Riddle Me Home

by B.D. Bucher

It is one thing to have skeletons tucked safely away in the closet, but to be forced to expose them is another story. Is Ella Masters’ life worth digging up skeletons that reveal a lifetime of games, lies, and family secrets? Davis Masters has shady business deals and even darker personal affairs, but his wife’s disappearance isn’t part of his overall plan. In fact, it couldn’t be a worse time. Now he needs to find out who has her before authorities do. Ella’s identical twin sister, Emilie Randolph, shows up at the police station, after a two-year estranged relationship. Davis tries to convince authorities she is behind his wife’s disappearance, but the high-society Chicago beauty clouds their judgment with her big blue eyes, flashy smile, and charismatic personality. William and Willow Masters are doing their best to take care of each other in their mommy’s absence, but they are young, innocent, and vulnerable. And sometimes children get lost in the midst of adult games. Agents Drew Scott and Brad Gibbons know they have less than a month to sift through a pile of evidence that is handed to them like Thanksgiving dinner. It is enough to keep them questioning Ella’s loved ones, but not enough to lead them to the missing wife and mother. Evidence points to foul play, but they can’t rule out that Ella’s own secrets may have led to her disappearance. Did she leave willingly, or is she quietly pleading, “Riddle Me Home?”

519 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2018

Reviews

[Cynthia (Bingeing On Books)]

I just couldn't get into this one. The writing style was throwing me off a bit. First, I didn't like that there were so many instances of ALL CAPS in the dialogue. If it was in a letter or something sent by a character, I could get that. But it seemed weird to have that in the middle of someone speaking and it happened a lot. Also, I got annoyed by Ella and Emilie calling their father "daddy." It just seemed annoying for grown women to use that word. And I know that young kids can sometimes say things that sounds more like what an adult would say. But little 11 year old William talked like an adult all the time! There was never a break where he sounded like a kid. Never. I felt like the plot kind of derailed and it kept getting weirder and the villains in this story were just so bad that they almost seemed like cartoon characters or something. Davis had zero redeeming qualities. And none of the other characters inspired any feelings. I got to the 30% mark and I was a bit bored with what was happening, so I just had to stop. I did skim to the end to see why Ella was kidnapped. Reading until the end wouldn't have been worth it, in my opinion. No spoilers, but there was way too much rape and sexual assault involved and the motives for why Ella was kidnapped were kind of outlandish.