This book started as an intense thriller. There was defiantly a twist towards the end that I didn't see coming. However, the more I thought about it, it didn't make sense. I was asking myself, "Really, What are the chances that that would happen?
I felt the book dragged on. At first, I thought there was going to be a sequel. But I turned the page and I was on part three.

Pros: I was intrigued by the plot on the whole, and thought it was an original idea. I also thought Ellie pretty much kept her head about her throughout her whole ordeal and I liked that she was able to manipulate her way out of some pretty tense situations. Was this realistic? Beats me, but it worked regardless.

Cons: An unlikeable, selfish husband who could NOT follow instructions; a police department that seemed woefully incompetent; a villain with more issues than Vogue; and so many “twists” in the last 15% of the book that I definitely could have done without, resulting in the loss of a star in my rating.

This is a case of less is more...

When Ellie and Neil Patterson finally vacation without children at their newly purchased cottage, they believe it will be a chance for them to reconnect and try to get back to where they once were. It seems their relationship has stalled and neither knows really what to do.

But they may never get that chance. Ellie is kidnapped by their next door neighbor, a George Clooney look-a-like. He tells her that they knew each other from long ago. He explains to Ellie that she will be given only three chances to guess his name. With each wrong answer Neil, who has also been abducted and is in the next room, will have extremities chopped off. If she fails to remember him by the third name, Neil dies.

Ellie then must begin a difficult walk down memory lane, with situations she never wanted to remember, including the tragic death of her beloved sister Bethany after she was involved in a horrific car accident. But those memories are nothing compared to what this mysterious psychotic man has in store for her and her husband. And what Ellie will learn will tear her world apart forever.

As the police try and track Ellie and her captor by the bodies he leaves in their wake, will they be able to find her before she too becomes one of his casualties? Will both Ellie and Neil come out of this alive? Will Ellie be able to make peace with what she discovers about her captor, a murderer with mommy issues, or with her husband after she uncovers an explosive secret he as hidden from her all these years.

Tell Me My Name is an intense psychological thriller with so many twists and turns you never see coming, and shocking revelations which intertwine in the storylines brilliantly.

Thank you #NetGalley #Dundurn #TellMeMyName #ErinRuddy for the advanced copy.

This was a pretty quick read and a fast-paced thriller with twists and turns. It was a bit predictable at times.

Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy is a first novel for this author. However, Ruddy has nailed the thriller genre and I was hooked from the first sentence. Ellie and Neil Patterson have been married for ten years and have taken some together time at their new cottage. Before long both have been kidnapped by someone who claims to be from Ellie’s past and he threatens to torture Neil if she does not remember his name. She nervously goes back into her past to identify this stranger and save her husband. What ensues is a desperate search for Ellie who is taken away by the kidnapper after leaving her husband for dead. There is so much tension throughout, leading to an ending that most will not come close to guessing. This is a mesmerizing thriller that hits the ground running and does not relent. It is hoped that Erin Ruddy will be writing more thrillers in the future. Highly recommended. Thank you to Dundurn Press, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ellie & Neil have just dropped off their children at summer camp & are looking forward to some quality time in the cottage they have recently bought. Their meeting with the handsome neighbour Clive, seemed to go well & before she knew it he had invited himself for dinner. Ellie finds herself tied up on a bed. Neil is tied to a chair. Clive no longer appears to be the affable neighbour. Instead he insists the Ellie should have been with him. She was his soul mate & she must tell him his name. She has three chances but each mistake will result in damage to Neil. On the third guess she guesses right but that is not the end. Clive then takes her away. The police search for Ellie, the reasons behind Clive's obsession & Neil's determination to safe her ensue.

Somehow I had to read this to the end in spite of my disbelief that anyone as disturbed as Clive could have gone through life without being apprehended. Mind you the police required some disbelief too. I actually quite liked the detective even if she seemed a bit eccentric ('Toodle-oo' in those circumstances? Really?) And Neil? Let's not go there!!

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I had to erase my original review because I realized that so many issues I had with this novel were due to the ARC that was sent by netgalley. Now that I have read the actual book version, I feel like I can give a more accurate review of this novel.

It's true that I really struggled with this novel. For starters, it is a debut novel by a Canadian author, which I instantly gravitate towards. I love that the novel is set in Canada and makes references to major cities. However, some of the depictions of our police, like calling the OPP the Ontario Police Department, or that lead detective with all her ridiculous sayings, definitely took away from the charm for me.

As for the plot, I was a little thrown off by how it seemed an entire novel was played out in the first few pages. I really did not know what to expect, which usually is not a bad thing, but in this case, it was just one huge thing after another, which made it difficult for me to know how to feel and what to hope for.

I also did not like the characters in this novel, but I wonder if Ruddy perhaps wanted them all to be flawed and unlikeable. I could see myself potentially liking certain characters, but there is so much happening in the plot that the reader does not get the opportunity to get to know any of the important backstory for the characters which could have definitely improved their arc and development.

All that being said, I did actually enjoy this book. When I reread the last 30% or so in the physical copy, I can say that it definitely makes up for the rest. I definitely enjoyed the twists and turns at the end, and it gave me a further appreciation of the novel as a whole.

A good and face paced story. Much longer and more to it than the synopsis makes it sound, but that is not a bad thing.

A rush, quick and keeps you on your toes. You want to keep reading to find out what happens to Neil and Ellie.

I did not like the chapters as they change perspective numerous times in a chapter and without warning. It’s sometimes hard to keep track of who’s perspective it is.

I really wanted to like Erin Ruddy’s debut novel “Tell Me My Name.” The description grabbed me. How many times have you encountered someone from your distant past and their name is on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t place them? Now imagine that person is an obsessive admirer who expects you to remember, even though he’s changed his appearance, and your punishment for not remembering is the torture and killing of your spouse. All he wants (or at least all he says he wants) is for you to tell him his name. It’s really a horrific version of the Grimm Brothers’ Rumpelstiltskin.

Sounded intriguing. And I was really looking forward to reading it. But those of you who know the tale of Rumpelstiltskin know that it ends when the girl correctly guesses his name. While I didn’t expect this story to conclude the same way, I didn’t expect our protagonist Ellie to guess her captor’s name only 30% of the way through the book. What comes after is a convoluted and sometimes hard to believe mess of police investigation and familial interference in that investigation.

There were plot lines that were over the top (see spoilers below), and I will echo the other reviewer comments that the lead detective’s habit of saying “toodle-loo” was just plain odd. I also really didn’t like the author’s writing style. There were times that it felt like she was trying to use every 25-cent word she could come up with, but all it did was make the writing sound awkward.

There was also way too much back and forth between characters and between past and present. At times, we’d get a handful of paragraphs from one point of view and then it would switch. It felt like the scene changes in a movie or a TV show, but those were much too quick for a novel. There needed to be more of a buildup.

Now for the plot lines that didn’t work.

***SPOILERS***

Ellie’s husband Neil had a toe and a finger cut off, broke his way out of a chair he was tied to, and jumped from the second story of a burning building but had the ability to escape the hospital to go in search of his wife. He commandeered the help of his brother-in-law who got his face smashed with a meat tenderizer. After they were both taken to the hospital and Neil is even weaker and being treated for a raging infection, he escaped again, “borrowed” his sister-in-law’s car to drive a couple hours away again in search of Ellie. Authors use this plot line all the time, where a family member just doesn’t want to listen to the police and thinks they can do a better job of finding their loved one. But at what point are we to believe that Neil was superhuman and really able to function if he was in such bad shape? And the detective’s consistent empathy for him and not having someone keep an eye on him because he’s made this a habit was just ludicrous.

There were also too many escapes and near escapes. And just when you think the story is coming to an end when Ellie gets rescued, you realize that you have 15% of the story to go when Part 3 starts 10 months later. It’s then we learn that Ellie’s kidnapper Clive wasn’t dead when we thought he was dead, so we had to go through him coming back for Ellie, and Neil once again thought that he could do better than the police in rescuing her.

Finally, I thought it was a little ridiculous to make Neil the person who caused the accident that killed Ellie’s sister when they were teenagers. And Clive just happened to witness the accident back then and then just happened to know that Neil got off and then just happened to become a bartender where Ellie used to frequent when she was in her 20s. Make him a stalker, make him actively seek her out, but the coincidences were too much for me. The story line with Neil and the sister was irrelevant. Clive could have just been jealous that Neil ended up with Ellie since he’s obsessively in love with her.

This book had a lot of potential, but it really didn’t live up to it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dundern Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A debut, Canadian author for this one! I will admit that alone made me truly want to pick the book up, but the synopsis was also quite intriguing as it seemed quite different from most thrillers I've read lately.

Ellie and Neil are spending some time at their cottage while their children are away at camp, trying to rekindle their relationship. Ellie takes their dog for a walk in the woods, only to be kidnapped by their new mysterious neighbour. After kidnapping Neil as well, Ellie has 3 tries to answer the kidnappers one request - 'Tell me my name', or Neil pays the consequences. Once Ellie learns the truth about his identity, she discovers the truth to secrets she didn't even know where hiding. Can Ellie and Neil recover?

Throughout this book, I rolled my eyes a fair number of times. I kept reminding myself that it's a debut novel, and to try and focus on the basic story. While I enjoyed the idea of the story, I felt as though it's execution had just gone wrong somewhere. There were so many characters to keep track of, all their stories coming at you at the same time, with the flashbacks to their pasts at the same time. Some of the characters, in my opinion, were straight up terrible (the detective that took to saying 'toodaloo', really?). There were just so many things that missed the mark for me, with the insane characters, the unbelievable actions of both the cops, detectives and men in the story, it just didn't do it for me. It was a bit cringy and I rolled my eyes a few too many times. In saying all that, I will still give this author another chance with her next book.

Very fast paced thriller with an intricate storyline, I thought it was fantastic. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Author # Erin Ruddy knows how to keep you on the edge. Her new thriller is 'Tell Me My Name'. Head over to my Instagram blog post Maddie_approves_book_reviews.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Erin Ruddy, and #Dundurm

Ellie and Neil are excited to spend some quality time together at their new cottage after sending their kids to camp. Ellie meets their neighbour one day and invites him for dinner. The next day she runs into the neighbour again. He kidnaps her and threatens to kill and mutilate her husband until she can tell him his name. The neighbour is a man from her past, and he wants Ellie to remember him. Even once Ellie can remember the truth about this man, she realizes that her life is filled with lies.

This was a very fast-paced psychological thrillers. There were multiple perspectives, including Ellie, Neil, the man who kidnaps her, and the detective investigating the incident. Multiple perspectives in a thriller can sometimes take away some of the tension because there is less of an opportunity to hide the characters’ secrets. However, these characters had such intricate pasts that there were lots of secrets to hide in the narrative.

This was an intricate story with many puzzles. I was pleased that everything was tied up at the end. Sometimes thrillers can get too complicated with pieces of the plot getting lost by the end. This story had a satisfying ending.

I really enjoyed this thriller!

Thank you Dundurn Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Quick read, a psychological thriller similar to stories like "Misery," "Cape Fear," and "The Gift."

The story starts off at a sprint and is adrenaline-filled throughout. I mean, the husband loses a finger and a toe to a madman within the first maybe 10% of the story! I was surprised, because this start could very well have been a climax scene in another book. So I appreciated having that just be the first of many! There are thrills at every twist and turn, just when you think it's over, be ready for the next one.

I liked the backstories that were revealed over time in the book, and how lives were intertwined. Ok, so sure, some of the connections and the history between characters was a stretch, but I didn't mind that. I liked it for what it was. A book is an escape for me, and this did just that.

I enjoyed this book for the quick read. I know it's not getting great reviews, but don't let that discourage you from reading it. I've been reading a lot of slower, character driven books and this was a fun break from those reads.

While the kids are at summer camp, Ellie and Neil Patterson are spending some much needed time together at their new cottage. After ten years of marriage, they had hit a rough patch and this was the perfect chance to get things back on track.

Just as they are getting comfortable Ellie is attacked and kidnapped. The kidnapper swears that he and Ellie are soulmates. Once he has Ellie secured, he gets Neil, too. Once they are both tied and helpless he tells Ellie they are going to play a game. All Ellie has to do is to tell him his name. Ellie has three chances to answer correctly before Neil dies.

There's just one problem. Ellie has no idea who this lunatic is. What follows is insanity!

Fair warning here, there is graphic violence. Tell Me My Name is not for the faint of heart!

Thank you to Netgalley, Dundurn, and Erin for an advance copy of Tell Me My Name.

Tell Me My Name is a fast-paced page turner about a man's obsession with a girl he used to serve drinks to 15ish years prior. This is told through multiple points of view and spans quite a bit of time. The formatting made it a little hard to recognize the transitions as they happened frequently and abruptly, but I am chalking that up to having an ARC as opposed to a finished copy.

I enjoyed the complexities of the characters and felt that we really got to know the core three involved, as well as many of the side characters. The plot itself was so fast moving, at 30% in, I couldn't imagine where the book was going because I felt like we had already hit our climax...I was W R O N G. There are so many twists and turns, including a jaw-dropping final piece of the puzzle that I honestly did not even consider.

Too many characters and too much of a back and forth between the main story. Sorry couldn't finish this one.

A vacation that was long overdue and needed for Neil and Ellie turned into a nightmare.

They were on their second honeymoon in their newly bought home when their neighbor Clive appeared, tied up Ellie, tortured Neil, and then kidnapped Ellie.

Clive had thought about Ellie since he had seen her twenty-five years ago, and now that he was out of prison he wanted to play a game to see if she would remember him. It wasn’t a child’s game, though, but a deadly game.

TELL ME MY NAME continues with a police search for Clive and gruesome, upsetting and sometimes crude scenes and comments.

The brutal things the criminal did as the book continued were hard to imagine and difficult to read.

Because of the gruesome scenes I almost stopped reading, but I’m glad I didn’t.

This book for me is classified as a psychological thriller.

All in all despite the squeamish scenes, it is a good read with a surprise ending. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an. honest review.

Neil and Ellie Patterson are going through a rough spot in their ten year marriage. They’ve dropped off their two children at camp and have arrived at their lakefront cabin, hoping to revitalize their relationship. But then Neil makes a quick trip to town and Ellie, reading a text on his phone, discovers he has had an affair. While she is reeling from that knowledge, a man enters her kitchen, knocks her out and kidnaps her. She wakes up tied to a chair with Neil tied up behind her. Her kidnapper tells her she knows him and that she has three chances to guess his name. If she misses once, he will sever Neil’s toe. A second miss and Neil will lose a finger. Miss three times and Neil will die.

Ellie is desperate to remember his name. We learn about her past as she works through memories. She is one of four sisters. Her beloved sister Bethanny died at twelve after the car she was passenger in was in a head on accident. She is closest to her older sister Laura. In her twenties she frequented a favorite bar where she met Neil. She worked at a tech startup. Ellie finally guesses his identity.

Meanwhile, the police are frantically searching for her. The story now moves back and forth between Ellie, her kidnapper and the investigation. There are so many twists here! The conclusion is where I had a problem with Tell Me My Name. Without spoilers, there are two endings. The first was the better, more believable one and had the book ended there, this would be a 5 star review. I found the final ending unbelievable and unsatisfying. Still, this was a true thriller so 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dundurn Press and Erin Ruddy for this ARC.

This book has more twists and turns in it than the mighty Mississippi! Tell Me My Name is a mind boggling psychological thriller that some may not be able to wrap their mind around; others will devour it. You best be prepared to read this one straight through from beginning to end. Enjoy!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.