An intriguing novel that leaves you wondering whether the narrator is being stalked or is crazy. Thanks for the opportunity to read

I was a little disappointed by this book, I thought I was going to be reading a psychological thriller. It was slow at the start then picked up towards the middle, I expected a lot more for the ending but it never happened. I wouldn’t recommend this book if it’s a psychological thriller that your expecting to read.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Unable to finish this book. It was slow to start and didn't pick up by the time I put it down.

Jude's story starts like a normal, mundane teacher would have but soon little things start to happen and eventually the tension and horror for one person is hitting you right in the face. If you like to be kept on the edge of your seat this is the book for you.

When Jude begins waking up to strange noises in her home her grip on reality starts to become questioned. Is she being stalked, haunted or simply going mad?

Running From Dust was a mixed bag for me – on the one hand it was very readable, I finished it all in one sitting (although admittedly I was on a 6 hour train journey and didn’t have much choice!). On the other hand, I can perhaps see why this book is self-published and hasn’t been picked up by one of the publishing houses. I felt like I’ve read the book, or something very similar before and although it’s a solid story there’s nothing new here. The first half felt very predictable and I quickly guessed what was going on. The characters all felt a bit two dimensional and non-realistic, particularly the Pastoral Care Officer of the school who had an odd backstory I didn’t really understand. The hints and clues throughout were spelled out a bit too obviously in a way that made it easy to guess and this was jarring in places (for example: the character of Vicky and her insistence that the main character goes on a certain website). The decisions the main character was making all seemed like really bad ideas and it was frustrating watching someone slide into mental illness and an alcohol problem and receiving no real help from her friends and colleagues. In the last 10% the book then massively changed genre and I felt this decision cheapened the thriller element that had gone before it. This is slightly redeemed by the final chapter but not really enough for this reader I’m afraid.

The whole book also felt really dragged out and a little repetitive in places – the whole story could do with a ruthless edit and end up 100 pages shorter without any detriment to the story. I started to get a bit bored of Jude freaking out and drinking by the end and wanted a resolution to happen. I know that a lot of successful thrillers change character perspectives for various chapters but I don’t really think the technique worked very well here. There were also a couple of incorrect things in the book – for example, a private Facebook message gets hacked and the character is worried they might have set their privacy settings to public. You can’t change privacy settings on a Facebook message! I also found the idea that the person that had hacked her account had used ‘the dark web’ to do it as a bit laughable – I’m not really sure the author understands what the dark web is!

Overall Running From Dust is solid and readable but with a lot of flaws – it’s too drawn out with two dimensional characters and some unrealistic elements thrown in. Thank you to NetGalley & Jess Whitby for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jude, a schoolteacher, suddenly finds her life running out of control. Strange goings on, firstly in her home, then in to the wider world. Sounded great from the description but sadly didn’t live up to its promise. It was all a bit simplistic and one of those annoying “but it was there” when Jude was trying to convince people about something. It was extremely frustrating to read when “ff” are missing and also some “l” and “i” too.

A fast paced, well-written story where the reader has no real idea of what is actually happening which made it an intriguing read. Is she the well respected local teacher or is the neighborhood ‘crazy lady’. Or both?

This is not my preferred genre, in fact it’s a genre I avoid because I generally find it corny.

Whitby is an excellent author and I was hooked right from the start. Nonetheless when I figured out what was going on I lost interest and more or less scanned the remainder to get a gist of the overall ending.

As a fan of psychological suspense thrillers I can say Whitby has a true talent for keeping you on the edge of your seat. I read the entire book in one day. If Whitby branches out from the paranormal I’d be happy to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the pleasure of reading this prerelease.

I hate to say this, but possibly the worst novel I have ever read.

Extremely poor writing, and the plot is utter nonsense. Characters are not at all sympathetic or believable, but the dialogue kills any chances this novel had of ever being interesting. Really really amateurish. Zero stars for plot, writing, dialogue, and overall suspense (non existing). Why some people think they can write and turn out a good story is beyond me. Skip this one!

Thanks to the author for sorting out another ARC for me due to printing errors with first version.
This was one of those books that really kept me guessing and, even better, I couldn't guess which I loved!
I wanted to keep reading to find out what was happening to Jude. Recommended read.

Excellent psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! Well-developed characters and plot. Highly recommend!

This was a good story with a twist at the end that I didn't see coming but i found it difficult to read because of the missing letters "i's" "f''s and the occasional "l" also there were no spaces between some of the words.

I was unfortunately unable to complete this book. I got about 4% in and gave up because the formatting was done so poorly. Book itself seemed alright, but it's hard to tell at 4%. Something happened with the Ebook that removed all double ff's, and any i and f that were side by side in a word, so I had to stop and guess at what the word was for a few seconds before I could continue with the sentence. There's no way I could continue a 4 hour book like this. For example, staff would appear as sta . And field would appear as eld. I'm not sure what happened but I had to give up.

I wanted to like this book more but unfortunately, it kind of dragged for me, i wasn't interested enough in the main character to care about what happened to her. the ARC had a lot, of missing letters, i am sure this will be fixed for the released copy, but i had to spend time trying to guess a lot of the words.

Was Jude's house haunted?
or... was Jude being stalked?
or... was Jude losing her mind???

Jude, a teacher, lives alone with her dog, Oscar. Steve and Lisa are Jude's best friends.

It started with the sound of paper falling. Or did it start with a call from Laura Wilson, parent of Josh, a temperamental student at Jude's school? Or was it something even darker?

An exciting book by Jess Whitby! I really enjoyed the consistent manner of writing and build up to the end!
It is one of those books where the reader continues to change their mind as to who (if anyone) is messing with Jude's mind.

Recommend.

Thanks to Jess Whitby & NetGalley for a good, fast, read!