Blood Sugar

BEST BOOK OF 2022

i really do love thrillers like this. if you like you with less action and more of a focus on psychological factors, i would highly recommend this book. i love the morality discussions this book had and i just thought it had such amazing but subtle commentary. there wasn't a plot and more following a character like a literary thriller, but it was just done so well 

This book shot out the gate at a solid 4. At some point about a hundred pages in I realized there was lots of narrative, and almost no dialogue. That old writing adage “show, don't tell” - alas, this one is all tell, no show. Then, three fourths in, we get to the legal case, which is absolutely impossible with zero evidence but anyway, and the book slows to a crawl. I almost didn't finish it. I did skip ahead then force myself to go back. But damn this book started out fantastic then died a painful slow awful death in my arms. The last 30 pages took me 3 days to read. I could say so much more but I won't.

It's always hard finishing a book like this, one that was so special. I've heard glowing reviews about this, but just never got around to it. I thought this would be more of a fast-paced intense thriller, but instead found an incredible character study. I ADORED Ruby. She was so perfectly flawed, and you couldn't help rooting for her. She felt like such a real character, and I loved getting to know her throughout her life. The plot was perfectly woven through Ruby's past, with a great ended. I loved this so much 

Ruby is a very interesting character we get to follow. She was sort of a psychopathic character, but she also knew that she felt emotions so she claimed she wasn't totally a psychopath. It was interesting to be in her thoughts and know some of the things she has done and rules she has for herself while also getting her perspective of things from a therapist standpoint since that is what she does for a living.

I think I would classify this more as a suspense novel and not necessarily a thriller. It also felt like a character study of Ruby herself from her own perspective.

i liked this more than i originally thought i would

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

---

This is one of those books that grabbed my interest and then I immediately forgot about it for months. Thankfully, the library system here had it in their audiobook catalog where I stumbled on it. Knowing what I know about it now, I'm pretty annoyed that I took this long to get to it.

THE HOOK

The book opens with the protagonist/narrator in a police interrogation room. Ruby Simon is being questioned about her husband's death. She's innocent--100% guiltless--it's clear from the get-go, that she did not murder her husband.

But...there are three other people that Ruby has killed over the last couple of decades. She's never even been looked at as a suspect in these deaths--they'd previously been judged to be accidental, in fact.

But after death #4, it's hard to believe that with all this smoke, there might not be a fire.

WHAT COMES AFTER THE HOOK

The first part of the book focuses on the events in the interrogation room--the detective presses for details on these four deaths, and as Ruby dances around her answers, we get to see her life story in flashbacks. Her childhood (punctuated by a murder), her party days as a teen (punctuated by a murder), her college years and training as a psychologist (punctuated by a murder), and then her falling in love with her husband and beginning their life together (punctuated by his death by natural causes).

The rest of the book focuses on the legal battle that ensues--the investigation that follows, her eventual arrest, the decimation of her career and reputation that results, and the eventual resolution of it all.

CONFLICTING IMPULSES

Ruby is a completely horrible person, she's a murderer--and in two of the three cases, it's entirely unjustified. The motives behind those two are so...pointless is the best I can come up with. The third murder probably wasn't necessary, Ruby could've found a non-lethal solution to the situation--but you can understand and appreciate why she did it. She deserves to be behind bars (at least), she needs to be tried, convicted, and punished. It's the right thing.

And yet she's innocent here. She loved her husband, would never have killed him, and shouldn't be dragged through the mud over this. The reader/listener constantly finds themselves rooting for this character that in normal circumstances you want to be pursued by a dogged investigator.

It's similar to Dexter or Hannibal--with them, we embrace their homicidal acts and desires while rooting for them. There's part of you that wants Dexter to get away with it so he can take down another serial killer. A similar part of you wants Hannibal to slip away from custody because he's disturbingly charming. But it's different in Blood Sugar--we have an actual injustice, and we instinctually recoil from that and want her exonerated.

But...you can't get away from the injustice of her getting away with the other murders.

At the same time, you resent Detective Jackson for doing his job. He's absolutely wrong about Jason's death and shouldn't be in Ruby's life. But in any other book/series, we'd be rooting for him. He might as well be Harry Bosch or a similar character--he's got all these pieces before him and is assembling a case that's 75% correct. He's doing everything right, and has an actual killer in his sights--and you want him to fail. Not only that, you probably are angry with him and have some active distaste for him.

But if this book was told from his perspective? You'd love him and admire his ingenuity and intuitive leaps.

For a long-time reader of detective fiction, this is a great twist on the conventions.

RUBY'S ANTAGONIST

Someone has to be behind all her problems right? Det. Jackson isn't going to look into Jason's death without someone or something prompting him. Once you figure that out--which will probably happen before the actual reveal--it's delicious. This might be my favorite thing that Rothchild does in this book.

For a book that's full of confusing impulses for the reader, it's nice to have an adverse reaction to someone that's straightforward and uncomplicated.

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT THE NARRATION

Ryan did a great job of this--she made Ruby Simon a human being. Her portrayal helps you identify and embrace Ruby as the innocent--with a shady past. You want to believe her when she says that she's not a sociopath.

There were a couple of scenes (with one of Ruby's patients in particular, and some involving Ruby's dog) where I was moved because of the narration. I don't know if they'd have been as effective (or affective) if I'd read the book, but with Ryan's work, I was absolutely gripped.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT BLOOD SUGAR?

I thought this was a great listen--a great experience.

I relished this approach to the story and characters, and the way you were forced time and time again to re-evaluate the characters, their actions, and your reactions to them.

Do I want a steady diet of this? No. Do I hope that a future Rothchild novel is either more conventional--or tweaks conventions in a different way? Absolutely. I can see Rothchild being a Lisa Lutz-type of writer. With stand-alones where you never know what you're going to get--other than some wry humor, deep characters, and an approach to Crime Fiction that you hadn't considered before.

I strongly recommend you pick this up in audio or print.

the writing was SOOOOO good

3.5 / 5 ✮⋆˙

(i'm redoing a bunch of my ratings because i was clearly under the influence or something when making these)

i liked this book, the story itself felt very cozy - for a thriller. to me it felt very wholesome, which probably says a lot about me.

i wanted to love this book and i was going to give it 4 stars until about the halfway point.

pros ₊˚⊹⋆
- amazing FMC. ruby simon is relatable and intriguing at the same time.
- really great writing style, was easy to follow.
- all the characters had substance, felt individual and important to the story.
- the story is still really interesting, i loved reading about her life and how it evolves over time.

cons ₊˚⊹⋆
- there wasn't a sense of urgency to me which affected the pacing of the plot heavily.
- for a thriller, it wasn't very thriller-y. at the start it felt very dramatic, and then tapered off.
- the resolution was very predictable.

my favorite cover ever and definitely one of my favorite books ever. this is definitely a character based thriller which I actually love and I know its not everyone thing but its mine. the plot always had something going on and I LOVED the main character and the whole concept of this book was amazing. definitely one of my favorites of this year and I will be thinking about this forever.

I really enjoyed this book, it was funny, witty and really stressed me out in the end. I was rooting for Ruby the whole time.

3.5 Rounded to 3

I'm starting to be wary of new releases that claim it's a thriller. This is not a thriller. This is a book about a serial killer who ends up in the hot seat for a crime she, for once, didn't commit.

This is a slow read. While I didn't absolutely love it, I didn't hate it either. This made for a pleasant listen but it definitely lacked the thrills I thought I was getting.

The narrator is great for this one though and that made it easy to want to keep listening and finish to the end. I would say if you don't mind a foray into a MCs thoughts, feelings and ruminations, then you would probably love this one more than I did.

I really wanted to dislike Ruby, but I couldn't! I was so nervous to see how she would prove her innocence. And then when we find out how that was proved! I never saw that coming. Also this cover is gorgeous!