I have such mixed feelings about this book. 1) It's so reminiscent of stories I've read of the Holocaust which is either a genius choice or cheap. I am someone who watches gore and horror and can be unbothered but this was... descriptive - if you have a weak or normal stomach, this might not be the book for you. It was hard for me at times AND I was prewarned by a friend who was also approved for an ARC. 2) The concept was interesting but felt convenient at times. I wasn't too much of a fan of the main characters - I get that everyone is flawed but I didn't feel their connection was real until the end - which may have been the point. 3) Realistically speaking, the lack of bathroom usage really concerns me - I know we don't need to know everything that happens every second but there are sections where the characters are holed up for LONG timeframes and not even a mention of an uncomfortable bladder.

This one is a wild ride! I’ve been looking for a good apocalyptic story, and I’m surprised the initial release of this book hasn’t been on my radar. I’m not sure how the re-release compares to the first edition, but as a wife and parent, this book has officially caused me to have high blood pressure. The story follows a family of four trying to survive an unexpected apocalypse. What I really enjoyed about this story is that it is very in-the-moment; there’s a handful of flashbacks/memories, but the author doesn’t take you out of intense moments or create cliffhangers by suddenly flashing back in time and diverting away from the story.

Now one thing about the style of the beginning of the book is that it feels choppy. There will be just a paragraph or two, then a new “section” with just another paragraph or two. It does make it a little hard to get into the story initially, but I’m guessing it’s a literary device meant to throw off the sense of time to the reader in the same way the family is experiencing it. Just hold out, because the whole book isn’t written like this!

The author has created a story that’s both dark and terrifying yet poetic and beautiful. The husband in the story reminds me a lot of my own husband, who I have since been nagging relentlessly to read this book next (“I will, I already said I will!” 😉). Mark your calendars or pre-order this one!

I have been generously given a copy of Run by Blake Crouch from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine.

Run is an epic thriller. The story follows a family of four as they make their way from Arizona to find refuge in southern Canada. The kicker is that something happened to make a large portion of the population convinced that they should kill the rest of the population.

Content warning for Suicide, Mass murder, blood, infidelity, among others.

This is a story of family love, perseverance and a question of what would you do if you were pushed
to the absolute limit? At one point I had to put this down because of how intense it got, but I had to know what was going to happen!

Blake Crouch is one of my favorite authors and when I saw he had one on NetGalley I jumped at the opportunity. I had not realized that this book had originally been one of the first books the author had written.

Run is an intense gripping post apocalyptic thriller. It was nonstop action from beginning to end as a family nit even remotely prepared to survive on the run during a world ending event had to do just that. The perilous journey took them farther than they could have possibly imagined and the stakes. Well let’s just say running was the only option and there was nowhere age to hide. A cataclysmic celestial event is seen over a large part of the United States leaving anyone who witnessed it utterly and uncontrollably violent and bloodthirsty. They within hrs go on murder sprees of gleeful devastation. The only goal destroy anyone unchanged in the most horrific ways possible.

Our MC’s who at this point have a fractured marriage and have list the connection to each other they once shared. Can they find a path back to their love, survive, save their children and find a safe haven to begin a new?

Read Run and find out. It’s astonishing, heartbreaking and inspiring to see at our lowest how far humanity can rise even against themselves. Great book highly recommend it.

Imagine having to pack up your family and quite literally run for your lives… not knowing who will be out to kill you or where your next meal will come from. All you know is that you have to RUN and you can’t stop unless you want to die.

This was a quick read, engaging and intense. Not only was I swept up in the suspense of the story, but I loved how in the midst of it all it really made the main characters realize what was most important in life. It’s a dark, gory tale that won’t be for everyone but I enjoy Blake Crouch’s writing and I think the story would make for a great movie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the chance to read an early copy of this re-release!

This is like a zombie survival novel, if the zombies were cognizant and armed. A large population was exposed to some kind of aurora of lights at night, and those that saw it have become "affected" with a rage at those that didn't see. The book is a long, nail-biting story of one family trying to escape from every kind of predicament you can imagine in this scenario. It was sweet, terrifying, and disgusting at times, but never boring! If that's your jam, buckle up!

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this upcoming book!

I am sad to say I will not be a Blake Crouch reader. Its not that there is anything wrong with his writing or his style. And I know plenty of people who love his work, but in all fairness I guess its just not my cup of tea. He has a very specific brand.

You know when you read that a book has non-stop action that keeps you on the edge of your seat and you can't put it down even if you wanted to, foregoing sleep and whatever else you have to do? Well, "Run" is that book. When people around them turn violent without explanation, Jack, Dee and their kids go on the run....and never stop. Facing horrific obstacles again and again, the story rests barely long enough for you to catch your breath before it is off again. If that is what you are looking for, this book is for you. To be fair, the story is more suspense than sci-fi (as the cause behind what causes the people to shift their behavior is never fully explained), but that is about the worst of the complaints here. Like with "Dark Matter", I could see this book easily being converted into a film/limited series project.

Such an intense read, Run had me stressing the entire time! Right off the bat you are thrown into a terrifying scenario where humans are the scary monster, and that to me is more terrifying than anything! Jack and his family have moments to gather their survival belongings, come up with a plan, and execute it, all while finding their connection as a family again. The story flows very well but I found myself having to stop reading to catch my breath! This is totally different than most of my reads, but I enjoyed the rush. Would recommend to fans of the Walking Dead and post apocalyptic books and shows.

Loved his other books… not this one.
Pretty cheesy action and dialogue. No depth with characters. Neat concept of book, but could have DNF’d.

The Run by Blake Couch was such a fast-paced, interesting book! I have to be honest and say that I wasn't aware this book was previously released. However, I was pleasantly surprised for the re-release as I would have probably not read it if it wasn't advertised again. This book is not for the weak, but I enjoy books that play in my head like movies and this was right up my alley. Was the violence a little much sometimes? Maybe. But to me, it was needed to paint the picture of the gravity of this couple training to save their family from an unexplained phenomenon. I am an instant Black Crouch fan now and look forward to reading more.

Big Blake crouch fan since dark matter and I’ve read all his new releases since then. I’m confused about this one- looks like it was released over a decade ago, but maybe going to be repackaged with new cover?

In any case, this book is extremely dark and rough to read sometimes but I enjoyed how fast paced it was. I was hooked and needed to see what happened to this family on the run from strangers infected with something that made them want to kill others.

What a doozy.

When I explained to my husband what I was reading, he said it reminded him of bird box. I definitely would love to see Run adapted to the big screen.

Can’t wait to read more from Blake crouch!

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Run, and I didn’t realize that this was by a popular author that I’ve seen his books around (but not yet read!), but it was such a gripping, suspenseful read!

Initially, I was a little put off by the quick, choppy, presumptive writing style. The story would go on for two or three paragraphs about something happening, but not coming out and saying what it was, and I found myself flipping back, worried I had missed crucial details.

The story grabbed me from the get-go. As a fan of apocalypse survival tales, especially those without zombies, Run hit the mark perfectly. I was breathlessly invested in Jack, Dee, and their family's desperate race across a crumbling landscape, rooting for their survival with every turn of the page.

If you share my passion for high-stakes, apocalyptic adventures, Run will hit the spot!

Thank you to the author, publishers, and NetGalley for providing this advanced reader copy. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I’m honestly not sure what I’m supposed to be feeling, having finished this. What was the point? Appreciate my family? This was awful, downright disgusting, redolent of Holocaust stories. But it was also somehow good? Well written. Impossible to put down. But I hated it?

A special thank you to NetGalley, Blake crouch and the publisher for the oppty to read this uncorrected proof in exchange for. My honest review. So, as a fan of Blake Crouch’s dark matter and wayward pibes books, I loved this one! A post apocalyptic novel in which the world reacts to an aurora borealis that results in them going Mad and murderous! I loved the family trying to survive and remain together through the chaos and turmoil! Classic Blake crouch with action from page one to the last! Great characters that you cannot help but route for from page one through the last page!

Five days ago, the epidemic of rage began. Four days ago, the killing started. Jack is listening to a battle operated radio when he hears his name - and he knows they’re coming to kill him and his family. There’s no time to think, no time to plan - he just has to run..

Not my favorite Blake Crouch book, but still a solid thriller. With its quick pace and dystopian feel, it had me on the edge of my seats.

Wow- this was intense from the very beginning! This apocalyptic thriller chronicles the story of a family on the run from blood-thirsty anonymous killers who have been affected by a mysterious phenomenon. I can envision this making it onto the screen at some point. Some of the events in this story are graphic and disturbing, reminiscent of holocaust descriptions I have read. I felt like the storyline was missing some complexity for me and was a little over my threshold for suffering and violence (however probably on par with other doomsday thriller storylines). Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC of this book!

A decent thriller from Blake Crouch. I've read a couple of his writings and have generally found them to be enjoyable. He is undoubtedly a fantastic storyteller. This one was no different, although I couldn't quite put my finger on what was lacking. Although the tempo and characterizations were strong, the halfway mark felt a little repetitious in terms of content. While not a terrible tale by any means, I found it to be ultimately better than decent.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of Run in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a big fan of Blake Crouch since reading Dark Matter. I’ve read both of his new novels since then ( Recursion and Upgrade). So when I saw Run on NetGalley, I assumed it was a new novel, immediately requested it, and was delighted when I was approved for it.

Later I learned that Run is actually a release of a novel Mr. Crouch self-published in 2011. The plot could not be more straightforward. For reasons initially unclear, America has descended into a violent chaos—not our usual violent chaos, but a kind where the power is out and some unknown group has taken over the Emergency Broadcast System and is reading out the names and addresses of those to be killed next. Our hero, Jack Colclough, hears his name and tries to escape his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home for the safety of Canada with his wife Dee, his 14-year-old daughter Naomi, and his 7-year-old son Cole.

Run is a pure thriller, with action pretty much from start to finish. But the story has so many holes. When you learn why huge groups of people have gone on this killing spree, you’ll have to trust me but the reason doesn’t mesh with that cool opening idea of announcing the names of names of the people to be executed on the radio. Because the story jumps into the action, there’s little time for any character development. The plot is like someone compressed five seasons of The Walking Dead into a single story: scramble, escape, survive, find temporary safety, scramble, escape, survive, find a person thought to be friend but really a foe, scramble, escape, survive, etc. As the story reaches its climax, the problems and escapes become more farfetched and more reliant on unlikely coincidences and miraculous timing.

If you’re looking for a book with the complexity of Mr. Crouch’s recent science-based thrillers, Run will not be for you. But if you’re in the mood for a simple adrenaline-fueled story, Run could scratch that itch. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Blake Crouch, for this arc of Run out October 22, 2024!

Right off the bat, this story took off like a fast paced rollercoaster. It was a violent, end of the world, thriller and it was so good. I’ve read a few of Blake Crouch’s other Sci-Fi books and also loved them but this is my first thriller written him. I literally could not put it down. I couldn’t wait to see how it ended.

⭐️Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

This novel was provided by the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for my honest review.