their early mistakes while maturing, and their anxieties with a present-day kidnapping and murder. It held my attention throughout with good pacing, action, horrifying situations, and a very deranged antagonist.
Anyone who enjoys a good thriller/murder mystery with very believable protagonists will revel in this read. Highly recommended.

I really wanted to like this book because I love thrillers and the psychological aspect of this one felt different from what I've been reading. That being said, this book just didn't do it for me.

I appreciate what the author did by throwing us into the action once the main character has already been taken but I felt like I spent the rest of the book playing catch up, trying to figure out why I needed to care about these people. It started out rocky and while I didn't love it, it did improve over the course of the book.

Overall the way the events were presented felt disjointed, the characters never felt like they were truly developed (or like-able) and at no point did I really care what the outcome would be. I love when a thriller has me too anxious to put it down until everyone gets a happy ending but I was not feeling that here.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Buckle up, everyone. This is a messed up rollercoaster to Holy Sh**ballls Town, population: you, Ellie, Neil, and a psychopath.
This isn't a slow descent into madness, it doesn't creep on you, it's not the mysterious figure in the fog.
No...this is the multi-car pile-up on the highway that happens in a matter of seconds, trapping you against your seat, gasping for air against the blown airbag while a tsunami suddenly floods the road. It wastes no time in getting right to the point, and never ever lets up. My pulse was racing so much reading this, I think it counts as a workout.
And to top it off: this book takes place in southern and northeastern Ontario, my neck of the woods. I could easily drive to at least one location in this book within an hour. Because nightmare fuel.
I hate rollercoasters, but I loved this book. Take the ride, everyone. Seriously.

Erin Reddy has written a solid and engrossing page turner of a read with Tell Me My Name! Well worth your time.

Not one for me, I'm afraid.

I was very interested in the premise of the story. A husband and wife go off into rural Canada on their own, their first solo trip for many years. Then the wife is kidnapped and in order to save herself and her husband, she must tell the kidnapper his name, but, she doesn't know him....or, does she?

What follows though was, for me, a plodding tale that left me cold. The (and I'm quoting here) "George Clooney lookalike" kidnapper proceeds to cut off the husband's fingers and toes as the wife searches her memory for which of her past mistakes this guy could be.

All in all, it did nothing for me. I really didn't like it.

1* Did not enjoy.

I appreciate the opportunity to preview - thanks to NetGalley and the publishers.

Super fast-paced thriller that starts out full speed with action and doesn't let down until the very end. I really enjoyed the premise and found some parts of the books AMAZING, but then there were other parts where I found myself just skimming to get through. Loved the story, but the characters were just a little "meh" for me.

3 out of 5 stars for Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and offer my honest review.

Why did it take me so long to get to this book? I don’t know but now has been the perfect time apparently because it was gooooddd!!! The very first chapter had me worried because the story starts off harshly and I was afraid I’d not be able to sleep. I kept reading & was swept away into nail biting suspense. Surprised that I didn’t guess the entire plot until the end. First time reading this author. Very, very good. Thank you Dundurn Press & NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC free of charge for which I humbly write a few words of gratitude.
#TellMeMyName. #NetGalley

Wow what a crazy ride this read took us on. This was the perfect amount of creepiness for me. Altho I do love a good scary read, this was not it, but still very good. I think this could definitely be made into a good scary movie, who doesn't love a scary movie that starts off in a creepy cabin?
This is my first book by this author, and it definitely won't be the last

Ellie and Neil are reconnecting while the kids are away at summer camp. Then Ellie is kidnapped and her kidnapper is someone from her past - she has three chances to remember who he is.
The action started straight away and this was a fast-paced thriller. The main problem I had was I struggled to connect with the characters.

Ellie and Neil are a happily (?) married couple who are kidnapped by a man who claims he is from Ellie's past. She is given three chances to guess his name or Neil will pay the consequences. This book is fast paced with several twists and turns. The writing flows fairly well, but I didn't think finding out how the unnamed man was really made much sense. Neil's secrets were much more interesting.

I received an ARC of Tell Me My Name in exchange for an honest review.

Let me first start with the amazing cover. Isn't it creepy?

The book was one hell of a ride. It was deep and intense and highly highly scary that I couldn't read it in the night.
It is very fast-paced and the definition of a page-tuner. I enjoyed it so much and highly recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Tell Me My Name is a fast paced thriller. The book takes place in Ontario where a couple is reconnecting after their kids go off to summer camp. While the husband is away, a man overpowers the wife and unless she can tell him his name, he is going to kill her.

An interesting premise, but I had a hard time getting into the characters. I thought they were a bit flat. Not sure I would recommend this one. It's a quick read, it just wasn't one that I could completely get into.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book for an honest review.

I struggled to get into this book and ultimately just couldn’t finish it. The action started right off the bat, which in theory seems good, but in practice made it hard to ever develop the characters enough to care about the terrible things that were happening. The premise was interesting, but the writing just wasn’t for me. It seems many others enjoyed the book though, so my opinion may be an unpopular one!

I read this fairly quickly but to be honest I skimmed quite a bit. The premise sounded fascinating, but once Ellie guessed the name of her assailant, and the author started filling in backstory and motivations, it all became quite ridiculous. I liked Ellie well enough. The twist with Neil was unnecessary and added nothing to the story. The author's need to keep Neil involved made the main detective superfluous. She didn't seem very competent to me -- badly written character. Also, what police detective ends a professional call with a victim with "toodle-do?" Strange. Clive, as the main villain was a series of psychological issues straight out of Psycho rather than a fully formed character. All in all, this one was very disappointing.

This was a fast and intriguing read full of intensity and suspense and wicked twists!

After Neil and Ellie drop off their two children at summer camp, they were eager to spend some quality time together and renew their marriage. However, things didn’t go as planned and the next thing they know is that they’re kidnapped by their new neighbor, who wouldn’t let them go unless Ellie tells him his name. He gave her three chances to do so and each time she gives the wrong name, her husband would pay; he'll lose a finger for the first error, a toe for the second…..and his life if the third one is also wrong.

I could feel what the characters were feeling while reading thanks to the awesome writing-style , which was quite entertaining !!! It made things much more dark and twisted and the pace kept me on my toes,guessing the whole time!

I knew going in that something was going to happen to ruin the idyllic picture that starts TELL ME MY NAME. When a woman must play a Rumplestiltskin game to save her husband, she must work backwards through her personal history to solve the riddle. But as she reviews and rewinds her memories we learn that neither spouse is an angel. The thrills come hard as the discoveries pour out....a first class mystery with no slow parts. Loved it!!!!

This was a good thriller. Some parts were hard for me to get into, but overall it was good. I would recommend to thriller fans.

Kids away at camp and a husband Neil and wife Ellie are alone for the first time in 10 years to enjoy each other while they fix up their dream vacation home that is in need of TLC. After an amazing night rekindling their love and affection for one another, Ellie turns around to find her neighbor in her kitchen and the next thing she knows, she wakes up, tied to a bed and the neighbor is looming over her. He wants to play a sinister game involving her husband being hurt. She is given 3 chances to guess the name of her captor, 1st wrong guess -Neil loses a toe, 2nd wrong guess- he loses a finger and 3rd wrong guess will end Neil’s life He is from Ellie’s past and has altered his appearance. Ellie soon finds
herself thinking of the past and the men she has encountered over the years to figure out who it is and why he thinks they belong together.
The story was well written and the twists at the end really brought it all together and shed light on what was really going on! Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!