By Liz Soares
It’s a hot summer, and Liz Daniels doesn’t want to leave the cool of her Adirondacks hobby farm to travel across upstate New York to visit her in-laws. Her husband, Paul, has had hardly anything to do with them in the years they’ve been married. But suddenly he’s decided the kids, aged eight and six, need to see their grandparents.
Paul, we learn, is a professor at the Eastern Agricultural College. He’s a strict environmentalist— they are driving a hybrid, he doesn’t allow Reid and Ally to eat junk food, and he hates anything plastic.
Liz has packed snacks for the trip, “in case they couldn’t find food on the road or in case they did find something and Paul wouldn’t allow the kids to eat it.”
Liz is much more easygoing than Paul, perhaps to a fault. She runs a business called Roots with her best friend, Jill. They grow boutique vegetables and fruits, cook up preserves and package them whimsically, and sell their wares at farmers’ markets and gift shops.
The trip goes horribly wrong when the children disappear from their hotel room. Then, when Liz thinks she can’t take any more pain, Paul vanishes as well. It soon becomes quite clear he’s taken the kids.
The trip to visit his parents was just a ruse.
Paul, we learn, is a professor at the Eastern Agricultural College. He’s a strict environmentalist— they are driving a hybrid, he doesn’t allow Reid and Ally to eat junk food, and he hates anything plastic.
Liz has packed snacks for the trip, “in case they couldn’t find food on the road or in case they did find something and Paul wouldn’t allow the kids to eat it.”
Liz is much more easygoing than Paul, perhaps to a fault. She runs a business called Roots with her best friend, Jill. They grow boutique vegetables and fruits, cook up preserves and package them whimsically, and sell their wares at farmers’ markets and gift shops.
The trip goes horribly wrong when the children disappear from their hotel room. Then, when Liz thinks she can’t take any more pain, Paul vanishes as well. It soon becomes quite clear he’s taken the kids.
The trip to visit his parents was just a ruse.
Ruin Falls is a top-notch thriller with a fascinating premise, solid characters and a relentless pace. Liz is a strong heroine despite herself. As her friend and colleague Jill says, Paul “called the shots, and you either went along with them, or did your best to hide that you weren’t going along with them.”
Now Liz is on her own, Is she up to the task of rescuing her children?
The answer is a resounding “yes.”
Once Liz knows what Paul has done, she races to his parents’ farm. They are not welcoming and have little to say to her. But she knows Paul and the children have been there—she finds evidence— and she discovers that Paul played football in college (he’s an Eastern Ag grad), something he never told her.
What else does she not know about her husband? Jill thinks there’s plenty. Back at home, Liz enlists the help of a high school friend, Tim Lurcquer, who is now the chief of police in her town. She searches Paul’s home office, and his computer. He’s not tech savvy, and his computer is old, because to get a new one would be wasteful. Paul wiped his e-mail account clean, but didn’t realize that he logged out of Firefox incorrectly.
Liz then has the option of “restoring the last session.” She’s eventually able to track Paul’s involvement in a group called “Parents at the End of the World,” or PEW. Paul’s academic and personal knowledge of the survival subculture makes him a star on the forum, and Liz suspects his fans may have urged him to take the children. The big question is: where?
The more Liz learns about Paul’s secret life, the angrier she gets. “I hope you really did yourself in, you bastard,” Liz thinks about Paul as she sleuths. “I’ll hunt you down as if you left a roadmap.”
Liz’s story alternates with those of Abby, who’s trying to maintain custody of her son; Madeline, who’s desperate to raise her newborn daughter away from her own overbearing mother; and the the soulless misogynist “Shoemaker,” whose motives are anything but idealistic. All are connected by “PEW.”
Milchman skewers the sometimes over-the-top philosophies of both eco-fashionistas and doomsday preppers. As Liz questions a group of Paul’s students, one tells her the tea they are drinking is locally-sourced. Lia, who is both Paul’s student and Liz and Jill’s intern, says, “The mix is made at Mrs. Daniel’s farm. She knows its carbon footprint.”
A spot-on, hilarious moment occurs when a pre-schooler tumbles from a survivalist mama’s body sling — the child has well outgrown the device that secures infant to a parent’s chest.
It took me a chapter or two to get over the superficial similarities between the characters and my own life. I’m Liz, my husband is Paul, and we drive a hybrid. But there the coincidences end.
Liz is a determined “mama bear” who will go to the ends of the earth to save her cubs. Luckily, she doesn’t have to leave the Adirondacks. As she searches for Reid and Ally, she learns more and more about Paul, who has dark secrets to hide. He was an annoying prig, but his sins go much deeper than that. When Liz finally finds her children, she is more than ready to bid Paul adieu—and so are Milchman’s readers.
Now Liz is on her own, Is she up to the task of rescuing her children?
The answer is a resounding “yes.”
Once Liz knows what Paul has done, she races to his parents’ farm. They are not welcoming and have little to say to her. But she knows Paul and the children have been there—she finds evidence— and she discovers that Paul played football in college (he’s an Eastern Ag grad), something he never told her.
What else does she not know about her husband? Jill thinks there’s plenty. Back at home, Liz enlists the help of a high school friend, Tim Lurcquer, who is now the chief of police in her town. She searches Paul’s home office, and his computer. He’s not tech savvy, and his computer is old, because to get a new one would be wasteful. Paul wiped his e-mail account clean, but didn’t realize that he logged out of Firefox incorrectly.
Liz then has the option of “restoring the last session.” She’s eventually able to track Paul’s involvement in a group called “Parents at the End of the World,” or PEW. Paul’s academic and personal knowledge of the survival subculture makes him a star on the forum, and Liz suspects his fans may have urged him to take the children. The big question is: where?
The more Liz learns about Paul’s secret life, the angrier she gets. “I hope you really did yourself in, you bastard,” Liz thinks about Paul as she sleuths. “I’ll hunt you down as if you left a roadmap.”
Liz’s story alternates with those of Abby, who’s trying to maintain custody of her son; Madeline, who’s desperate to raise her newborn daughter away from her own overbearing mother; and the the soulless misogynist “Shoemaker,” whose motives are anything but idealistic. All are connected by “PEW.”
Milchman skewers the sometimes over-the-top philosophies of both eco-fashionistas and doomsday preppers. As Liz questions a group of Paul’s students, one tells her the tea they are drinking is locally-sourced. Lia, who is both Paul’s student and Liz and Jill’s intern, says, “The mix is made at Mrs. Daniel’s farm. She knows its carbon footprint.”
A spot-on, hilarious moment occurs when a pre-schooler tumbles from a survivalist mama’s body sling — the child has well outgrown the device that secures infant to a parent’s chest.
It took me a chapter or two to get over the superficial similarities between the characters and my own life. I’m Liz, my husband is Paul, and we drive a hybrid. But there the coincidences end.
Liz is a determined “mama bear” who will go to the ends of the earth to save her cubs. Luckily, she doesn’t have to leave the Adirondacks. As she searches for Reid and Ally, she learns more and more about Paul, who has dark secrets to hide. He was an annoying prig, but his sins go much deeper than that. When Liz finally finds her children, she is more than ready to bid Paul adieu—and so are Milchman’s readers.
