Blood Sugar is such a great debut. Ruby an animal loving therapist who loves her husband is accused of killing her husband. The story is told in short past and present chapters and kept me on the edge the entire time. Fans of Riley Sager will enjoy this one.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this digital arc. All opinions are my own.

I went into this absolutely blind and found it to be so refreshing and a compulsive read. Ruby was a shockingly sympathetic and likable character…for a murderer.

When this novel started with a five year old methodically committing murder, I thought, 'Cool, an unreliable narrator. That's an interesting approach.' Reader, let me assure you that was not the case. Ruby is perfect in basically every way except her oopsie murders (always justified, in her mind) and the fact that she is "only" a 7 (she calls her face plain at one point but then proceeds to have no trouble with sex/dating). Her narration is obnoxiously narcissistic, and the sentence "I would be canceled" is written without irony.

Blood Sugar is an absolutely mesmerizing, character driven thriller. As the byline says, Ruby (MC) is accused of 4 murders, but she only committed 3 of them, and the exploration of Ruby's life from childhood to sitting in an interrogation room is masterfully executed by Rotchchild. The deep insight into Ruby is balanced with incredibly realistic character traits that make her believable as a murderess, but completely likeable as a human. If you love psychological exploration of unique, not quite anti hero characters, you will absolutely love this thriller that wraps up in an astoundingly perfect ending.

Check out my interview with Sascha about the book!
Audio
https://between-the-lines-with-kate.simplecast.com/episodes/sascha-rothchild-blood-sugar

Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2zzfal9rdw&t=80s

intrigued from start to finish! wasn’t expecting to root for a murderous therapist lol

Blood Sugar follows a female serial killer named Ruby. In the first chapter you learn of her first murder and wonder how you could ever find anything good, in Ruby.

This book alternates chapters between the present and past, helping us to understand Ruby and her life. Somewhere along the way, Rothchild shows us a different side of her; someone almost impossible to dislike, and even root for a little bit, as she tries to prove her innocence in the wake of her husbands death.

The first 40% was a quick read, then slowed down until about 70% where the pace picked up and was gripping until the end. I would consider this a very slow burn as far as thrillers go.

I felt the ending wrapped up neatly in a way that didn’t quite sit right with me, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless.

Thank you to Putnam Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

I loved the way the story was told. Between the personal stories and the interrogation room. I couldn’t put the book down.
The main character was so well written, it sometimes felt I was reading a personal diary and she was so compelling (sometimes catching myself agreeing with her justifications for murder)

Ruby didn't kill her husband. But she has been a murderer since she was only five. Not that she didn't have good reason for all those murders, but everyone around her is building up a narrative that she's a serial killer -- and that her husband Jason is only the latest body on the pile. Is he?

This suspenseful deep dive into the mind of a sociopath (a therapist sociopath, no less!) is the very definition of a character-driven story. The plot is good, but Ruby is great. She's intensely clever and always one step ahead. No doubt Ruby is a genius. An evil genius or just a regular one, though, that's up for you to decide.

We follow her every move from preschool, a fraught teenage experience, social difficulties in college, gaining and losing best friends and lovers, and finally her short marriage to Jason. The story eventually turned into a legal thriller, at which point her fascinating relationship with Roman stole the show.

I found it very difficult to stop turning pages in this exceptionally twisty, tasty thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

intriguing

Right away from the beginning it pulled me in. It’s an intriguing story with a unique, flawed but like-able main character.