Ruthless

June 22, 2015
In Adamsâs thrilling, horror-tinged debut, 17-year-old Ruth Carver refuses to be a victim even after she is abducted by a disturbed man she names âWolfman,â severely injured, and taken to a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ruth is told that no one is looking for herâWolfman intends to break Ruth psychologically and then kill her as he did six other redheads who he deemed needed to be punished. She narrowly escapes his grasp, but then is faced with surviving the wilderness as he hunts her down. When the tables turn, Ruth must determine the extent to which she will seek retribution. Readers will feel completely submerged in Ruthâs first-person, present-tense narrative, which alternates with third-person chapters that provide glimpses into Ruth and Wolfmanâs pasts. Though Adams focuses primarily on Ruthâs will to escape her captor within the present, itâs clear that these past experiences have helped form her inner core of resilience. An intense and unsettling survival story. Ages 14âup. Agent: Mandy Hubbard, D4EO Literary Agency.

April 15, 2015
Can 17-year-old Ruth's relentless drive to win save her from a serial killer? When she's competing or training Tucker, her horse, Ruth Carver pushes herself to the limit to be the best. In fact, the other girls who take lessons from her mother at the stable, part of Ruth's family's farm, call Ruth "Ruthless." Waking in a dark vehicle and sure she has a concussion, Ruth knows she's been kidnapped and vows to follow her sheriff grandfather's advice to do anything to escape. When she meets her wolflike abductor and learns she's not his first victim and that he wants to show her the error of her high-and-mighty ways, Ruth knows this fight will take every ounce of resolve and smarts. She escapes, naked, into the Blue Ridge Mountains' wilderness, but the "Wolfman" has plans to get his seventh victim back. Seattle screenwriter and sometime stand-up comic Adams' solid-enough debut plumbs the depths of serial-killer and bitchy-teen psychology in alternating chapters of back story that trade off with Ruth's present-tense narration of her harrowing experience. Ruth is a strong character, but her nickname fits, and even in extremis she may be more unlikable than sympathetic. Several high-adrenaline set pieces dot this at-times improbable and repetitive thriller. A between-books read for avid fans of survival fiction and serial-killer tales. (Thriller. 14-18)

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May 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Written in alternating first- and third-person points of view, this nail-biter will instantly catapult readers into a thriller that is equal parts suspense and horror. This is a the tale of a young woman who becomes the victim of an acquaintance abduction. What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse in a remote, wooded area and the struggle for survival. Adams adeptly creates an emotional roller coaster through her vivid writing and the constant tension between the protagonists. Spliced with flashback vignettes, the work horrifies as much as it asks readers to examine the root causes of the very things that drive the characters' decision-making. Ruth and her "Wolfman" nemesis are sure to elicit myriad emotions. While the vignettes serve their purpose of explaining why the events are occuring, they add a degree of choppiness to an otherwise well-written, fast-paced work. VERDICT Recommended as a first purchase for fans of contemporary psychological thrillers for teens.-Tamela Chambers, Chicago Public Schools

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