Really enjoyable thriller.

The book grabs you right at the start with the main characters paranoia-you feel it yourself.

The characters are well considered and relatable and the book is well paced.

Good read and an ending I didn’t see coming but that was entirely believable.

The sheer sense of panic infects you fom the get go as Grace tries to reach safety for her and her daughter, fleeing to remote Wales to an Aunt she barely knows and a village where everyone wants to know your business.
The panic and anxiety continue as Grace finds a threatening note and cannot decide who can be trusted even within the small and insular community- fearful that Patrick, the man she fled, is right behind her.
The book cleverly leads you to the obvious conclusion fairly early on- except it is, of course, not the right one and the twists and turns wil keepyou guessing right through the story.

This is most definitely what you'd call a cat and mouse thriller, one that will have you second guessing throughout.

A great book if you want to get totally absorbed in a tale, totally suspenseful and full of twists.

Told solely in the narrative of the main character Grace, you feel her raw emotion and panic and doing what every mother would do to protect their child. As a mother myself, the emotional side felt completely relatable.

Well paced which kept me engaged throughout with twists and turns the whole way through. I really enjoyed the unpredictability and unexpected twists of this novel.

3.5/4*

Thanks to netgalley and HQ for the ARC

This is a new to me author. I really liked the writing style, the pace of the story was good, characters were believable and characters were likeable.

Grace leaves the US with her baby in tow and stays with her aunt in wales. She seems to believe she is being followed and it became difficult to know who to trust.

Great twists and a really good story.

‘And Then She Ran’ is the latest book by Karen Clarke.

Grace bundled her eight-week-old daughter into her carry cot, opened the door and ran. Her life in New York faded into the background – she needed to keep her baby safe. She needed to get as far away from Patrick as possible. Now, staying in a remote cottage in Wales, Grace is trying to start again. But she can’t shake the uneasy feeling that she’s been followed.
And then she finds a note. Left on her bed. A tiny scrap of paper with scrawl in bright red pen. Keep her close. Anything could happen. She’s been found. Patrick wants his baby back. But Grace will do everything to stop him.

This book is the perfect book to get absorbed in, a story of a cat and mouse chase, this suspenseful story with filled with twists.

The story is seen solely through the narrative of Grace who’s ran away from New York for a small rural town in Wales where only her aunt knows her. She has ran from her power driven lover Patrick with her baby Lily and is determined to set up a new life for herself. But as she settles into the slower pace of life and adjusts to being a mother, she meets a Declan, a handsome and charismatic Irish man, who refuses to take no for an answer. Tentatively, Grace gets to know Declan, but as she gets closer, strange things and scary things start to happen, things go missing, phone lines are cut and Grace begins to fear that Patrick has sent Declan after her and Lily.

Grace is an interesting character, who’s had a complex life. Her parents relationship was turbulent as her father was prone to physical outbursts and her mother bore the brought of them. Grace was an only child and had no one to turn to and faced a lot of it alone. After her father died, Grace’s relationship with her mother became strained and she lost contact and she finds herself turning to aunt Morag for support. I really liked Morag, who initially was a gruff character who lived a simple life without a television or internet for distraction but as Grace and Lily stay with her, she becomes a softer and more approachable character, and this truly made for heartwarming reading at times.

This story travels at a good pace that keeps the reader engaged with regular twists and reveals that kept my attention hooked. Initially the story seems quite straight forward but as it progresses, we see new unexpected developments and more me, that’s the sign of a great thriller.

Set against the atmospheric, rural countryside of Wales, ‘And Then She Ran’ is a thrilling psychological story, filled with drama, suspense and the power of a mother’s love, this book will hook you from the first sentence.

You can buy ‘And Then She Ran’ from Amazon and will be available to buy from good bookshops.

Reading a book after a long time by this author, I loved how the words with its vidid imagery of remoteness were used to create an atmosphere. The awkwardness between an aunt and niece was well depicted, so too how they slowly started getting comfortable.

The story was fast paced, never knew where the hours went and the prose quite alluring even when my brain felt I should have solved this mystery early on. But the author had a few tricks up her sleeve with unseen twists.

A couple of subplots later felt off, but soon the following explanations smoothed out the rough edges. The coarse texture remained, but I could accept it as a part of thriller writing.

Overall, the book kept me evilly engaged in the story.

This was a good, interesting story, although slow at times, all in all a good read. I'd recommend it.

Slow moving thriller with lots of twists. Can she keep her baby safe,who is the enemy? Good characters ,interesting story.

Grace flees the U.S to take refuge with her aunt in rural Wales to flee , what we believe, is a complicated abusive relationship, along with her young baby.
She believes she has been followed and is terrified that something really bad is going to happen, she’ll do anything she can to protect her family.
There are lots of back stories going on here and things aren’t always what they seem so lots of surprises.
I struggled a bit to engage with the characters and found the story a bit slow

Kept me hooked till the end, couldn’t put it down. A psychological thriller with a good few twists thrown in… Definitely will be recommending to friends!

Thank you to Net Galley, HQ and Karen Clarke for the ARC copy of this book in return for my review.

This book was pretty good. Keeping you guessing the whole way through, the way that Clarke wrote was very clever and never quite gave away enough that you could guess what was coming. I love that in a book, and this was no exception.

I also loved that this book was set near to where I live and so there were places in it that I knew and have been to, in it.

Fast paced, gripping, and with some spectacular twists, this was the perfect holiday read to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I loved this book. There was so many parts to it, who to trust, who not to trust. I kept getting different endings in my mind, and it was a book I couldn't put down. I'd def recommend it.

You know how a book is sometimes billed as a thrilling "how far would you go to keep your baby safe" type of thing but then the entire text is actually a woman making ridiculous decisions that endanger her baby for absolutely no reason? Oh. Is that not a thing? I thought that was a thing...

My thanks to Netgalley for my Kindle version of And Then She Ran which is an interesting drama with a very slow start. It is obvious quite early on what one outcome will be but once that is concluded the plot really opens up and the twists appear. A shame really that it took so long although it did furnish the reader with some skilfully drawn characters of interest. Sadly, I never really got to like Grace. I did think that the role of a single mum with a young baby and no possessions was somewhat simplified, she basically breastfed, and slept with the odd nappy change thrown in for good measure. Overall a good read.

When you begin this book, you may well think that you know where it might be going but instead it seems to veer off on a different tangent with many more ups and downs, twists and turns. I enjoyed reading it but it is not one which will stick with me for long. I enjoyed the characters, especially Morag, although I never felt that I got to know her. Perhaps that was part of the point really as she was rather reclusive after an earlier life trauma.
Grace on the other hand, somwhat annoyed me. I wanted to like her but she seemed rather inconsistant and made descisions which, in my mind did not tie in with her past experiences.
A good read, worth a go certainly.

This was definitely a book worth reading. I was gripped page after page as I raced through this tense thriller wondering if Grace was ever going to feel safe again. She has left New York and a man behind, her lover Patrick, in an attempt to start again, but she has a tiny baby in tow, her daughter Lily. Grace as a character seems beleaguered by worry and very determined to keep the past and her private life locked away from prying eyes and listening ears. She settles in a rural community near Fenbrith in Wales in a cottage owned by her aunt Morag who takes her in without question.
I was so invested in the plot line and what would happen next that I felt on edge as I read the book, shocked as each new revelation pieced together Grace's life and relationship in New York. But the book doesn't just take a look at Grace's past, it takes a look at her aunt's and her mother's too. Why is her aunt no longer the intrepid journalist taking photos in war zones and why does Grace not visit her mother in Berkshire? Does her mother even know Grace is now a mother herself? And who is this new man, keen to take Grace out? Can Declan be trusted or is he out to take baby Lily from her?
The remoteness of the cottage, the isolation, the lack of phone signal and the need to keep secrets deeply buried, all conspire to produce a taut and exciting plot, made even more so by the 'look back' at the end of the novel where we find ourselves in a different house with Grace, Patrick and one other. Are we all either completely good or completely bad or can we mostly be good with a terrifying secret that loses some of its hold on us, if only we open up?
Read And Then She Ran, and You Decide!

Grace bundled her eight-week-old daughter into her carrycot, opened the door and ran. Her life in New York faded into the background – she needed to keep her baby safe. She needed to get as far away from Patrick as possible. Now, staying in a remote cottage in Wales, Grace is trying to start again. But she can’t shake the uneasy feeling that she’s been followed. And then she finds a note. Left on her bed. A tiny scrap of paper with a scrawl in a bright red pen. Keep her close. Anything could happen. She’s been found. Patrick wants his baby back.

This book has it all from a heart-warming story of life in a small village in Wales to a gripping psychological thriller. Family rifts are mended, there's a blossoming romance. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Grace picks up her eight week old baby and runs for her life to get away from her controlling boyfriend in New York. When Grace and baby Lily move in with Grace's Aunt Morag in rural Wales she thinks they will be safe but soon Grace starts to feel she is being watched . Has her boyfriend tracked her and does he have someone following her? I found myself being totally immersed in the story and as the truth emerges the twists and turns come thick and fast.
The characters are all totally believable the situation scary with the tension building throughout.
This is a brilliant piece of fiction which keeps you on the edge of your seat. Once started I could not put this book down. I would highly recommend this and certainly look forward to more books by Karen Clarke.

A brilliantly crafted plot line with more twists than a corkscrew, not one of which is predictable! A roller coaster ride from start to finish, this one grabs you and doesn't let go. Refreshingly different and original, I couldn't put it down.

The characters were well thought out, each with plenty of depth and an abundance of secrets, which kept me guessing throughout.

Well worth a second read, I loved it.

Well written with plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested. I enjoyed this book and will look for more by author. Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for this read!