Set in the hills of coastal Italy, Ruin follows Claire Bailey — a young woman desperate for a win as her family unravels, her career teeters on the edge, and she recovers from heartbreak. Claire’s walls are up, and her eye is on the prize as she competes for an exclusive distribution deal with Vigneto Riserva del Regale. After a botched business dinner, she is drawn into the orbit of the enigmatic Arik Medici, who conceals dangerous secrets and an obsession behind old-world charm. Arik continuously walks the line between possession and protection, and more so, the illusion of choice versus inevitability.

When Claire finally witnesses Arik’s monstrous side, the revelation is a payoff for the tension and suspicion woven throughout the first half of the story. What follows delivers a cascade of revelations about Arik’s true identity, the fate of the missing women who have disappeared from Vigneto Riserva del Regale, cursed islands with ancient vampires, and why Claire was really sent to Italy in the first place — recontextualizing everything that came before and rewarding attentive readers with jaw-dropping twists.

Ruin is just the beginning…