Written by: Carolyn Lee Adams
# of pages: 256
Published: July 14, 2015
Summary according to goodreads
Ruth Carver has always competed like her life depends on it. Ambitious. Tough. Maybe even mean. It's no wonder people call her Ruthless.
When she wakes up with a concussion in the bed of a moving pickup truck, she realizes she has been entered into a contest she can't afford to lose.
At a remote, rotting cabin deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Ruth's blindfold comes off and she comes face-to-face with her captor. A man who believes his mission is to punish bad girls like Ruth. A man who has done this six times before.
My Thoughts
I did recieve an advanced copy of this novel for review, but that does not affect my opinion towards it.
I have only recently started giving up on books, but I did not want to do that for a review copy. I really tried to give this novel a chance as I was very excited for it, but it did not live up to the expectations I had. The first chapter or so was well done, but that's where it stopped. The writing was mediocre and I did not find myself in the story she was trying to tell.
I did not like the main character Ruth at all. She was strong emotionally considering this trauma, but I just did not like her personality. The way she treated people and viewed herself as better than everyone was very shallow. She is only 17 years old so I was bothered by her attitude that she knew/could do anything. The way she was written suggests an older character, but once she opens her mouth you hear a child. I hate to say this but all I could associate her with was only-child syndrome.
There was hardly any dialogue which is something I want to see in a kidnapping story. What are his motives, what is his personality like, etc. He was described as the typical kidnapper you would see in an episode of Criminal Minds, and his nickname "Wolfman" didn't add anything. From a writers standpoint I can see why Carolyn kept us inside of Ruth's head, but as a reader it was very frustrating since she was an awful character (in my opinion, of course).
Another aspect I did not like: the flashbacks between every chapter. They would switch between her past and the kidnappers past a number of years apart. For the kidnappers flashbacks you were able to see clips of how he grew up and the psychological effect it had on him, but for Ruth they just made her look like a snotty little girl and her horse shows. I didn't feel like there was enough consistency to these flashbacks, and although I understand why she used them, they were not done well enough to work. Maybe if I had stuck through this novel I would see how the flashbacks fit into the end goal of the story, but I did not have the patience.
This was the authors debut novel so hopefully if she continues writing she will fine-tune her strengths. It is not easy to start as an author and considering she is a comedian, this was probably not the genre for her to begin with.
Overall, I was disappointed with this novel. I was expecting for it to be a kidnapping story, but it ended up being more about surviving in the woods. I am not saying that people would not enjoy this novel, it just wasn't the story I was in the mood for I suppose. If you decide to give this book a chance I would love to hear your opinions!
Obviously I won't be giving this novel a rating since I only read 85 pages.
~ Kristina
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