Ruin Falls

Liz Daniels has every reason to be happy about setting off on a rare family vacation, leaving behind her remote home in the Adirondack Mountains for a while. Instead, she feels uneasy. Her children, eight-year-old Reid and six-year-old Ally, have met their paternal grandparents only a handful of times. But Liz's husband, Paul, has decided that, despite a strained relationship with his mother and father, they should visit the farm in western New York where he spent his childhood. On their way to the farm, the family stops at a hotel for the night. In the morning, when Liz goes to check on her sleeping children, all her anxiety comes roaring back: Ally and Reed are nowhere to be found. Blind panic slides into ice-cold terror as the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of the kids. Soon, Paul and Liz are being interviewed by police, an Amber Alert is issued, and detectives are called in. Frantic worry and helplessness threaten to overtake Liz's mind but in a sudden, gut-wrenching instant she realizes that it was no stranger who slipped into the hotel room that night. Someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Though she knows that Ally and Reid are safe, Liz will stop at nothing to find them and get them back. From her guarded in-laws' unwelcoming farmhouse to the deep woods of her own hometown, Liz follows the threads of a terrible secret to uncover a hidden world created from dreams and haunted by nightmares. Praise for Jenny Milchman and Ruin Falls [Jenny] Milchman has a gift that allows her to delve deep into the mind and psyche of her characters, and fans of dark plots like the works of Gillian Flynn will find another author to savor.o RT Book Reviews Essential for psychological thriller fanatics . . . Extreme, heart-pounding action follows this determined mother as she risks everything to save her children.o Library Journal [Jenny Milchman] carves out a new niche with this unusual mix of ecothriller and family suspense drama.o Booklist (starred review) Milchman weaves a complex and intriguing tale, adeptly pacing the narrative as danger escalates. . . . Most impressive, though, is Liz's transformation from a meek wife . . . to a strong, capable woman determined to rescue her children at any cost to herself.o Publishers Weekly Absorbing from start to finish: Jenny Milchman writes a deeply felt and suspenseful story of a woman whose life is upended by a death and a dark secret.o Nancy Pickard, bestselling author of The Scent of Rain and Lightning Milchman can evoke the shadows and fears of a rural community like no one else.o DuJour From the Hardcover edition.