The Closer You Get

February 24, 2020
Early in this solid psychological thriller from British author Torjussen (The Girl I Used to Be), personal assistant Ruby Dean and her boss, Harry Sheridan, decide to leave their spouses after an 18-month affair and start a life together. Ruby tells her emotionally abusive husband, Tom, it’s over and moves out, but Harry never meets her as planned. At first, Ruby is sure there’s a good explanation for why Harry didn’t keep his word. Perhaps Harry’s wife, Emma, caused a scene or he had an accident. But when she returns to work, she’s fired, and Harry is off on a romantic holiday with Emma to celebrate her pregnancy. Devastated, Ruby questions her choices and even considers returning to Tom, but ultimately forges ahead. In her search for a new job, she goes to an interview that turns out to be a hoax. The tension rises as more mishaps and threatening messages leave Ruby unsettled. Ruby must ultimately decide whether to trade her physical safety for her emotional well-being. The story builds steadily to an exciting climax and then flatlines as Torjussen ties up loose ends. David Bell fans will be satisfied. Agent: Kate Burke, Blake Friedmann (U.K.).

March 1, 2020
Ruby is miserable in her marriage to abusive, control-freak Tom, who tracks her using her Fitbit and degrades her at every turn. When she starts a new job and meets sweet, caring Harry, they fall for each other immediately, despite him also being married. Their romance is told in flashbacks, with the book opening as Ruby leaves Tom, only for Harry to be a no-show at the hotel where they've agreed to start their new lives. As they look back on various tangled relationships and follow Ruby's present-day mess, readers are given alternate first-person perspectives on the situation from Ruby, Tom, Harry, and Harry's wife, Emma. These viewpoints allow shocking twists to emerge, which, along with Ruby's emotional roller coaster and the white-knuckle-inducing look at Tom's abuse, will keep readers gripped throughout. A woman's life unravelling also propelled Torjussen's The Girl I Used to Be (2018), and fans of that work will eat this one up; J. L. Butler's Mine (2018) is an apt read-alike while waiting for more from Torjussen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)