Run
Blake crouch
2024-52
❤️❤️❤️❤️4.0
To be published October 2024
📚 📚📚All over the US violence is breaking out. Suddenly, a group of people all over are killing others. No warning. No known reason. Jack and Dee, who are not in the best place in their marriage, pack up their kids and start heading west toward the mountains. Thus begins a startling, dystopian nightmare where the only way to survive is to run.
📖📖📖 Crouch is my go to for the dystopian tech book. This is being published by the company in October but was his first self published book in 2024. It’s dystopian and fast paced without the tech. Yet it was a page turner and I admit stayed up way too late to finish and had to see how it ended.
❤️❤️❤️JJ’s last words.terrifying!
Thank you to net galley and ballentine books for the ARC.

Thank you Random House Publishing for the eARC! I've loved Crouch's previous books, and was thrilled to get to read his newly-republished first title 'Run'. This book is apocalyptic/dystopian and extremely entertaining and fast paced. You are immediately thrown into the high-stakes chaos of everyone trying to survive in the midst of an unexplained societal meltdown. The ending was a bit of a miss for me, but it could've been a lot worse. Overall, it was a super quick and easy read that had me hooked from the jump.

Run, by Blake Crouch, is a fast paced thriller about a family trying to stay alive. Jack and Dee, and their two kids Naiomi and Cole, are in an apocalypse like scenario. People are killing, burning, and slaughtering members of their town while the family tries to escape. Will they all make it out alive?

Wow, what a rush. This book is quite the exciting read. It takes off at the beginning and it’s a thrill ride all the way until the end. I ended up reading it all in one morning! I couldn’t put it down.

There were lots of heart pounding moments, and unfortunately, as crazy as the actions of the bad guys are in this book, I can totally see it happening in reality. Crouch has captured the personality and actions of extremists perfectly.

Crouch has written some really great books, and while this one is a bit different from his other works, it’s still a fantastic read. You know you can’t go wrong reading any of his books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blake Crouch tops the list of my new-book-must-read authors after falling in love with his books years ago. I didn't realize that Run is actually from 2011, but still I was excited for another Blake Crouch read. Unfortunately, this is the first book of his that I didn't connect with.

It starts off well, and the premise is intriguing. Acts of violence are increasing rapidly over just a few days, until one night a radio announcer starts reading names and addresses for people to find and kill. This is what gets the main characters out of their family home and on the road. We don't know right away why this violence is happening or how people are becoming affected.

What follows are way too many pages about the family's survival -- they almost get killed, they almost get run off the road, they almost get found or do get found, they hunt/fish/camp/hide to survive, they go back on the road, repeat. This went on way too long. I wanted more on what was happening in the country and why, and less about the exact survival skills this family knew. At the 50% mark I started skimming these parts because I just stopped caring, and only re-engaged when something different happened.

Run, like other Blake Crouch books, is well written and the author does an incredible job of infusing tension and making the reader feel anxious (I felt for the kids so much, especially the son, probably would have felt differently reading this before I had my son). I just wish the book was more about what happened and how, and less about how this family tries to survive.

One lingering question for those who read this book: Who told the radio announcer know which names to read? That is the part I am not quite getting based on what we later find out caused this whole thing.

Despite this review, maybe even because of it, I look forward to Blake Crouch's next book more than ever. I am sure I will love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this book in exchange for my honest review.

Eh I did not like this. I found Blake Crouch from Dark Matter. I thought I would like this but it just wasn’t for me. The pacing was off.

Read this as an ARC for when it gets re-released in October.

Really enjoyed this one, I could not put it down. It had me at the edge of my seat the entire time, like most of Blake Crouch’s other books have. This one was a different concept than his other books, a little less reliant on sci fi, and more thriller/horror. This one reminded me the most of Wayward Pines.

So many great plot twists I wasn’t expecting. The ending really brought everything together.

This was such an intense book I could not put it down! The author had me sucked in from the beginning and at the edge of my seat the entire time. Great heart pounding thriller. I do wish there had been a little backstory or at least a better intro into what was happening. Overall the story was excellent. 4.5/5⭐️

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Random
house publishers for the advance reader copy. This is my honest review. Publication date Oct 22, 2024.

This book was crazy intense and hooked me from the start.

A rash of murders is sweeping the country, murderers start forming groups, they read names off on the radio of people to go kill…

Jack and his family narrowly escape their home and go on the run. The book follows their journey across the country trying to get to safer areas. And holy cow, it’s a horrible journey!

Despite the horrific things they saw and constantly fighting for their lives, Jack saw the beauty in the land along the way, and I really liked this about the book.

Super dark and faced paced, intense read. Scary to think about being in their situation.

This books was good. Not my favorite of the author's, but I still enjoyed it. I liked the dystopia feel of it and how the terrible things happening brought the family back together. I liked that the beginning chapter didn't seem to really tie into the story until the end when it's revealed who the anthropologist is. My biggest issue is that I wanted more information about what exactly happened. What were the lights? Why wasn't Cole violent like the others? It didn't feel fully explained or resolved.

This was disappointing. I loved Recursion and Dark Matter, but this was much duller than I expected. The premise had promise, but the execution just isn't there.

I didn’t realize until after I finished that this is one of Blake Crouch’s earlier novels. As such, his newer work is definitely more sophisticated, but I still enjoyed this one. It starts off kind of slow, but then the action picks up and never lets go. It makes you think about what you would do in a similar situation. My only complaint here is that you need to suspend your disbelief BIG time, and it jarred me out of the story a few times. Still, this will have you on the edge of your seat, and it’s a crazy, thrilling ride.

Imagine: You know you need to leave, so you’re hurriedly packing everything up, when you hear your name and address read over the radio as the next person to die.

They are coming. And they won’t hesitate to kill you, your spouse and your children.

You better run.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the eARC. All opinions are mine alone.

I have alot of mixed emotions about this book. I am a huge fan of Blake Crouch and this book had the same "feel" as his others where you were really drawn in and it's a fast paced whirlwind of action. The overall story had an interesting premise and it did keep me reading but I felt so incredibly stressed out and even grossed out along the way that I found myself just wanting it to be over. Trying not to spoil anything... but it is just tragedy after tragedy at every turn. It was hard for me to stay motivated to read it because I didn't want to keep feeling the stress of how terrible things were in this world. I also felt like nothing was really explained- and that really bothered me. I didn't buy the attempt at the explanation of why this happened and I also don't understand how all of a sudden things were "OK" again?? I went on this disturbing, dark ride and at the end felt even more let down. The book is quick and I think will be enjoyable for those that don't get too disturbed by the content.

What a crazy wild ride this book has been. I don’t typically go for apocalyptic stories because-
well I have a fear of it but I went in blind and I just couldn’t stop reading! Blake is Easley becoming one of my favorite authors, I’ve loved every book I’ve read so far and enjoy seeing his work come to life on the screen. I’m seriously hoping this one gets adapted to film. I felt like I was walking along the characters myself fighting, trying to survive.
I will warn on triggers, people killing people, kids dying, graphic explanation of dead bodies all through out the book.

The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because the beginning-mid was a bit repetitive. My final rating is 4.5

Ooof, this was a tough read! But it was also quite suspenseful which kept me reading "just one more page" way past my bedtime. Fair warning: this gets graphic at times and involves a lot of dead bodies. If that's not your thing, you'll want to avoid this one. But if you can push past that aspect, it is well worth a few hours of your time! 4 stars!

This was a really interesting take on an apocalypse type story. There was chaos from the first chapter and it was non stop from there. I throughly enjoyed this different take of the storyline of some mysterious reason of why regular people have turned into raging murderers against others. This was the type of novel I could picture coming to life as a limited series or movie! I only wish we got more of a proper explanation on what caused people to turn…but the again, I guess that’s one reason it’s so scary.

i always love blake crouch's books and this one did not disappoint!!! the concept was so intriguing to me and the execution had me on the edge of my seat, i definitely recommend this one to anyone who is interested in this type of story!

This fast-paced novel got my heart racing, but ultimately left me a bit disappointed.

We follow a family as they run from and attempt to escape a horde of angry people who are attacking and killing people seemingly at random, in brutal and horrific ways.

The plot starts immediately - and I definitely got sucked into this story. However, I don't think it really started to shine until the second half. The first half had a bit too much repetition and monotony, which surprised me considering the subject matter. I enjoyed it in the end!

3.75 / 5

Run has an intriguing premise: an unidentified event drives anyone who experiences it into madness. They become murderers, torturers, and every other form of depravity mankind has to offer. These people have a singular goal: kill everyone who isn't like them. This book focuses on one Albuquerque family, unaffected by the event, who has to leave everything behind and run for their lives. Where are they going to go? How will they survive when almost everyone around them is trying to kill them?

This tense thriller leans more into horror than any other of Blake Crouch's books I've read. The book is chapterless, which adds an extra layer of intensity because there's never a good time to pause. The family is under constant pressure and the lack of natural breaks in the narrative made me feel like I was running along with them, unable to look away.

One aspect of the story I loved is although there are some shiver-inducing scenes of extreme violence and brutality, it's juxtaposed with the love of a family that will do anything for each other. Desperate situations will bring forth elements of perspective and wisdom that you never knew existed. Seeing this family evolve in such a desolate situation had me emotionally invested in the characters' fates.

Environmental hazards played a major role in this story of survival, but I feel like Crouch spent far too much time describing in detail what every field, mountain, and forest looked like. It was immersive, but I feel some character development was sacrificed to keep up with its relentless pacing.

Overall, Run is a gripping thriller with quite a few heart-pounding moments. There was a lot left unexplained, which is fine to a certain extent, but some scenarios were resolved with a bit of hand-waving and oh-so-perfect timing. Some of these resolutions were detrimental to the immersion of the story, but it didn't take long to pull me right back in again.

Run was originally published in 2011, but now is the first time it is available for purchase within the U.S. It's perfect for devouring on the beach or by the pool in one sitting.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for an ARC of Run by Blake Crouch in exchange for my honest opinion.

Blake Crouch has now made my list of authors I love to read. Quick attention grabbers. I will start one of his books when I know there is nothing else that I need to do. Run was a great book. An event takes place and causes part of the US population to go mad. Jack and his family must travel from New Mexico to Canada while avoiding the mad ones. Danger around every corner. The suspense was great and I couldn't stop reading until I found out what happened to the family.