Book Review: "I Will Ruin You" by Linwood Barclay

Review by Nancy Sasso Janis

Linwood Barclay, a New York Times bestselling author, has added a new novel to his long list of work. His latest work is “I Will Ruin You,” a chilling thriller that was published this year.

The publisher summarizes the novel as “A teacher’s act of heroism inadvertently makes him the target of a dangerous blackmailer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.”

Richard Boyle is a dedicated high school English teacher. When he notices a former student heading toward the school with a bomb strapped to his chest, he jumps into action and single handedly averts a major tragedy. Unfortunately, his heroic action attracts the attention of a blackmailer who wants to settle a score.

Boyle finds himself in a web of wild accusations and deadly secrets that he must figure out in order to survive. He, and the reader, must unravel what ties together the former student, the blackmailer and a gang of ruthless drug dealers. As Boyle desperately tries to find his way back to life before the life-and-death situation at the beginning of this story, he discovers that everyone seems to be hiding something. “What price will he pay for one good deed?”

I did not realize when I chose to read this novel that the author now lives in Toronto, but is a native of Connecticut. When I read that the fictional Lodge High School was located in the town of Milford, I knew that there were other Milfords in the United States. A reference in the second chapter to “the Fox affiliate up in Hartford” confirmed for me that Milford, Connecticut definitely fit the geographic location.

As a life-long Connecticut resident, I delighted in catching multiple references to the Constitution State. I taught at a school in Milford, so I could picture the descriptions of the town. Mention is made of Home Depot, Dick’s Sporting Goods, a police training academy in Bridgeport, our local hospitals and driving on the Boston Post Road. There are also plenty of pop culture references that firmly place the story in the present.

The author, via the main character, acknowledges that teachers in Connecticut were “compensated better than in some states,”and then goes on to accurately describe the ever increasing pressures of the profession. Budget cuts, disputes over masks and the horrors of virtual learning during the pandemic and “textbooks (that) hadn’t been updated since the Carter administration. Barclay also describes the stress that students are under with aching clarity.

Truth be told, I had my suspicions about the character that turned out to be the guilty party early in the story, but I could never have predicted where this thriller would end up.

I would recommend this twisty novel to those with a background in education, for there is much that is relatable. Residents of New England will have much in common with the locations in the story. I will be looking for more of Barclay’s work in my local library.

Linwood Barclay is the #1 internationally bestselling author of seventeen novels for adults, including “No Time for Goodbye,” “Trust Your Eyes” and “A Noise Downstairs.” He has also written two novels for children and screenplays.

“I Will Ruin You” is published by William Morrow (May 7, 2024)