The Truth About Ruby Cooper

By: Liz Nugent

ISBN: 9781668204658

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publication Date: 09/01/2026

Format: Hardcover

My Rating: TBR (ARC)

SEP 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

“I couldn't stop reading! Absolutely a triumph!” —Freida McFadden, New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid

From the internationally bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond comes a twisted suspense novel about two sisters and the scandal that changes their lives forever.

If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.

Sixteen-year-old Ruby and her older sister Erin live comfortably in their Boston home with their pastor father and Irish mother, until one day Ruby is involved in an incident with Erin’s boyfriend, Milo, that causes her family to implode. Ruby and her mother leave in a hurry for Ireland, while Erin and her father stay behind.

As the story alternates between Erin and Ruby’s perspectives over decades, two very different women emerge. Erin struggles with trust issues. Ruby is set on a course of self-destruction.

When the truth threatens to emerge from this “brilliantly dark and tangled web” (Graham Norton), the sisters’ lives may be upended all over again. Can either of them ever truly recover from the events of that day in 1999?

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Praise

"Liz Nugent is a genius and this is her best book yet"

—Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This Is True

"How to do this dazzling book justice? An utterly gripping story about how one incident reverberates across time, damaging and destroying lives. No one plumbs the human condition, its moral quandaries, quite so deeply and brilliantly as Liz Nugent. I read it as if in a fever."

—Shari Lapena, bestselling author of Everyone Here Is Lying

“A brilliantly dark and tangled web that every reader will be completely ensnared by. Liz Nugent weaves these sorts of twisted tales better than anyone else.”

—Graham Norton, award-winning host of The Graham Norton Show and New York Times bestselling author of Holding

“A brilliant page-turner about family secrets, sibling rivalry, and sex as a weapon. This is another dark, twisted Liz Nugent winner. I loved it!”

—Robyn Harding, author of The Drowning Woman

“Consistently surprising, big-hearted, richly evoked, provocative... I believe it is [Nugent’s] finest, boldest, and most accomplished novel to date. And that’s saying quite a lot…. It’s utterly extraordinary: this is a book bristling with nuanced characters, carat-cut, facets flashing—none more so than Ruby…. [It’s] a novel that cares about its characters…. It’s a triumph, truly—ambiguous, seductive, infuriating, and both sad and full of life…. Readers will find so damn much to discuss, debate, and reconsider in this book.”

—AJ Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

“Liz Nugent writes with complexity, nuance, and disquieting depth. Relentless and uncompromising, The Truth About Ruby Cooper weaves thorny moral challenges into an irresistible story. Truly memorable. This powerful novel will stay with you long after you’ve read the last page.”

—James W. Ziskin, author of the Anthony, Barry, and Macavity award-winning Ellie Stone mysteries

“It was absolutely gripping…. [Nugent has] a gift for creating entire lives in just a few paragraphs that other authors take chapters to build.... It’s another utterly compelling, dark and unsettling piece of work."

—John Marrs, author of The One

"Lydia Fitzsimons, Sally Diamond and now Ruby Cooper – only Liz Nugent can create deeply dark, disturbing tales with ?awed female characters that are an absolute pleasure to read. Addictive and awe-inspiring, from the ?rst page to the last."

—Diane Jeffrey, USA Today bestselling and award-winning author

"Nugent is one of my favourite all-time writers, and her latest is not just a crime novel, it's a study in humanity. Deserves to be massive."

—Gillian McAllister, Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of Wrong Place Wrong Time

"An intense and gripping novel about a lie that destroys lives and unravels a family over decades. Liz Nugent gets deep into the heads of her characters and lays bare their most human impulses, no matter how dark. A must-read author at the top of her game."

—Gillian Macmillian, New York Times & Sunday Times bestselling author of To Tell You The Truth

"Fearless and unforgettable. Just like its protagonist, this book nudges its way into your life until you can think about little else. The Truth About Ruby Cooper is a story of nightmares, but so beautifully told. I loved it."

—Abigail Dean, bestselling author of Girl A, Day One, and The Death of Us

"Utterly compelling and brilliantly imagined…all the way to the last dark twist."

—Anthony Horowitz, author of The Magpie Murders

"Liz Nugent is fearless in the places she will go to uncover our basest, darkest impulses. Ruby Cooper is her most morally complex character yet. Utterly compelling."

—Tammy Cohen, author of When She Was Bad

"I bloody loved it. Liz never fails to surprise and capture and shock. The writing was sublime as always, and the themes dark and hooky. It’s topical and timely. She is brave to approach the subject this way, but these cases (rarely, fortunately) do happen. I hope it ?ies, but I think it will. Absolutely brilliant."

—Louise Beech/Swanson, author of End of Story and Lights Out

"Unputdownable, acid-sharp, and emotionally brutal — Liz Nugent at her most compulsive."

—Dervla McTiernan, bestselling author of the Cormac Reilly novels

"You will struggle to ?nd darker characters and more wickedly clever tales than those from the mind of Liz Nugent."

—Susi Holliday, bestselling Scottish author of The Hike

"A dark, twisted and grippingly addictive read, that drags you in by the lapels, and won't let go. No one writes compelling characters like Liz Nugent."

—Neil Lancaster, author of the DS Max Craigie Scottish crime thrillers

"An author of extraordinary talent. I don't doubt that Liz Nugent's novels will become literary classics sitting alongside Christie, Highsmith and P.D. James."

—C.L. Taylor, award-winning Sunday Times bestselling author

"I absolutely burned through it. It is an incredible work - so layered and nuanced. But above all an incredibly courageous perspective. I loved this book."

—Imran Mahmood, author of the Net?ix adapted You Don't Know Me

"Told in Liz’s inimitable style, this elegant thriller explores the impact of a singular act dubbed The Incident on two sisters, and the reverberation lasts a lifetime. Beautifully written, as always, Liz has an enviable ability to create characters we recoil from but ?nd endlessly compelling. I could not stop reading."

—Fiona Cummins, bestselling author of The Collector

"So absorbing I forgot I was reading a novel and thought I was being told a twisted real-life story, full of shocking confessions and jaw-dropping revelations. Another masterclass in psychological suspense from one of my favourite writers."

—Mark Edwards, bestselling author of Here To Stay and The Magpies

"I hated Ruby Cooper in the most deliciously, dark and twisted way. She is captivating and infuriating and tragic - a one-woman wrecking ball, destroying her own life and everybody around her. Not since 'Gone Girl' have I loved and hated a character this much. Brilliant storytelling."

—Michael Robotham, internationally besetting author of The Suspect and The Secrets She Keeps

"A triumph. Layered, gripping, darker than dark (a LN trademark), and psychologically complex. Liz has carved out a sub-genre for herself and I am a huge fan. Set in the U.S. and Ireland. Beautifully real, ?awed, human characters. SUPERB."

—Will Dean, award-winning author of The Last Thing to Burn

"Once again, the incomparable Liz Nugent invites us into the darkest parts of the human psyche. I'm certain her legions of fans will agree: Ruby is her most unforgettable creation yet." —Catherine Ryan Howard, author of the #1 bestsellers The Nothing Man, 56 Days and The Trap

"Liz Nugent has done it again. She is an un?inching storytelling genius. Unique characters, explosive revelations, tantalising pacing and heart-stopping twists, not to mention utterly original plots. She is a master of the dark side of human psychology and human nature. I loved it...and you will too."

—Edel Coffey, #1 bestselling author of Breaking Point and In Her Place

"Only Liz Nugent could have written this book and only Liz Nugent could have conceived of a character like Ruby Cooper. This is an un?inching, frequently and darkly funny, sometimes disconcerting and always gripping story that will stay with readers long after the ?nal page has been turned."

—Sinead Crowley, author of Can Anybody Help Me? and The Belladonna Maze

"Deeply dark and utterly unexpected, only Liz Nugent can create characters like these. Drawing us deep into Ruby Cooper's world, this is a maestro at work. Another sensational read - clear your diary and prepare to be hooked!"

—Sam Blake, bestselling author of the Cat Connolly police trilogy

About the Author

Before becoming a full-time writer, Liz Nugent worked in film, theatre, and television. Her five novels—Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, Skin Deep, Our Little Cruelties, and Strange Sally Diamond—have each been #1 bestsellers and she has won five Irish Book Awards, as well as the James Joyce Medal for Literature. She lives in Dublin. Visit her at LizNugent.com or follow her on Instagram at @LizNugentWriter.