Customer Reviews

Night Runner: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

*Advanced Reader Copy* (new 2009 US release) 2.5 stars

Ok, so this book wasn't awful but it wasn't really great either. I'm not a "Young Adult" but I don't discriminate against books that are written for that market. Many are still solid stories. Some YA books are YA because they write from a teenager character perspective. Some are YA because they tone down the sex/violence to suit a younger audience. And this book definitely does both. But what it unfortunately also does is try to write prose and dialogue in a "hip" manner - but badly. It reads like an adult who's trying a little hard to write young.

The other issue with this book is that from the start, it's clearly set-up with a series mentality in mind. This first novel reads more like a prologue rather than a fully-fleshed out complete story. You're halfway through the book before ANYTHING happens. It's all just background and place setting.

When the action does occur, it does so in weird fits and spurts. Some parts feel like filler while other parts fly past at warp speed.

The very formulaic ending comes along exactly as you'd expect and features a "saw that coming 'surprise' bad guy reveal/betrayal," a character who's "more than meets the eye" and two other characters who are thrown completely into a ridiculous "buddy" role to the main character. It also ends just as one would when planning further novels - an ambiguous "end" to the Big Bad Character of the book.

I think there's potential for author Max Turner should he get some further experience in writing novels. Tighter editing, more polish and better character development would all go a long way to improving the reading experience of his book. He's a first time author with this novel and it sadly shows in many ways.

Still, it's not all bad. It may read better for those of a younger demographic that aren't so versed in typical novel-writing formula. I do fear that if the series does continue but the writing does not improve, it may turn off it's target audience eventually as said audience grows, matures and is left feeling a little "talked down to" by the current "voice" used in the first book.

Zack Thompson is different. Instead of living in an orphanage, he lives in a mental ward and that's because he's basically allergic to everything - from specific foods to even the sun. Zack lives a nocturnal life - running, reading, and eating at night and sleeping during the day.

Zack thinks nothing of his lifestyle until an old man crashed a motorcycle into the mental ward. Suddenly, Zack is thrown into an extraordinary adventure.

Along for the ride is Zack's best childhood friend, Charlie, and a new, intriguing, beautiful girl named Luna. Not only will Zack figure out about his odd living arrangements and his family, but Zack will find out what he is. And it isn't human.

Max Turner writes a thrilling novel that draws the reader in right from the beginning. Broken up into relatively short chapters, this novel is full of twists and turns that will never leave the reader bored.

Reviewed by: Steph

"Zack" Thomson's famous archaeologist father died years ago. He had been crushed in Libya when some ruins fell upon him. That day Zack became an orphan. Instead of being placed in a foster home or orphanage, Zack was admitted to a mental facility. Due to his strange allergies to the sun, among other things, it was the only place that could properly care for him.

For eight years Zack has been content residing in the mental hospital. Now he is fifteen-years-old. Other than Charlie Rutherford, who is one year older, Zack's only real friend has been Nurse Ophelia. Charlie visits at night on weekends and the two are simply teen guys doing teen things, such as playing video games on huge monitors. As for Nurse Ophelia, she makes the best strawberry smoothies. That is good since it is the ONLY thing Zack can eat. (Goes back to his allergies and medical conditions.) Yet everything changes when a man crashes through the lobby wall on a motorcycle and tells Zack to run.

Soon afterward Zack meets his uncle, Maximilian. This is how Zack learns that he has no allergies or medical conditions. Zack had been bitten by a vampire, Baron Vrolok, the day his father died. Maximilian is a vampire hunter and had been his father's partner. Before Maximilian can take over Zack's care and help him learn what he needs for survival, Everett Johansson arrives. Everett is in the service of the vampires, possibly Baron Vrolok, and Zack must flee.

**** FOUR STARS! I believe teens will enjoy this new vampire series most. After all, the main "good guys" are teens and the story-line follows young Zack; however, many adults may find themselves intrigued as well. I certainly was. (The author lives in Canada, so if you live in America please know that some words are spelled slightly different from what you are used to.) This story moves at a good, steady pace and more than a few surprises spring up to keep readers on their toes. All-in-all, this title builds a strong foundation on which the author could build a fascinating series. Lots of potential shows within these pages. I look forward to the next installment. ****

Reviewed by Vanessa Storme for Huntress Reviews.

I really enjoyed the novel. For once, it is not the teenage girl meeting that mysterious guy and falling in love with him. That we have read about a million times by now. Those looking for a cheesy vampire romance will not find that here.
Night Runner is different in several aspects. We have a male protagonist who is very easy to like. Also his friends and those who will become his friends throughout the novel are highly likeable. We have twists and turns that keep the novel interesting.
I highly recommend this book to all of those who are interested in the genre anyway. You will not regret it!

Night Runner by Max Turner held a lot of punch. The entire story is one crazy ride in the newly exciting life of Zack Thomson. For the past eight years he had been living basically in isolation inside a mental ward. He has a plethora of allergies - including an extreme reaction to the sun. Therefore, he sleeps all day and lives at night. He also cannot stomach food, he has to drink special concoctions, which he dubs "brain cocktails". The only two friends he has are Charlie and Nurse Ophelia.

Charlie has been around his whole life, the boys were friends before Zack was orphaned and his condition started. Charlie is his only regular visitor and his best friend. He is a mischievous, daring character who often pushes the limits. However, he is liked by most people and he is Zack's right had man, and is there when he needs him the most.

Nurse Ophelia, Zack's only other "friend" is the night nurse at the ward. She seems to really take to Zack and often defends him when he gets one of his mood swings from not eating. She occasionally takes him out to movies and things; basically she is the closes thing to a mother he has.

This book is incredibly plot driven. Right in the first few pages Zack's safe world is shattered (literally) when a crazed old man, who turns out to be a vampire, crashes through the mental ward and tells Zack he is in danger. This starts a long chain of events that keeps Zack on his toes and on the run.

While the plot was definitely exciting, I just wish there was a little more character development. I think that Turner did a magnificent job with Zack - he is one of the funniest narrators I have seen in a long time. He makes tons of pop culture references that I always found hilarious. For example, he drops this little jem on page seven,

"He's coming," he continued. "He could be here any second". The man put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me gently toward the motorcycle again. He looked back over his shoulder at the parking lot. I got the feeling Darth Vader was about to waltz in and lightsabre us both in half".

He is also a big fan of the Tolkien masterpiece, The Hobbit and often makes snide comments referencing it. Zack is also struggling with the new revelation that he is a vampire. He is delighted to finally have some answers, but he isn't crazy about the diet or the whole "evil" thing. He makes a promise to himself that he will remain "good" and not go on a crazy killing spree. I love this quote from him about his decision (pg. 49)

"Well, I had no doubt in my mind what I would choose. I would be good. I certainly wasn't a threat to anybody. I didn't even believe in mousetraps."

But, the fact that Zack is such a great character only made me want to get to know the other characters better. The rest of the cast is highly underdeveloped. Like I said before, the book is highly plot-driven and unfortunately the rest of the characters suffer. I loved what I saw from them, but I was left wanting more - especially with Luna. Luna is Zack's love interest in the book; although she doesn't appear until almost halfway through it. He meets her through Charlie - Luna is Charlie's girlfriend's (Suki) sister. We get a few details about Luna, but not a great sense of the character. I hope that in the upcoming books we will see more from her.

However, I loved both the plot and the idea behind the story. This isn't just another run of the mill vampire story. What makes this so incredibly unique, is that, one: Zack has been living the past eight years as a vampire, and had no idea. The second aspect of this story that makes it a standout is that this is more of an action story. There are no melodramatic vampires moping around looking for human companionship. This is a on the edge of your seat action ride that never really lets up. It's a refreshing change of pace.

While I enjoyed the majority of the plot, I did have a problem with the ending, at least the last 20 pages or so. I don't want to give it away for those of you who haven't read it, but the events that occur seem to have been taken rather lightly. I know that for the story to progress, the plot had to go into that direction, but everyone seemed to go with the flow a little to easily for me. For those of you who have read it, I'll give you a clue as to what I am talking about - Charlie and Luna.

But, honestly, besides that last 20 pages, the plot was amazing; it was action packed, exhilarating and hilarious. Night Runner was definitely a page turner. I just hope that in the next book, End of Days, the secondary characters, like Luna and Charlie are developed a bit more.

Due to severe sun and food allergies, Zack Thomson has had to live in a mental ward in the eight years since his father died, leaving him an orphan. It's a quiet, content life, but when a burly man on a motorcycle comes barreling in one night, telling Zack to run, his whole life is turned upside down. He learns the scary truth about his father, an uncle he never knew he had, and what he really is.

Night Runner is a vampire tale like no other, focusing on family secrets, danger, and choosing what is right rather than the romance and fluff. Zack's character is very easy-going, and his down to earth personality and search for the truth makes him a very likable character. Turner's writing style can be somewhat blunt and jerky at times, and his focus is on the action, something that will most likely appeal to reluctant readers. The ending seems a bit hurried, and leaves you expecting more, but overall Night Runner is a great suspenseful read; fast-paced, mysterious, sometimes a little morbid, and funny in parts. This is a thrilling vampire read, and it will keep up late with Zack and his friends.

I liked the beginning of this book, but once Zack went out on the run (early in the book) the writing became very immature. I actually enjoy a lot of young adult books, but not this one. It was just too immature and too easy to guess what would happen next.

Night Runner is a book filled with lots of potential, but that reads much like one, long preface. Obviously the first in an intended series, author Max Turner spends much of the book setting up the premise of the story and providing world-building, filling lots of pages with dialogue and the internal musings of the narrator. The real action of the story is confined to the last 50 pages or so, and even that receives the classic cliffhanger treatment.

Fans of vampire YA lit will probably enjoy Night Runner simply based on the merit of the genre, and to be fair, the book does kick off with a slightly different spin than many other novels along the same vein. 15-year-old Zach has lived in the Nicholls Ward -- a mental hospital -- since he was only 7. After recovering from a mysterious childhood illness that left him in a coma, he is now confined to the hospital to protect himself from a blistering allergy to the sun and acute sensitivities to food -- in fact, he can only drink the special strawberry shakes the doctors prepare for him. Orphaned, Zach has no family and takes comfort only in the companionship of his troublemaker best friend, Charlie, and Nurse Ophelia, his night caretaker at the facility.

Zach's routine of reading, sleeping and running on the treadmill is interrupted one day when a homeless man crashes a police motorcycle into the hospital and tells Zach to RUN! From that point on, Zach is forced to reassess everything he knew about his life and the people he trusted. Someone is hunting him for reasons he doesn't understand, and Zach must rely on both old friends and new to help him escape.

Much of what happens in Night Runner is pretty predictable -- especially for readers familiar with the genre. The characters are somewhat shallow, and could benefit from some further developing in future books in the series. There also seemed to be a general lack of emotional maturity in the book. This may have been deliberate on the author's part -- the narrator is a 15-year-old boy, after all -- but it only served to further alienate me from the characters I was supposed to be caring more about as the book went on. The "romance" that developed later in the novel also seemed very pat and undeveloped -- almost like the author thought, "Hey, this might appeal to more teenage girls if I threw some love into my vampire story. I mean, it worked for Twilight, right?" I don't feel like readers know anything about the girl that's the subject of the narrator's affections, and it doesn't seem like the main character does, either, so it just didn't do anything for me.

Overall, Night Runner was a pleasant, quick read, but not a book I'd rank among my favorites. I will probably seek out future books in the series casually, but without much anticipation.

Zach Thomson doesn't know that he's a vampire. Sure he has lived as an orphan in the Nicholls Psych Ward because he has a rare allergy to the sun and every food known to man, but that doesn't make him a bloodsucker. Does it?

So begins the tale of Zach's understanding of himself and the world outside of the Nicholls Ward. After the gruesome murder of his father, Zach slipped into a coma and when he awoke he was suddenly allergic to sunlight and all forms of food. Unable to be cared for in foster care and with no living relatives coming forward to claim him, Zach has grown up with only Nurse Ophelia and his best friend Charlie.

After a crazy incident involving a deranged man and a motorcycle Zach's life is suddenly more exciting than he could have ever hoped. It turns out that someone is after him and it's not a good thing. So Zach is on the run and running out of places to hide. As his misadventures continue he starts to piece together what exactly his father was doing, what his condition is, and how he can keep those around him from mysteriously disappearing.

While I have read worse first novels, this one was pretty bad. I got the feeling the whole way through that the author was skipping important details (like character development and a cohesive plot) that would be divulged in a later book. The storyline was choppy most of the time and just when I felt like I was getting into the characters and a rhythm, the whole thing changed again. I'm hoping that this becomes better as the series goes on. It just didn't do it for me, but I suggest that if you like generic vampire lore (Vlad the Impaler-esque type stuff), then this is definitely up your ally.

Zack is a fifteen year old boy with allergies to light, food, and pretty much everything. He sleeps by day and is cut off from the world while he lives and has lived (since 7) in a mental hospital, the only people who can take care of all his needs. His boring and isolated life comes to a quick end when a seemingly "crazy" old man crashes into the hospital and informs Zack that he is in trouble and has to run.

Yes, another vampire book. However, it is an interesting take--first person narration by someone who previously didn't know he was a vampire, and his total awkwardness with his condition as well as life in general, or non-life, whichever)--and overall a fun read. I got this book for free, and read it pretty quickly, so for me it was worth reading, and I did enjoy it, though I kind of wanted more in way of details. Also, it feels like it definitely needs a sequel. I would recommend it, as long as you like fantasy novels and/or young adult novels.