Book Review — He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker

That must be what he does — he uncovers your secrets, your fears, your flaws — and  he uses them against you. 

He did it to Celine.
And now he’s doing it to me.

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• Buy HE WILL BE MY RUIN (Paperback)

Thrilling, addictive, and filled with hidden secrets that kept me guessing the whole way through, He Will Be My Ruin kept me reading for hours without stopping. I loved it!

Technically, this is a Suspense novel, but I strongly feel like it’ll appeal to fans of Romance. It’s quite sexy even though it doesn’t tell a love story.  Maybe we can call it Sexy Suspense? That might work best.

Honestly, I’d best describe it as an incredibly solid read. By that I mean a few things. First, it’s very well written. KA Tucker has several books under her belt and I’ve loved her writing for a long time. But this book had clear strength to its writing that very much impressed me. Second, the plot was clearly was very throughly thought out (meaning, there’s really no fluff and everything happened for a reason as the layers of the story unfolded and came together). And finally, the story was quite believable. There was no suspension of believe or leap you had to take in order to believe what happened. It honestly felt quite like what I imagine could happen if a woman was investigating the suspicious death of her friend.

So, what’s the book about? Well, the blurb actually does a great job of giving you just enough to intrigue you, but not enough to ruin any plot points, so I’ll just paste that in:

The USA TODAY bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series makes her suspense debut with this sexy, heartpounding story of a young woman determined to find justice after her best friend’s death, a story pulsing with the “intense, hot, emotional” (Colleen Hoover) writing that exhilarates her legions of fans.

A woman who almost had it all . . .

On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?

A man who was supposed to be her salvation . . .

Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what’s left of her best friend’s belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.

Until he became her ruin. 

On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.

The prologue is what immediately hooked me into the story. In the span of less than two pages, I was completely drawn into this woman’s life-threatening plight and countless questions about why she was there, how this happened, who did it, and more coursed through my mind.

I found it fascinating to read because you begin with just this simple story about a woman naturally and yet quietly curious about the circumstances surrounding her best friend’s supposed suicide and even though no one else wants to believe her, she relentlessly pursues her gut instinct. As she slowly begins to piece together and simultaneously unravel her late friend’s life, she finds these little things that don’t add up, or don’t fit into the picture correctly… clues that lead her to believe that maybe she was right all along.

But it’s such a natural progression as you read. The more she investigates, the more hidden secrets are revealed, and the clearer the picture (that no one else saw) becomes.

From a more technical standpoint, I found this book to be very well structured and paced. The chapters were just the right length. Each one revealed something new or in some way drove the story forward. And each one ended on a strong note that delivered appropriate oooomph!

I gingerly unfold the paper that’s obviously been handled many times, judging by the crinkles in it.

My eyes widen. 

A naked man fills one side. He’s entrancingly handsome… lying on his back, one muscular arm disappearing into the pillow beneath his head, a white sheet tangled around his legs, not quite covering the goods…

Who the hell is this guy and why didn’t I ever hear about him? And where is he now? Where were they together last?

Does he know that she’s dead?

…  I slowly fold the paper back up. Celine’s cursive scrawl decorates the back side in purple ink. Words I hadn’t noticed before.

Words that make my heart stop now.

‘This man was once my salvation. Now he will be my ruin.’

Along the way, I had certain suspicions about who I thought did what. I don’t want to give anything away but I’ll say that I was right about some things, wrong about others, and then some things just totally took me by surprise. I actually think it was a great balance, there was enough that I was ‘right’ about to make me feel good about my virtual sleuthing, but enough that I was surprised with to make me impressed with the intricacy of the story.

Here’s all I’ll say: TRUST YOUR GUT INSTINCT!

Haha this is the fun part about reading suspense stories — finding out whether or not you were right about your suspicions… or not?

This really was a fantastic, solid mystery suspense novel. It keeps you guessing, then makes you guess again. It has twists and turns you’ll never see coming and a cohesive, believable story that’ll make you wonder… who can you actually trust?

Rating: 4.5 stars. Standalone suspense novel.

• Buy HE WILL BE MY RUIN (Kindle)
• Buy HE WILL BE MY RUIN (Paperback)