Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy - NO

Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy, 332 pages. Dundurn Press, 2020. $16.

Language: R (119 swears, 52 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Ellie is a 40yo wife and mother of two, happy with her life and excited about the new cottage they’ve just bought. With the kids at a summer camp, Ellie and her husband have the place to themselves and are looking forward to the alone time -- until their neighbor cuts in and insists that he belongs with Ellie. This neighbor kidnaps both of them and is prepared to kill Ellie’s husband if she can’t remember his name.

Everything that I was expecting of the story from the summary was only the first third of the book. As the story continued to evolve, the ending was artfully hinted at so as to still astonish me but not feel random, which is how I like my mysteries. Unfortunately, I found this book to be full of sexual content I did not want to read, and I skimmed over several scenes. Overall, this book is well-written but not very enjoyable to read. The mature content rating is for alcohol and substance abuse, groping, sexual harassment, nudity, fingering, oral sex, mentions of prostitution and rape. The violence rating is for a car accident, kidnapping, mutilation, gore, mental and physical abuse, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen