Pg. 69: Sandra Ruttan's "What Burns Within"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Sandra Ruttan's What Burns Within.

About the book, from the publisher:

One year ago, a brutal case almost destroyed three cops. Since then they’ve lost touch with one another, avoiding painful memories, content to go their own ways. Now Nolan is after a serial rapist. Hart is working on a string of arsons. And Tain has been assigned a series of child abductions, a case all too similar to that one. But when the body of one of the abduction victims is found at the site of one of the arsons, it starts to look like maybe these cases are connected after all….

Among the early praise for What Burns Within:

"Three Vancouver constables—son-of-a-sergeant Craig Nolan, bombshell in the boys’ club Ashlyn Hart, and stolidly antisocial cop Tain—are drawn together as the rapes, arsons and child abductions they’re working on respectively converge. The three, who have a beef over a prior case gone bad, must get over their personal differences and chase scant leads before another raped woman, burned building or missing girl turns up. Ruttan manages to keep the multiple leads and seconds on the same page admirably: she doesn’t drop too many clues in their laps or allow the tension to flag. The child abduction and sex crime aspects of the story are handled without exploitation or kid gloves; the straight proceduralism from Ruttan (Suspicious Circumstances) serves the story well through the rewarding climax."
--Publishers Weekly

“A totally mesmerizing narrative and a plot that burns off the page.”
--Ken Bruen, Author of Ammunition

“Ruttan is talented in the way that a natural musician is talented, making all the notes seem effortless.”
--Crimespree Magazine

"A taut, crackling read with switch-blade pacing."
--Rick Mofina, internationally best-selling author of A Perfect Grave

"Sandra Ruttan writes with utter ferocity. Twists and turns that stun and dialog that absolutely crackles with wit and authenticity. With each page, Ruttan delivers the goods. What Burns Within is a nonstop chiller of a mystery that keeps you turning the pages."
--Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author of A Wicked Snow

"Ruttan combines devilishly clever plots with genuinely empathic characters..."
--Russel D. McLean, Crime Scene Scotland

Sandra Ruttan is also the author of Suspicious Circumstances and an editor with Spinetingler Magazine. Her writing has appeared in Pulp Pusher, Crimespree Magazine and Out of the Gutter.

Learn more about Sandra Ruttan and What Burns Within at her website and her blog.

The Page 69 Test: What Burns Within.

--Marshal Zeringue