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#LifeRuins #BlogTour @DanutaJR @simonschusteruk @annecater @RandomThingsTou
" How can you save someone else... when you can’t even save yourself? "
Synopsis
A body, briefly glimpsed at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft, vanishes when the police investigate.
Jared, recovering from an almost fatal injury and addicted to painkillers, knows he saw something terrible in that mine… but he has no evidence, and fears he’s losing his grip on reality.
A girl is attacked so savagely she can’t be identified, and dumped late at night in an isolated campground. She’s alive, but only just.
Becca, tossed out of university and just let go from her dead-end job, is certain she knows who the victim is. But no one will believe her, and she can hardly even trust herself.
Kay, recently widowed and coming to terms with life on her own, suddenly finds herself forced to get involved. For years she and her husband fostered difficult children – including Becca, whom trouble follows like a stray puppy.
And now Becca seems to be in the worst trouble of her life. And then Jared and Becca meet.
Becca, strong-minded and fiercely independent, is confident they can figure out what’s How can you save someone else... when you can’t even save yourself? going on.
She pulls Kay into the mix, knowing they’ll need all the help they can get… because the police don’t believe them.
And more girls are vanishing.
Separately, Kay, Becca and Jared believe their lives have hit rock bottom.
But drawn together under extraordinary circumstances, they’ll discover the strength to fight back… and ultimately rebuild their lives from the ruins.
Praise for Life Ruins
'A powerful, thought-provoking story, which perfectly evokes the bleak Yorkshire landscape. Danuta’s crystal clear writing, whip-smart plotting and great characterisation make the book a vital read for any crime fan'
- Kate Rhodes, author of Hell Bay
'Life Ruins has all the elements I love in a novel - complex characters, an insidious underlying menace, and haunting landscapes. This dark story will suck you in from the first page'
- Stephen Booth, author of Fall Down Dead
'Explores real issues, from the perspective of real, damaged people, and told with a real warmth and understanding. Danuta Kot raises the bar for all crime writers'
- Michael Jecks, author of Pilgrim's War
My Review
This is a hauntingly dark debut tale set on the Yorkshire coast, I loved the setting of this book, this coast and the towns of Bridlington and Whitby are where i spent my childhood summers so i felt particularly at home in the setting of this book.
Jared is a cave and tunneling enthusiast, a climber who now with health issues lives on a run down caravan site.
He is a witness to an incident, and meets Becca at the police station she is convinced she knows the identity of a brutally assaulted girl barely clinging on to life, but the police do not believe her.
Ex-social worker Kay is Becca's foster mother she herself is struggling after the death of her husband, Matt.
Becca thinks that Kay could help her and Jared and the dangers they now face.
This plot drew me in so quickly it careered on at full pace with a fantastic mix of suspense and tension as well as a real feeling of fear especially on the masterly crafted section in the underground caves, it all felt so real and so claustrophobic!
It was a great three person narrative and the relationship between the Kay, Becca and Jared was very balanced and felt very authentic in how they all mixed.
I very much enjoyed this read an hard look in to the struggles the characters had against grief, loneliness and the brutal hardship shown in there lives from the past brought to life not only in the characters themselves but also in the locations and settings of this read.
Author Bio
Danuta Kot grew up with stories.
Her Irish mother and her Polish father kept their own cultures alive with traditional tales they shared with their children.
For many years, she worked with young people in Yorkshire who were growing up in the aftermath of sudden industrial decline.
She uses this background in her books to explore some of the issues that confront modern, urban society: poverty, alienation and social breakdown, using the contexts of the modern crime novel.
She has previously written under the names, Danuta Reah and Carla Banks. Danuta was also a former chair of the Crime Writers’ Association.
She now works as a senior education consultant, work that involves travel to establish education and training in other parts of the world.
She is a regular academic speaker at conferences and literary festivals, and has appeared on radio and television.
Purchase Links
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Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.
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