After reading Crouch's most recent works (Upgrade, Recursion, & Dark Matter), I was extremely excited to be offered the opportunity to read RUN. At first, I was not impressed by the first few chapters of the book. I felt as if I was dropped into the middle of a book with presumed character development and no real hint at where the book was going to lead. I honestly thought I had missed reading something like a prequel. After those first few chapters though, I got into the plot line and was so curious about what would happen to this family that I couldn't stop turning the pages. And then, THE ENDING! Down to the last sentence. What a suspense! I understand this was Crouch's first novel, but I am curious as to why they decided to re-publish it (that piece of information was not included in the acknowledgements). I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Crouch's work and wants to see how it started, and for anyone who wants to thrilling ride of a book that is both exhilarating and downright horrifying.

This was my first book by Blake Crouch and I enjoyed it! I will definitely read more books from him.

It has been a long time since I read an entire book in one day, but with this one I felt like I needed to. This is a terrifying book that seems like it could be all too real in our current world. Humans have become monsters that are on a rampage to kill others that they deem “not like them” in the most violent ways. The gore and a few other minor issues are the reason that I didn’t give 5 stars. This is the story of a family trying to survive and get away from the horrible wasteland that has become the of the United States. It is violent, scary, gross, and very intense; but, also tells the story of how trauma can bring people together. I had to know what was going to happen so I just kept turning the pages. It also helped that I have really enjoyed others book by this author. Grab this one if you’re not easily disturbed!

I rarely DNF books, but I did DNF this one at 40%. I just really wasn't enjoying the storyline. I LOVED Dark Matter, and went into this being excited to read it. There wasn't any background or leading information about the family, we just immediately jump into this apocalyptic world. I didn't connect with any members of the family, I was just dreading reading it. The story felt pretty repetitive as well. I will stick with Blake's later work & continue to read his new upcoming releases.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Crouch is back with a rerelease of a 2011 fav! This is dystopian fiction with a survivalist plot line, flawed characters, and fast paced action. Readers who enjoyed Dark Matter and Recursion will appreciate the familiar elements layered throughout this story.

fast paced post-apocalyptic thriller that was hard to put down. We dive right into this world that is suddenly falling apart due to massive amounts of violence. A family goes on the run to avoid being killed, and to try to find a safe place. Along the way we find out a bit more about what made everyone go wild and the family survives a lot. It was fast paced and enjoyable, my only wish is that we understood a bit more the "why" of how the violence came to be. The explanation was very general and I wish it was explained in more detail, but I still really enjoyed the ride!

SO DAMN GOOD! Blake Crouch originally self-published Run back in 2011, but it’s being republished this month with Random House Publishing Group and wow, it’s a ride. This was action-packed, and I was anxious every single moment. There was one tiny moment of relief, but even then, I was just waiting for the next thing to go wrong. This story terrified me so much that I couldn’t read it before bed. It’s not your typical demons, possession, or slasher horror. It’s real-life, this could actually happen, “what would you do in this situation?” kind of horror.

People have literally lost their minds, and you’re following a family trying to survive what feels like an impossible situation. It’s violent, it’s terrifying, and it’s so damn good. I couldn’t put it down. If you’re looking for a short, quick read for spooky season that will keep you on edge the entire time, Run is perfect. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of Crouch’s republished novel.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

DNF @ 48%. I was excited to read this - as this is going to be a re-release for one of Blake Crouch's previously published books from 2011. Unfortunately this feels nothing like a Blake Crouch book. Upgrade and Dark Matter are both 5 star reads from me, with Dark Matter being one of my absolute favs ever. The best part about his writing is the character development and the descriptive action scenes.

This gives us none of that. We immediately jump into an end-of-world scenario that is explained very poorly (it could have been more clear near the end but I will never know). The main characters Jack and Dee are both shallow, unlikeable, and miserable. The kids don't bring much to the table except as NPC's that are just kind of there. The only thing I learned about their son Cole was that he sleeps a lot. Naomi wears Chuck's and eyeliner. Half way through the book this is all I know.

Instead of developing the characters, we get repetitive scenes over and over again about the aspen trees, the hairpin curves of roads, and numerous descriptions of loading different guns. The writing was not good. There's really no other way to say it.

The concept was interesting but unfortunately the execution was not.

Alternatively titled “Riding around in my automobile”

Although filled with spooky vibes, the plot (goal) was ill defined with the main characters wandering about exclaiming, “Ah! Ah! Ah!” (paraphrasing)

The characters are also underdeveloped. Why should I care about Jack and family? Even some of the standard tricks weren’t utilized. For example, readers usually cheer for the character that they start with. However, the book doesn’t even start with Jack.

But put away your pitchforks. This was Crouch’s first novel, and he has evolved as an author. For reference, Philip Pullman’s first book was so bad that he doesn’t even like talking about it, and it mysteriously disappears from his biography.

Everyone has to start somewhere. In Run, you can see the seeds of Crouch’s brilliance, but it just isn’t all there yet. And it will. It will. Check out Recursion, Dark Matter, or Upgrade!

Am I screaming? I AM SCREAMING!!

This novel is absolutely INCREDIBLE, y'all. I went into this book blind and having only previously read Dark Matter, I was expecting full on sci-fi thriller, and that's how it's billed! But NO. This book is pure end of the world, apocalyptic horror! And ya girl ATE IT UP.

I could not put this down, it consumed my mind, I didn't want to read anything else and I flew through it. It has all of the traditional elements of a good end of times family horror. Parents having marital struggles? Check. Half of the country gone nuts? Check. Doubts about a child? Check. Lots of running, hiding and panic? Check check check. The moment you think you're safe, just give it a minute!

This book also doesn't have chapters! And while that normally makes me crazy, there are plenty of breaks that make it easy to find a place to stop (but why would you want to?) and it just gave it this absolutely unputdownable quality and made it so easy to breeze through pages.

I freaking loved this one, maybe even more than I loved Dark Matter and I cannot wait for everyone to read this book.

FIVE BIG ASS STARS FOR BLAKE CROUCH AND RUN!

I have loved all of Blake Crouch’s books and I could NOT wait to read this one. I didn’t realize until about halfway through that it’s a re-release of his first novel, and that explained why it wasn’t quite as good as his others. Although I still loved it and couldn’t put it down, there was just something missing.

This was my first time reading Blake Crouch’s work, and I’m eager to read more.

Run is a fast-paced apocalyptic thriller that was hard to put down. I loved the gritty dystopian survivalist plot, and I couldn’t help but root for its flawed characters. While the book is action-packed and suspenseful, at its heart, Run is an emotionally charged story of a family’s battle to stick together amidst the unimaginable.

Read if you enjoy:
🏃‍♂️dystopian survivalist fiction
🏃‍♂️ apocalyptic settings
🏃‍♂️ flawed characters
🏃‍♂️ family drama
🏃‍♂️ fast-paced action

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the gifted eARC.

Run by Blake crouch is an action-.thriller in the vein of early koontz or king. In a post-apocalyptic world, a family goes on the run hoping to find solace from zombie like beings they have taken over. Unfortunately, there is no where to run safe enough…

That’s pretty much the plot-sure there is the ultimate question of what caused this, but this is really a thriller about survival. It reminded me of the early walking dead seasons.

While this is a suspenseful page-turner-you can tell that this is an early crouch, as this is as reissue of the backlist title. The characterization isn’t quite fleshed out as in his more current novels and this is very action heavy with not much substance behind it. His writing has definitely improved since 2011!

This is still a fun page-turner that is a worthwhile read for fans of crouch!

Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blake Crouch is an auto buy author for me and I went into this blind, but technically this is on his backlist! This was self published by Crouch in 2011 and will be reissued this year by Ballantine books.

🏃🏻‍♀️We open with a scene of a scientist getting to a mass grave, one she is there to excavate and research. We’re then whipped back in time and get the full story of the tragedy that happened in North America that caused many mass graves. We follow Jack and his wife Dee and their two kids as they flee from their home on a constant run to get away from those “affected”, those who want to kill.

🏃🏻‍♀️In a lot of ways, this is a Crouch novel through and through. His writing style and the world building are there. The characters would easily fit in his other novels. But for me, the book was long. It read like there was constant action, but if I were to summarize, not a lot happened. So this is the area where Crouch’s writing has really progressed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Although the premise of this dark, apocalyptic thriller had real promise and originally snagged my attention, I ultimately felt that it fell short.

I was excited to read another Blake Crouch book, but Run was vastly different from his other novels - not just in content/ideas, but also the writing style. It’s clear that Crouch wrote this story many years before his more recent, successful books. One of the main things I noticed was how repetitive everything was, from the language to the actual storyline. For example, Crouch uses the verb “glassed” five or more times to describe a character looking through binoculars. That might not bother other readers, but there’s just something about using the same word or phrase over and over that gets on my nerves. The plot itself was the same; the book was just basically a cycle of the same order of events happening over and over.

I have to also mention the serious plot armor that Crouch gifts to the main characters. Yes, they do go through a lot and even get injured once or twice, but there were just way too many deadly situations that Jack and his family miraculously survived (although I won’t spoil the ending).

It’s hard for me to strongly dislike Run since I do like apocalyptic end-of-the-world types of books/shows, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this one.

As a big fan of Blake Crouch, I was excited to read his first novel for its rerelease.

This book not a literary work of art but it really kept me on my toes and turning the pages! You can definitely tell it’s Crouch’s first attempt at writing a novel but I was able to put aside the sometimes less than stellar writing because I really enjoyed the plot!

I would have liked a little more character development before it immediately started in on the non stop action but overall this was a pretty entertaining read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

In case you missed its 2011 publication like me, Run is being re-released this month. Blake Crouch's earlier stories are quite a bit different from his recent works. While Run is less detailed in the explanation of events and the science behind them, the roots of what makes his stories to riveting is already there.... flawed characters up against unfathomable threats on their lives doing what it takes to survive when humanity is lost.

Run is an apocalyptic thriller that walks the line of horror. With how divisive our country has become, one can only imagine how such a sequence of events could unravel. Reading this as I see all the social media posts of the northern lights captured across Ohio and the world where these are not typically seen, it leaves me with an uncanny feeling. As I have not been able to capture my own view of them, I am left wondering what if...

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Blake Crouch, and Random House Publishing Group-- Ballentine for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I have read Crouch's 3 most recent sci-fi book and absolutely adore each one of them, so I felt that it was time to explore his backlog! I loved finding out that this was actually his first ever book, self-published, and now that he is successfully, traditionally published, he is rereleasing it. This was SO gripping and fast-paced! I was truly on the edge of my seat the whole time; I forgot how vivid Crouch's books are, almost to the point where it feels like you are watching a movie rather than reading text. This didn't read like a self-published book at all, and I commend his talent! My biggest gripes were that I wish the aurora phenomenon would have been explained a bit better for the context. The book kind of drops you into the action without much of an explanation, and ultimately what causes the events is never really explained. I do think the "not knowing" is a big part of the tension within the book, so this might just be more of a personal preference vs a stylistic flaw. However, I do think it would have helped as a reader to better connect to Jack, Dee, Naomi, and Cole. <spoiler> I think it would have especially helped to understand why Cole was "affected" yet not violent like everyone else because this felt like a major plot hole. </spoiler> I also think things happened to work out just a little too perfectly at times, yet I was still rooting for Jack and his family all the way through. This was a super fast, high-stakes, action-packed read that was a fun yet horror-filled time!

A tense thriller with great characters!

Every chapter ends on a cliff hanger which makes this a quick read. The family dynamic in this was great and felt very real to me.

Such a scary premise that never left me with a dull moment!

This is a re-release of an earlier Blake Crouch novel. I’ll say that it holds no candle to Dark Matter, it is still a really good book (I mean come on, Dark Matter is a masterpiece.)

This is a great apocalyptic story that focuses on a rather damaged family’s battle for survival after a large portion of the American public turns to murdering its fellow humans. Some of the depictions of this are graphic. But for perspective, it’s not the most graphic I’ve ever come across. Just watch your stomach if you’re a little squeamish.

To me, the story of society falling apart in this book was quite well done, but the characters were a little flat. Again, after reading Dark Matter with the love that Jason has for his family, it’s hard to compare other characters. Jack, the protagonist in Run seemed a bit dull at first, I’ll admit he did grow on me. Out of all the characters in the book he endured the most.

All in all, if you're a fan of Crouch’s work and like apocalyptic stories, you’ll probably be entertained by Run.

Thank you to Blake Crouch, Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the early e-copy & the opportunity to provide my honest feedback.