"Outrunning the Devil" started out with promise. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to its strong start over the course of the story. I struggled a bit to stay engaged in the story when it lagged and became more uninteresting at times.

Outrunning the Devil: A tale of mystery and suspense (Secret Haven Book 1) by author S. K. Brown has likable characters, suspense, and romance. The book starts out extremely interesting as Laura Adams regains consciousness lying face down in the snow. Her body is wracked with pain as she begins to try and move her body in the darkness. She lifts her head and sees the large hulking image of the family car with one single headlight weakly illuminating two bodies lying very still on the hillside. Her mother and father had also been ejected from the car upon the impact.
I won't post spoilers, but the beginning of this book is where the mystery starts. Once Laura is released from the hospital and goes into hiding, the focus of the book is on her recovery and a possible attraction between Laura and Nick. Too much of the conversations deal with Laura being constantly apologetic for imposing on Nick's life and then in return Nick continues to try and reassure Laura that she is not disrupting his life. It gets to be too much! The next bit of mystery is in the last chapter of the book. Yes, there is more of interest as Shane and the FBI try to locate and arrest members of the militia group, but the interactions between Laura and Nick seem one-dimensional. I liked the story and it is very promising, but I wish it had more substance. Hopefully, the next book in the series will have more interesting scenes to accent these wonderful characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The beginning is good, with a promise of a good plot and story. Unfortunately, this promise is not kept, and the rest of the book is a very long and very boring story. No mystery, no suspense, no surprises and no ending.

At times the pace of the book seemed to lag causing periods of disinterest in the storyline. I struggled staying engaged wit the book.

I received a complimentary copy of Outrunning the Devil from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. There were quite a few redeeming qualities: EXCELLENT LEAD, interesting characters, unique plot, hint of romance--however there were also some parts that nearly had me finished with the book permanently. I understand that this is a first in a set, so maybe I am being too judgemental. However there were several of what I would call "information dumps", where a whole lot of unnecessary background information got in the way of the plot--to the point where I lost interest in the plot when forward momentum was lost. One of these appeared nearly immediately after the lead (which hooked me right away, yet I was not super invested) so this was significant. (I am not sure how this could have been done better except to introduce the team members gradually. ?) Another irritation factor was the way the connection between the two romantic characters was described...If there is an "electric connection", there has got to be a better way to show it--not tell about it. (I was half expecting magic to be involved or some real reason for actual electricity.) I read that phrase so many times, it became hard to stomach. I was rolling my eyes each time by the end of the book. Other than that, the book was decent. The emotions were real enough and I sympathized with the main characters in some situations. I may read the sequel if I run into it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I read a lot of books of different genres generally, but thrillers and romance are not my favourite genres to begin with, so while I liked this book it wasn't my personal favourite.

Overall the feel of this book was quite cozy and and it was a fairly enjoyable. The characters were pleasant and they were easy to keep up with - not always the way with thrillers or stories where there are numerous characters.

It was also my first book from NetGalley and I'm pleased I selected this book to start with.