Last week, I was very sad that I missed out on the rare chance of seeing the auroras in person. Now I have what may be a life-long fear of them!

⭐️ 4.5/5
Though Blake Crouch is renowned for his masterful works of speculative science fiction, Run veers significantly closer to survival horror than sci-fi. It’s an unrelenting, bloody, and gory ride—one that I was utterly compelled to stay on.

I sat down with the intent to merely begin reading it, only to find myself glued to my couch until I reached its final pages. I was thoroughly engrossed in the nightmarish dystopia crafted from Crouch's clearly twisted imagination, with its relentless ups-and-downs keeping me permanently on edge.

The only qualm I have is that I wish the cause of the epidemic itself was better explained. A prologue depicting the day of the event perhaps could have provided some clarity. However, I do understand and can appreciate the choice to keep it shrouded in a bit of mystery, considering that even the characters themselves were struggling to understand why this hell had been unleashed upon them.

I highly recommend this book to all fans of survival horror media, especially those who enjoyed The Last of Us.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, & Ballantine Books for the digital review copy!

I'll always give a Blake Crouch novel a try, even if the premise isn't something I would have picked up from someone else. This was a quick, page-turning read. I was shocked and terrified nearly the whole time I was reading this. If you like Blake Crouch's other books, you should probably give it a try.

Blake Crouch' RUN is exactly what it sounds like - a story about running away from danger and towards safe shelter. This is certainly a propulsive plot that's riddled with action, but because I wasn't connected to any of the characters, this sadly did feel a bit like a generic "run away from killer" thriller.

Run by Blake Crouch The violence, cruelty, gore, and profanities were all over the top in this depressing and exhausting read. Read more than ever wanted to know about field dressing a kill. Then the story ran straight into an abrupt ending with no conclusion or closure. For me, definitely not a favorite story by Mr Crouch.
Thank you to the author, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Netgalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

When I requested this from NetGalley, I didn't realize that it was one of Blake Crouch's earlier works, but i was still excited because i hadn't had a chance to read this one yet. Dark Matter is one of my favorite thrillers, and I was obsessed with his Wayward series. This one wasn't for me, though.

It was fast-paced and adrenaline producing, but I personally found the amount of detailed graphic violence too much for me to handle. I had to try to skim past the dead children descriptions because that's a road I never want to go down in the books I choose to read.
I'm feeling conflicted about how I'd rate it because despite being drawn into the story's world, I can't say I truly enjoyed the experience. I'd only recommend this to people after providing a few trigger warnings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine Books for this ARC so that I may share my honest feedback and review.

While there have been mixed reviews for this book, I must say I found it to be excellent, captivating, and full of suspense and mystery. The setting in Wyoming and Montana resonated with me personally, adding to the vividness of the story. I appreciated the detailed references to various locations, although the omission of specific names at Yellowstone stood out as peculiar to me. Despite this minor quirk, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to exploring more of Blake Crouch's works in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Whew what a ride! Not my favorite by Crouch but still suspenseful and makes you think! Fans of his typical style of apocalyptic sci fi will enjoy.

Flawlessly written, this was fast-paced, action-packed, and absolutely nerve-wracking. The atmosphere was reminiscent of The Walking Dead, and the story was just as brutal and disturbing. This author is brilliant in creating suspense and conveying through the pages to the reader every emotion humanly possible. This is one of those books where I actually got sad as I was nearing the end, knowing the story was almost over. The unique writing style matched the plot, a family trying to run to safety and stay alive in a world full of sadistic killers in a post-apocalyptic world. This will stay with me for years to come and has earned its spot in my top reads. Five Stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group, for this ARC.

Most people may think I always look on the bright side and rarely write bad reviews, even calling me a Pollyanna-type reviewer who views the world through rose-colored glasses, with Disney hummingbirds and colorful butterflies flying around my head! Well, my moon is in Sagittarius, and maybe I do try to see the good in everything I read. And when it comes to one of my favorite sci-fi authors, I can be biased, even though there are really mixed reviews, including some one-star ratings, on Goodreads.

I just jumped at the chance to read “Run” as the title promised a heart-stopping, adrenaline-pumping, mind-numbing journey! Luckily, I also watch “Dark Matter” (in my opinion, the author’s best work) on Apple TV+, which is also adapted by Blake Crouch. (I wish it were a movie instead of a series or that the episodes were shorter.) So, it seems I’m dedicating my whole week to a tribute to Mr. Crouch!

Let’s talk about this book: Firstly, I know opinions are subjective and vary from person to person, but I didn’t find anything terrible about this book to warrant two stars. Honestly, I cannot rate this book less than four stars! I enjoyed the pacing, intriguing concept, aurora borealis-focused sci-fi plotline, and action-packed scenes. I had no problem with the characterization or dialogues. It was a thrilling, popcorn read that I was fully invested in and finished quickly.

I know this book is one of the author’s earlier works and isn’t on the level of Dark Matter, Upgrade, or Wayward Pines, but it’s still well-written, riveting, and keeps you on the edge of your seat as the mystery holds your interest. If you like fast-paced, heart-throbbing, smart sci-fi thrillers and are a devoted fan of the author, I advise you to give it a chance—you won’t be disappointed in the end.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for sharing this heart-throbbing thriller’s digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Though this book was action-packed, I never connected with the characters, which made it an unsatisfying read. The plot was a bit tedious at times, too, since it was basically a story about running away from killers, finding some refuge, running away from killers, finding another temporary refuge, etc. My main problem, though, was that there was never a plausible reason for people to have turned into blood-thirsty monsters. It seemed like an afterthought of an author who just wanted to an excuse to write about “being a real man” (*gag*) who hunts and fights and protects his family.

Thanks for NetGalley and Randomhouse for the arc of Run by Blake Crouch.

This book falls firmly in the camp of “books that would be great movies”. It was a bit much at times- trauma upon trauma upon trauma and so much violence. I would’ve liked a little bit more character development but I know that wasn’t the point of the book. A quick page turner of a read, just like all his other books!

Thank you Random House Publishing for this arc in exchange for my honest review! Dark Matter was a 5 star read for me, so I was very excited to see Blake Crouch is publishing a new book set in an apocalyptic scenario. If you’re like me and enjoy watching tv shows like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us, this book is worth giving a try!

Summary: The news has become flooded with reports of mass shootings and burnings popping up in alarming numbers all over the United States. As violent incidents reports escalate, Jack and his wife Dee worry about keeping their two children safe. When the power goes out in their town and a group of men arrive in their town with the goal of killing anyone they set their eyes on, the family flees for the country in hopes of escaping the chaos. Just when they think they’re safe away from the dense population of the city, the men find them again. Dee and Jack fight to keep their children alive, while also trying to understand what phenomenon has caused such large numbers of the U.S to suddenly thirst for violence.

This book was very fast paced and entertaining. While I don’t like this book as much as I liked Dark Matter, I would still recommend this to people that want to read something dark and thrilling and don’t mind frequent depictions of violence. I do wish that some of the characters were written in a way where we got to understand them more on a deeper level. Naomi’s character especially felt very flat to me and I feel like she should have had more dialogue throughout the book. Other than that, I found the sentence structure a little weird at times, and I don’t remember Crouch writing Dark Matter that way. Maybe he did and I was too immersed in that book to notice, but the sentence structure in this book bothered me at times and pulled me out of the story. I still found this book to be a page-turner and was always looking forward to see what would happen next.

I flew this book in two sittings! Nothing like I’ve ever read before. So fast paced and raw to read a story like this and think the whole time, “omg if something like this actually happened….” I fell in love with Jack, Dee, Naomi and Cole and was rooting for this family the entire time. The tears were flowing by the end. So, so, so good!!

This is an edge of your seat, thrilling, read in one sitting kind of book. This title does not feel as refined and original as some of Crouch's more recent work, however it is a repub from 2011. TW: graphic grisly descriptions of body horror/mass casualties

Run by Blake Crouch starts off with a frantic pace and doesn't stop to let you catch your breath. The story is a post-apocalyptic thrill ride about a family trying to survive. It is tense and violent. It is also endearing as you watch the family grow stronger together. Blake is a masterful storyteller that evokes emotions of fear, anguish, and trauma. It was a a short compelling read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine books for the advanced copy. The opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I didn’t like this one at all.

Aptly named, “Run” pretty much sums up the entire plot of this book. Beyond what you read in the blurb, there really is no other point or direction the story. The characters run for their lives, run into trouble, run out of gas, and just… run. They’re not even running anywhere in particular. Just running.

Listen, I loved Dark Matter. Whole heartedly recommend it, think about it all the time. This just feels like it cannot possibly be from the same author- I didn’t realize this was one of his earlier works when I requested it, and I’m guessing that might be the reason it feels so different. I’m not sure if they’re rereleasing it or something and that’s why it’s back on ARC, but I wouldn’t really recommend it. It’s fast paced, but just really repetitive, and the ending is unsatisfying.

It turns out that I read this book back in 2016. I had literally no memory of it at all. I didn't' have a glowing review of it back then, and criticized the characters making stupid choices. I feel very differently about it this time around. I've never read a novel that was so incredibly tense. The tension was a living, breathing thing in this book, a character all on its own. Crouch sweeps the reader up into this awful situation and brings them along for the terrifying ride. If you're a recent Crouch fan because of Dark Matter or Recursion, this isn't like his more current books. This is not science-heavy at all. This is a thriller, pure and simple. But it carries all the trademarks of his incredible story-telling abilities.

After reading Dark Matter, I was very excited for this apocalyptic thriller and it absolutely blew me away! A family on the run in a post-apocalyptic world.

This book was nonstop action from beginning to end. I couldn’t put it down, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. This family just couldn’t catch a break lol. The love the parents had for their children and the lengths they would all go to for each other was remarkable. This has definitely made me want to read more by Crouch!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine Group for providing this book, with my honest review below.

Run was exactly as the book description outlined and had my adrenaline rushing as the book pretty immediately has a mysterious opening followed by non stop action. I was surprised by the relationships it explores, from that between our protagonist Jack and his wife Dee to the ones unraveling as the US slowly destroys itself. I wish we had a little more build up with the phenomenon that caused certain people, who watched the auroral storm, go mad and more of a wind down of what happened in the years following, but as it was this had me creeped out which I was expressly wanting given the description.

Recommended for sci fi and horror fans, especially those who like exploring the idea of an apocalypse and what it does to a family.

I love Blake Crouch books - Dark Matter being my favorite. This one did not disappoint! It's a high action dystopian/thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. I did wish for a little more detail of the science behind the event and biologically why it did what it did. I always find it fascinating when an author explains/builds that foundation. Highly recommend!