A couple with their own issues has to pack up their two kids and escape their home. They run into problem after problem when certain people have turned evil after witnessing something weeks prior. They don’t know who is evil right away and it’s a constant risk coming into contact with others. They just have the supplies they packed in their car and are hoping to escape to Canada. We have no idea why until closer to the middle of the book.

This book stressed me OUT. From the very beginning I was so interested but so stressed to read. The author made me feel like this whole plot was a real possibility and it messed with my head! For that alone, I’m rating it higher but the ending felt so rushed and bizarre that it kind of ruined the story for me. I really enjoyed it otherwise even though it put me through emotional hell.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Blake Crouch for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review! This published on October 22nd.

The first thing you notice about Run is that the action starts right away and never lets up, making it the kind of book you race through and cannot put down.

A meteor shower has turned everyone who watched it into a remorseless, relentless, brutal murderer, often roaming around in groups looking for victims. A family of four from Albuquerque goes on the run to stay ahead of the crazed murderers, trying to make it to safe haven in Canada.

The second thing you notice about Run is that you've read or seen this type of story many times, from The Walking Dead to The Purge to even The Day of the Triffids with the meteor shower. But this was Blake Crouch's first novel from 2011, re-released, so it was written contemporaneously with some of those similar stories rather than mimicking them.

The third thing you notice about Run is that it never lets up, it's as remorseless, relentless, and brutal as its mad world murderers, increasingly so like its mad world murderers. Despite its cross-country run, it never really goes anywhere. And then its resolution, to avoid spoilers, is not at all what you may have expected, and not necessarily in a way that you might have wanted it to end.

The other thing you notice about Run, or at least what I noticed, is that the timing of its re-release is perfect, if you see it as a metaphor for contemporary politics. And dam to do I see it as a metaphor for contemporary politics. One can only hope that our political situation reaches the same conclusion as Run, without its brutality.

Thanks to Net Galley, the author and publisher for an Advance Reading Copy. This is my honest review, one that is positively influenced by the pace and readability of this thriller and its apt political metaphor, but negatively influenced by its lack of plot development and lackluster ending. Sorry for the late review, I thought I had posted it prior to publication, but something went wrong.

Sometimes, it takes famous writers a while to find their literary voice. Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, “The Torrents of Spring,” was a commercial and critical flop. The book was a satire that never worked. As a result, Hemingway never allowed it to be reprinted during his lifetime. He also adopted a more straightforward writing style with his subsequent work, “The Sun Also Rises.” And the results were fame and fortune.

Blake Crouch is no Ernest Hemingway, but he is a talented and successful science fiction and thriller writer. Before he achieved widespread name recognition with his “Wayward Pines” trilogy, Crouch wrote a post-apocalyptic thriller, “Run.” It was initially self-published to little fanfare. However, it sold enough copies to allow Crouch to become a full-time writer. “Run” has now been republished by Ballantine Books, with much more fanfare. The book shows signs of Crouch’s imagination and ability to create tense, suspenseful scenes. However, it also has too many flaws often appearing in works by inexperienced authors.

“Run” occurs in the immediate aftermath of a bizarre natural disaster. The appearance of a strange, late-night meteor shower over the contiguous United States causes everyone who witnesses the event to go insane. (This same plot device was used a half-century earlier by John Wyndham in his classic sci-fi novel, “Day of the Triffids.”) Those who witnessed the aurora soon developed an overwhelming urge to kill those who hadn’t. The affected see glowing lights around others like them, so they know the precise people they must kill. Within a few days, mass chaos overwhelms the entire country as both affected and normal people arm themselves to the teeth and begin shooting at each other. Those who are not affected form armed camps or try to make their way to Canada, where the aurora did not appear.

Although the author sketches the backstory over the course of the novel, most of “Run” focuses on the Colclough family. Jack is a college professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and wife Dee is a doctor. (Her profession is handy in treating the various wounds and injuries people suffer throughout the book.) Along with 14-year-old Naomi and seven-year-old Cole, they pile into their Land Rover and head north. Fortunately, they have plenty of supplies at home, such as water jugs and backpacks, which come in handy on their journey.

Most of the book comprises a series of repetitive and largely forgettable encounters the Colcloughs have with affected and a few normal people. They go around or through roadblocks, dodge gunfire, and outrun pursuing vehicles. Then, a few pages later, almost the same sequence of events occurs. When they run out of gas, they either siphon more from abandoned vehicles or get a new ride. They find convenient refuge off the main highway in fully stocked cabins or vacation rentals. When an armed group of the affected chase them, the family has to climb a tall peak to get to the other side and safety.

I’m sure that if this type of disaster occurred, any survivors would go through a similar gauntlet to get to safety. And I’m sure each hostile encounter with other people or nature would be a harrowing experience. However, the Colcloughs’ journey soon becomes monotonous for the book’s readers. During the quieter portions of the journey, Jack and Dee talk to each other, but readers learn little about them other than the precarious state of their marriage. The couple was on the verge of divorce, with Dee seeing her affected lover just before the family fled. Anyone who has read a similar survival story can guess how the family’s peril will affect the couple’s marriage. Readers learn even less about the Colcloughs’ children, who become complete cliches. The various outsiders they encounter are virtual nonentities, with one exception I won’t spoil near the book’s conclusion.

What makes “Run” so frustrating is that several of the family’s encounters are potentially interesting. They meet groups of normal people, including a cultlike group, who have sometimes adopted extreme measures of self-preservation. They also meet a few individuals, including a pilot, who help them during their journey. Each encounter has intriguing possibilities the author should have explored in more depth. Unfortunately, most of them end abruptly and, often, violently as the affected are constantly hunting down normal survivors. I would have enjoyed learning more about the individuals and groups the Colcloughs meet, but the author rushes through the descriptions.

The author saves the worst for last. “Run” has a definitive ending, but it makes no logical sense. Previous events in the book don’t suggest the ending is possible, much less plausible, given what happened before. Most readers will view it as a complete copout. I can’t describe the ending further without spoiling it. However, it struck me as the result of an inexperienced writer choosing the easy way out of a fictional world over which he had lost creative control.

In writing “Run,” Blake Crouch may have been influenced by post-apocalyptic works such as Stephen King’s “The Stand.” However, King took over 1,000 pages to establish his characters and show the pandemic’s progress. Blake Crouch does neither. He wisely avoids lengthy information dumps, but the glimpses he gives of the rapid progress of his dystopian events don’t always follow. I can’t imagine many people staying up late at night to see a lightly publicized “northern lights” show in the sky or that they could organize so quickly and efficiently to track down the unaffected. The author also relies on far too many convenient coincidences to keep his story going.

“Run” has several good action and suspense scenes, most occurring near the end of the book. The author also creates intriguing scenarios for what might happen in the wake of a catastrophe like the one portrayed in the book. (I was reminded of some communities that spring up throughout the various “Walking Dead” series.) However, he doesn’t allow sufficient space in the book to develop his ideas in depth. What shows up on the printed page is often repetitive and boring. I think this book could be turned into a good limited TV series or be effective if expanded. However, in its current state, “Run” has too many of the typical flaws of an inexperienced writer.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own

I loved this book!! I think he gave a lot of emotional connection to the characters and it was very suspenseful the whole time. I struggled a bit with the ending. It felt like it ended too quickly with not enough information. Had a great time with it.

Rounding up to 4.25⭐️
I ended up listening to this one on audio and what a wild ride! This book was action packed from the beginning right until the very end. It was damn graphic and damn sad and it had just punch after punch after punch to the gut. I very much enjoyed it!

Run is an apocalyptic thriller centered around the family of Jack Colclough. In just a few days, mass chaos has taken over the USA as the public soon becomes two main groups: the hunters and the hunted. No one knows why this is happening, just that they have to get as far off the grid as possible to survive.

This book is a game of cat and mouse as Jack and his family are quite literally running and fighting for their lives. It also begs the question of: "If you had to pick up your life right where it is and fight for your family, could you do it?" We quickly learn in the first few pages that Jack and his wife have an extremely complicated relationship. But soon, all of that becomes moot as they have to pick up their kids and figure out how to stay alive. This book gets very dark very quickly and includes one of the most haunting scenes that will stay with me for a long time.

This book is also slightly sci-fy, and was Blake Crouch's debut novel that he is now re-releasing. He has clearly grown as a writer in his subsequent books like Dark Matter, but it's interesting to see how he started!

This book felt underdeveloped and I could've used more explanation. The character arcs were a little weak and it would've been nice to get more of a backstory on the family. I'm rating it 3.5/5 stars meaning I didn't dislike it but it's not going to be a reread.

I've enjoyed previous books by Blake Crouch and this was no different. I really enjoyed the mystery around why some people were affected and others were not. The terrifying group think around harming people who didn't see the light and couldn't "understand" was horrifying and felt a little too real with the current political landscape in the US. Overall, I enjoyed reading this and appreciated the ending.

I was so excited to receive this ARC because I'm such a huge fan of Blake Crouch, but I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as his other books. I think I was just expecting too much and I should have lowered my expectations since this was his first book.

Overall, I felt the characters were underdeveloped, and I just couldn't seem to care much about the MC. This book was also a bit dark and disturbing at times, so beware of that if that's not something you're looking for.

read this in one day, wanted to vomit many times. fantastic book but it did feel a little repetitive at times

can guarantee i would have offed myself ten time over if this happened to me, that’s for sure

The reviews on this book were so mixed that I was a little nervous to dive in, but I loved Dark Matter so much that I needed more Blake Crouch in my life.

I really enjoyed this book— and by enjoyed, I mean I was utterly horrified and had to keep reading to hope and pray I reached a resolution at the end. A heads up before reading this that it’s extremely gory and gruesome. It kinda reminded me of The Walking Dead.

Also you should know going in that there are no chapters. However it’s broken up into segments, so it still made it easy to find stopping points which made not having chapters a lot easier to manage.

I wish that the aurora had been better explained and touched on more, and it may have been helpful to have a little more context on the family before jumping into the action. But I liked the layers of the family dynamics and the action really did keep me on my toes the whole time.

Thank you to NetGalley and RHPG for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Boring. Characters were insufferable, especially Dee. Jack should have just left her. Everything about this story was unbelievable. Jack and Dee's relationship at the end. Their son. The way it ended. It felt like the author didn't know where else to run to so he just decided to end it. No reason given.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Blake Crouch for an ARC of 'Run' in exchange of an honest review.

This book just wasn’t for me. I’m not a huge fan of dystopia or sci-fi. Too much violence and gore for my taste.

I love Blake Crouch, and was thrilled to see Run available on NetGalley.

Run follows an ordinary family set in a gripping apocalyptic America. This was an incredible thriller that I couldn't put down.

Run
Apocalyptic
Thriller
Buckle up for this apocalyptic thriller as a family of 4 fight for their lives against a world gone mad! I really enjoyed this book and loved the pace!
Thanks net galley and Ballantine Books for this Arc!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

Blake Crouch delivers a heart-pounding, high-stakes thriller in Run, an intense story that feels like a race against time from start to finish. The plot plunges you into chaos right from the opening, with a gripping premise that imagines an America gone mad, forcing families to flee for their lives.

Crouch is a master of pacing, and Run is no exception—the action is relentless, leaving barely any room to breathe. His writing style pulls you right into the nightmare alongside the main characters, making you feel every tense moment and every desperate choice they have to make.

The characters, especially the father, Jack, and his family, are developed in a way that makes you genuinely care about their survival, which keeps you invested throughout. The stakes are personal and emotional, giving the story a strong sense of urgency. My only wish was for a bit more depth in the world-building, as certain aspects of the chaotic society were not as fleshed out as they could have been.

Overall, Run is a compelling, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will keep you hooked until the last page. If you’re a fan of intense survival stories, this one is for you!

Good lord, this book is unrelentingly brutal—The Purge meets The Stand. I think it has to be endured in one sitting because there's no other way to experience the level of anxiety this book gives you. There's no reality in which I would want to be a survivor of an apocalyptic event.

3.5 stars
I didn’t realize this was a re-release of an older title when I started reading it. Ias pleasantly surprised to discover it was a post-apocalyptic tale. Mysterious things are happening and our family is on the run to stay alive. The pacing was great and I was invested from start to finish.
*Thanks to NetGalley & Random House for the advance copy

This was an exhausting but interesting read that I couldn’t put down, keeping me on edge the entire time. A sudden rash of violence has taken over the U.S. in a single week…bizarre murders, mass shootings, & riots. In Albuquerque, Jack and his wife and 2 kids hear their names on the radio as targets to be killed. Packing everything they can, they start driving north to escape, finding more danger everywhere they go as they run.
This succeeded in keeping the reader on edge, as this family runs for their lives. Every time they felt safe, something else came to throw that all to hell. But it also felt too exhaustive at times, terrible things happening with no resolution. I also found the kids insufferable which drove me crazy while reading. This is my first Blake novel and I’ll definitely check some of his others out.
Thank you to Random House-Ballantine for the advanced copy of this re-release in exchange for my honest review.

The world is falling apart. Murders and death, everywhere you turn. The president has begged for peace- but to no avail. The power goes out nation wide, and the killers read out the names of those they will kill next over the EMS system. Your name is called, and you’re left with no choice but to run.

I will forever read anything Blake Crouch writes! The pacing on this one was amazing, and the concept was unique. I found my self at the edge of my seat, just needing to know what happened next. Thank you so much to NetGalley and publisher for this amazing ARC!

Crazy world unravels as we follow a family thru an apocalyptic event
Gripping till the end lots of action, makes you think for sure