Dying to Know You

But don’t get too close… it could be fatal

The cover of Blood Sugar will grab you first with its bright Miami sky and teaser: “She’s accused of four murders. She’s only guilty of three.” Then comes the first chapter and the first murder Ruby Simon commits—at age 5. It’s a drowning of a young boy in the Atlantic Ocean off Miami Beach. No one suspects Ruby could have anything to do with it, but they are wrong. “As my mother held me, I waited for guilt to set in. But it never did.” If Ruby has not hooked you by now, well, try another book.

Fast-forward 25 years to Ruby in an interrogation room of the Miami Beach

Police Department, with a detective questioning how it is that in her lifetime four different people have suffered untimely deaths within arm’s reach of Ruby. The last such death is her husband. Did she kill him too?

This is author Sascha Rothchild’s first thriller, and it’s a worthy debut. She keeps you turning the pages as you work through the events in Ruby’s life and attempt to determine the truth behind them. You will spend the entire book trying to figure out if Ruby, a seemingly well-adjusted Yale-educated psychologist, is actually a psychopath. Is she a Dexter type of “likable” serial killer? Or is she someone who repeatedly finds herself in the right place at the right time—or maybe the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your perspective?

Ruby narrates her story as though she were having a conversation with a new friend: you, the reader. She can be charming, witty, and engaging. But there is always a bit of an edge to her narration. Normal… but not quite.

She has all the trappings of normalcy— friends, career, a solid childhood, a sister she adores, pets she dotes on, and a loving husband—but the reader knows otherwise. Can the police figure this out? And if they don’t, what will Ruby’s next move be?

Another good one for a sunny day on the beach.

Is she someone who repeatedly finds herself in the right place at the right time—or maybe the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your perspective?