A suspenseful thriller with a final twist that made me sit up in shock! It’s told in several perspectives which I did find took away some of the suspense as I had to keep refocusing my mind to the new narrative but the storyline was so riveting, and fast paced that I managed to adapt. A great read for psychological suspense lovers.

YES now this is what I am talking about!! Honestly I did not want to put this novel down.. seriously the story line is so amazing and literally sucks you in. At least I felt like that because it truly grabbed my attention from the very beginning. Go ahead and read this one!

Finished reading this debut novel: 'Tell Me My Name' by Erin Ruddy. The story follows a couple who have been violently kidnapped from their cottage by a stranger who claims to be the soulmate of the women named Ellie. What follows is a thrilling ride where Ellie has three chances to remember this stranger or suffer deadly consequences.

This book truly is a roller coaster ride kind of domestic thriller, where just as you think things have finally ended for good, except they don't and take a new turn. The main characters of this book that is the husband and the wife were likeable but I found some of their decisions and behaviour at times to be very annoying. And that villain was one psycho, diabolic, creepy stalker. His motives were literally unbelievable, and I personally found the final revelation/twist at the end it to be over the top since it came out of nowhere. If some backstory would have been provided earlier in the book it would have made much more sense.

Nonetheless, it was still a fast-paced, highly enjoyable read. Overall 3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Ellie and her husband are kidnapped by a man who claims to be someone from her past, and if she can't tell him who he is, he will kill the husband. She figures out who he is pretty early on (about a third of the way through the book), and the rest of the book is her trying to get away and her husband and the police trying to find her, which was a bit of a disappointment. It started off really good, but I wasn't that into it after she figured out who he was. ***vague potential spoiler(s)*** I also thought it was weird that Bethany was mentioned so much, the reason for which was more clear at the end, but it seemed obvious that there was somehow going to be something tying Bethany into the present day scenario, although I had no idea what and didn't see that part of the end coming. I was suspicious of Neil's past but again couldn't see how it would tie in to the end until it did. So that part was a surprise.

Overall 3 stars, I guess.

I loved the premise of this story butbthid one just didn't hook my interest. I don't think it was for me.

***Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Expected release date June 6, 2020.***

2.5 - 3 stars

I loved the premise of the story, but had problems with just enjoying the story. Maybe it was the changing POVs throughout the story, or perhaps the over-obsessiveness of the main protagonist, or any number of minor things that just didn’t add up for me. I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters, no matter what was happening at any given time.

4.5 stars - Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy is a shocking tale of obsession. Ellie and Neil are a regular couple. Their two kids are at summer camp for two weeks and they have days of alone time planned at their new home. Time to get back into the groove of each other and hopefully fall in love again.

But their good time is wrecked by violence. A shadowy man from Ellie's past has never forgotten how much he wants her. He has crafted himself into her seemingly perfect man. He is incredulous when Ellie doesn't recognize him.

He gives Ellie three chances to say his name. Then he will know they are meant to be together and he will let her husband live. Miss and her husband is harmed, get it wrong too many times and her husband dies.

As Ellie grapples with this man she doesn't remember she takes a mental journey back through her past. Who did she meet that never forget her? Did they date? Did she hurt him?

Tell Me My Name is a thriller with the prerequisite twists. I really enjoyed the book even if I had to suspend belief in coincidences and circumstances more than once.

A pretty good read. The pacing was decent but mild... there were A LOT of reveals packed into the very very end of the book.

A domestic thriller set in rural Ontario featuring a husband and wife who must struggle with their relationship after a deranged man from their past kidnaps them. This book is fast paced page turner. All the while, the characters' emotions are explored. A great read for thriller fans!

Thank you NetGalley for and advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for the advance copy of this book. I like this book, it was a bit different than other thrillers I have read. I liked how the author tied everything together at the end, I honestly was surprised with a few twists. With that being said, I didn't care much for how quickly the author would jump from on perspective to another with no warning. One minute I'm reading from the victim's perspective then her husband, with no kind of break or anything to let you know. It did seem to get a bit long in some areas but overall it was a good book. I would be very interested to read more from this author.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3160164400

The reviews for this debut novel are all over the map. To some extent I can understand this. When I sat to write mine and scanned the reviews already written, I found points in many that I agreed with even though the ratings were quite different.

The author has an interesting story to tell but at times you ask yourself: " Is this a decent novel or just mediocre?" My conclusion is that it is worth a read and the author shows promise but this is clearly a first novel.

Ellie and Neil have been married ten years and they feel a need to recharge their relationship. They decide to do this at a cottage they have bought north of Toronto (Canada). Their kids are away at camp so this promises them some quality time together. While Neil is gone to pick up some groceries, Ellie is napping. When she awakens she is threatened by a stranger (the supposedly next door neighbour) who demands that she tell him his name. She has three chances to get it right. Each time she answers wrong Neil will suffer, first with the loss of a finger and the last time Neil will die.

She desperately searches her memory bank, at first to no avail. The stranger takes her away in a car leaving Neil bound in the bedroom. He has set the house on fire and it ignites as they drive away. Neil manages to escape by throwing himself from a balcony while still bound. He ends up in hospital. The police are a bit skeptical of his bizarre tale.

Meanwhile the stranger and Ellie are on the run. There is a lot of jumping around in point of view, with different narrators. Too much of that.

Neil breaks out of hospital, steals a car and sets out to track them down. The police are chasing both Ellie and the stranger and Neil. Eventually the stranger takes Ellie to a small town where he grew up with his mother who is described in very unfavourable terms as a boozy whore. He insists on taking Ellie into a neighbouring bar to show her off. The bartender knows him and they end up in a fight which results in the bartender's death. This draws Neil and the police to the town. By now Ellie has figured out the stranger's name.

They flee the town and head north to a motel that his mother used to frequent. As Ellie resists the stranger's attempt to rape her she escapes into the neighbouring woods with the stranger in pursuit. He appears to end up dead at the bottom of a deep ravine. But the police are unable to locate him.

The following year he reappears at their cottage looking somewhat different. Then he drops the major twist of the whole story, causing Ellie to realize that Neil has a deep secret that shakes the foundation of their relationship. This revelation is kind of over the top and yet it helps explain why this stranger chose to pursue her and Neil in the beginning. Will their marriage survive this shock?

Thanks to Dundurn and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel for review.
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Ellie and Neil are happily married with two kids but don't often get a lot of time alone. While their two children are away at camp, the couple travels to their holiday cabin, looking forward to rekindling the spark of their marriage. Things take a violent and disturbing turn, however, when the couple are attacked by an intruder, a man who claims that Ellie is his true love and that he's been waiting for her for decades. The man gives Ellie an ultimatum: if she can remember his name, he will let her husband live. Ellie is forced to revisit her past, recalling the disastrous relationships and predatory men she has encountered over the years, desperate to discover who this man is and why he is so obsessed with her. As she begins to wonder if she can make it out of this ordeal alive, she finds that her husband may be hiding some dark secrets of his own...

I really liked the premise of this novel and the antagonist was well-drawn, although his motives were unconvincing and his backstory quite cliched. Ellie frustrated me at times, as her choices rarely seemed logical. Neil was also a frustrating character, and the twist regarding his character was implausible and came a little too late.

I thought this was a good book. It kept me hooked with all the twists and turns. There was only one part that I didn't care for, and that was the revelation at the end. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence.

The story seems a bit fantastical. I enjoyed the story and how fast paced it was that at some points I wondered how the author was going to maintain the momentum.

I didn't expect the twist at the end and it kind of threw me. An okay read if you're bored.

This book seemed (pardon the pun) open and shut from the beginning-- as we meet Ellie, she's just been kidnapped. Nope, that was too easy, trust me, keep reading. There were twists and turns for the rest of the story-- psychological thriller is my favorite genre and it's well represented here. The main characters were predictable - I really liked the wife, the husband was sweet, but also made me mad and annoyed me (just like my own husband, lol) and that bad guy -- oh, he's creepy with a capital C! One thing that I did not like- changing to a completely different scene/characters in the next paragraph (and then back again just a couple of paragraphs later) took some getting used to. Maybe it won't bother some readers but it was confusing to me because it happened alot. I kept having to stop and look back to see if this person had now arrived and was interacting with that person, etc. Good book overall, it kept me entertained.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Upon originally starting this novel, I thought that the plotting felt off - things were happening really fast, and I was skeptical I would really enjoy it. However, I stuck with it, and I am so glad I did. The suspense ratcheted up, and things that seemed obvious were revealed as not so obvious at all. By the time I reached the end, the twists had left me very surprised. After the beginning which threw me off (which may have been intentional by the writer), I was completely sucked in and I really enjoyed it. This is the first Erin Ruddy book I have read but I will definitely look for more.

I felt like this book tried to be so many things (ie: a thriller, a psychological study of criminal intent, a romance, etc.) that it ended up becoming a giant overdramatic mess.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47319814

Ellie wakes up and finds him looming over her. “Tell me my name", he demands.

She has three chances but if she gets it wrong? Well, first her husband loses a toe, then a finger, and then he dies...

I pulled for the main character(s) and just loved the pure crazy of our antagonist. This was a tight, quick read that was difficult to set down.

To be totally transparent, this one is not getting rave reviews on NetGalley but I quite enjoyed it!

Thank you to Erin Ruddy, Dundurn Press and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Overall a pretty good read. I kind of felt like the ending was abrupt but the characters had good depth and tons of determination. The husband Neil was not going to stop until he found his wife. That perseverance ultimately saved (in my mind) their marriage.

Ellie is kidnapped by a man who really wants her to remember him. He feels like they were soulmates destined to be together, yet weren’t. He once heard her say that she liked men tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome… like George Clooney. So, when the love of his life slips away from him, he, over the course of years gets plastic surgery to look like, who else? George Clooney. He plays the game of making Ellie remember his name, but she only had three chances, and for each wrong answer something bad would happen to her husband. After running quickly through her life she guesses it correctly, I think on the second try. Also, Clive, aka Clooney, has major mommy issues.
I really had hope for this and the reviews I read did nothing to dissuade that expectation. The first thing that threw me off was how quickly the story unfolded. I felt like I was sitting in an airport waiting for my flight, with a total stranger telling me her life story, like we were on a stopwatch. I was interested at first, listening, until everything starting running together and I felt like she was lying about everything. It was too unbelievable. I also felt like I should be looking at my watch, sending social cues to stop her, but she kept on telling me her story while we waited for our plane. Parts were ridiculous, even to the point that I almost put it down. The sad part is, this could’ve been a 5 star winner had the characters been developed and the storyline unfolded at a slower pace. There was no time to feel angst or fear because the story wasn’t really developed into much of a thriller/mystery. Every question was answered too quickly and some, unrealistically. The one twist/surprise/reveal at the end did make it worth having finished it, but again our plane had arrived anyway and the would-be girl in the airport waiting area was rushing to finish line.
Don’t hate me. I hate, hate doing negative reviews, but I did receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review.