I reckon most people don’t think about what to do when the world is ending until the world seems like it might actually be ending. Or until you all of a sudden hear your name being called out on the radio, like people are searching for you. 

 

Blake Crouch doesn’t have the reader enter this story in the middle of things–he basically has you HALO jump into an America on the eve of an apocalyptic scenario: there’s violence escalating by the hour, family members and friends turning on one another, houses burning down, businesses being looted, and law enforcement is nowhere to be found. It’s some kind of civil war caused by an unseen and unknown factor, and you’re simply along for this absolutely wild, unplanned, unforeseen ride with a man named Jack and his family as they try to outrun and outlast whatever has come over a significant number of Americans. 

 

This is my first Blake Crouch novel and Run was exactly what I’m in the mood for right now. This is actually my second five-star apocalyptic novel in a row and I’m not even sorry. Fast-paced would be a mild description when it comes to this story, a closer interpretation might be recklessly paced but never in a sloppy way. This story is thrilling, bleak, and heartbreaking, causing me to leak water from my eyes more than once. There is horror in here, but it’s the horror of what humans can and are willing to do to one another in the most dire of circumstances, along with what humans can and will withstand in the name of survival under the same terms. 

 

The characters in this novel stand out so much and are so memorable. You are living this book with them in such close proximity and under such hazardous conditions you can almost feel their exhaustion, pain, grief, and trauma as they experience it. I ended up caring about all of them much more than I thought I would, which is not an ordinary experience for me. I was wholly invested and engaged with every page. 

 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. 

 

File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Sci Fi/Suspense Thriller