ARC Review: Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams

Publisher: SimonPulse
Publishing Date: July 14th, 2015
Genre: YA Suspense
Pages: 256 pgs
ISBN: 9781481422628
Source: Received from Simon & Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review



Summary from Goodreads:

A spine-tingling debut about the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse in reverse as a teen struggles to retain hope—and her sanity—while on the run from a cunning and determined killer.

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 trick, 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.

The other girls were never heard from again, but Ruth won’t go down easy. She escapes into the wilderness, but her hunter is close at her heels. That’s when the real battle begins. That’s when Ruth must decides just how far she’ll go in order to survive.

Back home, they called her Ruthless. They had no idea just how right they were.

My Review:

It's been a long time since a book kept me up all night long and this one did it. I am very happy to be off for the summer because I think I went to bed at 4am after finishing this story. This book is about a young girl who is kidnapped by a sexual predator. She escapes and is hunted through the woods by the killer. It's not often that you can find a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I found myself at times with an elevated heart rate and actually worried for the protagonist Ruth. She's not a particularly likable character at times but this girl is kickass. She is determined not to be raped and to escape from this madmen.
While this book had some moments where I had to raise an eyebrow, I still really liked it. Ruth goes through so much in this book and it was quite amazing that she was still able to keep her drive to survive throughout it all. There were sections in the book with flashbacks to Ruth's life with I liked because you got a little more insight into her personality outside of an emergency situation. There were also flashbacks in the point of view of the killer. In one set of flashbacks it goes all the way back to when he was young. I could do without these flashbacks. For some reason, they weren't working for me. I know they were meant to show how he became the way he was but they were put in spots when all I wanted to know is what was happening with Ruth. Another set of flashbacks were the lead up to the abduction of Ruth. I liked these ones better because I got to see another glimpse of Ruth's home life.
If you like thrillers and you like being in suspense then this is the book for you. I promise you it will not take you long to get through this one.