Run Time, what a wild ride!! 😅

Former soap-star Adele Rafferty hasn’t worked since an incident on her last project, but a chance leading role in a horror film could be the thing to bring her back from that horrible event.

Once on location in Ireland for the horror film “Final Draft”, Adele starts to experience weirdly similar things that also happen in the script. She starts to freak out and thinks the worst. Could this horror film be real life? Or all in her head!!

I really enjoyed it. Fast-paced, locked room, unpredictable and a unique plot. I really liked the addition of the script scenes, especially during the audiobook. I loved the multiple voice actors. It felt like an actual movie and I didn’t want it to end. I did see the twist coming towards the end, but I definitely enjoyed getting there and then after. Can’t wait to read more from this author!!

Thank you, Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for gifting me an eARC and Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED this thriller! There was plot twist after plot twist, and I felt like I was on edge the entire book. There was one twist when I audibly gasped. This is such a fast paced thriller!

Mini Synopsis: Adele took a break from acting, but feels like she can finally re-start her career with a starring role in a horror movie. Adele is sent to remote Ireland to film in a cabin in the woods. Everything is great, until real life starts to feel like the horror movie script....

{Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the complimentary audiobook, ebook, and finished copy!}

I would highly recommend reading Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard. This is the type of thriller that you will not want to put down.

Things I loved about it:
The movie plot within the story and that it alternated with what was happening to Adele, a struggling Irish actress.
The remote location with no cellphone service.
The female empowerment message within the industry.

I have no criticisms which is why this is a five star read for me!

Irish actress Adele Rafferty's career has seen better days. Having started acting as a child, she was on a successful soap opera for over ten years and a career in the movies was taking shape. But after an incident that virtually ended any future film prospects in Ireland, she headed to Los Angeles. With auditions leading nowhere, Adele started working at a local motel. So, when she is offered the starring role in Final Draft, a horror movie being filmed back in Ireland, Adele jumps at the opportunity. She flies out the next day but as soon as she arrives at the remote West Cork wooded setting, things get very suspicious. First, a mysterious text arrives, “If you’re not, don’t go. Not safe. Trust me.” And then Adele realizes that she is the only woman on the set. Her male co-star has yet to arrive and there are some creepy men in the film's very small crew. Adele's story is interspersed with the movie's screenplay, and it becomes eerily clear that the film's story is running parallel to Adele's unsettling experiences on the set. But is this all truly happening or is Adele losing her mind?

Catherine Ryan Howard has done an excellent job creating the perfect atmosphere for her latest thriller. The remote location, the dense woods, the cabins and more felt very real and very creepy. There's lots of suspense and tension with its creative device of a story within a story, within a story. It took some time for it all to become fully clear, but it worked. Run Time was entertaining, chilling and kept me guessing. It's a solid read.

Run Time is a psychological thriller about a movie that’s based on a book about a “terrifying true story that hasn’t happened – yet.”

This was my first book by Catherine Ryan Howard and I loved it!

The opening scene was ominous, atmospheric, and set the perfect tone for what was to come. It’s not a spoiler to say that a small production team and one actress were filming in the middle of nowhere, with no Wi-Fi and spotty cell service, and warning the only people in the area not to call the police if they hear screaming. The author wastes no time throwing you into the action because most of the story takes place over one day. I was immediately hooked and couldn’t get through the pages fast enough, I had to know what was going to happen next!

I loved the writing – it was approachable, authentic, and hilarious at times – and the character development was fantastic, too – we really got to know all of the characters for better and worse. The chapters were pretty short and almost all of them ended with a cliffhanger that made reading “just one more chapter” almost impossible. There were just enough reveals to keep it from being totally predictable and tame and the ending was incredibly satisfying.

Highly recommend this one for anyone who loves propulsive psychological thrillers that'll keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

Many thanks to blackstonepublishing for the advanced copies of this book. I couldn’t put it down even when I wanted to. Let’s just say this was not the book to be reading home alone, out in the country.

Adele, a former child soap-star turned struggling actress after an incident on a prior movie set, is at the point where she’s giving up on her dreams of working as an actress. But when she’s offered a starring role in a movie shooting immediately she hopes this may turn her career around. She cautiously accepts and appreciates the secrecy and privacy surrounding the whole production. When she arrives on the scene and things start happening to her reminiscent of the horror movie she’s starring in, she begins to realize things aren’t truly what they seem.

This is a super fast paced read, I read it in one day. The format of a book inside a movie script inside a story about the movie being made was an exciting way to frame the story. The suspense and uncertainty of “is this happening or not” was really well done. I haven’t read any of the author’s other works but now feel like I should pick them up. Just maybe when I’m not home alone!

A book within a film within a book. You still with me?

RUN TIME follows struggling actress Adele Rafferty as she attempts to revive her career with a starring role in the horror film Final Draft. When she arrives on the secluded set in the woods of West Cork Ireland, her experiences begin to mirror the creepy happenings of the character she is playing in the film.

The premise had the potential to become convoluted, but it really worked well for me! The screenplay was woven into the story seamlessly and served as an ominous foreshadowing of what was in store for Adele. Despite the book within a film within a book structure, I found the story easy to follow even in my sleep-deprived mom of a newborn state.

Catherine Ryan Howard ramps up the tension with the atmospheric setting; the dense, dark woods was a character itself. I couldn’t pick this up before bed which is a sure sign of a creepy read. RUN TIME would make a great addition to your spooky season TBR!

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: August 16, 2022

Many thanks to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing for an electronic ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Review will be posted to www.instagram.com/kellyhook.readsbooks in advance of publication date

While this story is well written it was unfortunately too predictable for me to fully enjoy. I also couldn’t connect with the main character and didn’t enjoy the transition from the main storyline to the movie script in the book, it felt a bit disjointed at times.

Many thanks to netgalley and to the publisher for an eARC of this book.

This is my third novel by this author and is my favorite yet! Atmospheric, spooky and a page turner to say the least, I flew through this book.

When Adele, an Irish actress who moves to LA to start over after a reputation-shattering experience happens on her last set is shocked to receive a call asking her back Ireland to star as the lead actress in a horror movie. Even more enticing is the fact that no one knows anything about her past, she’ll be shooting with a skeleton crew in the middle of the woods and that just maybe she can use this as an opportunity to start fresh in her career. However, once she gets to set, things aren’t what they appear and the script, about a couple that starts experiencing strange occurrences that mimic the plot of a strange novel written by a former guest, start happening to Adele too. The fine lines between reality and fiction start to blur.

I loved this theme about a thriller book (Final Cut) about a horror film (Final Draft) inspired by a mysterious book (First Draft) and how the chapters featured parts of the script themselves. I found the MC to be likable and I rooted for her the whole time and found the reveals to be well done. Overall, I think this will make a great spooky fall read and highly recommend! Thanks to Netgalley for this gifted eARC!

Adele Rafferty is like every other struggling actress. She’s hustling to pay the bills, one payday away from destitution or stardom. Having a taste of success when she was younger has left her chasing the next break. But it isn’t only about success, it’s about redemption.

A few years prior, Adele had a job on what she thought would be a great gig. But someone on set was conspiring against her, slowly making others doubt her, as well as Adele doubting herself. The incident was forgiven, but not forgotten.

So when Adele gets a mysterious call in the middle of the night offering her the lead role in the indiest of indie projects, who is she to say no? The movie, blandly entitled, Final Draft, is dubbed a psychological horror flick, appropriately filming in the middle of nowhere, full of a skeleton crew of alpha males. Another cliche? There’s intermittent cell service. But as soon as she arrives one text does manage to come through, warning Adele to not go if she hadn’t left already. Now she’s left wondering if this really is the role of her life, or the role to die for.

Run Time is a slow burn of a thriller. You know something is amiss about halfway through, but there’s still a good chunk of story left. A lot of that are survival scenes where Adele alternates between seething pain and running for her life. It all comes together in the end, but I do wish there was more to the middle of this story, despite its many pages. Instead some important details felt left on the cutting room floor, needlessly making the cleverly double entendre titled Run Time a bit shorter than it needed to be.

far too long, plot was too complicated and boring. enjoyed the screenplay, but that was it. If it would have bene shorter by about 200 pages I might have enjoyed it.

This was my third book by this author and it ranks second (behind The Nothing Man, but before 56 Days). I really like how she does different POVs or in this case tells part of the suit through the movie script. That added an extra layer of creepiness and fun. I couldn’t get enough and it was a page Turner. Excited to see what this author has coming out next.

Adele Rafferty was once a popular soap actor who left her show after 14 years to pursue other options. But after an incident(s) on the set of a movie, she has not found work. She moved to Los Angeles where she worked at a Motel and auditioned during the day. When she was contacted to be the last-minute replacement star in a low budget movie, she jumped at the chance. Hoping this would get her back in the game, what it got her into was much, much more.

Adele can't help but notice that strange things were happening. This didn't feel right, but work is work, right?

Run Time is about a book within a book in a movie. Things that happen in the book, happen to the person reading to the book and then Adele beings experiencing things on set. It all becomes a little muddled.

What I liked is that what Adele thought was happening felt real and plausible then there was another explanation as to what was happening and that felt plausible and then...…

Whew. This was an interesting concept that I enjoyed until I wanted to throw my hands up in the air toward the end and at the very end. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it, I did but also felt let down by the ending to a degree.

I've enjoyed the other books by Catherine Ryan Howard more than I enjoyed this one but that won’t stop me from jumping up and down when I see she has a new book coming out.


#RunTime #NetGalley

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've seen a few not-so-great reviews of this one mentioning it reads like a b-rated horror flick.. I agree & I totally fail to see how that's a bad thing. I loved the crap out of this. 

Adele is an actor on sabbatical after a mental breakdown. When she is unexpectedly offered the lead roll in a low-budget horror film called Final Draft, she jumps at the opportunity - despite all of the red flags she sees along the way.

While this wasn't the petrifying psychological horror I was hoping for, Run Time is an intense ride and I was so invested in puzzling out what the hell was going on. The story-within-a-story plot line was really well done and I genuinely had no idea who was really pulling the strings until it was all revealed.

I loved Adele as a main character. Her personality was really relateable & I enjoyed how resilient she was. I know the feeling of being gaslit all to well and I was beyond frustrated on Adele's behalf. All in all I really enjoyed this thriller and gave it four stars!

Many thanks to Blackstone pub for my gifted copy!

This was a fast paced thriller!!! When Adele takes the role in a horror movie, she doesn't ask what happened to the original actress. She is just happy to work again. Things are not as they seem though and Adele realizes it quickly. I enjoyed the twists and turns but I felt it was just a tad too long. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Did I just binge read Catherine Ryan Howard’s newest book?! YEP…once I started I could not put it down!
After reading (and absolutely loving) The Nothing Man, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. Run Time had me hooked from the beginning and there was so much I loved about it

The writing style was awesome, and I felt like I was reading a scary movie- it was a mix of a screenplay and a book, and I loved that the writing flipped back-and-forth between the two- this unique and interesting type of mix is something I’ve enjoyed in the two books I’ve read by this author. Loaded with mystery & suspense this made for a super entertaining read that kept me guessing.

….and the descriptions were so spot on! I could picture the scenes perfectly- the pitch black darkness, the rainy wind storm, the dense, spooky woods…I felt completely immersed in the pages

I also enjoyed the main character a lot, which is good because she was pretty much on every page.
There were quite a few characters, and at the end I definitely had to focus to follow the path of exactly how things were wrapping up. I didn’t guess how it was going to end so that is always a nice surprise! The ending was a bit long, but left me with no unanswered questions (always appreciated!)

I often say ‘this would be a great summer thriller’ or ‘this would be a great winter thriller’, but I think this is the perfect book to dive into on a chilly, dreary fall day (or ya know, right now becuase you’re probably not going to wait that long to read it )

I definitely recommend this one to all you thriller fans & can’t wait to read the rest of her books

Run Time simply did not work for me which is so disappointing because I really enjoy Catherine Ryan Howard's high concept books, but I found this book of a script inside a book to be quite confusing. I finished because I have a deep respect for Howard's work but this was not horror for me and twist was not enough to qualify the book as satisfying thriller either.

Adele is an Irish actor who crashed and burned on her way up the ladder. She jumps at the chance when she’s offered a last minute lead role— even though the off-the-grid location is beyond creepy.
The movie is called Final Draft, and it’s about a woman in a remote locale reading a book called First Draft. The same creepy things that happen in the book happen to the movie character. Then these creepy things happen to Adele. So that’s a lot of creepy vibes being set-up.
There was a lot of build-up to get through to get to the pay-off at the end, which was pretty good.
There’s a interesting bit at the very end which some may love, but produced a bit of an eye roll from me. Sometimes less is more.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Adele Rafferty is an Irish, out of work actress living in California working at a motel. When she gets a call to step in as a replacement for the lead actress in a horror movie, she thinks her luck is finally changing. She has to fly immediately to a remote location in Ireland. It has a creepy, no cell service vibe. Very quickly, weird things start to happen that mirror the script.

This is my first Ryan Howard novel. (I know, I know. I still have The Nothing Man on my bookshelves to read.) I just didn't like the script parts written in the story. I get that it was supposed to show how the things happening to her were just like the script, but I found myself skimming a lot of it.

I did like Adele as a main character. I thought she seemed pretty smart as the female lead in a horror book/movie. (LOL) The ending was a bit predictable and unbelievable. Even though this wasn't the best book for me, I still want to read her earlier books.

i thought this book was fast paced and adventuress i thought i saw where some twists were going and i was surprised by the direction some things went. I thought the writing was fresh and engaging and i really enjoyed the story as a whole.