I loved this book! I was hooked from the very first chapter. One of my new favorite books! I will definitely be reading more by this author soon.

This book was a wild ride. One I honestly could have gone without. I finished it late into the night because I just couldn’t be in the world Crouch created any longer.
Don’t get me wrong. This book was well written, and such a compelling story, but it is hella dark. Apocalyptic books have a natural darkness to them, but this was on another level. The torture and visual human destruction was hard to read. What the characters have to go through to stay alive and together was hard to read.
I have only read one other Crouch book and I absolutely loved it. I love his supernatural sneaky sci-fi elements, and while this book had that, it wasn’t as well done.
If you want something super dark and disturbing, this one is for you.

I have not finished this book, eventhough the pace is insanely good,
The story is veryyy intense, and the plot seems thick! Im at around 20% and a twist has already happened, and high stakes chase and death follows!

Loved it, its just not really my realm of sci fi reads

Run is a re-publishing of Blake Crouch's very first novel. You can definitely tell that the writing in this book is not as good as his others and I am a huge Blake Crouch fan.

Run is a story about a family of four running to get away from the people who are killing others. There is a epidemic happening across the nation and the only way to survive is to run.

Thank you Blake Crouch, Random House Publishing, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel hooked me from the first page, and I read it in a couple sittings. Be warned - you'll have to put your life on hold for a few hours once you start reading.

The action begins almost immediately. Unchecked violence is occurring all over the country. Jack's name and address are read over the Emergency Broadcast System, and he and his family have only minutes to pack up and leave their home before a mob arrives to kill them. With few supplies and no planned destination, Jack needs to get his family to safety. But is there anyplace left that's safe?

The story opens with Dee (Jack's wife), and I was afraid she'd be the MC. I didn't care for her, so I was relieved when the story focused on Jack's POV. Dee constantly questions him about his plans, what would happen to them, says he's a man and should be able to take care of his family - you can see why I might have voted to leave her behind for the mob. But to her credit, she steps up when it's necessary. Jack does unfathomable things to keep his family safe, acts of which he never thought himself capable.

Some reviewers weren't happy with the pacing. There are some slower areas, but with the intense situations these characters are in, downtime is needed. This is a re-release of Crouch's first novel from 2011, and as with all his novels, the terrifying premise and gripping storyline are there.

Events of extreme violence play out, so this may be a tough read for some. Jack and his family (he and his wife have two children) experience horrific atrocities, and as a parent, it nearly ripped my heart out. Highly recommended to fans of strong family bonds, post-apocalyptic settings, and survival stories.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Run by Blake Crouch
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This book had a wild premise.. and I was super excited because I've loved a few previous books by the same author. However, I don't know what happened to this book. It didn't scratch the same parts of my brain as previous works by the author had. I found the writing just really oddly off-brand for Crouch. I'm not going to get into specifics, but I will say the book was enjoyable enough to read through but it wasn't without some self-talk and pep lol

#review #bookreview

The first half of this was intriguing, well-paced, and exciting. I was fully invested and on the edge of my seat.

The second half felt interminable. There were a dozen endings, each of them less satisfying than the one before it. Crouch really didn't know when to say when.

Blake Crouch really knows how to write a pulse pounding edge of your seat thriller.

This is my second book by Crouch and it certainly won’t be the last. This one literally takes off from the very beginning and didn’t let up until the last page.

I love that I can be so easily transported into the story and feel all of the emotions the characters feel. This one definitely had me on a roller coaster.

I definitely look forward to more of his novels.

I was really excited when NetGalley gave me an e-Arc for this particular novel. I have loved almost every novel I've read by this author so when I saw this on the website, I immediately clicked on it.
 
You can tell this was an early Blake Crouch where he was still fleshing out his style. I wanted to like this novel, and I tried so hard to get into the story. I will admit the book was unputdownable and I blazed right through, however I was left a little empty handed at the end wishing for more plot, more character development, and just a sense of what just happened. It had a kind of Stephen King effect without the real character development. It's not that I would not recommend the novel, but if someone had already read this author, I would warn them this was not exactly his best work. Worth reading, but not something to put at the top of your TBR.

Blake Crouch's books are a ton of fun, and Run was no exception. The story is filled with non-stop action with that "end of the world as we know it" tinge to it. I don't always love those types of books, primarily because there isn't much plot beyond running away to a new location. Even so, the main character Jack and his family ran into a lot of setbacks, all of which were entertaining - and a bit disturbing.

This isn't a literary masterpiece (it is Crouch's first book, after all) and this book didn't break any new ground, but it was undeniably a page turner. Dark Matter or the Wayward Pines series are better bets, but if you're looking for something quick and fun, don't cast this one out.

Full of apocalyptic action and intense dark scenes! I fell in love with this authors writing in Dark Matter and RUN did not disappoint. I had the best time reading it and it waa quite a ride! Cannot wait for the next books Blake Crouch releases!

After reading Dark Matter and then this, I don’t think I will be reading from this author again. Really do not prefer how he writes out the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for ARC.

I loved this author’s previous books. This one was entertaining but not unique. I enjoyed it while reading it but I may not remember which book it was a month later.

Well, I think this is my favorite book by this author because I was just entertained and didn’t have to contemplate so much sci-fi content like how parallel universes happen. This book is more dystopian sci-fi and is action multiplied all the way. Jack and his family are on the run after some sort of auroral event occurred and people who witnessed it are compelled to kill anyone who didn’t see it. The book is fast paced and there are a lot of exciting and narrow escapes. There isn’t much character development but that didn’t seem necessary when the entertainment is constant. I did have some difficulty with so many gory scenes and this could definitely be a trigger warning for some readers. But I enjoyed the book overall.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for providing me with an eARC of Run in exchange for my honest review!

What a brutal and tense book from Blake Crouch, whose writing I've already greatly enjoyed via Recursion (one of my all-time favorite sci-fi novels) and Dark Matter. Following Jack and his family as they try to outrun the monstrous humans who are suddenly bursting with rage and committing massacres, this ends up becoming a different type of book compared to what I'd read from Crouch before. Recursion and Dark Matter draw you into sci-fi mindfucks that force you to question your reality, while Run keeps things relatively more grounded. Because of that, it does come across more formulaically, almost (but not quite) like I'm reading a zombie tale. To be clear, though, it's still gripping to dive into thanks to the suspense and the devastation that Crouch is able to pump into his tale. I'm a little surprised at how vicious this is wiling to get with its violence, but it does effectively convey just how terrifying and barbaric this new world is.

Overall, I'm officially rating Run 3.75 out of five stars, which I'm rounding up to four stars. It's not anything too groundbreaking, but the execution remains a blood-pumping sort that continues to keep me invested in Crouch's writing. I'll have to check out another book of his, Upgrade, sometime.

This book just wasn’t for me. It felt very predictable in a post apocalyptic way. I enjoy thrillers but maybe not end of he world types. I do usually enjoy Blake Crouch.

I was initially really intrigued with this story, but it ended up feeling like Leave the World Behind; mysterious and a bit creepy with no real explanation.

The genre is also hard to identify since it’s equal parts horror, thriller, and speculative. But regardless it was never boring and kept my heart pumping!

I wish there was more explanation as to what was going on. I also would have liked to see more of the present day since majority of the book is more of a flash back to the event that only seems to have affected the US.

I would recommend this one to fans of Crouch’s other books and thrillers in general.

Anyone reading this review know of the song, Fuel by Metallica?
“So give me fuel, give me fire
Give me that which I desire, ooh!”

Run by Blake Crouch is a little like that. Instead of fuel, it’s a straight shot of adrenaline being pumped into your veins until the last page.

This book was initially published in 2011, but I believe it was republished this year and I was lucky enough to get an ARC for this one.
I’ve always enjoyed Blake Crouch’s books. They tend to be more on the sci-fi side but that’s not the case with Run.

It’s a gripping dystopian thriller that’s relentless in pace, brutality, action and utter chaos throughout the entire book.

Our main character Jack Colclough and his family are running for their lives.

Senseless murders are happening throughout the entire United States, and the killers have just become organized.
One night over the Emergency Broadcast System, Jack hears his name mentioned. The killers are finally coming for him and his family. He must leave his home, run as fast as he can, and get to a safe place.

Jack still doesn’t understand why rage and murder is sweeping across the United States, but he can’t focus on “why” this is happening. All he can do is run, protect his family and try to survive.

If you enjoy books by Blake Crouch, I think you’ll love this. It’s exciting, overwhelming and I couldn’t put it down.

This was such an interesting read now that I know it was originally self-published. I can see Crouch's trademark voice and style in this story, but I can also see how much his writing has evolved since 2011. I wonder if he had any idea back then how popular his writing would be. In any case, I loved this story. It wasn’t just your stereotypical dystopian story, although it is that. This is a very emotion driven story, which, at its heart, is about a family’s struggles during a dystopian event. How do you survive when you have no idea who to trust and it seems everyone wants to kill you? How do you keep yourself from completely losing hope, even after you’ve lost everyone that depends on you to stay alive? It’s an interesting question. Because in this story, it wasn’t hordes of zombies as the main bag guy and a few bad apples upsetting the cart. In this story, there were far more bad entities than good, and the only monsters were as human as you and I. And in this horrific experience, a family learns to find themselves again. A great story from Crouch. I think I understand where he’s come from now.

Huge thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

2.75 rounded up to 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I've read a couple of Blake Crouch's books before (Recursion and Dark Matter), and I absolutely loved them. I have had the Wayward Pine series on my TBR for a hot minute as well, along with Upgrade. When I read the premise for Run, I was excited because this is typically the type of story that I usually really enjoy, and Blake has such unique, disturbing science fiction-esque storylines, I figured it would be groundbreaking. Unfortunately, it fell a little short of my expectations.

As this was originally an earlier book of his, it makes sense that his style was different from his more current books. Sadly, I found the characters to be forgettable and one dimensional, and the plot was just extremely basic and predictable. There wasn't really anything that stood out to me and kept me coming back for more. I didn't necessarily dislike the book, it just didn't stand out and I couldn't really care to even learn the names of the characters because they were so cliche.

That being said, the writing wasn't bad by any means, and there was plenty of action, with crazy secondary characters, which I actually found more interesting than the main ones. It reminded me of a Mad Max type movie, or even something along the lines of The Walking Dead but without zombies. I would say, if you like a more simple plot that's action-movie oriented, this would be great for you. My husband was definitely into this one. It just wasn't for me, I expected more out of the characters and the plot itself.