I Will Ruin You
A Novel
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4.3 • 11 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
In the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay, 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.
How would you react in a life-or-death situation?
It’s a question everyone asks themselves, but few have to face in real life. English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others, but when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero, but not all the attention focused on him is positive.
Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town—something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. He’s desperate to find a way out, but everyone in his life seems to be hiding something, and trusting the wrong person could cost him everything he loves.
What price will he pay for one good deed?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Connecticut high school teacher stops a mass murder only to be targeted by a blackmailer in this hair-raising standalone from bestseller Barclay (The Lie Maker). Richard Boyle looks out his classroom window one afternoon just in time to spot Mark LeDrew, a "benign fuckup" of a former student, approaching the building while wearing a vest loaded with dynamite. Boyle tells his class to call 911 and lock themselves in, then goes to confront Mark. He convinces the 20-something to leave—but then Mark trips and sets off the explosives, killing himself and wounding Boyle. The fallout is swift. First, Mark's parents, who blame Boyle for their son's death, slap him with a lawsuit. Then Billy Finster, whom Boyle coached on the wrestling team, claims the news about Mark dug up memories that Boyle sexually abused him, and that he won't go to the cops if the teacher comes up with an unspecified sum of cash. As Boyle scrambles to pay off Billy and hire a lawyer, he discovers links between Billy's threat and a local crime network. Barclay makes his protagonist's plight devastatingly immediate, and keeps readers on tenterhooks throughout. This is difficult to put down.
