Thank you Ballentine for the gifted eARC

This book was a fast and furious wild ride. The action starts almost immediately and it lasts for the entirety of the book. If you’re looking for a complex plot or deep character development, this probably isn’t the book for you. However, if you want that feeling you get watching an action movie, but add an apocalypse vibe and lots of unaliving, then look no further! Honestly my overall feeling about this book was that the action never stopped and yet it felt like nothing was really happening as far as furthering the plot, and as a result I found myself feeling bored. The characters were also so unlikeable. Which at times was hard to tolerate but then I found myself thinking… how would I behave/react in this situation? And I found myself empathizing with them a bit more. Except Jack, I just could not stand him.

It was interesting reading this book (which is really a rerelease of a book Blake Crouch initially published in 2011) after having read some of his more recent work. Seeing the stylistic differences and the growth of the author was pretty cool. I have to say I am more of a fan of present day Blake Crouch.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for Run from NetGalley for the rerelease on October 22nd! Blake Crouch is an author I've been wanting to read for a while.
Run is a dystopian thriller that follows a family from New Mexico on their journey to survive. The book is fast-paced and throws you right into the action from page 1. It took me a while to figure out why they were running and what caused society's breakdown. Locally there was an Aurora Borealis visible while I was reading Run and it made the book all a little more freaky.
The family is a mother, a father, an older daughter, and a younger son. Reading over 300 pages about this family's survival should evoke emotion, especially with some of the gruesome scenes depicted. Unfortunately, though I did not feel a damn thing. The dialogue between the characters was choppy and none of them were particularly likable.
While I enjoyed the fast-paced plot the lack of affection and intriguing dialogue of the characters made this book fall flat for me.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book had me locked into it from the first chapter and I could barely put it down.

So much action and the intensity of everything kept me glued to it every moment I could and I finished it in less than a day.

I'll admit, it touched on some hard topics and questions like most of his other books. This one felt a lot more real though because WHAT IF this had happened?? Also, we recently had an Aurora Borealis sighting in the States and that really drove this home.

The characters started off a little unlikable, but you really see the strength as everyone grows and especially the love Jack has for his family. It makes you think big thoughts like "could I survive if this happened to me?"

I had so much anxiety, terror, disgust, happiness, and even tears. Definitely felt all the things.

If you like high stakes thrillers and tension, this book is for you. Keep in mind, it is a tough read and there some triggering things that happen there.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC of this book. My thoughts are entirely my own.
Release date: 10/22/24, Finish date: 10/20/24

Thank you to Blake Crouch and Ballantine Books for this ARC.

Blake Crouch is one of my auto-buy authors so I was beyond excited to get this advanced reader copy. “Run” was Crouch’s first self-published work and is being re-released.

“Run” is set in a chaotic and disturbing world. From graphic violence to heart-pounding escapes, this book had all the tension and suspense I look for in a thriller.

This concept is not unique, but Crouch’s execution was very well done. I was truly surprised by the vivid depictions of violence against other human beings, so if this is not your cup of tea, you may want to skip this one.

With a title like “Run,” how could this be anything but fast-paced? However, there are some wait-and-see moments, and much of the plot takes place in an automobile. I never felt like it was stagnant, though. It reminded me a lot of a Walking Dead episode minus the zombies.

If you like Mad Max, the Crazies, or the exploration of humanity in The Walking Dead, you'll love the vibes of this book. It’s unapologetically graphic, and while it's not as twisty as “Dark Matter,” this is still a solid plot line from Crouch.

Blake Crouch did it AGAIN!!!
Another book by Blake that I could not put down till I found out what happened to Dee, Jack and the kids. Run follows the Colclough family as the flee New Mexico heading North after unthinkable acts of violence start happening. Jack's name gets announced over the radio as a target, as his wife, and two kids are packing up their car to get out of town. As Jack drives out of town he faces insane obstacle after insane obstacle threating the lives of himself and his family. They drive away from New Mexico and head north to Colorado, after more life-threatening events they lose their car and are forced to hike through the forest and over the mountains to Canada where there are rumors of safety. After succeeding on summiting and then descending the mountain range, Jack is separated from the rest of his family and each group then faces more extremely difficult barriers to test themselves and to try to be reunited. I would recommend this book to anyone willing to think of a world that isn't as peaceful as it is now, it really makes you wonder how our world would be if there was not laws and kind hearts.

A fast-paced post-apocalyptic story about a family of 4 fleeing Albuquerque because a madness has swept their town. Family and friends are turning on one another and murdering in cold blood. No one can be trusted, and it is up to Jack to take his family to safety. Blood is spilled, loyalties are tested, and death seems inevitable. Blake Crouch did a great job putting the reader in the middle of this family's escape. The plot moved quickly, the angst was believable, and the concept was not too far-fetched. I enjoyed this novel and found that I kept coming back to this story time and again to find out what happens to Jack and his family. I loved Dee's courage, I respected Jack's bravery and sacrifices for his family, and I loved the last heart-stopping moments at the conclusion of this novel. I look forward to reading more of Blake Crouch's work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random Publishing House for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own and I am grateful for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Blake Crouch self-published Run in 2011. It was his first novel. This is its wide release with a major publisher, thirteen years later. I liked Wayward Pines and some of Crouch's short stories and was interested to see what this one was all about.

Jack and his family are on the run, trying to escape a world gone mad. It's very violent, very "us vs. them", and had strong The Walking Dead vibes, if The Walking Dead's zombies were real people mindlessly killing. Oh right, the zombies were real once. In Run, there were even some of "them" on a leash, Michonne style.

This was too violent, too over the top, too relentless to suspend disbelief. The family's stand, escapes and journey could be called cartoonish if they weren't so blood splattered. In a country today that is so divided and on the verge of erupting violence, I don't need to read a fictionalized version of it. I honestly don't understand why Crouch wanted to release it now. YMMV.

My thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the digital ARC.

Run by Blake Crouch is a fast-paced, intense thriller that grips you from the start. The story follows Jack Colclough and his family as they flee for their lives after an epidemic of rage sweeps across America. With their names broadcasted on the emergency radio as targets, they must escape the chaos around them. The tension builds as they face brutal enemies and overwhelming odds while struggling to stay alive.

Crouch keeps the action going, making it hard to put the book down. The family's desperate journey is filled with suspense, but there are moments where the plot feels a bit extreme or unrealistic. However, the non-stop action and the emotional struggle of a family on the run make it a compelling read. Run is a thrilling survival story that showcases Crouch’s early writing style, and it’s a great pick for fans of heart-pounding apocalyptic tales.

Blake Crouch has grown significantly as a writer. Even though this is getting republished in a few days, you can definitely tell this is a much earlier book, so the writing is nowhere near the excellence that his recent scifi books are. However, I still really enjoyed this and couldn't stop reading it. The story itself is kind of repetitive but that's to be expected since this is a zombie like apocalypse. Only so much can happen being on the run lol. Bottom line is, if Blake Crouch writes it I'll read it. And I'll likely enjoy it.

I’ve only read two books by this author and LOVED them. I was super excited to read this, even after realizing this is his first novel. The beginning was very slow to me It was difficult to continue the book after putting it down a few times. It mainly consisted of the main characters driving around. We didn’t get much background on the characters either. I didn’t find myself caring about them much. Up until around 40% of the book it started to pick up and I couldn’t put it down. We finally got some depth to the characters around halfway through as well. I liked the protective (fatherly) energy of the main character. I wanted him and the family to survive the crisis. Another aspect I enjoyed from the book was the banter. I found it funny which is comforting within this apocalyptic setting.

Run by Blake Crouch, for the past week it seems people in America and Mexico have gone crazy, slowly but surely more and more people are becoming violent and are killing people at random cell phones are down as well as TV and radio what does play on the radio is someone giving out the addresses of people they believe need to be taken out and one of those people are Jack a philosophy professor at the University of New Mexico and this is why he his wife D 14-year-old daughter Naomi and seven-year-old son Cole are trying to flee their home. When Jack has to fight for every block he takes can he really get his family to safety? It seems at every turn there’s someone who wants to kill and Jack and his family will do. Soon it gets even worse when the violent people start organizing and going around and convoys looking to kill the unaffected to make matters even worse when they learn what infected the people they only know because seven-year-old Cole was exposed to it as well. I really like this book, but found there were times it almost got to the point where things were unbelievable like when Jack and his family scale a 12 foot Rockwall I just don’t see how they could’ve done that but I DK I am not a climber of rock walls it was still great for entertainment purposes I do want to say Dee really got on my nerves with her what if questions especially when something would’ve already happened and she would ask “what if you would’ve been killed?” “What if the kids would’ve been killed?” such pointless pontifications in a time of peril. Not to mention his kids who couldn’t read a room with a map because when he tells them to duck despite they hear gunshots they both have to ask why why do we have to duck why can’t we look… Really! Having said that however this book is well written and I found myself rooting for this family mainly Jack and the children and if there’s a second book I would definitely want to read it. #NetGalley,#Random House Valentine, #BlakeCrouch, #Run,

Blake Crouch can do wrong! He is on my automatic buy list. He writes it - I will read it and enjoy it!

Thank you to Random House for my copy of RUN.

Run provides readers with a fast-paced apocalyptic story that highlights the lengths someone will go to save themselves and their loved ones. Blake Crouch provides page after page of chaos while emphasizing the desperation of survival. While the storyline didn't feel overly unique, this was a quick read that was full of action that I'd recommend to anyone that's a fan of Blake Crouch.

What to say about this novel. It's brutal and heart-pounding throughout. Don't read if you are sensitive to families in danger.

Jack and his wife are living together but are headed for divorce. That is until an increase in mass violence starts happening and you hear your name on the radio as the next to be murdered. Jack grabs his family and what little provisions they have in the house and run. The rest is a gory, painful, story about their trek from Albuquerque to Canada.

I wanted to like this. It definitely kept me reading with the fast driving pace, but the content of the book was terrifying. Families especially children in danger the entire time. I also found the lack of clarity around why this was all happening difficult. He tried to explain in the end, but not enough for my tastes. This book reminded me of Leave the World Behind. If you like some ambuiquity in the plot and a story of one family's survival during devastating times. Read away. I think I should have passed.

This book focuses on Jack and his family as they desperately try to escape from dangerous, unhinged people. Knowing that this was the first novel Blake Crouch published on his own, it feels like a glimpse into the early stages of his writing journey. Compared to his more recent work, you can still spot traces of his original style, but it's clear how much he’s grown as an author since then.

What stood out to me is how different this novel feels from Crouch's later work. Here, the story is laser-focused on the family’s survival, with little attention given to the bigger event causing the chaos. While that simplicity works in some ways, it also left the characters feeling underdeveloped. The ending was abrupt, which makes sense since the events began without warning, but it still left me wanting more.

What I really missed was the intricate science and mind-bending concepts that have become Crouch’s trademark in his recent novels. Still, it was a solid story, and I’d recommend it to anyone curious to see how Crouch’s writing has evolved over time. It’s worth a read just to appreciate the growth of a talented author.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for their generosity in allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Run by Blake Crouch is a rerelease of a book that he self-published years ago. Glad that this will have a much wider audience than before.

"A wave of senseless murders has swept the nation in the past several days. No one knows why. Now Jack hears his name and address on the radio. People are coming to kill him and his family. His only option is to leave now and run. "

Crouch seldom lets up in this one. The family's flight drives this story. They are always looking for supplies and trying to stay away from those affected by whatever caused the murderous rage. There are interesting dynamics in the family with a couple of surprises. Crouch is willing to kill any character so you never know who is safe. This is not science fiction like his last few books. It’s more of a “chase thriller”. The final pages are wild. Glad this book is back out again.

Another good story from Crouch.

𝙍𝙐𝙉 𝙗𝙮 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝘾𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 was an intense read that I loved, especially with both the audio provided by @prhaudio and the digital ARC from @atrandombooks Ballantine Books via @netgalley.

This was a crazy story beginning with an Aurora event that makes certain people rage. It was a pretty awful premise, and it couldn't have been more timely!

One couple, on the brink already, scramble to save themselves with their two kids by taking off and try to find a safe place somewhere up north. As they take this harrowing journey we learn more about who this family is, what brought them to this breaking point, and discover a new fear that threatens them all.

This was a bit different than Crouch's latest books which was not necessarily a bad thing, even though I absolutely loved them! This one felt easier to follow along with a simpler plot. That doesn't mean it was simple, just more so than the complex stories that Crouch has weaved since this debut! I was instantly captured by this story and could not put it down.

As I expected, I enjoyed being taken on this road and will read every book Crouch writes. This re-release is out October 22nd.

I reckon most people don’t think about what to do when the world is ending until the world seems like it might actually be ending. Or until you all of a sudden hear your name being called out on the radio, like people are searching for you.

Blake Crouch doesn’t have the reader enter this story in the middle of things–he basically has you HALO jump into an America on the eve of an apocalyptic scenario: there’s violence escalating by the hour, family members and friends turning on one another, houses burning down, businesses being looted, and law enforcement is nowhere to be found. It’s some kind of civil war caused by an unseen and unknown factor, and you’re simply along for this absolutely wild, unplanned, unforeseen ride with a man named Jack and his family as they try to outrun and outlast whatever has come over a significant number of Americans.

This is my first Blake Crouch novel and Run was exactly what I’m in the mood for right now. This is actually my second five-star apocalyptic novel in a row and I’m not even sorry. Fast-paced would be a mild description when it comes to this story, a closer interpretation might be recklessly paced but never in a sloppy way. This story is thrilling, bleak, and heartbreaking, causing me to leak water from my eyes more than once. There is horror in here, but it’s the horror of what humans can and are willing to do to one another in the most dire of circumstances, along with what humans can and will withstand in the name of survival under the same terms.

The characters in this novel stand out so much and are so memorable. You are living this book with them in such close proximity and under such hazardous conditions you can almost feel their exhaustion, pain, grief, and trauma as they experience it. I ended up caring about all of them much more than I thought I would, which is not an ordinary experience for me. I was wholly invested and engaged with every page.

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Sci Fi/Suspense Thriller

3.5 ⭐️

I have only read one other book by this author but know he tends to to lean more towards sci-fi type books. I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller! The action starts right away and does not let up, I was stressed the whole time. Some parts were a little hard to believe would happen, some major coincidences, but if you like post-apocalyptic type stories you will enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & Ballantine Books! Wow. This was a wild ride. As one of his older pubs (being re-published traditionally), this is different from the heavy sci-fi’s I’ve loved from Crouch so far, but this is still so gripping and heavy and makes you think. There are twists and an ending I really enjoyed!! There were some times this felt repetitive but by the end, I still wanted more. I even got a bit teary! Maybe the alcohol on the flight contributed? But I don’t care! I’m a big Blake Crouch fan.