Run [Kindle Edition]

Blake Crouch (Author)

Book Description

For fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Thomas Harris, picture this: a landscape of American genocide...

5 D A Y S A G O
A rash of bizarre murders swept the country…
Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected.
A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike.
A mass of school shootings.
Prison riots of unprecedented brutality.
Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state.

4 D A Y S A G O
The murders increased ten-fold…

3 D A Y S A G O
The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace…

2 D A Y S A G O
The killers began to mobilize…

Y E S T E R D A Y
All the power went out…

T O N I G H T
They’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours.

Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more.

You only have time to….

R U N

This 80,000-word novel also contains a bonus interview with Blake, and excerpts from his other work.

About the Author:

BLAKE CROUCH was born near the piedmont town of Statesville, North Carolina in 1978. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 2000 with degrees in English and Creative Writing. Blake is the author of five novels and numerous short stories. He lives with his family in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book.

PRAISE FOR THE WORKS OF BLAKE CROUCH

[In SNOWBOUND], Crouch builds suspense as lines blur between good and bad, and plot twists continue to the last sentence. Absolutely compelling.
BOOKLIST (STARRED REVIEW)

ABANDON…demands to be read in one sitting, so you can better appreciate the beauty of Crouch’s storytelling…[O]ne of those books that almost instantly puts you in the mind of a classic.
BOOKREPORTER

Weaving the past and present together with such seamless skill that from the prologue to the last page, this book captures the imagination. [ABANDON] has the arc and flow of a master storyteller. Easily my favorite book of this year.
CRIMESPREE MAGAZINE

Highly recommended, this is easily one of the best this year.
NEW MYSTERY READER MAGAZINE

ABANDON is terrific…a great storyteller hitting his stride.
LEE CHILD

Gut wrenching...the writing is tight, the plots exciting, the suspense unending...Crouch tops my list.
OTTAWA SUN

Expertly paced and viscerally effective, with many surprises and genuine chills.
KIRKUS REVIEWS

Blake Crouch is the most exciting new thriller writer I've read in years.
DAVID MORRELL

Harrowing...terrific...a whacked out combination of Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy.
PAT CONROY

Crouch delivers his description of place with vivid prose...his carefully crafted characters make the story immediate, intense and thoroughly believable.
DENVER POST

This is a complex, cleverly constructed novel of motive, and Crouch takes his time bringing us through the story...a great debut. Crouch is an author to watch.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Blake Crouch is the author of four novels and numerous short stories, including “Serial” which he co-wrote with J.A. Konrath and has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. He lives in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book.

Product Details

• File Size: 659 KB
• Print Length: 288 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Blake Crouch (February 24, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004PGNF0W
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,045 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 141 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrill Ride and a Half! February 26, 2011

By Selena Kitt

Format:Kindle Edition

This book is a thrill-ride and a half! I can't take credit for the quote that Blake Crouch is a "cross between Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy," but after reading "RUN," I have to thoroughly agree with the assessment!

Like King, Crouch writes about real people in extraordinary situations, but more like McCarthy, his prose can be beautiful, poignant and even sublime. Make no mistake, this is a thriller, but there are some scenes in this book so scary you may just check the locks on your doors. This book starts off at a "run" and it just doesn't stop. I stayed up late into the night reading faster and faster to find out what was going to happen to this immediately sympathetic and potentially doomed family of four.

Crouch's characters are very human and very real, and he masterfully weaves often grave and contemplative themes with breathless action. There is deep meaning here, but you don't have time to stop and think about the weight of it until the very last page of the book. Crouch takes you on a ride you just can't get off, and you don't want to - you have to find out what's going to happen!

I was completely swept into the story and found myself at turns terrified, touched and exhilarated along with the Colclough family. Just when you think it can't get any worse...it does. And then it does again. And then... oh then. I can't tell you anymore. What are you waiting for? Buy this book and read it! Now! You have no idea the thrill ride you're missing!

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nowhere to hide February 25, 2011

By jeroen ten berge

Format:Kindle Edition

DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS are the two books that introduced me to Blake Crouch - they completely blew me away. The two that follow, the sweeping novel ABANDON, and roller coaster ride that is SNOWBOUND, are equally great.

RUN however takes Blake's storytelling to another level completely. Like before he managed me to care for the main characters, and like before he doesn't pull punches. The difference this time is that while the ensuing mayhem is all encompassing, the affects of that mayhem focus primarily on a family of four. While reading I quickly became part of that family, ran with them on their search for safety, cheered when they found shelter, was shocked when things turned from bad to worse, and was deeply moved by the outcome.

DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS were my favorite novels written by Crouch so far, in part because they introduced me to him. But RUN has achieved what I thought impossible. It is now top of my list, and like DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS I expect to read RUN numerous times... Highest recommendation!

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Run is a suspenseful avalanche March 6, 2011

By Stacia D. Kelly

Format:Kindle Edition

Run barely gives the reader time to breathe before it takes off, following Jack, Dee, and their two children, Naomi and Cole attempting to avoid the targets on their backs, get out of Albuquerque, and find refuge and answers. The family faces challenges to their unity and their sanity as they journey from the New Mexico highways to the Rockies. The killers are patrolling the roads in a convoy of vehicles. Any run-in with strangers could mean meeting an ally, or fighting for survival. The truck needs fuel and oil. The family needs food and water, and a plan - all of which are in short supply.

Crouch puts his characters through a barrage of tests, offering them just enough rewards and peace to set up their next challenge. They face gunmen, dogs, starvation, freezing to death, and sometimes each other, as they struggle to find a path to survival and hope for a future. He creates fantastic visuals that capture the sheer beauty of nature, and also the horrific impact made as the packs of killers slice their way through these pictures. He offers description that can only come from a person with knowledge of these cities and mountains. He accomplishes this without being too wordy and distracting from the action and emotion of the scenes.

Crouch paints scenery just as easily as he paints agony. He has a fantastic talent for connecting readers with the pain of his characters, good and bad alike. Run accelerates like an avalanche; building slowly at first, then overwhelming readers once it gains momentum. The book offers a good "slow burn" for a while, but continues to amplify in intensity and action. Run begins with Jack's struggle as an estranged husband and a challenged father. His everyday concerns become trivial. Sports scores and celebrity news are long gone.... Instead, he has to learn what kind of man he is under the hood, in the river, and in the wild. The stakes aren't some office fantasy football pool. Failure means dying, and the deaths of his family.
Run is like taking 28 Days Later, The Road, The Road Warrior, and elements of Resident Evil as a recipe for one suspenseful cocktail. Crouch balances the action with emotion every step of the way. Readers will be pulling hard for Jack and his family; a normal family dropped into a world of unimaginable dangers. The story is incredible. The characters are inspiring, and the whole thing reads like a modern-day action/thriller that is impossible to put down.

Crouch puts the ColClough's through unimaginable hells; upholding his reputation as one of the best suspense writers available in 2011. Run makes the readers range from uncomfortable to downright scared as the author reveals just enough to keep them up in bed, turning each page and awaiting the next horrific event.

The eBook offering from Amazon includes an interview with author Blake Crouch, as well as excerpts from his first four novels; Desert Places, Locked Doors, Abandon, and Snowbound. Read more ›

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars RUN - away from this book October 2, 2011

By RandyColo

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

With all the great reviews, I was intrigued to read this book. The story starts out strong and pulls you into a plot that really never develops. About a quarter way through the book, I thought there would be some redeeming twist introduced that would form more plot substance and stronger characters. I was wrong. If this were a shampoo bottle, you would read the following 1) get in the car, 2) drive wildly though a town thats on fire; 3) get shot at by bad guys, get wounded (but not TOO wounded); 4) Somehow just get away - doesnt matter if it is believable; 5) repeat until you have enough pages to publish.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Read May 24, 2011

By Dave B

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Even though I mildly enjoyed the story by the end, I had a hard time getting through this book (especially the first 65% of it). Just felt like a lot going on but at the same time, nothing was really happening, if that makes any sense. Lots of scenes and situations seemed repeated and it just got tiring. I also had a hard time getting attached to the characters at all for over half the story, as there seemed more time spent on describing scenery than getting to know them. Not bad, just not what I was expecting, considering the overall review scores.

More About the Author

Blake Crouch is the author of over a dozen bestselling suspense, mystery, and horror novels.

His short fiction has appeared in numerous short story anthologies, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and many other publications. "Serial" with JA Konrath, and "Abandon" have been optioned for film.

Blake lives in Colorado, to learn more about what he is doing check out his website www.blakecrouch.com, following him on Twitter @blakecrouch1, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/blake.crouch.9

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#7 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#62 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#79 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#83 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers

#87 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Police Procedurals

#7 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#62 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#79 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#83 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers

#87 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Police Procedurals