Customer Reviews

Run into Trouble

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How can so much balance on a race through the California coastline? "Run Into Trouble" follows the pair of Drake and Melody as they deal with an undercover mission for a questionable company during the cold war. It is 1969, and a race through California is about to be run with the prize of a million dollars. In what seems to be a harmless sporting event, Drake and Melody uncover something far more sinister. A fine mystery that genre fans will enjoy, "Run Into Trouble" is highly recommended.

Oliver Drake and Melody Jefferson are paired up as a team in the race Running California. It begins near the Mexican border and continues up the California coast. Strange they would be paired together since they were spies together in Europe. No one should know. Do they?

Giganticorp, a California company providing weapons to the military, is sponsoring the run. Casey Messinger, CEO, has high aspirations for himself as well as Giganticorp. Is there anything that can stop this race?

I really like books by this author. This is another great one. The characters are interesting, and the plot is well laid out. There are plenty of red herrings and twists to keep the reader guessing. The scenery of this book is great as well. I often felt like I was out there running with them.

I highly recommend this book.

Once you start reading this book, it is hard to put down. There is murder, a marathon, and spy stuff. You never know what is going to happen next; or who it is going to happen to.

I got this book, because the description sounded good, and it certainly is that. I also love mysteries. I would definitely suggest it to everyone.

I gave this book 5 stars.

The year is 1969, the Vietnam War is in full blast and a large, privately held California defense contractor offers a million-dollar prize to a group of runners to traverse the state from the Mexican border to San Francisco. Among the runners are Drake and Melody, paired as a team. They, many years before, had worked as some kind of government agents in England.

Along the 500-mile route, we are treated not only to a scenic description of the California coast, but to a series of incidents of an increasingly violent nature.
At the beginning, there is an accident caused by a pickup truck banging into the cab in which Drake is riding to the starting point of the race, severely injuring him to the point that he can hardly run. But perseverance and ingenuity prevail, and Drake and Melody continue running up the coast and discovering more events affecting the race, prompting the pair to apply their past training to try to figure out what is happening.

Who would ever have thought that a race featuring a marathon distance every day could provide the basis for the kind of intrigue included throughout the plot, which combines a Cold War setting and subversive conspiracy? Not to mention the various tricks inherent in running a foot race. Somehow, it all comes together in a good read, one which is recommended.

A book to fill time with. Despite the stakes riding on the outcome as delineated by the author, there is little suspense or breath-taking action to grip the reader. Even the outcome of the million dollar race, which is the spine of the plot, is hardly ever a matter about which the reader will stew. Actually, I look at these qualities as a virtue in this book: there is sufficient interest to involve you, but it is of so little depth, that you can close the covers, when the train arrives at your station, and pick it up again with pleasure when you make the return trip home, without the stress of having something that you feel you must finish...NOW. The hero and heroine are likable, the other characters essentially straw men (and women), foils necessary for action. The plot is made of tin foil (well, aluminum these days)but it hardly matters.
Yes. for the reasons set forth, I liked the book. In similar situations you are likely to do the same. There are times when Crime and Punishment is better left on the shelf; we all experience them; this is a book for those times.

I am afraid "Running Into Trouble" was one of the hokiest, cheesiest novels I have ever read. I do not regret reading it. I have never read an Alan Cook novel, and I like to check out an author I haven't read before. But this will be the last novel of his I read.

The name of the big, bad corporation at the root of all the evil in the novel was "Giganticorp"; come on now, can't Cook have a little more imagination. The names of some of the lead characters, Drake, Blade and Slick, were not any better. It had the feel of a bad "B" movie.

I am a person who loves to run and loves to read, so I particularly enjoy novels that can integrate running into the theme and plotline of the story. But in the case of "Running into Trouble", running had nothing to do with the story. And I found the concept of the Running California race unrealistic. No elite athlete would take part in a race in which you run practically marathon distance every day, and in which the course and support are haphazard at best.

Sorry, I did not like this one.