Over a period of a few days, the US divides into killers and those to be killed. It's thought to be a virus but nobody can pin it down, and those infected won't stand still to be tested. It's a fantastic, exciting and very unsettling look at an imagined future. As you'd expect from Blake Crouch there are close shaves for a family whose head has just been named as one to be killed. Things get more frenzied as the small family make their escape towards the uninfected Canada. My heart was in my mouth on a number of occasions. I feel this would make a superb film.

This is the 5th book i have read by Blake Crouch and it did not disappoint.
It was fast paced and just like all his other books the shock and awe factor just got better the further you got into the story.
I was captivated from the beginning, I had no idea in which direction it was going, when I thought things might be predictable then the direction changed again.
This is a survivalist fantasy because there is no way anyone can be that lucky to get that far. Parts of the story were cliche, other bits I had no idea why they were there, I couldn't predict how it would end- although I found it abit abrupt. However all in all I really enjoyed this.

I didn’t realise this was a re release and I have actually read it before! Not my favourite book of Blake’s but still a solid enjoyable thriller.

The story follows a family of four who has to flee their town suddenly - in the middle of the night. There is chaos all around them. All they know if that a large portion of the US and Mexico are affected and going on massive killing sprees. It's like everyone all of a sudden woke up and became murderous psychopaths. Jack, his wife Dee, and their two kids Naomi and Cole, embark on a perilous journey to safety without even knowing where safety is. It's a story of survival and the lengths they will go to save themselves and their loved ones.

One night, across the United States mysterious lights are seen in the sky. Those who have seen them are changed and combine to massacre those who did not see the lights. Every night on the emergency radio, a voice reads out the names of those who are next to be killed. If you hear your name, you've got to run. And so a family takes off from their home in Albuquerque to try to get up to Canada where refugee camps are being set up. A dangerous journey across a ruined America, clearly inspired by cormac McCarthy's The Road, if the writing is not quite in his league.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

I recently read “Dark Matter” by this author, and really enjoyed certain sections and elements.
“Run” has some of that shining through. This novel is dark, following a family as they run across America during the fallout of a strange celestial phenomenon that has turned most of the population murderous. Some scenes in here are extremely difficult, very well written.

But most of this is just a constant stream of the family running, finding supplies, running, getting shot at, running again, almost dying-, and after a while it sure did get repetitive. The part where the family got split up was the best bot, and there should’ve been more of that.

Blake is an auto buy author for me. Absolutely love some of his other books. This one for me personally just didn’t hit like the others.
I felt that the theme of the story has been done a lot and that the trend running through it was very similar to another story.
It didn’t stop me from enjoying the book and wondering how it would all play out. I did throughly enjoy reading this it just didn’t blow me away as others have done.

As a fan of Blake Crouch I was very happy to receive a review copy of Run, originally self-published by the author in 2011. Thirteen years later, the book reads as if it was written only recently. It’s still fresh and interesting and yes, scary!
Well, I don’t think I have to rehash the story here, after over 2.000 reviews on GR alone. Run was for me not so much a book about the very unexpected and unexplained rage that came over so many people after they’ve watched ‘the lights’, but more about how strong and resilient people can become when faced with mortal danger. It reminded me a little of Swan Song by Robert MacCammon, in which an old man and a little girl have to flee after ‘the bombs fell’ although no-one knows who started shooting first. The world is ruined and people are killing each other left and right.
So, our main character Jack Colclough runs, because he has no choice. They are coming for him and his family and nobody knows what will follow.
I enjoyed the book because in between all the running and fighting and shooting Jack’s character developed well and I could really admire him.
Thanks to PanMacMilland and Netgalley for this review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC

Another thrilling read from Blake Crouch. This man can conjure up some amazing concepts and I eat it right up. It was suspenseful and action-filled. I was kept on the edge of my seat and never got bored. A fabulous thriller.

I really had trouble with this book, and ended up having to put it aside - not because it was bad, but because it was just too intense! I guess it's still too close to the pandemic times of 2020; I wasn't at all comfortable with the action because it struck a little too close to home with how much more possible it seems (something I'd never have said in The Before Times!).

I'll likely try again when I'm in the mood, as I always enjoy Blake's writing and gonzo ideas. Not right now, though, sorry!

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher.

This book is terrifying. I think this is the eighth Blake Crouch book I’ve read. There isn’t an author around that manages to maintain constant intensity with the integrity of plot as he does.

This is an apocalyptic tale following a family of four as they attempt to survive. An event happens and suddenly huge numbers of people lose any semblance of compassion and start murdering their friends, family, neighbours and complete strangers alike. We don’t know to begin with why, or why some people aren’t affected. The population is split into predator and prey.

The family we follow face various challenges in their bid to survive, lack of knowledge, the elements, losing the basic things needed for survival, the constant threat of being hunted. The fear and tension in this book never lets up. It is intensely fast-paced as the family races across the country, trying to find a place to take shelter in the hope of rescue or salvation.

I have read enough Blake Crouch books to know he is not afraid to make tough choices for his characters and I feared for them the whole time I was reading! Don’t read this book before bed, read it when you have a couple of hours to get through the whole thing in one sitting, it’s an absolute page turner and you won’t want to put it down. It’s also really quite horrific and there were some harrowing scenes as we see the depths of human cruelty and depravity.

Run by Blake Crouch is a unique and intense apocalypse thriller that hits the ground running and never lets up. The story begins with a wave of senseless and brutal murders sweeping across the country, escalating rapidly over the course of five days. The protagonist, Jack Colclough, hears his name read out over the Emergency Broadcast System as one of those targeted for death, forcing him and his family to flee for their lives.

The book has a similar feel to 28 Days Later, but with a chilling twist: there's no visible difference between those affected by this sudden outbreak of violence and those who aren't. This ambiguity adds an extra layer of fear, making it impossible to know who to trust. Crouch's narrative is fast-paced and relentless, propelling the reader through a landscape filled with danger at every turn.

However, potential readers should be aware that the book contains a lot of violence and strong language, which contributes to its raw and gritty tone. While the main characters endure injuries and threats, there's also a brief mention of rape involving a passing character, though it never directly affects the central family.

One issue I had was with the prologue, which felt disconnected from the main plot for a significant portion of the book. This narrative gap was a bit frustrating, as it took a while for the relevance of that opening scene to become clear.

Overall, Run is a gripping and fast-paced thriller that delivers a high level of tension and unpredictability. It's a great pick for fans of dark, apocalyptic stories who can handle the intense subject matter and unflinching brutality.

Recommendations:

Movie: 28 Days Later — a tense, high-stakes survival film that similarly explores the unpredictability of human nature in a crisis.
Book: The Road by Cormac McCarthy — for its bleak, apocalyptic atmosphere and focus on a father's struggle to protect his family against a hostile world.

Absolutely compelling, and very hard indeed to put down!
I really enjoyed this story, which was fairly easy to get in to, and swiftly became riveting.
As usual from this author, there is great writing, although in a slightly different manner to usual, and fantastic characters, all intriguingly flawed.
I did find it interesting that by the time I got to the epilogue, I had forgotten the prologue at the beginning, but the former suddenly made sense of the latter - a clever device, and I did like the way it linked in to part of the story.
Having read several of this clever author's books, I was slightly surprised at the book, which did seem a quite different style. At the end I realised that this is the first book that he published in 2011, but judging by the reviews on it at the time, it must have been extensively re-worked for the 2024 edition.

DNF at 45%

I'm absolutely gutted because I've really enjoyed all of Blake's other books that I've read so far and at the start I honestly thought I was going to love this one as well but even though there were some pretty tense scenes in this book it just didn't feel like it was going anywhere, I felt like I was stuck in a rut and didn't feel connected to the characters at all.

We start with a spate of very violent crimes. Brutal. Senseless. Unconnected. Or are they ? School shootings, mass murder, many dead. But why ? And things are escalating... Governments are baffled but plead for peace. To no avail. The violence escalates further and the killers, although initially isolated, start to gather. To prey further on the innocent. To facilitate this, they broadcast names and addresses... and this is where we start... when Jack hears his name and address. He is home with his wife and two children. They are coming for them. To kill them... the only option left to them, as the title of the book suggests, is to RUN!
And so begins a cat and mouse chase with Jack and his family trying to evade and outrun the killers, at the same time as sort of also trying to work out what in the heck is going on, and why?
Yes it does get a bit samey along the way as all that really happens is that they come across the baddies and take certain steps to evade or fight back. We do get to a crossroads later on where things get a bit more worrying, but it does take a wee while to get there. That said, it never dragged or got boring and the destination was definitely worth the meandering journey.
If I have one criticism it is that the focus was mainly towards the action rather than the characters and I would have liked it to be a bit more character driven at times.
It is worth noting that this is a re-release of one of the author's early books and I guess it shows that he has come a long way since writing it. But it is also important to note that without it, he also wouldn't be the author he is today...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Jack and Dee need to pack up their kids and get out of town once the power goes our after an eventful 5 days. The family then go on a dangerous journey trying to find a safe haven, without knowing where that might be.

I appreciate that this is a republish, so it may have had more impact if I had read it back when it first came out, but sadly it felt a but same-y to other books of a similar vein. This was a great example of this type of book though!

Many thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for this free eARC.

A gripping, brutal, and emotional rollercoaster of a read!

‘Tears are fine, even healthy in this line of work, just never on the clock, never in the grave. If you lose control down there, you might never get it back.’ … This comes close to the start of the book, and it only gets better.

I loved the characters, who felt true to life and made me feel as though I were on the run and suffering the trials and tribulations with them. The settings, though fictionalised, were excellently crafted and sometimes almost became a character in their own right.

Two things bugged me majorly: 1. You’re out in the wilderness, fighting for your lives, and left home in a hurry … so fast that you had to leave lots of essentials behind, and yet … when removing a bullet, it gets dropped into an aluminium tray, which came from nowhere. That blooper pulled me right out of the scene. Why not simply drop the extracted bullet on the dirt of the rough terrain? Why would you even have such a tray with you? 2. A trained medic then gives said patient a handful of Tylenol, which Google tells me is an American brand of what we Brits call Paracetamol. Now, even four can kill through fatal liver damage. Usually it takes more, but not many more. So unless they were baby strength, a whole handful will kill you for sure unless someone gets enough charcoal into your system and quickly at that. Along with a bunch of other medical stuff. These two things ruined the tension and pacing of the scene for me. I suppose the nurse in me will never leave. Seriously, though, with such great research and writing, why make these basic mistakes? Anyhoo … mini rant over and moving swiftly along …

Aside from those two points, I loved this book. My fingers turned the ‘pages’ so fast my ereader surely must have smoked. If it did, the story had me too engrossed to notice. It brings terror, horror, brutality, love, the kindness of strangers, and a sense that you never ever know what’s coming next. One scene in particular brought tears to my eyes. Others had me gasping in shock, and yet more made me laugh.

Here are a couple of lines which stood out for me …

‘… that helplessness felt like loose electricity under her skin—wild and frantic but with no outlet.’

And …

‘How short the distance from life and thought to a sprawled shell in the grass.’ … this comes after a necessary yet reluctant fatal shooting and after the wonderful phrase: ‘XXX dropped like she’d been poured out of a glass,’. I’ve removed the name to avoid spoilers.

This excellent story offers a great ending with all the threads tied up. An emotive rollercoaster of a read, which kept me flipping those pages as though I’d been superglued to them. A full five solid stars from me. Go read this book!

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.


5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

This was such an intense read right away, the suspense definitely builds very rapidly, full of fear and danger throughout.

This is a well written and compelling thriller. And if that’s what you want, that’s exactly what you’ll get. But just that and no more.

An event has happened that has turned a majority of the population of the USA towards extreme, homicidal and cruel violence towards the remainder. Our heroes - Jack, Dee and their two children - are caught up in this. As part of the “remainder”, I should clarify. They spend the entire book engaged in the titular activity of running - in its figurative sense, at least, as it also involves walking, climbing, driving and, at one point, cycling.

And the running is relentless and, for the first third of the book at least, it seems directionless. Initially there isn’t even a MacGuffin for them to pointlessly strive for. They’re just running “away”, but where the collapse of civilisation seems to be all around them.

This is also a world in which you can count on two things: if you think that our heroes are safe, they’re not; and just when you think they’re all about to die, somehow they don’t. The car has just run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere! Oh, what’s that over there? Is that an abandoned house in the wilderness that we didn’t previously notice?

Our heroes, and various side characters along the way, also go through a wide variety of physical and emotional trauma. And a lot of people die horrible and graphically detailed deaths. This book doesn’t pull its punches.

But for all its formulaic gruesomeness, it was an absolute page turner. This book is from early in the author’s work, and doesn’t have the imaginative sophistication of Dark Matter or Recursion, but does have the pacy plot and absolutely compelling “what happens next?” that is also characteristic of his later work.

If you haven’t read any Blake Crouch before, then probably don’t start here - but it’s a solid and well written, if straight-forward, thriller.

Thank you #NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the free review copy of #Run in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

At first, I wasn’t exactly a fan of Jack and Dee; they didn’t charm me right away. But as the pages flew by, I found myself cheering for them in a way I never expected! Run is a wild ride from Blake Crouch, and let me tell you, the story takes you on a thrilling adventure.

The premise is straightforward but packs a punch—survival in a world gone mad! Sure, the violence is intense, but it’s the character growth that really shines. I ended up rooting for Jack, Dee, Naomi, and Cole with all my heart! I was practically breaking for them; I would have hated to see them not make it. The family unit truly becomes a beacon of hope in this apocalyptic whirlwind.

Crouch balances nail-biting action with moments that tug at your heartstrings, creating a pace that’s like a roller coaster you can’t get off! The stakes are high and almost feel biblical as characters navigate a world turned upside down. It’s incredible to think this is a re-release of Crouch’s 2011 novel that launched his full-time writing career. If you’re looking for a fun, adrenaline-fueled read that will have you flipping pages late into the night, Run is definitely worth your time!

Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a Review Copy