That was rough to get through. I had such high hopes too! I'm such a sucker for dystopian books, but I slogged to finish this.

The only way I can describe it is I felt like I was reading. Like nothing about this book created a world in my mind. The conversations were so flat and I had such a hard time with the writing style for some reason.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced copy.

What a compelling and terrifying read! Written in Crouch's propulsive style, Run is unputdownable. Something happens that seemingly half the country is hunting down the other to brutally murder the other half. Jack and his family are in their home in Albuquerque when they hear his name on the radio, marking him next for torture and murder. He and his family jump into their car and start driving to get away from roving bands of affected people. Along the way, they see unimaginable things and the reader pieces things together along with the characters. This was a very good read although I wanted to know more about the cosmic events before and the consequences of after.

Such a fun read! Blake Crouch writes pure mysterious thriller vibes with this one. If you loved Upgrade or Lost Pines, I highly recommend this one. He’s such a unique writer in the field of literature.

Many thanks to Blake Crouch, Random House - Ballantine, and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this novel, which is going to be re-issued in paperback in the fall.

This apocalyptic story of a family on the run, trying to survive in sudden, catastrophic circumstances, was dark and difficult to read — and by that I mean, dark and difficult in the manner of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Not for everyone, for sure, but I could not put it down.

This will be a great, quick read for fans of Blake Crouch and of apocalyptic/dystopian fiction.

Run
Blake crouch
2024-52
❤️❤️❤️❤️4.0
To be published October 2024
📚 📚📚All over the US violence is breaking out. Suddenly, a group of people all over are killing others. No warning. No known reason. Jack and Dee, who are not in the best place in their marriage, pack up their kids and start heading west toward the mountains. Thus begins a startling, dystopian nightmare where the only way to survive is to run.
📖📖📖 Crouch is my go to for the dystopian tech book. This is being published by the company in October but was his first self published book in 2024. It’s dystopian and fast paced without the tech. Yet it was a page turner and I admit stayed up way too late to finish and had to see how it ended.
❤️❤️❤️JJ’s last words.terrifying!
Thank you to net galley and ballentine books for the ARC.

Thank you Random House Publishing for the eARC! I've loved Crouch's previous books, and was thrilled to get to read his newly-republished first title 'Run'. This book is apocalyptic/dystopian and extremely entertaining and fast paced. You are immediately thrown into the high-stakes chaos of everyone trying to survive in the midst of an unexplained societal meltdown. The ending was a bit of a miss for me, but it could've been a lot worse. Overall, it was a super quick and easy read that had me hooked from the jump.

Run, by Blake Crouch, is a fast paced thriller about a family trying to stay alive. Jack and Dee, and their two kids Naiomi and Cole, are in an apocalypse like scenario. People are killing, burning, and slaughtering members of their town while the family tries to escape. Will they all make it out alive?

Wow, what a rush. This book is quite the exciting read. It takes off at the beginning and it’s a thrill ride all the way until the end. I ended up reading it all in one morning! I couldn’t put it down.

There were lots of heart pounding moments, and unfortunately, as crazy as the actions of the bad guys are in this book, I can totally see it happening in reality. Crouch has captured the personality and actions of extremists perfectly.

Crouch has written some really great books, and while this one is a bit different from his other works, it’s still a fantastic read. You know you can’t go wrong reading any of his books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blake Crouch tops the list of my new-book-must-read authors after falling in love with his books years ago. I didn't realize that Run is actually from 2011, but still I was excited for another Blake Crouch read. Unfortunately, this is the first book of his that I didn't connect with.

It starts off well, and the premise is intriguing. Acts of violence are increasing rapidly over just a few days, until one night a radio announcer starts reading names and addresses for people to find and kill. This is what gets the main characters out of their family home and on the road. We don't know right away why this violence is happening or how people are becoming affected.

What follows are way too many pages about the family's survival -- they almost get killed, they almost get run off the road, they almost get found or do get found, they hunt/fish/camp/hide to survive, they go back on the road, repeat. This went on way too long. I wanted more on what was happening in the country and why, and less about the exact survival skills this family knew. At the 50% mark I started skimming these parts because I just stopped caring, and only re-engaged when something different happened.

Run, like other Blake Crouch books, is well written and the author does an incredible job of infusing tension and making the reader feel anxious (I felt for the kids so much, especially the son, probably would have felt differently reading this before I had my son). I just wish the book was more about what happened and how, and less about how this family tries to survive.

One lingering question for those who read this book: Who told the radio announcer know which names to read? That is the part I am not quite getting based on what we later find out caused this whole thing.

Despite this review, maybe even because of it, I look forward to Blake Crouch's next book more than ever. I am sure I will love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this book in exchange for my honest review.

Eh I did not like this. I found Blake Crouch from Dark Matter. I thought I would like this but it just wasn’t for me. The pacing was off.

Read this as an ARC for when it gets re-released in October.

Really enjoyed this one, I could not put it down. It had me at the edge of my seat the entire time, like most of Blake Crouch’s other books have. This one was a different concept than his other books, a little less reliant on sci fi, and more thriller/horror. This one reminded me the most of Wayward Pines.

So many great plot twists I wasn’t expecting. The ending really brought everything together.

This was such an intense book I could not put it down! The author had me sucked in from the beginning and at the edge of my seat the entire time. Great heart pounding thriller. I do wish there had been a little backstory or at least a better intro into what was happening. Overall the story was excellent. 4.5/5⭐️

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Random
house publishers for the advance reader copy. This is my honest review. Publication date Oct 22, 2024.

This book was crazy intense and hooked me from the start.

A rash of murders is sweeping the country, murderers start forming groups, they read names off on the radio of people to go kill…

Jack and his family narrowly escape their home and go on the run. The book follows their journey across the country trying to get to safer areas. And holy cow, it’s a horrible journey!

Despite the horrific things they saw and constantly fighting for their lives, Jack saw the beauty in the land along the way, and I really liked this about the book.

Super dark and faced paced, intense read. Scary to think about being in their situation.

This books was good. Not my favorite of the author's, but I still enjoyed it. I liked the dystopia feel of it and how the terrible things happening brought the family back together. I liked that the beginning chapter didn't seem to really tie into the story until the end when it's revealed who the anthropologist is. My biggest issue is that I wanted more information about what exactly happened. What were the lights? Why wasn't Cole violent like the others? It didn't feel fully explained or resolved.

This was disappointing. I loved Recursion and Dark Matter, but this was much duller than I expected. The premise had promise, but the execution just isn't there.

I didn’t realize until after I finished that this is one of Blake Crouch’s earlier novels. As such, his newer work is definitely more sophisticated, but I still enjoyed this one. It starts off kind of slow, but then the action picks up and never lets go. It makes you think about what you would do in a similar situation. My only complaint here is that you need to suspend your disbelief BIG time, and it jarred me out of the story a few times. Still, this will have you on the edge of your seat, and it’s a crazy, thrilling ride.

Imagine: You know you need to leave, so you’re hurriedly packing everything up, when you hear your name and address read over the radio as the next person to die.

They are coming. And they won’t hesitate to kill you, your spouse and your children.

You better run.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the eARC. All opinions are mine alone.

I have alot of mixed emotions about this book. I am a huge fan of Blake Crouch and this book had the same "feel" as his others where you were really drawn in and it's a fast paced whirlwind of action. The overall story had an interesting premise and it did keep me reading but I felt so incredibly stressed out and even grossed out along the way that I found myself just wanting it to be over. Trying not to spoil anything... but it is just tragedy after tragedy at every turn. It was hard for me to stay motivated to read it because I didn't want to keep feeling the stress of how terrible things were in this world. I also felt like nothing was really explained- and that really bothered me. I didn't buy the attempt at the explanation of why this happened and I also don't understand how all of a sudden things were "OK" again?? I went on this disturbing, dark ride and at the end felt even more let down. The book is quick and I think will be enjoyable for those that don't get too disturbed by the content.

What a crazy wild ride this book has been. I don’t typically go for apocalyptic stories because-
well I have a fear of it but I went in blind and I just couldn’t stop reading! Blake is Easley becoming one of my favorite authors, I’ve loved every book I’ve read so far and enjoy seeing his work come to life on the screen. I’m seriously hoping this one gets adapted to film. I felt like I was walking along the characters myself fighting, trying to survive.
I will warn on triggers, people killing people, kids dying, graphic explanation of dead bodies all through out the book.

The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because the beginning-mid was a bit repetitive. My final rating is 4.5

Ooof, this was a tough read! But it was also quite suspenseful which kept me reading "just one more page" way past my bedtime. Fair warning: this gets graphic at times and involves a lot of dead bodies. If that's not your thing, you'll want to avoid this one. But if you can push past that aspect, it is well worth a few hours of your time! 4 stars!

This was a really interesting take on an apocalypse type story. There was chaos from the first chapter and it was non stop from there. I throughly enjoyed this different take of the storyline of some mysterious reason of why regular people have turned into raging murderers against others. This was the type of novel I could picture coming to life as a limited series or movie! I only wish we got more of a proper explanation on what caused people to turn…but the again, I guess that’s one reason it’s so scary.