ARC 📖 Review: Run by Blake Crouch
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫(4.5 stars)

Pub Date: 10/22/24

😮‍💨 This one did not disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat this entire book and could not put it down! This was originally self published by Blake Crouch in 2011 and now being rereleased. You don’t want to miss this one, I highly recommend it!

🚙🔫🔥

On the Emergency Broadcast System they’re reading the names of those to be killed. When Jack hears his name him and his family are on the run to survive. They have no idea why they are being hunted or what is happening to cause this apocalyptic outbreak. Will they stay together and survive the madness?

Blake crouch is such a great author. I really enjoyed read Run as it was thrilling and made my heart pump so fast. This book follows a family who is literally in fight and flight mode when mass chaos breaks out in several cities. Cities, villages and towns are buring, people killing one another and the only way to hopefully survive is run.

Run kept my attention and had me guessing what the heck is going on here. This isn't my favorite Blake Crouch book but it was really darn good. This was a sold 4 star read.

I didn’t realize initially this was one of Blake Crouch’s first books but it makes sense as the writing was not what I had grown to know and felt disjointed at times. Beyond that this is an intense, heart pounding and fairly gruesome read. Not for the faint of heart! Thank you to Net Galley and Random House / Ballantine Publishing for the ARC

Almost didn’t finish this as it was so dark and bleak. Good characterizations but the story was a bit over the top at times.

I love Blake Crouch’s books but something was off with this one. The premise has been done so many times before and that’ll make this book somewhat forgettable. It was a gripping read and thrilling for sure, but nothing spectacular.

I got 50 percent through this book and decided that it wasn’t for me. Which is unfortunate because I have read several books by this author and loved them so I was excited about this. This is a rerelease of his first book and I think it show. The writing style is very choppy and I didn’t feel any connection to the story or characters. I think someone who has never read anything from this author may love this book but when you compare this to Dark Matter or Recursion, it just doesn’t have the same feeling to it.

I was thoroughly captivated and left breathless by the heart-pounding narrative of Blake Crouch's "Run". Despite not being a regular reader of science fiction novels set in apocalyptic landscapes, this book undeniably commanded my full attention. Following Jack, his wife (who is also a doctor), their teenage daughter, and young son, we witness their harrowing journey amidst a world thrown into chaos by the occurrence of the aurora borealis. The pacing of the story was exceptional, leaving me completely engrossed. Although I would have given it a perfect five-star rating, my only slight disappointment stemmed from the ending, which felt somewhat hurried. Nevertheless, "Run" is a commendable and compelling sci-fi read that I highly recommend.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House / Ballantine Publishing for the ARC to review with my honest opinions.

This book was fabulous! It was exciting from the very beginning. An absolute page turner. An interesting take on the northern lights. Loved the mass extinction theories. Didn't know who was a help or a hindrance to survival. Even a bit of a love story in the book! Loves it!

Reading 2024
Book 118: Run by Blake Crouch

Not sure what is happening with this book, there are reviews for the book from 2011, but it appears the book will be released in fall 2024. Thank you to #NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my review.

Synopsis: Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that anymore.

Review: Well, this was my least favorite, by a long mile, Blake Crouch book. I did not like the premise of the book, the writing, or the characters. Not sure what was happening here, very sad about this book. The way the Kindle version presented, the reading was like a race. Prose hurried from one thing to the next. The only sort of cool thing was the past/present tie together. My rating 2.5⭐️.

Whew! Just able to catch my breath. This was an intense read towards the last half. The short, clipped tone of the starting chapters made it a little slower to relate to the characters and the kids said and did the most annoying things. However, it’s as if the writing and the characters evolved towards the end. There was gore, terror, and despair. Solid book by BC. Shout out to @netgalley and random house for the ARC.

I have always been a fan of Blake Crouch, I first fell in love with Wayward Pines. This book kept me up at night and I had a hard time putting it down. Run is a thriller unlike any others. I love the sci-fi aspect throughout the book!

This was a crazy thriller. blake crouch never disapoints. the message and the twists really had me shocked.

It was really interesting to jump back and read a Blake Crouch book from 2011! Unfortunately, while I love thrillers and particularly sci-fi thrillers, I don’t much enjoy straight horror.

In short, this book is about what happens when an aurora borealis appears in the sky and those that can see it begin to go insane and kill people. The story follows a family of four (Jack, Dee, and their two children) as they are on the run, trying to stay alive.

I struggled to see the ~point~ of the book. I don’t think all books need to have a point (I really like speculative fiction), but for a book like this I don’t know what a reader is supposed to get out of it. Horror can be interesting to me when the evil is perpetrated by humans and you can explore the different facets of humanity, but in this case the evil was more or less a disease and people were not in control of their actions. It just felt like there was very little depth here. It was mostly a show-and-tell of guns and blood -- the whole book felt repetitive and stagnant.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Having read Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, I was very intrigued by this synopsis. While the premise of an event that causes an apocalypse of sorts is definitely not new, I was still invested in the journey of Jack and his family. It definitely does give a mix of The Happening and The Mist vibes, but I still loved every second of it. Jack, Dee, Naomi and Cole are really put through it. Their journey is harrowing and for me, seeing Jack and Dee's relationship blossom amidst the crisis that is this rage epidemic was amazing to see. Being a parent myself, I was really put into Dee's shoes in regards to being a mom. It really got me thinking how I would handle myself in this situation (or something similar). I would recommend reading this if you're looking for a dark thriller that doesn't stop with the horror.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for this advanced reader's copy. I love Blake Crouch's books so when I saw he had another book coming out I had to get my hands on it. This is actually a rerelease of his first book. Still shows his signature style. A fast-paced thriller where society is attacking each other, and a family is on the run for their lives. No one knows what made some humans to go mad and start killing, but as society starts to crumble and others must find a way to run and hide. Normal society breaks down and the story follows Jack and his family as they run and try to survive and find others out there like themselves. They figure out why those are going mad and just try to find a way to survive all this. This book was a fast, super fun read.

Thank you netgalley for the book.
I feel conflicted.
I wanted to love this. I did like it, but the writing style was somewhat confusing to follow and the ending was not what i was anticipating. I will continue to read Blake crouch though.

I loved Dark Matter, so I had high expectations for this book. It was very different in style, but I still enjoyed it. Blake Crouch does a good job of writing tales of survival, formulating characters with an incredible grit and will to survive.

I have to say- I’m thankful the story ended the way it did. Had it been slightly different (I won’t elaborate because I don’t want to spoil), I would’ve been sad.

My only criticism is that I still don’t understand exactly WHY this happened. Was it really the lights? Or do they not know? It was discussed so briefly at the very end.

Blake Crouch is seriously one of my favorite authors. "Run" by Blake Crouch is a gripping apocalyptic thriller that follows Jack Colclough and his family as they flee from a sudden and inexplicable epidemic of rage sweeping across America. Unlike Crouch's other works, which often delve into sci-fi, this novel is a raw, relentless race for survival. As society crumbles and killers mobilize, Jack hears his family's names announced on an emergency broadcast, marking them for death. With no time to understand the chaos, their only option is to run.

The novel's fast-paced, high-stakes narrative keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Crouch's ability to create a compelling, page-turning experience remains undeniable, making "Run" a must-read for fans of apocalyptic thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy !

Run is a really a wild ride. Blake Crouch originally self-published this in 2011 and it is now being updated and re-released. He is a master storyteller and that is evident in this book, but this book is definitely not for everyone.

We follow a family who is on the run trying to survive an apocalyptic event. Many people in the United States have experienced a phenomenon that is turning them into killers going on a rampage. I was invested in this family and their journey for survival. I do feel like we've seen this story before in many other dystopian/apocalypse stories. This story doesn't particularly stand out, but it is really well written. Even so, this book was hard to read because it is very very graphic. There are scenes in this book that describe the deceased and the acts of killing in very graphic detail that was pretty hard to stomach. I started skimming over those parts. I think he was trying to add to the horror of the situation, but I could have done with out it.

If you have a strong stomach and enjoy apocalyptic stories then this book could really be for you. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Let me start off by saying that I have read other books by Blake Crouch and absolutely love them. However, this one just didn’t do it for me. I never felt really invested in the characters and the ending was lackluster at best.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this re-release in exchange for an honest review.