I’d like to thank Quercus Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘You Can Run’ by Trevor Wood in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

When the gang of paramilitary soldiers in combat gear arrive in the Northumberland village of Coldburn, one of them arrives at the home of Alex and his sixteen-year-old daughter Ruby and a fight breaks out with Alex being shot in the arm and the man stabbed. Alex tells Ruby to run for her life but she doesn’t want to leave her father so enlists the help of the villagers. Ruby thinks the men are looking for her father but it’s only when she listens to them talking that she realises it’s herself they want. Alex leaves a memory stick in his safe for Ruby to find which explains about her mother and childhood.

‘You Can Run’ is a fast-paced thriller with the wonderful characters of Ruby, teenage friend Lucas, elderly Margaret who’s ready and prepared for a fight and their friend Danny. We also meet Margaret’s husband Nigel who she’s told everyone is dead. This is an exciting story with a well-written plot and twists and turns that grabs you from the start, and an unexpected cliffhanger on the final pages. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Trevor Wood shifts direction after his Jimmy Mullen trilogy with this fast paced and tense thriller, set in the remote tiny village of Coldburn in Northumberland, a place where it can take incomers generations to become accepted. It is where the feisty almost 16 year old Ruby Winter resides with her reclusive father, Alex, who has encouraged her to not mix with locals, nor engage in social media. So it comes as a surprise when Alex invites a strange soldier into their home. Trying to eavesdrop, Ruby hears a violent scuffle, and rushes into the kitchen, worried about her father, only to discover that shockingly it is the soldier that is in trouble, bleeding out from a knife wound. Alex commands Ruby to pack a bag as quickly as possible so they can run, but when he is shot, he urges her to leave him and go alone.

Not knowing what is going on, Ruby finds herself becoming acquainted with villagers she had never mixed with before, with many of her assumptions and opinions about them being challenged as they take it upon themselves to take on the dangerous task of trying to repel the rag tag bunch of military soldiers who descend on Coldburn. The teenage Lucas goes out of his way to help Ruby, they observe her father being taken in a military ambulance and it soon becomes clear the soldiers are hunting her. The soldiers lay siege to the village, patrolling and insisting they stay in homes that they search for what they claim is an escaped prisoner. All communications are down, so there is no internet or working phones, and there are drones carrying out surveillance. Will Ruby be able to remain safe and who could possibly be so determined to lay their hands on her?

The highlight of this gripping story for me are the odd assortment of villagers who take it upon themselves to try and protect Ruby, they include the nosy, elderly and brave Margaret Carr, the ex-military poacher Danny Barnes, and the grieving alcoholic, Archie Baldwin. Ruby sees her life and herself irrevocably changing as the ground beneath her cracks, nothing is as she believed it to be, including her identity. This is an exciting thriller that will appeal to many readers who enjoy the crime and mystery genre, with a charismatic central protagonist in Ruby, with a village that acquires a growing tide of dead bodies as the narrative races to its surprising finale. I am not sure if this is a standalone or if there will be a sequel. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Trevor Wood’s latest book is a standalone mystery thriller titled: You Can Run. It features Ruby, who is on the cusp of turning sixteen, when a stranger knocks on their front door – her life will never be the same again. Her father does something he never does and invites the stranger in. They end up arguing, resulting in a bloodied body on the kitchen floor. Ruby is told to pack a bag and run but the remote village of Colburn, Northumberland is in lockdown and her life is in danger. This is an absorbing tale that reveals exactly how far a quiet English village will go in order to protect its own. With wonderful characters, surprising twists and action aplenty, making for a four stars read rating. With thanks to Quercus Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

Ruby Winter has a normal childhood living with her father Alex, in a small village in Northumberland, but just before her 16th birthday, a soldier shows up at their house who ends up dead on their kitchen floor stabbed by her father. As they try to flee the house another soldier arrives shooting her father and chasing Ruby when she runs away. A quiet boy she barely knows from school, Lucas helps her hide and they watch as an ambulance arrives and bundles the dead soldier and her injured Dad into it and drives away. The entire village is then put into lockdown with a telephone and internet blackout as the soldiers tell the residents to stay indoors as there is an escaped convict in the village. Ruby is now sure they are looking for her but why? What could they possibly want with her?

I didn’t love this stand-alone novel quite as much as Wood’s excellent Jimmy Mullen series. It’s a gentler thriller, but does have his trademark in-depth development of slightly quirky and flawed characters you can’t help growing to love. Ruby discovers she has more unlikely allies in the village than she knew, including her nosy, elderly neighbour Margaret, ex-soldier Danny who has quite a few tricks up his sleeve and Lucas who has more courage than Ruby would have expected. Somehow, they band together to help Ruby hide from the soldiers and look for her father. I wasn’t totally sold on the ending of the novel, but this fast paced, page turner with a touch of humour in the situations and the ineptness of the trained soldiers up against a ragtag bunch of villagers is sure to be a winner.

Having loved this author's Jimmy Mullen trilogy (sad to say goodbye, not gonna lie) I was very excited to get my mitts on this, his latest stand alone.
In it we meet Ruby who is shocked one day to find her father talking to a soldier. She hears a fight break out and runs in to help her father but it appears that he is not who the soldier has come for. The soldier is in a bad way but her father tells Ruby not to help him, but instead go pack a bag. Just the essentials. As they start to run, her father is shot and Ruby finds herself assisted by a Lucas, a lad she had found strange and had previous had nothing to do with. They hide and watch the action play out. But it soon becomes evident that something big is happening. Something bad and it all has to do with Ruby. But what and why and... so many questions...?
I loved this book just as much as I loved this author's series. He manages to create the best characters that really get under your skin. Really suck you in and make you care about them. As he did with Jimmy and his gang in their books, so he has done with Lucas and Ruby herein. And then Margaret and Danny when they join in!
And then there's the question of who exactly Ruby is and why do whoever need her? Soldiers invading a village and holding it siege is a tad OTT but ooo, when we find out ;)
It's a relatively easy read - and I don't mean lacking in substance - I mean that the book flows so well that it pretty much reads itself off the page! It sucked me in from page one, hitting the ground running with intrigue and intensity that didn't stop until it threw me out at the end. Satisfied but also wondering what would be next for the characters... a follow up, maybe ?
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I haven’t read by book by this author but the premise was too promising not to ignore. This was such a fast-paced thriller that it left me panting.

Ruby lives with her father in Northumberland and they maintain minimal social interaction with others. One day a mystery man turns up at their door where he ends up dying. Ruby is asked to run by her father. Later on she comes to realise that there is a paramilitary army looking for her and they have taken control of her small town. With the few locals left, she tries to solve the mystery behind the whole situation.

I loved this book so much. It had a blend of little of everything and a lot of surprises and the ending was truly mind blowing!

A wonderful stand alone action thriller from Trevor Wood. The story centres around Sixteen year old Ruby Winter who suddenly finds her quiet rural life disrupted by the shooting and abduction of her Dad. Ruby finds herself relying on the small village community to help her overcome the people who are searching for her and rescue her Dad.
This is a fast-paced, easy to read book. I particularly enjoyed the characters and their interactions which at times were highly amusing.
Highly recommended.

High octane thrills, brilliant characters and an intriguing mystery set in the wilds of Northumberland. Thoroughly recommend.

This is a well written, entertaining action packed thriller by the author. A man with a secret, plucked from his home by a paramilitary group who are really hunting for his daughter. I liked the characterisation, especially Ruby the teenage daughter., and the nosey parker neighbour Margaret The Northumbrian village setting was beautifully described and the pace flowed from the beginning but seemed to slow in the middle before picking up towards the end. Almost a young adult read but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Set in a small Northumbrian Village You Can Run features Ruby Winter an almost 16 year old who lives with her father Alex, a reclusive graphic designer.
They keep themselves to themselves, no friends no visitors. There are few locals. The village houses now mostly second homes.
Then there is a knock at the door and a strange man is actually invited in by Alex.
Ruby cant believe it when minutes later the stranger is lying dead in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.
No time for explanations they try to get out of the house quickly. Alex doesn`t make it, captured by men in army clothing.
Ruby makes a run for it but where can she go and who can she trust amongst the locals to help rescue her dad and discover why they have taken him.
An entertaining read with a host of interesting characters that I could see as becoming a made for television movie..

Thank you Quercus and NetGalley for approving my request to read and review this book.

This was my introduction to Trevor Wood's books. I loved the characters Ruby, Lucas, Alex, Margater and Danny. It is set in a little village Coldburn in Northumbria. The story starts with Ruby's Dad Alex letting in a stranger, which is something he never does!!! It was a gripping story with lots of action filled moments!! There are a few comical moments within the story that made me laugh!! No spoilers here but the ending will be a surprise for anyone reading the book. I will recommend this to readers looking for a great thriller!!

3.5⭐️

I’m a big fan of the homeless hero Jimmy Mullen books, so I was intrigued how a change of direction would work with this book,an unusual action thriller. I must say from the outset that action thrillers are not my go to genre.

I liked having the village map so you could keep track of where they were going I took a screenshot of it so that I didn’t have to keep going back to the start to look at it, as it was a bit small on the kindle and I couldn’t enlarge it.

Ruby is surprised when her reclusive dad lets a stranger into the house, a fight ensues, the stranger is hurt. Her dad insists that they need to run, but then her dad is injured and taken away by a military ambulance leaving Ruby alone.

The prologue has vibes of What July Knew by Emily Koch with both the list of random known facts and the tone. It’s light easy chatty feel. The main narrator is 16 yr old Ruby, however I felt the tone seemed too immature in the prologue for that age, but then settled to be age appropriate. There are multiple narratives giving different perspectives.

Margaret is the nosy plucky elderly neighbour who refuses to go along with the instructions the residents are given.
Danny is the village odd ball come poacher, who is ex army and savvy, one of my favourites.
The villagers are nearly all likeable in their own way. My favourite has to be underestimated Lucas, who is resilient and loyal even though initially Ruby wasn’t very appreciative of his help.
I can well envisage an entrenched small village being belligerent and very anti authoritarian establishment, don’t underestimate country bumpkins 😂.
As well as an unusual action thriller it’s a bit of a coming of age story.

It started well grabbing my attention, but for me it slowed in the mid section before building up to an action packed ending.

I can’t say that I’m converted to the genre of action thrillers.

After the brilliant trilogy which began with Man On The Street, I was looking forward to seeing how Trevor Wood's career would develop. This standalone doesn't disappoint; well written with interesting characters and clever plotting, it is a gripping and involving novel.

'"You're not a man yet, sunshine, don't wish your life away or before you know it you'll be like me."'

The first pages of You Can Run land us right in the action.... Ruby lives with her dad in a small, almost deserted village in Northumberland where nothing ever happens. Until now. A strange man comes to their home, and to Ruby's disbelief, her dad invites the man in. Altercations follow, leaving Ruby's dad severely injured, a man dead, and Ruby no other option but to flee. Meanwhile, the group the stranger belonged to put the village in lockdown, as it appears it wasn't her dad they were after, but Ruby herself. As she hides herself, and ultimately fights back, she finds an unlikely band of supporters in her fellow villagers....

If there is anything I can say about this one is that is was an easy read, an absolute page-turner that had me on the edge of my seat for the entire duration of the story. I also really appreciated getting to know the characters in the story. Elderly neighborhood watchdog Margaret must have been my favorite. There were some characters that were slightly less-developed and I could have missed, but her and Lucas have my heart. I found the book to read somewhat more Young Adult than I would have preferred, but ultimately had a grand time with Trevor Wood's first standalone thriller.

3.5* You Can Run is the 4th book from Trevor Wood, but his first standalone after the brilliant Jimmy Mullen Trilogy.

Ruby lives with her reclusive dad in a small Northumberland village. When a stranger knocks at the door, Ruby is surprised that her dad invites the man in. An altercation between the two men in the kitchen changes Ruby's life forever and brings together the many characters of the village to fight back against an unknown enemy.

You Can Run was a fantastic page turner. Some of the characters were a little clunky and there was a fair smattering of "dad jokes" but the book has that magical quality which meant that I couldn't put it down. The pace continues right until the end with a good helping of twists along the way.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for an ARC.

This was great fun – full of action and heart. I loved it. It would make a great TV film.
An ill-disciplined team of mercenaries descends on a Northumbrian village. Their target is a reclusive graphic designer and his fifteen-year-old daughter. The mission is bungled, leading to the serious injury and capture of the father but the escape of the daughter. The mercenaries put the village into lockdown, barricading all roads in and out, cutting phone lines and jamming the internet. They tell the villagers that an escaped prisoner is on the run and they must stay indoors.
The girl, Ruby, is trapped and in danger, and it’s snowing. Where is Bruce Willis when you need him? Her unlikely supporters are other villagers: a misunderstood teenage boy, a dismissed ex-soldier-turned-poacher, a nosy old woman and an alcoholic, overweight garage mechanic. With the odds stacked against them, they must take on the mercenaries, find out who has commissioned them and why, and rescue Ruby’s father.
This has the feel of a Young Adult novel with its teenage protagonists and (hopefully) unlikely premise. But suspend your disbelief and go with the flow. It’s a real page-turner with glorious characters and exciting action scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a rollicking good read, and it reminded me how good Trevor Wood’s writing is. I now need to seek out the third part of his Man on the Street trilogy which I haven’t yet read but will do soon.

I am sorry to say that this book didn't grab me. I loved the sound of it, but I found it hard to connect with the characters. Maybe it was just me, and I hope other readers like it more.

As a big fan of Trevor Wood's Jimmy Mullen series I was looking forward to reading his new stand alone thriller You Can Run.
Set in a fictionalised Northumberland village it starts quickly and keeps going. Ruby is a sixteen year old girl living with her reclusive father in a village where even having lived there her whole life, they are considered 'outsiders'.
When a stranger in army dress knocks at the door and confronts her father, ending in violence, Ruby is forced to go on the run, relying on the same neighbours against a threat she does not yet understand.
This is a fast moving story which at times reminded me (albeit without the non-horror/ sci fi) of books like Firestarter - a father and daughter relationship trying to face up to authority where we quickly switch focus from the adult to the child.
Given we follow Ruby for the majority of the book there is a risk it can come across as a Young Adult novel (as one or two reviewers have commented), but Wood provides a cast of secondary characters, each with their own backgrounds to play which brings a multi-faceted story on.
If it doesn't have the underlying social commentary that the Jimmy Mullen series had, it is a good old fashioned (in the best sense of the word) romp of a thriller.

I’ve read Trevor Wood’s trilogy about a homeless army veteran turned detective and thoroughly enjoyed it so was excited to receive this new book as a review copy.
This was a completely different sort of story although the setting was still in the Northeast. This time the main protagonist was a 16 year old girl called Ruby who lives with her single Dad Alex in a remote house in a small village in Northumberland.
Alex has always kept to himself with few friends in the area and has encouraged Ruby to do the same. However one day Ruby hears a knock on the door and Alex ushers a man in an army uniform into their kitchen. She hears raised voices and when she dares to enter the room she finds somebody lying on the floor. Her father is able to encourage her to run and she does but fears for her father’s safety.
Ruby and then an assorted band of locals try and find out what is going on as their village is taken over by a band of ruthless soldiers apparently searching for Ruby.
I loved getting to know all the characters including neighbour, Margaret who although advanced in years, is never short of witty repartee and shows a great deal of courage. Lucas a local teenager who Ruby knows from school and Danny who is ex army try and help Ruby using all their ingenuity as she desperately tries to evade the soldiers, rescue her Dad and work out what is going on.
This was a very fast moving story which was easy and quick to read. I really liked all the characters and the setting of Northumberland which the author knows very well. It was interesting to read how a lot of people are leaving these sorts of villages so that they end up being full of holiday rental properties but with little work for locals.
Definitely a recommended read and I must say I found the ending intriguing. Will there be a follow up featuring these characters? Perhaps- I certainly hope so!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my Arc.

Alex Winter has been dreading this knock at the door for sixteen years when ‘Green’ informs him that Alex has something he wants and that doesn’t belong to him. Has this got anything to do with his daughter Ruby?? The ensuing encounter does not end well for Alex and from that point on things become even more dangerous, if not distinctly weird with the odds seemingly stacked against the villagers of Coldburn in Northumberland. Why is Ruby important? Who is she????

I enjoy a lot of this mystery/thriller which is violent and gritty as some of the Coldburn villagers band together against a para-military group. There’s danger and threat around very corner with Ruby et al utilising all their grey matter and resources in an exciting face off. Ruby finds friendship and help in unlikely places and these are some of the strongest characters in the book. Teenager Lucas proves to be made of much sterner stuff that Ruby previously believes and nosy parker, elderly neighbour Margaret who has a BS detector that is permanently on high alert. She more than ‘pokes the bear’ and I find her so funny with it! Some of the best dialogue is when she’s on the page. Her character is important in many ways , for example, through her you get to witness small village attitudes and issues that really make you think. The plot is undoubtedly fast paced, it’s never dull and some interesting revelations surprise you.

However, it is pretty much the same theme throughout and I think there could have been more tension on occasions. I’m not entirely sure about the ending, as although I can believe it, it’s perhaps a tad convenient.

Overall, though it is an entertaining read and I do enjoy it.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Quercus Books for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.