Customer Reviews

On the Run

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I wouldn't call this her best. I wouldn't even put it in the top ten. It's a grab bag of genre cliches loosely held together by momentum with a sub-plot that literally made me say "That's IT?" I mean, seriously - that's the pivotal thing that makes the bad guy hate them and causes everything to roll? Because it's pretty absurd. It's not even suspend your disbelief absurd, it's just cartoonish.

Essentially, you have a Woman On The Run with a Child In Danger and she's been Abandoned By The CIA so only her ExLover The Mercenary can help her, but she doesn't trust him because, well, that's what she does. Suddenly things are exploding, bad guys are proving their oh so bad by threating to sexually assualt children, and the Woman Must Face Down Evil to prevail. Except the evil is so laughably evil that you wonder he survived as long as he did. And the Way She Can Succeed is so implausible that you really can't take it seriously. It requires magic animals and weather shamans.

Iris Johansen writes great thrillers. This one is a misfire. Wait for paperback if you must know and if you haven't read her at all, pick another.

Grace Archer is a former CIA operative who has been in hiding on Charlie's horse farm in a very small Alabama town. She and her eight year old daughter Frankie are also overseen by Robert Blockman, a CIA operative who lives in the town undercover. The four of them have good times together and have become fast friends over the nearly nine years Grace has been in hiding. Unbeknownst to Grace her former coworker and lover, Jake Kilmer, has stirred up the pot and now the evil Marvot is sending everyone and everything after Grace and her daughter.

Of course the only one that can help them is Jake who is no longer directly or indirectly with the CIA. Grace trusts him to take care of her and Frankie but as for more personal trust--that will take time. Grace has an almost magical way with horses and thus Marvot wants her back in El Tariq to help him with a very special "Pair" of Arabian horses.

I enjoyed the danger, intrigue and adventures and less the "paranormal" aspects of this story although I usually enjoy some paranormal twists but I felt that the story needed more background on how Grace developed/discovered her talent and how she had used it before to help make it more plausible. A fun read nevertheless.

I'm a long time fan of Iris Johansen's books, but I found On The Run very disappointing. The character and relationship development was weak when compared to her many other excellent books. The plot had potential, but tended to drag on. It didn't help that I found obvious holes in the plot.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone knowledgeable about horses. There were glaring errors in details specific to horses that I found very distracting. I usually find horse-related errors in fiction, but some of these errors were fundamental to the plot so key story elements became too unrealistic for the plot to be successful for me ... even as fiction.

With better research and attention to detail regarding the horses, the plot that focused so much on horses could have been adjusted to work well. Non-horsemen wouldn't be aware of the errors and perhaps they would enjoy this book. Many other Johansen books have been keepers for me to re-read, but not this book.

I am constantly amazed at what can get published. The plot of this book requires the reader to suspend any sense of logic and rationality. In fact, the plot is so far-fetched I thought it was a parody. The characters are not believable at all. The reader is supposed to believe that Mozart has been re-incarnated as Frankie. Um right. And I am the queen of Spain. This is the first book by the author that I have read and I am not anxious to pick up another one. I found the plot lines and character developments to be insultingly stupid. Almost too embarassed to donate this book. I pray for the trees sacrificed to make this.

I will usually read and accept anything, but this book is just so beyond fact for even realistic fiction. I could have handled this book a lot better if there was no "Frankie". The character Frankie is just too unbelievable. I work with "talented and gifted" children that are Frankie's age (8 years old) and not one of them is even remotely this advvanced. If Frankie was say, 12 or 13 I could accept her maturity, her dedication to her music and so forth, but this is not even believable to anyone who has a child or works with them. It would be tolerable if Frankie was not the center of the book. They spend more time about Frankie this and Frakie that, then on the main plot of the book. This is the 3rd book that I have read or at least tried to read from Iris Johansen and it will be my last. I just don't like the way she writes or her main characters. Evertime I buy another one of her books I am always hoping that this will be the one that changes my mind. Oh well, another book to donate.

I got about 40% through it, but couldn't make myself finish this one, since I just couldn't care about the protagonist. Grace Archer is a control freak. That causes her to make foolish decisions. She has trouble accepting help when she's in over her head. If she were family, you'd stick by her. If she's only a character in a book, you might just close the book and say, "Enough!"
I did.

I started this book at least three times before I was able to get past the second chapter. I should have known better than to pick up a book where horses play a key role in the plot; few authors get it right when it comes to them. When we meet Grace, she's schooling her daughter and horse over jumps in preparation for an upcoming horse show. The jumps, however, are referred to as "barriers". While I'm far from an expert on the sport, I have been around hunters and jumpers for several years and I have never, ever heard of a jump referred to as a "barrier". They're called jumps, fences, obstacles, verticals, oxers, etc... but not "barriers". So that really put me off. Nor did I find Frankie a very believable eight year old. Much too adult even for a kid who's supposed to be very precocious. And why was the CIA keeping an eye on Grace? That made no sense to me at all. The horses at the center of the story, the Pair, were given characteristics that were far too human. Normally, I can look past plot contrivances and simply enjoy the read. I was unable to do that with this book, however. I cannot recommend it.

Grace Arhcer and her young daughter Frankie live and work on a horse farm. Their lives are shattered when someone is sent to kill them. Grace use to be a secret agent, she went into hiding from an evil man named Marlvo. Enter in Frankie's father (Jake) a strong silent type. He offers to protect Grace and Frankie. Marlvo needs Grace to tame two white horses he has for reasons unknown to Grace. Grace and Jake have a hard time denying their still existing passion.

Basically this novel is full of ridiculous scenes, terrible dialogue and unrealistic plot line. I am not even sure why I gave it three stars. But I like Johansen and I like her fast paced novels. They are easy reads. Here in this novel I just didn't buy Grace and Jake's love. I was also annoyed by how precoious Frankie is. It was just too unrealistic.

I have to say that although I am a Iris Johansen fan through and through, the last few novels she has written were not up to the same level as her earlier Eve Duncan books. ON THE RUN was a quick read that kept you glued to the pages. It definitely leaves room for a whole new set of characters to build stories off of in future books. To give you a heads up. I have noticed a recent decline in the romance angle of Johansen's books. Her novels are once again metamorphasing from romantic suspense into straight fiction (action/suspense) style books. Still just as entertaining, but for the die hard fans who have followed her career throughout the years, be prepared for yet another change.

I would gladly write a summary of this suspense novel, but everything that you need to know about the story line is well stated in the book's description and I would only repeat the obvious. Instead, I will give my opinion on my tell tale question for all my reviews.

Is it worth the money?
Absolutely. I paid full price for the hard bound book newly released and have no regrets whatsoever.

Fear; Uncertainty; Risk; Reluctant trust; and above all, the ultimate love and sense of protection only a Mother can have. A story that will bring tears of fear and unbelievable joy to your heart. You will not be able to put this book down. A true continuation to the writing talents already known to the fans of Iris Johansen. I love this woman's heart!