Fair warning, when you pick up this book, you should be prepared to sit for a few hours because the action in this thriller is nonstop. I did not know it at the time that this is one of Blake Crouch's older books but I could tell because it is more action and running for your life if you hadn't seen the lights visible in the sky one night because they will hunt you down and kill you. It is much less science fiction technical but I still enjoyed and and as I said, it was hard to put it down because Jack and his family had to keep fleeing, first but car, then on foot over mountains. I recently traveled over the Rockies and I can tell you that trying to do that on foot would be crazy though I guess I would try it if I had people trying to kill me.

So a thrilling ride, and also nicely creepy with people reciting on the radio names and addresses of the families that had not seen the lights, plus not being able to trust anyone because this kind of a situation was shoot first because you couldn't tell if people had been affected or not. So much death but also the strength of family keeping everyone together and safe no matter the cost.

It was not as good as, say Recursion, but I still enjoyed reading it and getting the chance to know Jack, Dee, Naomi, and Cole and the lengths they go to to stay alive and together.

TLDR: This is a terrifying novel. Fascinating premise. Extremely fast paced. It will leave you out of breath, horrified. It also suffers from a somewhat "it just stops" ending that ties everything in a neat bow. Recommended, but it wouldn't be the first Crouch I'd suggest.

I have an odd history with Blake Crouch. I actually read Dark Matter before it went viral/got popular - long before the TV series or the other books. I was introduced to it by a friend and we (podcast guys) all read it together and were fascinated by the whole thing. We never got around to recording an episode about it, but we all enjoyed it. I've since read some of his other books and quite enjoyed them. Crouch stands as someone who will write "scifi" thrillers with something of a harder science background. Dark Matter explores the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, but brings it down to the surface level with a thriller plot involving murder. Recursion does something similar with time travel. Upgrade with genetic engineering.

I feel like Crouch exploded after I read Dark Matter...and now he's REALLY exploded, with a series based on that book on Apple TV+ (a well reviewed one at that!) and he is finally seeing some of his prior books to Dark Matter see reprints, this time backed by his publishing house. Run was the book that put him "on the map" for a lot of readers - a self-published success story that got him a new (?) agent, a new contract, led to Wayward Pines and then to Dark Matter and everything else. Crouch himself acknowledges as much, saying that this is the book that set his career in motion...and defined his nook of the genre ("emotionally driven speculative stories"). For a lot of his fans, this is their favorite book.

So...how does it hold up, given modern things and all that? Not bad. Not great, either. I can see why this put him on the map. All the things that make Blake Crouch what he is as an author are present. And yet...it seems like a lesser book. As Tolkien put it regarding some of the other, lesser rings of power...this is an...essay in the craft. It is all there...and yet...something is missing.

There are better places to go through the plot. In a lot of ways, this is your standard zombie survival story. Except that these aren't zombies exactly and they are way way waaaaaaaaay scarier because they're just normal people. Normal people who want to kill anyone who isn't like them (due to...reasons - this is left very intentionally vague - it is implied early on that this is due to people witnessing an aurora, but unlike Crouch's later novels, the how/why is rather vague here). They just kill. And torture. And set the world afire. And they look and talk and act just like you and me if you're one of them...and if you're not...they want to kill you.

Jake and his wife and kids escape New Mexico and set off north through the high plains of middle America, trying to escape to "safety" in Canada. The whole novel is that attempt at escape. It is VIVIDLY told, a terrifying run from chaos mixed with starvation, escape, small murder, LARGE murder, gun battles, survivalists, and every form of human beings being awful to other human beings you could imagine. Fast paced...it will leave you out of breath.

And then it ends. I won't get into spoiler territory here, but the story just sorta ends. Wraps everything up in a bow and it is over. No real explanation. Just over. And that, by the way, is my biggest complaint with this novel - we never get much in the way of resolution as to why this happened, how it happened, how it stopped, etc. It just ends. When you combine that with the fact that this is combined with very little in the way of character development from Jack or his wife Dee, the two viewpoint characters we get, and maybe that's because this is more focused on being a survival novel. And those aren't all that interesting to me. I mostly find zombies boring if they're not being used as a commentary on our society - this is why The Walking Dead bores me...it's just survival porn. And sure...these aren't zombies (I'm very confused at the folks calling this a zombie novel). But the point remains. Very little is being said about...well..anything.

BUT...it is an amazing thriller/survival story and if you're into that sort of thing...you should DEFINITELY read this. I'm calling this a 3.5/5 stars. You should definitely be reading Blake Crouch...but maybe...start with one of the more recent novels. Unless survival fiction is your bag, in which case...this might be a 5 for you. YMMV. I'm glad I had a chance to read it. I'm not sure I will ever want to again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this novel. You can preorder it here - out October 22nd!

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Look, I knew what I was signing up for here. I rarely enjoy backlists of authors, even authors like Blake Crouch who I love. This book is being re-released this month, and I got an ARC of the re-release from NetGalley (all thoughts and opinions are my own).

What I will give this author credit for is always writing an action-packed, edge of your seat science thriller (did I just make up a new genre?). This book had me sweating from the first page. The main characters are on the run for most of the book from a group of people who are infected? zombie-fied? psychotic? We don't know. But they are out to kill people.

What this book lacked for me was the nuance and relationships found in Blake's other books. We jump right into the action, which is great, but that doesn't leave much time to really connect with the characters. I don't enjoy reading male authors often, but Blake Crouch usually has the relationships so well-written that I'll look past the male-ness of it all. That was a bit harder to do with this one.

This book was engaging enough for me to keep “flipping” pages to finish it in a few days. However, it felt incomplete. We were thrown into the beginning without much context of what was going on which made the start confusing. I feel like plot needed more complexity. It just felt like a family that was on the run escaping the bad guys without much else. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, but would recommend his other books.

Run... or Maybe Just Power Walk?

I had high hopes for Run. I was ready for a thriller that would have me gripping the pages in a state of perpetual anxiety. But instead, it felt like I signed up for a marathon without proper training — and halfway through, I was ready to tap out.

The book starts off with a bang — people suddenly turning into homicidal maniacs and our protagonists have no choice but to, you guessed it, run. And oh boy, do they take that instruction literally. It's like someone hit "shuffle" on an endless playlist of chase scenes. Every chapter, it’s “run here, run there, oh no, something’s chasing us again!” I swear I burned more calories reading this book than actually working out.

The characters? About as relatable as furniture. You’d think people being hunted down would generate some emotional investment, but instead, I was stuck with a group of personalities as deep as a kiddie pool. I kept waiting for some profound character development, but it was as elusive as Wi-Fi in the wilderness. At one point, I started picturing them as Sims characters, just running endlessly on free will mode.

The villains were even less compelling. Think "angry mobs" but with all the complexity of a video game NPC stuck in a loop. You know when a bad guy runs into a wall over and over because the game’s glitched? That was pretty much the vibe.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are moments of tension, but after a while, it’s like eating plain toast for every meal—filling, sure, but not exactly thrilling.

In the end, I can’t say Run is terrible. It’s like going to a theme park, but only riding the same roller coaster for hours. Some people will love the adrenaline. Me? I just wanted to get off and try something else.

Two stars, one for the cardio and one for not being longer.

Blake Crouch is an auto read. I was so excited to receive a copy of this ARC. I always go into books blindly and I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. There are a lot of apocalypse books out there but this one is different. Lots of parts left me scared. Theirs is a good amount of violence, gore, and death in this book. If you have a weak stomach, this is not for you. Once I picked this up, I couldn’t put it down. It was also a short read. Overall, I definitely recommend this book if you like end of the world reads. The ending had me feeling some sort of way— I still don’t even know how to describe it.
Thank you to Blake Crouch for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I truly enjoyed every minute of it. 4.5 stars***

The recurring theme running through my head the whole time I was reading this book was, "this would be so much better as a movie." I was hooked on the blurb right away, that's why I requested this from Netgalley, and make no mistake, it is nonstop action from start to finish. What happened that started this "event" in the first place? Why all of a sudden are people killing other people? Why was Jack's name chosen? Honestly, this felt like a bit of an M. Night Shyamalan story, or like Bird Box, in that some unidentified event is affecting people, causing them to kill other people who are not like them.

This story is nonstop, heart pounding action. Jack and has leave his house in Albuquerque with his wife and kids before killers show up at his door. Rumor has it, it is safe in Canada, but they're all the way down in New Mexico, how the heck are they, people with no survival skills training, supposed to safely make it up north? At least Dee was a doctor.

The way the story was structured was quite unique, in that it didn't have chapters, so the action was constant, nonstop, and there were no chapter breaks to give you any kind of reprieve. I haven't read a story like that before.

Overall, I felt like there were several things that were truly left unexplained, while other things or events were resolved way too quickly and easily without explanation, so again, loose ends not tied up neatly. As I mentioned in the beginning, I think I would have enjoyed this much more had it been a movie I was watching. Interesting premise though!

If you are looking for a book to grip you from the first page to the last, this is it!! The whole time I was reading Run I kept thinking how great it would be to adapt as a movie. It was that good! Run is the third book by Blake Crouch that I have read, and I have to say that it is absolutely my favorite. Run is a post apocalyptic story where people are driven to kill eachother for no apparent reason. We later discover that there was an astrological event that some people in the US observed and those that did, become violent against those that did not. This leads to the Jack and Dee gathering their children and fleeing their home in search of somewhere safe to ride out the ensuing carnage befalling town after town. This book had me on the edge of my seat for the entire ride and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good time!

I received a gifted eARC and an ALC of RUN by Blake Crouch for an honest review. Thank you to Random House, PRH Audio and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

RUN is a reissue of a previously self-published novel. In this world, a sudden epidemic of rage and murder has struck the United States. Killers are even broadcasting the names of their targets, without any fear of repercussions. Entire cities have been destroyed by gun violence.

Jack and his family are among the targets and they must make a run for safety. With his wife, son, and daughter, they take what hey can and hit the road, constantly under the threat of death, trying to find a place to go where they will be safe.

I have really enjoyed a lot of Blake Crouch's novels, so this was an auto-request on Netgalley. I was a bit wary when I figured out this was a traditional pick up of a previous novel, but I am happy to report I did have a good time with this one. It quickly hooked me into the story at the very beginning and kept me on the edge of my seat.

By the end of the book, there were moments that I thought it was feeling a little bit repetitive, but it made sense in that the title of the book emphasizes that they must keep running. The tension was really well maintained throughout with just a few cooldown periods. I wouldn't say this was anything super new and unique, but I had a really good time reading it!

This book was so fast paced and interesting. Although a ton of apocalypse type books are out there, this one still is unique. However, the execution felt less than at times, throughout the book.

This book was fast paced from first chapter to last with cliffhangers to keep you going along the way!
I guess I did not read into the synopsis enough to know it was apocalyptic in any way and I do not like to read about the apocalypse unfortunately!

I would still recommend this to others who enjoy this plot. IT was an intense ride with a family of 4 on the run from a band of murderers but why and when are unknown. I understand the focus of the characters, but I believe digging deeper into the plot, including not being as repetitive, may have been the better call for my enjoyment with this one.
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Will always read Crouch so I don't fret with this one. I just need Dark Matter over and over again.

This book is a wild ride! I really enjoyed it, which surprised me a little because I don't usually enjoy such fighting focused books.

This story has an interesting premise that the main character hears his name on a radio kill list and must take his family and run to Canada for safety. This is not really a character focused story, so the characters are a little flat, but the tension of the plot moves the story along fast enough that you don't really notice.

There were a couple of scenes in the story that really felt like a man writing in 2011 (this book's original publishing date), but only a couple and I just rolled my eyes and moved along. It also ends faster than you think so I didn't get bored of the premise before the story was over which was a concern of mine going in. Overall this was a fun, one-sitting read, that kept me entertained throughout. Would recommend especially this time of year.

I love love love Blake Crouch and his writing! I do know this is an older work of his, and I can tell by the writing. It was still enjoyable, and thrilling, but I do enjoy his newer works more. His past 3 publications have all been 5 stars for me. This one seemed a little too gory for what I’m used to from him.

This is a thriller in every sense of the word. The action starts from the first page and continues until the end, there's very little respite from the intensity of the action.

Basically, an event occurs which causes some people to change and begin killing everyone. It affects some people and not others. It mostly centers on Jack, his wife, Dee, their teenage daughter Naomi, and seven-year-old son Cole. They barely escape Albuquerque and head north, on the run from those who want to kill them. Supplies are scarce and they are just trying to stay together and survive.

There's not an intricate plot here, it's mostly just action and a fight for survival. Is it believable? No. Are there wild coincidences? Yes. However it's incredibly fast paced and if you're looking for an apocalyptic-style thriller, you can't go wrong with this one. I enjoyed it for the escapist drama.

If you're looking for a Blake Crouch novel like Dark Matter, Upgrade, or Recursion, you aren't going to find that here. This is a re-release of a 2011 novel, so it's definitely not as "science-y" and complex as his later works.

Run is another excellent moralistic post-apocalyptic story from Blake Crouch. I loved Upgrade, Recursion, and Dark Matter; Run ranks right up there.

People are killing people, and Jack Colclough doesn't know why. When he hears his name on the radio of people to kill in Albuquerque, he grabs his wife, Dee, and two children and heads north--destination unknown. As they travel through Colorado, they learn the reason why the killing is occurring and that Canada may be a haven from the madness. The killers are organized, and the trip is dangerous, but staying in one place is not an option: Jack and his family must run,

This twisty, pedal-to-the-metal story starts fast and never lets up. In a lawless environment, Jack and Dee must decide how far they will go to protect their children. Does it include murder? The plot is plausible, the characters are well-drawn, and the pacing is spot-on. If you are a science fiction lover and haven't discovered Blake Crouch, now is the time. 4/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine Books, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is October 22, 2024.

What happened here Blake? This book reads like the script to some mid-tier apocalypse video game with all of the cutscenes removed. The absolute lack of characterization in this story could almost be considered impressive, if it weren't so miserable to sit through. So this book follows a family of 4 who are running from a sudden onslaught of random violence in their city- this family includes Husband, Wife, Brother and Sister. All four of which are so bland and underwritten that I'm actually struggling to remember their names and I finished reading this book 12 hours ago. We know pretty much nothing about these people other than their vague ages, relationships to one another, and the parents' occupations. I'm not kidding, that's it. I think at one point it was mentioned that Sister was "sassy" before the apocalypse broke out. What these characters like/dislike, any friends or important relations outside of one another, their morals, their feelings, literally any semblance of characterization is completely unknown to us throughout the whole book, which makes it so difficult to care about anything that they're going through, because they don't feel real AT ALL.
I have a difficult time grasping why this book is so vague. Like I genuinely can't tell if it was a choice the author made or if its simply bad writing. Aside from the characters, the actual apocalypse that is happening in the world around them is extremely underwritten. You spend most of the book not knowing what the hell is going on, and not in a "fun, suspenseful" way. I really feel like Blake Crouch wanted to write only action scenes, so he just hedged together some lame excuse for an apocalypse and a handful of generic characters to fulfill this need.
On top of all that, there is this really weird "manly man" dialogue that is present throughout the story. In the beginning of the book, Wife is cheating on Husband with some tough military type dude, and it's sort of insinuated that Husband has been distant in their marriage due to depression (and I mean very lightly insinuated because anything more then that might be categorized as actual character writing). Once the apocalypse is under way, however, Husband is given the chance to prove himself as a 'man' to his wife and kids. He gets to do manly things like; hunt, fish, fire guns, drive cars fast, boss his family around, and murder people. And its very clear that these things make his feel "so much manlier" and wake him up from his depression. At one point, Husband literally says that he is glad the apocalypse happened because it gave him the chance to kill for his family and be a "real man". And of course, through all of this he is able to sexually reconnect with his wife and kill Wife's ex-lover.
The whole thing felt like some shitty, self-insert, masculinity-porn fanfiction. It was so odd, especially having previously read Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, and knowing that he is absolutely capable of writing realistic characters, emotionally charged moments, nuanced relationships between characters, etc. I should have DNF'd, but I just kept telling myself that surely things were going to turn around, that the author was going to subvert my expectations in some way and show me that things weren't as they seemed. But if you're in the same place I was, BE WARNED, this book does not turn around. It does not get better. And the ending is so hilariously abrupt and unsatisfying that you're probably better off just making something up.
I feel like I could go on about how much I disliked this book forever, but I think I've already given it more of my time and effort then it deserves. Most of the time when I dislike something that I read, I can at least step back and say "okay, but I understand why someone else might like this". I don't feel that way here. And I know, I KNOW, that this isn't the case, because this book has plenty of five star reviews, so obviously it clicked with some people, but I really don't understand how. This book is woefully mediocre horse crap and I am mad that I can never get back the time I spent reading it.

Thank you Random House - Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

I am usually a Blake Crouch fan, but this one was tough for me. It was incredibly violent for much of the novel, and it was hard to follow at times. This wasn't my favorite, but I will always be a Blake Crouch fan.

Thanks again for the ARC!

First, I would like to thank NetGalley, Black Crouch, and Random House Publishing Group for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 2.5

Unfortunately, this will be a short review. I am not a fan of this book in general. I have enjoyed several of this author's works in the past, but there is something about this particular novel that is not sitting with me. After the first several pages, I wasn't immediately sucked in but I continued because most books begin slowly. I thought that when the plot of the book begins then the book would come alive. Unfortunately, it did not. The writing is simplistic, the worldbuilding is loosely explained through unnecessary passages, and the characters do not have a lot of depth. I couldn't connect with the book. I made it to the 50% mark before I decided to DNF. This book simply wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this ARC of Run. I found Blake Crouch when I heard of Dark Matter. The novel blew me away so I picked up Pines and Upgrade. Both were not anywhere near the expectations Dark Matter set. I was disappointed and then nervous going into this ARC, because I like to get to know the capabilities of the author I will give feedback on.

Run is a story about a journey the Colclough family endures through a dystopian timeframe. One morning society wakes up to murder and mayhem for reasons unknown in the beginning. Jack, Dee, Nay and Cole will be pushed to their human limits and then some. Jack quickly becomes a different man through the journey and I deeply admire him for what he is willing to do. We will witness him make some of the most hardest decisions any human dares to be faced with, be the backbone for his struggling family, and be broken down to his core. Dee makes promises to herself to hold on to her humanity, but will break them causing her to evolve into something she couldn't imagine. Nay steps up to be an adult in her 14 year old mind to help her parents battle the challenges this new world forces upon them again and again. Cole, the youngest, harbors a secret that could completely end them all in the worst possible way imaginable and only time will tell. The events that happen in this story feel so believable, so close to reality that the chills are still with me. The thoughts and the choices made, why they're made all make sense. If you devour dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels like I do, I can't imagine you not praising this book for the effectiveness and delivery.

This story is not for the faint of heart or for those who can't handle a barrage of insults to the human condition or body. Crouch reaches in your mind and your heart creating adrenaline, copious amounts of fear, hope and deep sorrow through this novel. I imagined their hunger and thirst so strongly, their pain and their extreme tiredness. I won't lie, I cried at the end because Crouch is an asshole. A wonderfully brilliant asshole. Dare I say that this, Run, is the most phenomenal and felt book by Crouch I have ever read. I can't wait to see what he creates next!

He suddenly wished he'd never stopped the car, that he'd stayed on the other side of the of the windshield, because this was real, breathing agony before him. 12%

"Don't look out the windows." he warned, and this time his children listened. 23%

He'd seen a few frames of horror since Tuesday night, but nothing like this. He tried to shove it to the back of his unconsciousness, but its shape wouldn't fit anywhere. Beyond all comprehension. 24%

"Nobody's home," Jack said.
"Or maybe they saw a man approaching with a shotgun and they're waiting on the other side with a fucking arsenal."
"Always the pessimist." 25%

She started toward him, got three steps before the mother inside her screamed louder that the wife. 58%

If Jack believed in hell, he couldn't have imagined it sounding any worse than this chorus of agony - groans, moaning, weeping, screaming, people dying loudly, dying quietly, some cursing their murderers, some begging to be saved, or begging for an end, some just asking why. 75%

This book gave me quite a few conflicting feelings. Although I enjoyed this book, there were some issues. It got fairly repetitive, the characters weren’t all the interesting, and the ending was quite a cop out I think. Not very satisfying ending. But overall, I enjoyed the ride so I’m going to give it 4 stars still.