I really like dark matter and upgrade and was excited for this one! Overall the concept is great- super intense and thrilling and kept me very engaged. I hated how gory it was. It felt unnecessary at times. I wish they also gave more context as to why everything happened.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Blake Crouch for an ARC of Run. I know this is a re-release and it’s been available, but I was very honored to be given an opportunity to review this. This is my first book of Blake’s and will not be my last. I was hesitant at first not sure how this was going to play out (when stories are too close to home they freak me out lol!) but this was outstanding. I truly felt like I was with Jack and Dee and anytime I took a drink of water I was very thankful for it. My life was absolutely absorbed in what was going to happen next to the Colclough’s and I did lose sleep and it was 100% worth it. This book had about everything - thrilling, suspense, horror, speculative fiction, heartache, happiness. If you pick this up, expect it to be glued to your hands and someone else will have to pry it out.

The epidemic of rage has started 5 days ago and murders start sweeping the nation. More and more senseless murders and the president is pleading for peace. Now the power is out and cell towers are down. Names of people to be killed are being read over the radio. Jack Colclough just heard his name on the Emergency Broadcast System and he needs to get his family out and keep them safe. No one has idea what is going on or why. The only thing Jack knows what to do is run. Be prepared to go on a wild ride while America is falling apart. How far would you go to protect your family?

I didn't realize this was a reprint of an old book and not new material when I requested. I'm less excited to read it now and will shelve it as a maybe someday. I really love his recent work and the older stuff has mixed reviews, so I'm not in a hurry to get to the backlist. Thanks for sharing with me!

WOW!! Run starts off thrilling and it just gets better from there! Fast paced, action packed, emotional and captivating, it got ahold of me and I couldn't put it down. Thanks goodness it was a quick read. At this point, I don't think Blake Crouch can do anything wrong! I fell in love with this family immediately and was rooting for them on the edge of my seat. Do yourself a favor and read this!

This re release from a famous other had me on the edge of my seat. It was also incredible to see how Crouch has grown as a writer since this publicaiton. While I found a few parts repetitive, I devoured this, and thought how little our narrators knew was brilliantly done. This is one of his darker ones, and I'm so glad I read it.

3/5 - thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! I was super excited to get this as I’ve heard this author is super good - I have a few of his other books but haven’t read it yet. So interestingly enough this was published in 2011 and it’s one of the first books from the author and it is getting re-published later this year.

It was a super fast read for me and I didn’t want to put it down. I usually like pretty dark stuff - but this was one of the darkest I’ve read in a while. It somewhat reminded me of The Road which I read in AP lit. Anyways it’s apocalyptic thriller, and again realllllly graphic. It definelty pulled me in - and I like the little addition to the beginning and the end of the book, but overall it was the darkness of the book that pulled me in and wanting to find out what happened if that makes sense? Not a bad book by any means and definitely makes me excited to read his other books. You seriously need to like apocalyptic, graphic things to enjoy this book. Basically thing Walking Dead without the zombies but all the murder and gore.

3.5 stars rounded up.
Run is a fast paced dystopian novel. The book starts quickly with a news report giving out names and addresses urging people to go on a killing spree. Jack, his wife and their 2 children are on the run taking little possessions with them. They are in a non stop fight for survival in a world where no one can be trusted.
This book gives the purge and the walking dead vibes. I did find the middle to be a bit repetitive and the ending to be abrupt. Overall I enjoyed the book and read it quickly over 2 days. I do wish it had some more character development and explanation.
Thank you to NetGalley for this free digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

“He listened to everyone's heavy breathing, thinking how, in his lifetime, he'd lain awake at night worrying over so much pointless shit-money, his job, a fight he'd had with Dee, and now that he had real life-and-death stuff to obsess about, all he wanted to do was sleep.”

How do I even write words. This book jacked me up. I couldn’t stop reading it. I couldn’t force myself to look away from the page. I walked over three miles on the treadmill without even realizing it because I was so horrified, I couldn’t stop reading. I still can’t figure out what to say after sitting with this note open for over twenty minutes. I’m blown away.

My friend says sit with it. And yes, this is the kind of book you need to sit with. It’s dark and paralyzing. I love this era of Blake Crouch, it brought me right back to the anxiety of reading the Wayward Pines trilogy for the first time.

First and foremost, aside from the utter human horror depicted in this book, once the nonsense society places on us mammals is removed, the human experience is exposed and clarified. It was beautiful, in a way, to see a family working together, surviving together, at the most basic level. Despite the strife, the violence, the crude nature of humanity, there is an appreciation for Mother Nature. A respect depicted in this book that was humbling. It’s hard to be a human in a world designed to kill us, though we’ve made good progress into easier lives - save for the turmoil society places on us. It was cool to see this all stripped down to the essence of what it means to be human.

Blake Crouch is one of the greatest authors I’ve ever read. He has an ability to suck you in, terrify you, change the way you experience life.

Lastly, I know this book is a reissue and is likely from a different time in his life, but the images depicted in this book make want to ask:

Blake Crouch, are you okay?

Blake Crouch's Run is an intense, edge-of-your-seat thriller. From start to finish, it keeps you gripped with nonstop action and emotional depth. The pacing is relentless, and the plot twists will leave you breathless. Crouch's writing is both vivid and gripping, pulling you into a story full of suspense and surprising turns. It's a book that makes you feel every possible emotion and keeps you questioning long after you’ve turned the last page. Highly recommend reading this. Wow, just wow!

This book was absolutely wild! From the beginning it starts with nonstop action. Every time I thought there was going to be a pause, the family was being hunted again. I started to fall into so many theories in my head on how they kept being found. My only complaint was the ending felt a little anti-climatic and abrupt. I was on such a high from all the action and then it just stopped. This was an easy read that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish!

As a big fan of Blake Crouch, this was pretty decent! I wasn’t aware at the time of requesting that this was actually published in 2011 and you can kind of tell this is an older work but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing! I really enjoyed the ride!

3.5 Stars rounded up

Run by Blake Crouch was an enjoyable read, even though I didn’t realize it was one of his earlier books. I’m not usually into apocalyptic stories, but this one had a fast pace that kept me turning the pages. The action kicks off quickly and doesn’t let up, making it a pretty thrilling ride.

I’d recommend this to anyone who’s a fan of Crouch’s other works or enjoys similar fast-paced, high-stakes thrillers. It’s not my favorite of his, but it’s still a solid, entertaining read.

It turns out this was originally self-published in 2011, so not a new title for Crouch. This definitely reads very raw and unfinished, but it still decent and good something fans of the author may enjoy.

Honestly? If Blake Crouch wrote the phone book, I'd read it. I will forewarn you, if you pick this up expecting something like Dark Matter or Recursion, you will be disappointed. 'Run' is just as masterfully brilliant but in a very different way. Previously released in 2011, Run is a testament to the genius of Blake Crouch.

Big fan of Blake Couch and his other books. This was a good read Definitely would recommend to others looking for a good read

This book took off running straight away and was fast-paced the whole way through. It was just as expected which is why I would rate it 3 stars, the plot seemed very familiar to something like The Walking Dead or even A Quiet Place. It was just like a movie playing in my head that I had seen before. I did really enjoy it, I just would have preferred a little something extra to rate it even higher.

This book was interesting. I am not one to be a fan of apocalyptic like books and ones that speak of survival. The only thing that made it hard for me was the not having the divider for the chapters.

Wow. There are so many mixed reviews for this book. As a Blake Crouch fan, I can see how this may differ too much from his more recent releases. I’ve been told this was actually the first book he wrote and self published (so this is technically a rerelease).
However, I loved it. It was dark, and so intense. It was shocking and fast paced. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I feel like the vibe was more reminiscent of his Pines series than, say, Dark Matter or Upgrade.
Run is gritty, mysterious, and edgy.
This is a pretty hard story to swallow being apocalyptic with plenty of graphic violence. I was so immersed in the story it gave me anxiety (which isn’t really hard to do I guess 😂).
I don’t think this book will be for everyone. But, if you want a fast paced, semi-sci-fi thriller, check it out 👀

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine for an e-ARC of this book!

This was, like, such a wild ride! 😱 If you’re into fast-paced, apocalyptic thrillers, this one’s totally got that high-energy, edge-of-your-seat vibe. The whole premise of a family fleeing from chaos and mayhem as society crumbles is super intense. 🚗💨

Jack and his family are, like, thrown into this insane situation where everyone’s suddenly going on killing sprees, and they have to navigate through a chaotic world just trying to survive. The action never slows down, which I loved. 🌪️🔥

However, even though it was entertaining, I have to admit it didn’t quite hit the mark for me like. The plot felt kinda familiar and didn’t dive into the deeper themes I was expecting. It’s definitely a gripping read, but maybe a bit forgettable compared to Crouch’s other works. 📚💭

Big thanks to NetGalley for the online copy in exchange for my honest review. If you're looking for a quick, action-packed thrill ride, give this one a go! 🙌

This white-knuckle thrill ride puts your heart firmly in your throat right from the start and is unrelenting until the very last line. The writing and style and pacing are intense and go a long way to propel this story. By and large it is written in short bursts as we follow this family on the terrifying journey, a journey that is more about surviving one more day than it is about reaching any proper destination. It is almost cinematic, with every chapter divided into a number of discrete scenes, keeping the story in constant motion. The writing is clear and direct and brutal, not shy of displaying the gruesome alongside the intimate. This frantic pace and staccato rhythm do a lot of work in setting the atmosphere of the story. The journey is well-paced, with moments of peace just long enough for you to think maybe it is okay to let out that breath you had been holding in, only for any pretense of serenity to be ripped away a split second later. The world-building is both simple and chilling, because it is the America we know with only one small difference… and that difference is, maybe most frighteningly, even less different now in 2024 when this novel is being re-released than it was in 2011 when it was first independently published. When people are motivated by an unmitigated, uncompromising call to violence, how can you respond and keep your humanity intact?

The characters feel genuine, but they also feel a little bit empty. What I mean is that they feel like an audience surrogate, with enough personality and character traits to make them somewhat distinct but not so much as it isn’t remarkably easy to see yourself in their shoes. Usually, character depth and exploration are my way into a story, but here that is mostly eschewed in favor of pure adrenaline. We see the characters’ commitments to each other and to their humanity as they navigate the traumas and terrors of the story, and you spend too much time trying to catch your breath to be really concerned with character growth—though, with that said, there are a few moments of reflection that are tender and go a long way to making this story feel more human.

What I think I especially enjoy about this story is that this is just a snapshot of a family during this apocalyptic event. We aren’t following members of the government or military or high-level scientists that are working to fix the situation. This is a story about one family’s survival, not about saving the world. That makes it feel more intimate and makes it easier to relate to the characters. I don’t know what it feels like to have the fate of millions of people resting on my back, but I do know what it is like to feel personally threatened, to feel like everyone is out to get me. This story forces you to ask what you would do, how would you cope, in a scenario like this. Will survival instinct become intertwined with love to make you stronger in the face of wanton nihilism? Or would you give in to a more craven, self-serving impulse and sacrifice others just to keep your head above water for a few minutes longer? What storehouse of human emotion and strength will you turn to when literally everyone is out to get you?

I want to thank the author, the publisher Random House - Ballantine, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.