Pulse racing. Adrenaline fuelled. Heart pumping.

Perfect for those who enjoy:
- The worlds gone mad storylines
- A race against time
- Graphic and compulsive reading
- Pulse racing reads
- Apocalyptic books

With thanks to Panmacmillan and Netgalley for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

This was a really good read..

It is pacy, gory ,, maybe a little too gory.. and it's descriptive..

This is book I think may not be for everyone, I was surprised that it was not at all what I expected,, but Oh my! it's an incredibly told tale.

Run was the first novel that Blake Crouch self-published after publishing several novels with a traditional publisher, and now it's been republished in the UK by Pan Macmillan. I was absolutely unsurprised by this novel's history, as it shares several characteristics of thrillers I've read recently that were either self-published or published by very small presses (Noelle W. Ihli's Run on Red comes to mind). And these characteristics are not necessarily bad, at all! In fact, they reveal tradpub's obsession with a certain kind of story structure that may work in some circumstances but not in others, and for my money, drags down a lot of thrillers.

Run is an incredibly simple novel, and indeed the blurb for this edition is a bit misleading. I was expecting something more like Black Mirror's brilliant 'Hated In The Nation', but it turns out there's no 'kill list' and no reason for anyone to be particular targets. Instead, it's a straightforward post-apocalyptic survival narrative. After everybody who witnessed an aurora visible in the sky across the United States and in northern Mexico turns feral, Jack flees from New Mexico with his wife and two children, seeking safety across the Canadian border. It's compulsive reading, and yes, the book does become a sequence of run-find water-find shelter-find food, but I had no problem with that at all - it kept me gripped.

Like Run on Red, Run is refreshing because it discards the unnecessary complexities that high-speed thrillers like this seem to think necessary nowadays. There's no real backstory, no secrets in the past, no character arcs. We invest in this family because we ourselves would want to survive in a similar situation. Essentially, we're reading a film, because Crouch doesn't take advantage of the interiority that novels offer. And to be honest, often this is just what I want from this kind of intense thriller. Half-baked motives and sketchy characterisation feel much worse to me than if the writer just discards the entire apparatus. It's cleanly written and immersive.

Having said that, I felt more uncomfortable with Run than I did with Run on Red and other thrillers of this kind, although it's fair to say it only exaggerates trends that are generally present in the kind of disaster movie or disaster novel where parents need to Protect Their Family At All Costs. (Frankly, at the much more literary end, I thought the film of The End We Start From suffered from some of these issues as well). The narrative choice to focus on a nuclear family is a savvy one from a marketing perspective but feeds into the idea that we should all put our own families and our own children first, that anything goes as long as you're doing it for the 'selfless' motives that come from being a parent. Run really dials this up to eleven. Jack actually thinks - at the midpoint of the novel, which appears to be a turning-point for his character, 'There was simply nothing in his experience that even compared with the thrill of killing to protect his family… He felt, possibly for the first time in his life, like a fucking man.’ Dee initially plays into gender stereotypes by refusing to kill for her children - 'You want to live in a world where we have to kill innocent people to survive? I won’t do that. Not even for you and Cole’ - but later in the novel, reverses this decision. It's really a great case study of how society believes selfishness can be somehow transmuted into selflessness, as long as you are a parent.

Run starts, interestingly, with a group of researchers digging up a mass grave, and along with its epigraph, from Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson’s Demonic Males, - 'Until the [chimpanzee] attack… scientists treated the remarkable violence of humanity as something uniquely ours’ - I thought that Crouch might be going to say something interesting about everybody's propensity for violence in certain social groups, of which the nuclear family is one. But no, the novel plops right back into Hollywood schmaltz by the end. Jack's son may have witnessed the aurora, but he didn't turn bad because he resisted the urge to kill – unlike all those naturally bad people, obviously, including Dee’s ex-lover. Not a single reflection on what Jack and Dee chose to do to survive, however understandable their choices may have been; indeed, Jack concludes, 'maybe sometimes we just need to kill each other. Maybe that’s our perfect state of being’. So, a rip-roaring novel, but also a great, frightening example of what we're willing to accept For The Sake Of Our Children.

[**** for being a good read. ** for being incredibly disturbing].

I love Blake Crouch’s scifi books, and was very pleased to get an ARC of this.
First off, it’s a re-release, originally released in 2011. I’ve no idea whether it has been re-drafted at all.
A post-apocalyptic story, where Jack,Dee and their children have to flee their home after half the population of the U.S turn into bloodthirsty killers.
It’s got a touch of ´The Day of the Triffids’, and ´The Last of Us’, with a lot of Mad Max’ thrown into the mix.
It’s a rollercoaster ride, with a lot of gore, which you kind of expect in the World-Gone-Mad genre. Mr. Crouch is extremely inventive when it comes to thinking up gruesome ways to kill people.
Personally, I would have liked a bit less gore and a bit more character-building, and you don’t really get much back-story. And there’s a wee bit too much ´just in the nick of time´stuff.
I’m not saying I didn’t like the book; it’s fast-paced and tense and I read it in a day. Just not in the same league as Dark Matter or Upgrade.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I absolutely flew through this book in no time and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! I’m a massive fan of this genre and found the book to be really well written and the story was so intriguing. The scenes were so descriptive that I felt as though I was there with the family on the run. A brilliantly written, fast paced story that I would highly recommend. 5 stars

Oh my goodness this is a heart in your mouth book all the way through! I literally had to read a true crime book at bedtime as that was more relaxing than Run.

Hats off to Blake who knows how to write amazing action thrillers. I know I can count on him to blow me off my feet.

My first book by this Author and let me tell you I will be going back to read his previous work. Not my usual kind of book but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went in blind and I'm glad I did. You won't regret buying this, that's for sure.

An early novel by Blake Crouch but an enjoyable piece of speculative fiction. After a strange auroral event, a family are forced on the run. Fast paced, with elements of the supernatural, the story though horrific kept me hookd.

📚 Book Review: Run by Blake Crouch⁣
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🚨 Strap in for a fast-paced, tension-filled thrill ride! 🚨 Run delivers the suspense and darkness of Bird Box meets Stephen King, and it does not let up. Blake Crouch’s latest read kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish—well, almost. It slows down for a moment mid-book, but quickly picks back up, plunging you right back into the action.⁣
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While I couldn’t exactly relate to the characters, nor did I find them particularly likable, that didn’t detract from the experience. This book is all about the adrenaline and survival! Plot twists? Yes, but most were easy to predict. If you’re a fan of pulse-pounding action and don’t mind minimal character development, this one is for you. ⁣
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The atmosphere? Dark. Brutal. Engaging. Crouch masters the tension but left me wanting more in the end. The lack of explanation behind the chaos left me scratching my head, and the abrupt ending felt a bit underwhelming. But overall, it’s a gripping read you can easily devour.⁣
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Thank you @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! 🙏

This book is unfortunately a poor reflection of Blake Crouch's usual brilliance. His books Dark Matter, Recursion, or Upgrade are all amazing in how they use science fiction to explore what it means to be human. Run doesn't do that -- it's a simple book that tries to look at relationships under strain in a post-apocalyptic environment, but it never really seems to bring things together in any satisfying way. The characters are bland, and ultimately this is a poor read.

With the success of Dark Matter, most of Blake Crouch's blacklist is now being traditionally published, including Run which was self published in 2011.

In this heart-wrenching thriller, we follow Jack and Dee, a couple about to separate, as they try to escape a US that has turned into the purge with their teenage daughter and seven-year-old son. Based on the promotional blurb and tagine, I had thought this book would be a slow breakdown of the events affecting the country, followed by their decision to run. Instead, we are thrust into the action almost immediately, as the family flees their home and violence ensues. It does get quite dark, so I would suggest finding a list of trigger warnings if there is one, as some scenes will probably haunt my nightmares for the next little while! That said, the emotion is where this book shines, as we breathlessly hope that the family will make it through this ordeal, living their highs and lows right alongside them.

A recommended read for fans of Blake Crouch, The Children of Men, and emotional speculative fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m sad to say I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I was expecting and I’m not sure why, it was well thought out with good characters and the premise of the story was really interesting but somehow for me it somehow just didn’t hit the mark but perhaps that was just me but as a fan of Blake Crouch I felt slightly disappointed. I did finish the read as I was interested enough to want to know the conclusion and it was ok but just a book that wasn’t for me sadly but I’m sure others will enjoy it more.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Run- Blake Crouch
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

After reading Dark Matter earlier this year I was excited to be approved Run from Netgalley.

This book is also the second apocalyptic horror I’ve read this month and wow was it different. I absolutely loved it.

The story follows Jack and Dee (I’ve never read a book where the main character has my name, so that was fun!) as they travel across America in the days after an event that causes some of the population to kill, and in some cases torture others.

The style of writing here is short punchy paragraphs and chapters. Details about the landscape make you feel part of it, the atmosphere, the terror, the details of the survival and the horror make you feel claustrophobic and tense. And isn’t that what a good book is about- what it makes you feel.

I absolutely raced through the last half of this book, it would not allow me to put it down as I needed to know what was going to happen. And amidst the horror, gore and terror there’s a sprinkle of a love story and definitely a story of protection and family.

Characters- 8
Atmosphere- 8
Writing Style- 8
Plot- 8
Intrigue-8
Relationships-10
Enjoyment- 8
8.28/10

A horrifying but gripping page-turner.
Dee and Jack grab their kids and car keys one night as people in their town start to murder their neighbours. It’s organised manslaughter as the family desperately make their way towards the Canadian border, trying to stay alive and avoid the groups of civilians hunting for the ‘unaffected’.
Several nights ago, many of the population witnessed a unique aurora event, which seems to be causing them to hunt down and slaughter those who didn’t.
Dee and Jack’s situation becomes increasingly desperate as they try to keep their family alive and together on the race to the border, through towns and cities devastated by warfare, searching for supplies and water to survive long enough to reach safety, if such a thing exists anymore.
This was pacy, with short, action-packed chapters and very hard to put down.
Five stars from me, with thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read an ARC.
Originally self-published some years ago, this was the story that got the attention of an agent and launched Blake Crouch’s full-time writing career. It’s now being traditionally published by Pan Macmillian and is out on 10th October.

3.5 stars in total.
There were aspects of this book I both enjoyed and disliked which is why it has a mid rating. I enjoyed the survival elements a lot and the difficult choices they had to make in order to stay alive.
I also liked how his relationship with his family is repaired during the worst thing to happen to them.
However I don't like the event that happened that caused this whole thing, it's not explained in a satisfactory way and is kind of paranormal, and I like thrillers to stay as believable and realistic as possible.
It was also very unbelievable how that man from the start finds them again at the end, and how he reunites with his family after being separated.

Was a chaotic start and by 15% realised was not fir me,thats not to say it wasn’t good or well written it just wasn’t as i had expected having read the blurb

This is the very definition of a page turner. I devoured this in one sitting and just had to know how it ended.

Thank you Netgalley. Blake Crouch and Random House Publishing Group - Pan Macmillan | Macmillan for the eArc of Run.

This book was originally released back in 2011 and even though Ive heard of Blake Crouch, Ive only recently read/listened to The Wayward Pine series which I loved. Run is no exception and I devoured this book within 1 sitting. Id say it's a high octane survival novel that surrounds a mysterious sky event which to those who watches it, turns them almost primal. Those who slept through the event, remained normal and have to fight to survive those who are content to looting, murdering and setting everything on fire.

Run follows Jacks family who has to take to the streets after their name and address was mentioned on the radio just after the event occurred. It becomes apparent that this isn't a particularly happy family, Dee is having an affair because Jack isn't showing up in their marriage. Their kids, Naomi a teen and Cole, a young child are just ticking along.. Throughout the book, you can see them change from a modern day family to badass survivalists, Especially the kids. The character building I really enjoyed because of this and it does make you wonder how on earth people would survive in this day and age.

The plot itself is medium paced and for me, a page turner. You are hoping, praying that they find a place of safely and within the plot there are some cliff hangers as the POV swaps from Jack to Dee. I also throughly enjoyed the description of the places they drop through and hiked, I found I could visualise every place they had to survive in. It is. quite graphic and gory which again for me, adds to the visceral experience.

4 stars