AUDIOBOOK
Wow ! What a talent! Pamela Crane is able to weave two points of view and include snippets of history in this slow burn thriller. . The historical undertones are from 1910, when women's suffragette Alvera Fields suddenly disappears leaving her husband and child behind.

The situation is mirrored in 2021 when Vera, Alvera's great-great-granddaughter disappears --on the exact date! The dual POV's include Vera's mother Felicity and her sister in law Marin. Felicity is desperate to find Vera and learns some shocking truths when she reads her journal. Marin was the last to see Vera and chooses to keep these details secret for reasons of her own.

You are in for a slow burn with lots of secrets. However when the novel concludes the end is tied up nicely!.If you like slow burns, family secrets, and mysteries with historical overtones, #ASlowRuin is for you! #netgalley #dreamscapemedia

Thank you so much to net galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book! I love the idea of this book but this book jumped around far too much with little knowledge of what was going on. It was confusing because they would mention something that just happened and I didn’t know it happened so I’d back up and there was nothing so I genuinely don’t know if this was an editing error. The main character was insufferable. For example there was a friend of her daughters that she never told her about and she’s a fifteen year old who dresses gothish but more alternative but then the main character went to go ask about her daughter one of her first thoughts was thinking should she bring someone with her because she was probably “packing heat” and so much other stuff. And just her view of her daughter was so dumb like I’m sure she loved her but you loved her only if she behaved like her and it’s just messed up.

A Slow Ruin by Pamela Crane
Format :🎧
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thoughts : I’ll be honest it took me longer to get into this book that it usually does a thriller , I’m sure that was on me and not anything to do with the writing of the book… but once I was sucked in I was in … Y’all know I take pride in figuring out the mystery of a thriller before it is received.. this one got me , more than once. #aslowruin #pamelacrane #thrillerbooks #audiobookstagram #audiobook #bookstagram #goodreads

Secrets keep you sick and missing or dead. This sums up this novel totally. I very much enjoyed this and hope to read this author in the future as this was one crazy ride.

Vera, a fifteen year old, goes missing. No clues, no reason, just gone. Her family struggles with this in very different ways. Her mom, Felicity, is hit the hardest and fears that several huge secrets of hers are at the root. These are secrets that if found out could cause an explosion of the family and jail time. The Uncle and his wife, Marin, hold very deep and dark secrets of their own and both fear could be the cause of the disappearance. The past family history of a women missing with her child and never found adds so much to the drama and possibly the key. It’s a very twisted web that has to erupt or destroy everything I’m it’s path.

I really really enjoyed this book and think it was very well written to show cracks but doesn’t give away the full impact that has shattered until the end. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape media for sharing a copy with me.

Meh.

The title- [book:A Slow Ruin|56657424]- is a clue that this book moves slowly. The first 80% is basically nothing. Everyone has secrets. None are revealed. Then everything comes out at once.

The whole 1910 subplot is minimally consequential. I get the reasoning behind it <spoiler>It allows Felicity to discover where Vera has been hiding</spoiler>, but other than the one connection, it does not add anything to the story.

I listened to the audiobook. Each POV (mostly Marin and Felicity, then the newspaper articles and lastly, Vera) has a different narrator. That I like. I am not familiar with any of the four narrators used (Angie Kane, Caitlin Cavannaugh, Lesa Lockford, and Carolina Hoyos) and I was not really impressed. It wasn't awful, but the two main narrators each mispronounced words a few times.

Overall, meh still sums up my feelings.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars. Definitely cried by the end of this book. Initially, I thought I might have to DNF because Felicity was just too melodramatic for me. I know her daughter went missing (which is obviously traumatic), but she was just so hysterical about every aspect of her life. In retrospect, it is clear that she was written this way to contrast with Marin and also because her inability to cope with anything in her life emphasized the extent of her privilege. By the end of the book though, Felicity becomes a much deeper, more understandable character. I immediately liked Marin though. Her perspective provided depth in its discussion about racism, corruption within the justice system, and addiction's impact on family dynamics.

Crane masterfully swapped perspectives in a way that continually left me excited to pick up where I'd left off. The multiple storylines contained so much messy family drama that I never knew what was going to happen next or how everything would connect. I did NOT see the end coming. Definitely a twisty thriller.

Many thanks to Dreamscape Media for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for a review!

This story drew me in right away and kept me on me guessing the whole time. The story is a well written domestic thriller, with several twists and turns. The pacing was perfect with well defined characters.

Also, I loved the narrator’s voice for this audiobook, she did a fantastic job making the character come to life.

This is one of those stories that hit a little harder when you are a mom to a teenager. You really think you know everything your teen is getting into, if they’re holding in secrets, or can tell when they’re lieing. You don’t. That is the scariest thing ever. One bad decision made by their preadolescent stubborn brains can lead to them disappearing or dieing. Damn kids.
A Slow Ruin is a bit of a slow read, but the last quarter of the book make it worth it. I did have a hard time with the mother’s perspective. Listening to this as an audiobook, her narrator had a bit of a whiny and snobbish voice. I think it was intentional, and very fitting of the character, but hard to listen to. I know that the story wouldn’t be as effective without the mother’s struggle with her daughter’s disappearance, but I wish it wasn’t so repetitive and wallowy.
The other narrators for the story were spot on. It always makes a book come alive with multiple narrators. I appreciate that all the voices were different and matched well to their character.
There is a slight historical fiction tie in to the story. I found this a bit odd, and am not sure it worked as well as it should have. I almost wish it was a whole different book. I can see the parallels between the two stories, but it just didn’t work with where the story was going.
That ending though. There is a big twist that makes it all worth the wait. Actually two twists. But you have to pay attention cause the timeline gets shifty. Totally worth it.

“Everyone is hiding something.”

Whew! This book by Pamela Crane was a mind trip. The character in this story is relatable, with her deep, analytical thoughts and her nosy ways.

Also, I loved the narrator’s voice for this audiobook — she did a perfect job with her intonation and by making the character come to life.

This book just was not for me. I found the 1910 plot to be unnecessary. The rest of the plot just did not hold my attention. The multiple point of views were confusing on audiobook and the multiple narrators did not have enough of a difference in accent or tone to help make the confusion better.

Oh my gosh... I loved this audiobook! This story drew me in right away and gave a huge sense of suspense right off the back! This story kept me on my toes the whole time and was such a thrill to read! I've heard that this author has other great books and I can't wait to look into those ones too! Also, I love how simple but pretty the cover is!

I just couldn't get into this one -- the writing felt tired, and the plot didn't hold my attention. I didn't finish it.

I really enjoyed Marin and Felicity as characters as well as their POVs. I could have done without the 1910 timeline - It didn’t hurt the story for me, but also didn’t add to it. The secrets were so juicy and I really like this author’s writing!

This book was wild. Although mysteries are set up early and reveals are slow to come, I couldn’t put it down. I read the whole thing in a day. My biggest gripe is actually the book’s summary because really the focus of the book is on the present day drama, the disappearance in the past is more of a footnote.

Has history repeated itself? Vera Portman has disappeared in an eerie recreation of the events that befell her great, great grandmother, women’s rights activist Alvera Fields. Alvera left behind a husband and a baby, disappearing from her home in the middle of the night. She also left behind an enduring mystery – where did Alvera go? Now, her teenage namesake has also disappeared and when a girl’s body is found, Vera’s mother, Felicity waits to get the news no parent ever wants to hear. Believing there is a connection between Alevra and Vera’s cases, Felicity sets out to uncover the truth, wondering if her troubled sister-in-law, the woman who knows Felicity’s darkest secrets, knows more than she’s letting on

This was an epic read, so gripping full of mystery and twists and turns making you want more and more such a page turner!!
The narrators did such a phenomenal job telling this story! Hanging onto their every word!
This is a brilliant story that well and truly had me hooked throughout.
The story was well written with several twists and turns. The pacing was perfect with well defined characters.
Crane has crafted a domestic thriller full of unexpected twists and turns that will keep you enthralled from start to finish.

Dreamscape Media,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

What a story. What a narrator cast. What a twist! This is easily going to be one of my favorite audiobooks. The mystery connects a woman who disappeared over 100 years ago with a modern-day missing teen, and the link between the two is brilliant. I devoured the prose, and the way the narrators brought a unique voice to each character was beautifully cinematic. This book definitely contains themes of mystery, thriller, family drama, and a lot of emotional tension. I admit I cried a bit at the end...and you know a book is really powerful when it makes you cry.

We've got a family that is struggling through the aftermath of their daughter disappearing, and there's a lot of blame to share for why she'd run away. But then we're not so sure she ran away after all...since there's a family secret (they seem to think it's a family curse) that could be why the girl vanished. On top of the secrets and lies and drama, we watch a marriage begin to crumble and a family be torn apart. Some hidden journal entries might lead to their daughter, but it's going to take working together to figure it out...which isn't easy to do after all the betrayal comes to a head.

But I promise you, the ending will not only shock you, but there is no way you'll guess what happens. I listen to a lot of thriller books and never saw this coming...and it was so well executed too!