I found this book similarly enjoyable to Nothing to See Here. Half-siblings, who were unaware of each other's existence, meet on a road trip to find their father. He finds a new family every 10 years. Wilson creates vivid characters, although the nicknames - Rube, Pep, Mad - seemed a little on the nose. He writes pleasant, humorous novels. I should read the short stories too.

I'm a big Kevin Wilson fan, and this one didn't disappoint (though it wasn't *quite* as good as others). I absolutely loved the premise, and the characters were all written in a way that was relatable but endowed with endearing quirks. The pacing of the novel was excellent (sometimes challenging in road trip novels, I think) and I appreciated the uniqueness of the stops along the way. The found family trope was well-executed and I think all the characters showed interesting development that made sense given what was happening to them. All in all, an enjoyable read with just the right about of heart-tugging without veering into the overly-sweet.

Written with heaping doses of heart and humor, RUN FOR THE HILLS is a story about forging relationships where you least expect and redefining what it means to have found family.

This book was so delightful! When I did my ancestry DNA testing, I discovered two brothers I didn't know about, so this hit close to home for me. We haven't gone on a road trip but I totally would!

Wilson does a great job of tucking humurous moments in amoung heavy subject matter. This story was an emotional roller coaster and I had trouble putting it down because I was so invested in what happened next.

All of the characters are intersting and individual. I was rooting for all of them.

Highly recommend.

This is a Sibling Story like only Kevin Wilson can write. Madeline Hill has lived with her mom on their farm in Tennessee together since her dad left twenty years ago. When Reuben Hill shows up and informs her that he is her half-brother, she is surprised.

She is even more shocked when Reuben tells her that there are more half-siblings and he intends to find them all. The two set off together to find the rest of their family. How many more Hill siblings will there be and will they find their father in the end?

Why Jackie loves it

Wilson always has quirky novels that make me laugh. They also have an undercurrent of hurt. I laughed my way through this book but also felt Reuben's pain. As the oldest of the Hill children, he feels the acute loss of his father more than any of the other Hill children. I loved the book until the end. I wish there was a little more because I felt that the story was not complete, even if the road trip was.

Mad’s got a solid life on the farm with her mom—it’s not exactly what she pictured for herself, but it’s where life took her after her dad walked out years ago. Then one day, a guy shows up claiming to be her brother (surprise!) and invites her on a quest to find their elusive, serial-family-starting father—who apparently has a pattern of sticking around for about 10 years and then vanishing.

Mad thinks the whole thing sounds kind of nuts, and she’s not even sure she wants to see her dad again. But the idea of not being an only child—and finally getting some answers—is too tempting to pass up. So she teams up with Rube for a journey that’s full of heart, humor, and some seriously sweet moments of redemption.

I really enjoyed this story. The age gap between the siblings and their awkward, quirky attempts to figure out how to be family is both hilarious and touching.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for the chance to read this incredible ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Kevin Wilson has a unique ability to quietly build characters in unusual plots that may not be completely believable but the reader is along for the ride. And what a literal and figurative ride this is. A collection of half siblings get to know each other on a cross country road trip. As someone who recently discovered two adult half brothers, I couldn’t help but picture myself in a similar situation. This book is great for anyone who loves character driven narratives, quirky characters, and finding gems of sentences that only Kevin Wilson can write.

Thank you to Ecco for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Dysfunctional family sagas, road trips, and adventures are my favorite stories. I love quirky characters and random ideas – which is one of the reasons I turn to Kevin Wilson’s books. He always writes such interesting and unique stories, and you never know what you’re about to get into.

Mad’s dad left when she was a child, leaving her and her mother to run their farm in Tennessee. Now at 34, the farm and her mother is all she has, that is until Ruben shows up claiming to be her brother and claiming that they have more siblings scattered across the US. On top of that bombshell, Ruben also wants Mad to head out on a road trip with him to not just find his father, but to find and meet the rest of their half siblings as well. As they head out on the road, Mad and the rest of her siblings will need to face their own loneliness and past to heal their futures.

This is a perfect example of a Kevin Wilson story. He’s taken a found family trope and infused it with plenty of wit, defined characters, and character growth. I love all our siblings, and it is actually my second ‘sibling love’ story I’ve read in a row. Because of this I just didn’t love this one as much as I wanted to. I enjoyed the story, the plot, our characters, and the writing, I just didn’t get the same ‘spark’ and emotional reaction as I did the book I read right before this one. Because of that alone, it’s not a five-star read for me.

Still highly recommend Wilson’s books, but my favorite is still Nothing to See Here.



Run for the Hills comes out April 8, 2025. Huge thank you to Ballantine Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my:

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In Kevin Wilson's newest novel, he deals with the idea of family and identity. Mad, short for Madeline, Hill is an organic farmer in TN, working with her mother to make sure the farm is a success every day after her father, Chuck (Charles) Hill left them when she was about 10 years old. One day, Rube, short for Reuben Hill, arrives at the farm to tell Mad they share a father, who also left him and his mother when Rube was about 10 years old. Their father may be the same genetically, but he was completely different for them both, apparently reshaping himself into a new person as he moved from Boston to TN. Rube wants Mad to come with him on a cross-country road trip to find their father, as well as 2 additional siblings that Charles left behind. Rube's mother has recently died, and he has no one left in the world besides these half siblings and their father.
I very much enjoyed a previous work by Kewin Wilson, Nothing to See Here, and had high hopes for this book as well. They are similar in that they explore the idea of found family and how our identity is shaped by our family as we grow older. That said, this book was extremely short and didn't feel fully fleshed out and developed. The ending felt abrupt and lacking as a result. For me, this was also lacking some of the humor I have come to expect from his books. It was nearly there, but something was off. For those reasons, I have decided to rate this book 3 stars. It was fun and I think the ideas explored were meaningful, but the execution was lacking.
Thank you to Ecco book and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

I love Kevin Wilson’s work. No matter what. His writing is so sharp and funny and poignant underneath all the wit. So I had extremely high hopes when I saw this book was coming out - there was so much potential for the whimsical characters and situations I have come to adore from him.

Unfortunately this fell a little flat. There were glimmers of his humor and sarcasm but not nearly enough as what I have come to expect. The plot was set up so nicely to be entertaining but I found the pace to be very slow. So much was spent on the journey to find their father but at the same time I felt like nothing really happened. And at the end, everything wrapped up so quickly with little resolution.

I will continue to read everything Kevin Wilson puts out but this one wasn’t my favorite. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Run for the Hills features the same type of unexpected, quirky tales that Kevin Wilson has gifted this world and is shared with the reader via the clear language and a straight-forward writing style that we have experienced with his previous books.

In this book, a group of half-siblings find one another and go on an adventure to meet up with their mutual parent. The story is at the same time joyous, silly, and poignant. It is a quick and easy read, that I would anticipate most people enjoying.

My one critique is that it was almost straight-forward to the point of dryness. I wanted more from this narrative: more emotion, more detail, more activity. Just more.

Run for the Hills is an easy and fun read that will tug at your heart strings. While I think it could have been a bit stronger, it is certainly an enjoyable ride. ;)

I really wanted to love this book because I loved Nothing to See Here and Now Is Not the Time to Panic, but while heartwarming, it wasn't the home run I was hoping for.

I'll start with the good:
- I was drawn in by the quirky characters and the relationships we got to see grow and evolve between them. Rube, Mad, Pep, and Tom were so charming and endearing! The banter was so fun and made me chuckle at times
- The premise of a dysfunctional family reunion / road trip to find their absent father and get answers was original and entertaining
- It has some important things to say about personal identity and mental health

The mid:
- The pacing. I felt like it started with a bang, but somehow I wasn't as invested by the time we had met Tom

And unfortunately, the bad:
- The ending really petered out for me. It felt predictable and wasn't nearly as emotional as I expected. I also felt like there were some out-of-character moments in the name of tying everything up nicely for a nice kumbaya family moment
- I think I would've enjoyed a more in-depth study on mental health and how that contributed to some of the characters' lives and choices. It was mentioned as a definite factor, but I felt it would've been more impactful and felt more satisfying for the characters to do more reflecting on exactly what was at play

I'd give the first half 4.5 stars and the second 2 stars, so averaging out to an overall 3 stars!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

If Kevin Wilson has written it, you can bet the book will have a weird premise. In Run for the Hills, Mad Hill is living her life, running her organic farm with her mom. And out of the blue, Rube Hill shows up claiming to be her half brother. Yes, her father left when she was young. And according to Rube, it wasn’t the first time he’d run out on a family. Or the last. If there’s such a thing as a serial monogamist, Charles Hill was a serial parent. Once gone, he never made a re-appearance in his child’s life. Rube and his mom were the first family. Mad and her mom, the second. Then there was Pep, now in college. And then Tom, only 11. And Rube wants her to join him, meeting the other siblings and going to find their dad, supposedly now in California.
For such a wild premise, the characters all felt real and relatable. Their father leaving has left each with trouble handling relationships. Yet each has also had their own successes. These were characters I enjoyed spending time with. The story itself is heartwarming in its own quirky Kevin Wilson way. It tackles some big issues - abandonment, parenting, what makes a family, mental illness. But it delves into them without turning dark or morose. In the end, I loved how the siblings were there for each other, even though they had just met.
My thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for an advance copy of this book.

This is just what I’ve come to expect from Kevin Wilson. A quirky cast of characters that come together in a heartwarming yet moving story of found family.

It wasn’t long into the road trip that my heart expanded and I grew to love Rube, Mad, Pep and Tom.

A quick road trip that really is about the bumpy ride of life and the connections out there waiting for us.

“Found family” is one of my favorite tropes. Kevin Wilson’s latest novel centers on characters who find family in the half-siblings they never knew existed until they meet each other and go on a cross-country road trip in search of their missing father.

Mad (Madeline) Hill is the central character of the book, a no-nonsense organic farmer who is surprised one day when her half-brother Rube shows up at her farm in Tennessee. Rube reveals that their father left Rube’s mother and him in Boston years ago. After his grief over his mother’s recent death, Rube hires a private detective, who has found their two other siblings—a sister in Oklahoma and a brother in Utah—as well as their father, who is living in California. Rube wants to reunite all four children with their father and confront their father about his past actions and their consequences. Against her better judgment, Mad joins him.

This is a generous and thoughtful reflection on family and the relationships that shape our lives. All of the characters are quirky, but they aren’t completely defined by these quirks. I liked all the characters of the siblings very much. Wilson makes many heartfelt observations about time, love, home, and the intersections between past and present. The final lines of the novel will stick with me for a long time.

I’ve read Wilson’s other novels, and I was very excited to receive this ARC from NetGalley and HarperCollins. Many thanks!

I’m a fan of Kevin Wilson’s books and Run for the Hills has endeared me to them even more. Highly enjoyable, I laughed and cried and cried while laughing.

The story moves along at a quick pace as newly discovered half-siblings drive across the USA to track down all the other siblings and their estranged father.

Most of the story is told through Mad’s perspective, which I love. She’s very honest with herself and her siblings, she’s kind and caring without being a pushover and I find her inner monologue quite funny and very relatable.

Like in other books by the author the premise is possible, but sits on the fence of probability. But that’s what makes it so fun and interesting. I imagine it will be a great audiobook and I look forward to listening to it.

The storylines really play out like episodes in a streaming TV show. It kept me reading late into the night, just to find out what fiasco was around the next bend in the road. Highly recommend Run for the Hills.

This book made me laugh out loud so many times! I had no idea what I was getting myself into, because this is the first book that I have read by this author. I can tell you right now, it will not be my last! I genuinely enjoyed the quirkiness of these characters. I loved the bonding, the adventure, the mystery, and the satire of this book. The only downside to this book for me was the ending, which is why I did not give it 5 stars. Even though this book was short, it was well executed, flowed well and had a clear thesis. This book is in the literary fictional humor and satire genre. So, if you’re looking for a good laugh, this is your book to read! Just know that the ending is a bit unexpected. Overall, I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Kevin Wilson and Ecco Publishing for this advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another funny and engaging book by Kevin Wilson! Good for readers who like quirky characters, and also good for book discussion groups.

This was another great novel about a dysfunctional family from Kevin Wilson. I loved Mad, Rube, Pep and Tom - their quirky personalities and the relationship they developed with each other. It was a funny and touching story and I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book to review. I have been a huge fan of Kevin Wilson’s fiction since reading Nothing to See Here and subsequently all of his other published novels. I was counting down until the release of Run for the Hills. This unique family drama is full of characters who were quirky and endearing, the story was sad but funny, and it didn’t disappoint!