I didn't realize this was a re-printing of an older Crouch book when I requested it; I've already read this! Didn't realize that until I was a fair amount into my second reading - trials and tribulations of being a committed bookworm!

Holy hell…probably my favorite Crouch book. Definitely not for everyone, a very heavy book the entire time but so addicting. By the far the fastest I’ve read a book this year. I cannot explain the suspense and dread you will feel while reading but what an incredible experience.

Run by Blake Crouch was originally published in 2011 and is being rereleased in October this year.

This is the story of a family on the run in a post-apocalyptic world. People everywhere have turned violent and nowhere is safe. The family is trying to survive when almost everyone they encounter wants to kill them. The details in this story are truly horrific. Holocaust level unimaginable annihilation. I can’t say I enjoyed reading it. I was drawn in by the suspense at times and bored and wanting to skim at others. It’s a very fast paced story and I wanted to know what was going to happen, so I kept picking it up.
Be aware there are many details and images that could make a person sick. It’s truly horrific.

I absolutely loved Recursion and Dark Matter was good as well. Crouch’s newer titles are more my style than this one. I look forward to what he writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of Run.

* spoiler alert ** **Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC from Blake Crouch's original self-published "Run".**

★★★/5 - I would call this a strong 3 star review. With the author's more recent novels and seeing his true potential with 4 and 5 star books, "Run" ends up with a solid 3.

First off, the book's pace is thrilling. I did not mind the short chapters and thoughts that organized the story of the book. It kept me reading and was a refreshing style not found in other books.
Secondly, I found the possible reason of the phenomenon caused by the lights fairly interesting, but the author kept it enough of a mystery and didn't ruin it by trying to explain and rationalized something that likely wouldn't have been possible.
Thirdly, the characters were unlikable in the beginning, but being a good author and taking the reader through the tragedies and challenges experienced by the family in a post-apocalyptic environment, I grew to like them! Even Cole......
Lastly, a semi-climax of the novel was a slight negative in the story for me. Specifically, the meetup between Jake and his wife, Dee's, side lover. That took the story for a bit of an odd turn, especially when even Dee ends up in the same location to save the day. I know the location was a significant one in Jake and Dee's relationship, but it was the hardest part to believe in the story (aside from little Cole climbing a mountain his parents could barely climb).

Overall, it was a quick and easy read with a lot of enjoyable, and horrifying moments in a story that relates to how a family would react in a post-apocalyptic world.

★★★/5

R/
Aldo

I started this book while waiting for new episodes of Dark Matter to be released on Apple+. I just can't get enough of Blake Crouch, and Run certainly satisfied that itch. 

An epidemic of rage swept the nation, culminating in utter chaos and senseless killings. After the power goes out nationwide, Jack Colclough hears his name on his battery-powered radio, calling for his murder. He and his wife waste no time getting their children in the car and running— knowing that the affected will be at his door soon. Whatever happened turned seemingly normal people into bloodthirsty killers, and no one knows why. 

This thriller is quite violent and unsettling, keeping you on the edge of your seat for the entire novel and making you question what you would do if the world went topsy-turvy and you didn't know who to trust. Where would you go? And who would you want by your side?

After reading Dark Matter and Upgrade, this was a letdown. Heavy on the gore and violence and light on the sci-fi. A family is running for their lives literally the entire book, which makes it a quick read. But there was no substance to it. Try the author's newer books instead! 2.5 stars

I love Blake Crouch's books! If you love his others, definitely try this one out! This one is horror, post-apocalyptic, and science fiction.

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the ARC.

This was intense. I don't know that I have ever read a book that was so intense when for the majority of the story you didn't really know what was happening, or why it was happening. You just know your characters need to run at a minute's notice. The dark setting and the intensity of the high stakes for Jack, Dee, Naomi and Cole gave very much The Walking Dead vibes. Where every day is a struggle to live, to keep going somewhere, but not knowing if that somewhere would be worse and if there was any true actual escaping whatever is going on. It is not a relaxing story in the least, I felt onthe edge of my seat the whole time, and worried for this family. I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend this!

3.75

Tbh this book scared me a lot more than I expected it to? That's fully on me though, I should have read the summary more carefully and thought about it before reading it.

Plot-wise, it didn't feel the most original. Basically, Jack and his family are on the run after their names are called out on the hit list. They run through the mountainous part of the country (Wyoming, Colorado, etc), trying to find food and to survive the other humans. Some of the population has gotten extremely violent, trying to kill as many others who are unaffected as possible, in pretty brutal ways.

I liked the family aspect of it as Jack reignites his relationship with his wife Dee after their emotional separation, and both Dee and Jack work really hard to protect their 14 and 7-year-old kids. I thought the inclusion of the children was interesting as they felt realistic--most kids their age would react like that to the circumstances, unlike other survival books where the kids act much older than they are.

However, I had a couple issues with the plot. First, it wasn't hugely original, as I said earlier. I read 5th Wave within the last year and the survival aspect felt pretty similar. Also, as other reviewers have said, I wish we zoomed out a little and explored the humanity aspect of what was going on. <spoiler>the rage being caused by the aurora and then suddenly going away could have been expanded on so much more, especially focusing on themes of morality and evil. Cole was affected by the aurora but never went "crazy". why is that? Why did we not explore that? What about showing the aftermath of the people who were affected--how did they cope with all the violence they committed? because after all that stress, I like a happy ending.

Overall, this was a very thought-provoking book. It's very short so it's not a huge time commitment which is a great plus. I just wish it looked more at some of the deeper themes rather than focus in on the family and their attempt to survive.

Oh my gosh, this was so unsettling and terrifying. This stayed with me long after I turned the last page, Blake Crouch continues to tick all the eerie boxes leaving you unsettled about the world.

Blake Crouch never disappoints and this novel was no exception. It is heartbreaking first. I felt so connected to the characters even though it is about an event I’m unlikely to ever encounter. I think every reader wants a book they can’t put down and that you are so immersed in forget it’s not your life, and this book did it for me. I was also surprised the author wrote the book years ago and it is now publishing in the states.

This just wasn’t the book for me I just didn’t get into. It didn’t like the characters and was not a fan of the horror aspect.

A mysterious event leads to part of the population committing mass murders filled with rage. When Jack Colclough hears his name and address announced over the radio he knows the only thing he can do is take his family and run.

Run is a fast-paced post-apocalyptic novel which will have you on the edge of your seat. I could easily see this one being adapted for the big screen. I will say that readers might want to be aware of the graphic violence depicted. Characters find themselves suddenly having violent thoughts without the ability to stop themselves from carrying out rage induced acts of violence. Jack and his family are trying to escape throughout the novel with several obstacles along the way. Despite being a bit of a dysfunctional family they begin to mend old wounds and bond as a family amidst their shared trauma. Although this was a little over the top at times it was highly entertaining and hard to put down. I was looking for something a bit different than most of my current reads and this one definitely scratched that itch…a must read for 2024!

Ugh not my fav from him. Really into his Pines series wish it was more like that. Love the end of the world vibes though. I love movies and books with this plot. The writing wasn’t really it for me though

Blake Crouch books are so much fun! Run was originally self published in 2011.
It is a suspenseful tale of a family that suddenly finds itself on the run after society suddenly seems to break down and go mad. Violence is everywhere so Jack and Dee take their family and run.
I enjoyed this fast read and highly recommend it! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this digital ARC.

This is a fast paced thriller about Jack and his family who are on the run after a series of brutal murders.

The murders seem to have been taken place all over the country after a cosmic event.

Jack and his family soon realize that there is no where safe for them to hide and are constantly dodging the horror of these murders.

I thought the pacing was great and the overall story kept me engaged, but I felt like something was missing.

Overall I would still recommend. I would give it a solid 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this eARC.

Blake Crouch's Run, much like his recent release Abandon, is technically an older book that's getting an "official" release by a big publisher, rather than the self-published version that typified so much of Crouch's career until hitting it big. But whereas Abandon left me pretty cold, it's not hard to see why Run helped to jump-start Crouch's career. A lean story that's pretty much pure movement and adrenaline, Run takes place in an America where a huge chunk of the population abruptly begins murdering each other without rhyme or reason that anyone can see, and follows one family as they, well, run. Apart from a brief (and cleverly used) prologue and epilogue, Run essentially feels like one unbroken sequence - a nightmarish drive through a country that's eating itself alive and divided itself into camps that seem to follow some internal logic that makes little sense to an outsider. (In so many ways, this book can often feel like a response to the America of the 2020s rather than the 2010s.) Run is lean maybe to a fault; there's not much "depth" here so much as a book-length action/survival sequence, and characters can feel rushed and sketched in, relying on archetypes and quick moments to fill them in, and the central event that triggers all of this feels so arbitrary as to be meaningless (especially given its bizarre impact on one major character). But even so, Run is propulsive and addictive, showcasing Crouch's command of narrative momentum and ability to invest us in characters defined by their actions. It lacks the depth of what he would do in later books like Dark Matter and Recursion, but that doesn't keep it from being a pulpy thrill ride that just plain moves, keeping me pulling the "oh, just a few more pages" card late into the night. Rating: ****

This one was WAY too much for me... I knew going on that it centered around spates of inexplicable violence, yet was STILL stunned at the graphic and aggressive nature of this book. I thought it was a new tale from Crouch, and as I've really enjoyed his latest releases, was thinking I would be able to stomach it. The writing style felt off for his latest work - which is when I looked into things further and realized this was one of his earliest works, rereleased. That is fine, but it explains the disconnect I seemed to see/feel compared to the polish of his more recent novels. This one felt raw and wasn't for me. I wasn't able to finish...

I'm glad this book got re-published. Blake Crouch's writing style is amazing and it captivates you as soon as you start reading. At this point I wanna read all of his books.

I just finished Run by Blake Crouch as a netgalley ARC: I was hooked from page one. This book gives post apocalyptic vibes, and as someone who is very interested in that I found it great. Sometimes a story involves too many characters, and it can be hard to keep up, this is the opposite. There aren’t an over abundance of characters, as you’re mostly following the story of one family. A family who like many others are running for their lives and trying to survive. I rate this book 4/5 stars.