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Rabbit, Ruined
RABBIT, RUINED delves into the inception of a twisted cat-and-mouse saga.
Avery Rhodes is a monster. This charming, contained man hides a dark secret. Rhodes has a plan, one he’s been plotting for years, ever since the last time. To make his plan complete, he needs victims. Four, as usual. Young adults are supposed to be weak, malleable, impressionable.
Heather Stokes is anything but.
This resilient, sharp-tongued young woman is clever enough to endanger everything Rhodes has worked so hard for. But Avery Rhodes likes that. Heather Stokes only wants to protect the others. Rhodes uses this to keep her in check. He doesn’t realize Heather is using it as well--not until it’s too late.
This debut from Emory Swift is a relentless, nail-biting serial killer thriller, full of stark detail and jaw-dropping twists, featuring unforgettable heroes and an unsettling, nightmare-inducing antagonist. Rabbit, Ruined is a must-read for fans of Karin Slaughter, Dot Hutchison, Lucinda Berry, and John Marrs.
Rabbit, Ruined is the first book of RUN RABBIT RUN, a series that spans several years and many states to follow one woman's desperate struggle to escape her traumatic past, and the serial killer determined never to let her go.
(Rabbit, Ruined was previously published under a different title.)
Avery Rhodes is a monster. This charming, contained man hides a dark secret. Rhodes has a plan, one he’s been plotting for years, ever since the last time. To make his plan complete, he needs victims. Four, as usual. Young adults are supposed to be weak, malleable, impressionable.
Heather Stokes is anything but.
This resilient, sharp-tongued young woman is clever enough to endanger everything Rhodes has worked so hard for. But Avery Rhodes likes that. Heather Stokes only wants to protect the others. Rhodes uses this to keep her in check. He doesn’t realize Heather is using it as well--not until it’s too late.
This debut from Emory Swift is a relentless, nail-biting serial killer thriller, full of stark detail and jaw-dropping twists, featuring unforgettable heroes and an unsettling, nightmare-inducing antagonist. Rabbit, Ruined is a must-read for fans of Karin Slaughter, Dot Hutchison, Lucinda Berry, and John Marrs.
Rabbit, Ruined is the first book of RUN RABBIT RUN, a series that spans several years and many states to follow one woman's desperate struggle to escape her traumatic past, and the serial killer determined never to let her go.
(Rabbit, Ruined was previously published under a different title.)
319 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 19, 2023
24 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Emory Swift
5 books9 followersEmory Swift is an Atlanta native. Known for serial killer thrillers and the occasional short story, Swift creates unforgettable villains, complicated, true-to-life protagonists, and roller-coaster plots.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 9, 2025
If you stick with this book you’ll be rewarded in the third act when it truly finds its footing. While I can enjoy third pov omniscient, I think this book would have benefited by a more objective third party view and stuck to Rhodes and Heather and not the rest of the characters as it was done in a way that could be very confusing early in the book and passages as you’re trying to figure out what is what, and who is who.
This book is definitely heavy and the first half I think does miss the mark because of the omniscient pov and just continued acts of abuse and missing a forward action other then the abuse at the hands of Rhodes. I wish there had been more back story or even more cat and mouse leading up to the capture. There isn’t quite a clear indicator on why Heather is different for Rhodes and the switch happens quite abruptly and I wish there had been more inner struggle dialogue from his POV to lead up to the final act or even to take us outside the house with the POV and have the police presence and investigation break up the scenes of torture.
The last 15% the footing is found and the story begins to flow much better, enough so that my interest is piqued to read the next book.
This book is definitely heavy and the first half I think does miss the mark because of the omniscient pov and just continued acts of abuse and missing a forward action other then the abuse at the hands of Rhodes. I wish there had been more back story or even more cat and mouse leading up to the capture. There isn’t quite a clear indicator on why Heather is different for Rhodes and the switch happens quite abruptly and I wish there had been more inner struggle dialogue from his POV to lead up to the final act or even to take us outside the house with the POV and have the police presence and investigation break up the scenes of torture.
The last 15% the footing is found and the story begins to flow much better, enough so that my interest is piqued to read the next book.
August 1, 2025
Full disclosure, I downloaded (through KU) the 3 book series in one format. Since I'm not jumping immediately into the second book, and actually undecided whether I'll continue the series, I'm reviewing the first book, which is the only one I've read......
I found this book in a FB group, and have noticed it several times in the comments sections (mostly from the author if I'm not mistaken) and when I've seen it, it's been described as dark. One of the pics says something about it having all the triggers. I've seen it in the comments section of people asking for recs similar to GRoomer, Favorite/ caged Girl, (even tho it's a psych thriller group, it's people looking for either EH or violent thrillers). So I was curious....
Is it dark? I guess so. But not next level dark IMO....
Does it have all the triggers? it has some....
However, a lot of the dark stuff happened off page, and the reader only left with the aftermath of what torture happened to the character. (think of that like stuff in movies that happened off screen. It was implied that it happened. Viewers knew it happened, but didn't physically see it or get all the details).... I would almost classify it as YA, but that's just my personal opinion... For example, I read a book that was assigned to my niece when she was a high school student, that was equally as dark, if not darker than this story THE CELLAR was that book by NATASHA PRESTON).... there are very much adult dark topics... and yeah, I guess I'm just jaded on darkness levels, so my opinion here shouldn't mean that much. The biggest trigger would be (G)r#p#.... and the 4 characters abducted are high school students. Not much I can relate to in that area, couldn't identify with the characters, not any fault of the story, it's just a ME thing....
The writing is solid, and the author has a large vocabulary. There were time jumps that confused me. Not the time jumps from years ago to present day (the ones building and shaping the character's backgrounds; those made sense), but one I even highlighted on my Kindle, that really confused me. It was Chapter 36. Chapter 35 ends with one of those off page scenes, that when the chapter ended you knew it was going to be sex, but when Ch36 started I felt like it was a scene that should had been better placed somewhere after Ch 11 because I was either really confused, or maybe the character dissociated in her head during the off page sex and thought back to when they were first abducted???? I don't know..... A similar time jump happened earlier in the book too that left me scratching my head.
Now I'll stop being nitpicky....This book is well written. There is plenty of character dev, the author does a great job of flashing back (with labeled chapter headings dated to know we were going back in the past) to the past to give the reader the bigger picture as to why each character acts (or sometimes reacts) the way they do due to their previous life experiences.... It's a fun little story.
So my going in expecting it to be dark was my fault, not a flaw of this story, and my darkness level is extreme so I'm not a good gauge for that. Also, the book description describes the victims as young adults, once again, I knew that going into the story. So my not being to identify with them is not flaw of the story. That's on me. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 was because the few times jumps and scenes that felt out of order to me.... Once again, just my opinion....
I rec this book to people looking for what normal people would call dark, but without the thoroughly detailed violence and or gag inducing over the top extreme stuff....
It's a good read, and theres' a good chance I'll continue with the series at some point
I found this book in a FB group, and have noticed it several times in the comments sections (mostly from the author if I'm not mistaken) and when I've seen it, it's been described as dark. One of the pics says something about it having all the triggers. I've seen it in the comments section of people asking for recs similar to GRoomer, Favorite/ caged Girl, (even tho it's a psych thriller group, it's people looking for either EH or violent thrillers). So I was curious....
Is it dark? I guess so. But not next level dark IMO....
Does it have all the triggers? it has some....
However, a lot of the dark stuff happened off page, and the reader only left with the aftermath of what torture happened to the character. (think of that like stuff in movies that happened off screen. It was implied that it happened. Viewers knew it happened, but didn't physically see it or get all the details).... I would almost classify it as YA, but that's just my personal opinion... For example, I read a book that was assigned to my niece when she was a high school student, that was equally as dark, if not darker than this story THE CELLAR was that book by NATASHA PRESTON).... there are very much adult dark topics... and yeah, I guess I'm just jaded on darkness levels, so my opinion here shouldn't mean that much. The biggest trigger would be (G)r#p#.... and the 4 characters abducted are high school students. Not much I can relate to in that area, couldn't identify with the characters, not any fault of the story, it's just a ME thing....
The writing is solid, and the author has a large vocabulary. There were time jumps that confused me. Not the time jumps from years ago to present day (the ones building and shaping the character's backgrounds; those made sense), but one I even highlighted on my Kindle, that really confused me. It was Chapter 36. Chapter 35 ends with one of those off page scenes, that when the chapter ended you knew it was going to be sex, but when Ch36 started I felt like it was a scene that should had been better placed somewhere after Ch 11 because I was either really confused, or maybe the character dissociated in her head during the off page sex and thought back to when they were first abducted???? I don't know..... A similar time jump happened earlier in the book too that left me scratching my head.
Now I'll stop being nitpicky....This book is well written. There is plenty of character dev, the author does a great job of flashing back (with labeled chapter headings dated to know we were going back in the past) to the past to give the reader the bigger picture as to why each character acts (or sometimes reacts) the way they do due to their previous life experiences.... It's a fun little story.
So my going in expecting it to be dark was my fault, not a flaw of this story, and my darkness level is extreme so I'm not a good gauge for that. Also, the book description describes the victims as young adults, once again, I knew that going into the story. So my not being to identify with them is not flaw of the story. That's on me. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 was because the few times jumps and scenes that felt out of order to me.... Once again, just my opinion....
I rec this book to people looking for what normal people would call dark, but without the thoroughly detailed violence and or gag inducing over the top extreme stuff....
It's a good read, and theres' a good chance I'll continue with the series at some point
July 10, 2023
Rabbit, Ruined was well written and I felt that the characters (whether antagonist or protagonist) were presented with depth, and relatable personalities (quirks and all). The main character, Heather, is guarded, witty, keeps her emotions hidden. Much of the book is a back and forth of her present timeline and her past timeline with her friends and family. Heather grew on me as the story unfolded. I do want to add that this is definitely adult fiction, not for the faint of heart. **Trigger warning for graphic sexual assault. There are some decent twists and surprises. I do wish some questions were addressed and answered in the end about the killer but perhaps that will be revealed in additional installments of this series.
August 2, 2023
I got an advance copy of this book and have mixed feelings. The story was interesting enough that I really wanted to see what happened. I do think it could have been shorter or have more substance added to the story. There was details introduced that added to the confusion for me, I had to re-read some paragraphs several times and still didn't quite understand.
Overall this was a good read and I'll read the sequel to find out what happens.
Overall this was a good read and I'll read the sequel to find out what happens.
September 15, 2023
I recommend this if you are looking to read a story of a twisted antagonist. I found the story chilling and engrossing.
Read more of my review on- https://myreadingnookbyushasi.blogspo...
Read more of my review on- https://myreadingnookbyushasi.blogspo...
July 26, 2023
Phenomenal thriller novel! Very well written, the author draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Wonderful start to a series, cannot wait for the next book of the series!
September 15, 2023
A chilling and propulsive thriller. Read more of my review on- https://myreadingnookbyushasi.blogspo...
July 12, 2025
This was a heavy book. Check the trigger warnings. I wish there was more to this first story as it was mainly all abuse. I am looking forward to the next two books to see how this ends.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews