Tell Me My Name

By Erin Ruddy

FINALIST FOR THE 2021 RAKUTEN KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE

A roller-coaster thriller for fans of Ruth Ware and Shari Lapena featuring a rustic cottage retreat, a suspicious new neighbour, a violent kidnapping, and a wife who learns her husband isn't telling her the whole truth.

Ellie and Neil Patterson are eager to enjoy some quality time at their new cottage. It’s the first time in ten years they’ve been alone … or are they?

When a friendly encounter leads to their violent kidnapping, they awaken to a living nightmare. Insisting he is Ellie’s soulmate, the kidnapper gives her three chances to say his name. If she guesses wrong, it’s Neil who will suffer the consequences. This propels Ellie into a desperate trip down memory lane to dredge up the dubious men of her past.

Only after discovering the man's true identity and sacrificing her own safety to save Neil does Ellie finally learn the truth — that everything she thinks she knows about her husband and their decade-long love story is a lie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dundurn
• Release date: Oct 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781459746169

Erin Ruddy

Erin Ruddy is a writer, editor, and award-winning journalist. She is currently the executive editor at MediaEdge Communications. She lives in Toronto.

Book preview

Reviews for Tell Me My Name

[carole888fort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy is a first novel for this author. However, Ruddy has nailed the thriller genre and I was hooked from the first sentence. Ellie and Neil Patterson have been married for ten years and have taken some together time at their new cottage. Before long both have been kidnapped by someone who claims to be from Ellie’s past and he threatens to torture Neil if she does not remember his name. She nervously goes back into her past to identify this stranger and save her husband. What ensues is a desperate search for Ellie who is taken away by the kidnapper after leaving her husband for dead. There is so much tension throughout, leading to an ending that most will not come close to guessing. This is a mesmerizing thriller that hits the ground running and does not relent. It is hoped that Erin Ruddy will be writing more thrillers in the future. Highly recommended. Thank you to Dundurn Press, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[cathygeha · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tell Me My Name by Erin RuddyTold in three parts this is a story that drew me in, kept me guessing and had me scratching my head from time to time. The first part introduced Neil and Ellie Paterson in their new summer cottage for the first time without children there and time to reconnect. Then suddenly that idyllic time was turned into a nightmare. Part II brings the end of the time in the new cottage neighborhood with a chase to catch up with an unhinged kidnapper and his kidnappee. Part three has the kidnapper still on the loose and people trying to get back to normal only to have another nightmare to deal with before the book can conclude. The backstories of the three main characters: kidnapper, Neil and Ellie are revealed throughout the story and there are twists and turns aplenty. At times I felt the story seemed a bit more TV drama than a book or perhaps an illustrated book, in some ways, than a serious thriller. Why? I am not sure…perhaps it was the way the characters were presented or the way the scenes unfolded. Or it might have been the ineptness of the policewoman in charge of the case. It could have been the almost cozy mystery feel of the person trying to beat the police to finding the kidnapper. There were a few other instances where I wondered about how easily a child was influenced or a relationship turned upside down. The ending left me scratching my head.My takeaway is that the story well written and plotted, there was plenty of drama and intensity, and the author will grow as she continues to write. I would read another of her books in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn for the ARC – This is my honest review. 3 Stars