Customer Reviews

Running Scared

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Two men decide to get their jollies using the date rape drug. They compound that by taken photos, and make the mistake of getting involved with blackmail. They overstep themselves, and find themselves hunted by some hired guns.

Events are compounded when Joey Sapphire, the wife of one of the bad guys, goes partying when her husband is out of town. She wakes up with a dead body next to her in bed, and doesn't know how she got there. Events are further compounded when her husband decides to have a girl in every port, and illegally marries a second woman in another country - a bad mistake on his part as he does not really know the woman, and does not know about her "friends."

There is a lot of sailing action when Joey finds herself on the run using a stolen sailboat, and more action as Joey and her new found friend try to elude the hired guns, getting some help along the way including some help from a very large dog that has taken a liking to Joey's friend.

Needless to say, the bad guys are dealt with, and the women position themselves for a new life.

Another Ken Douglas novel showed up a couple of weeks ago... Running Scared. He writes a really good crime/mystery novel, and I'm grateful to the person who turned me on to his writing. In Running Scared, he places a couple of women in the Caribbean who are being set up for a major crime which they didn't commit (nor do they know why).

Joey's day starts off pretty badly when she wakes up on a sailboat, covered with blood, next to a guy she doesn't remember. She can't ask him either, as his throat has been cut. She doesn't fancy her chances with the authorities since she can't explain what happened. She figures that dumping the body overboard and feigning ignorance might be her best bet. But it becomes apparent that whoever killed the guy in the first place is tracking her also, and she's not sure what she can do about it. Meanwhile, her husband Mick is pursuing a life and agenda that involves marrying a young Brazilian girl, Nina, he got pregnant. When the two women discover and meet each other on board Mick's boat, fireworks should fly. But after comparing notes and stories, they both realize that Mick is true scum, and is probably involved in something highly illegal... maybe even murder. Their best bet is to team up, try to make it to the States, and meet with Mick's parents to get to the bottom of everything. The problem is that a pair of killers seem to be on their trail, often arriving within hours or minutes of where they are at any given time. It is taking every last bit of energy they have (and then some) to stay alive long enough to find answers...

Douglas does a great job of building his characters and giving them life in the pages of the novel. Nina Brava's character is especially engaging, as you watch her shift between her young enthusiasm and her abusive past. You don't find out the real driving force behind all the killings and crimes until pretty late in the novel. I would have preferred learn a little more a little earlier, as it would have likely cranked up my reading speed as I raced to find out how it would end. But even so, it's not something that affected my enjoyment by much.

This is another one of those "leave yourself some reading time" books, as you'll end up spending more time than you probably had allocated. :)

When Joey Sapphire, who lives on a sailboat in the Caribbean, wakes up next to a dead man, she knows she's in trouble. She's in Trinidad, a country that hangs murderers, she's afraid, so she drags the body up on deck, weighs it down and drops it overboard. She has no memory of going to bed with the dead man, doesn't know who he is. She must have been drugged. She wishes her husband Mick had never gone home to America to spend Christmas with his parents.

When Nina Brava, a young woman who owns part of an internet café in a Brazilian seaside town, learns that the American who got her pregnant has come back, she is happy beyond belief. But when her lover is attacked and flees, leaving her alone with the attacker, she is devastated. What kind of man runs out on his woman in those kind of circumstances.

Unknown to Nina, her runaway lover is none other that Joey's husband Mick. Mick is blackmailing Suzi Walcott, the daughter of the President of the United States and is on the run from the ex-CIA men the American First Lady has put on his trail. Now with him gone, Nina and Joey are the only link they have to the blackmailer and the goods he has on Suzi. The two young woman are nothing more than victims of a double-dealing, slimy, two-timing crud, but the CIA toughs don't know this and they are out for blood, leaving two innocent young women running scared.

When I find a author I like, I tend to read five or six books by him or her before moving on to something else. I just finished five in a row by Elizabeth Lowell, ending with her very Good RUNNING SCARED, so when I saw this book with the same title, I was intrigued. I bought it at the same time I did Ms. Lowell's, read hers, then Mr. Douglas's. Now I'm going to go onto a couple more by Mr. Douglas. He writes with attention, flair and a fast-paced style that I like and I think you'll like it too.

A couple sleazy guys, a camera, drugs, a boat, a party, the Caribbean and the daughter of the President of the United States -- these are the ingredients that propel this fast-paced sailing adventure right along.

The story opens when a memory fogged Joey Sapphire wakes on a sailboat next to a dead man covered in blood. She fights panic, weighs the body down and drops it overboard, because she is in Trinidad, a country of speedy trials and fast hangings. She thinks she's gotten away, that nobody knows, but then she realizes that whoever cut they throat of her bed mate knows about her.

Meanwhile a couple hundred miles south, in the seaside town of Fortaleza, Brazil, Joey's husband Mick is marrying young internet café owner and ex-prostitute Nina Brava. But wait, didn't I just say Mick was married to Joey? Yeah, I did. Mick is one of those sleazy guys I mentioned in my opening paragraph here. If he's the kind of guy would drug the president's daughter and take pictures, he certainly is not above getting himself a second wife.

However, someone is after Mick. Someone who wants those photos, someone who wants Mick dead and that someone comes after him in Brazil, but Mick gets away, leaving his new wife in the lurch, however the bad guy (or good guy, depending on your point of view) isn't after her. So Nina naturally follows her new husband to Trinidad, where to her horror she finds she's only wife number two. Not being of a culture where you're allowed more than one wife at a time, she's naturally distressed, as is wife number one -- remember her, the girl who woke up next to a dead man?

These two young woman are the bad guys (who work for the first lady) only link to the blackmailing, bigamist Mick Sapphire and these bad guys (actually ex-CIA types) are not above making they're lives totally miserable and it's not long before these women are running scared.

This book has it all. Women in trouble, bad guys who'll kill at the drop of a hat, tension, suspense, characters who live and breathe and some terrific settings. I liked it very much.

I read this on a flight between Miami and Los Angeles and was so absorbed in the book, that the flight passed in no time at all. The story takes place in the Caribbean, where I was on holiday, only not down south in Trinidad. I spent my two weeks sailing around glorious St. Martin, still the descriptions were so good that Mr. Douglas might have been writing about where I was.

The story is about Joey Sapphire, who lives on a sailboat with her no-good, rotten-to-the core husband Mick. Only she doesn't know just how rotten he is, she thinks he's a nice guy. He's supposed to be in America, visiting his parents over the Christmas holidays and while he's gone, one of his friends drugs Joey, but before he can do anything to her, he's murdered by an ex CIA type, who is working for the First Lady. It seems Mick and his friend are trying to blackmail the President with some lewd photos taken of the First Daughter when she was drugged by them.

From the first chapter, where Joey wakes up next to the dead man, the book is non-stop, spine-tingling, palm-sweating suspense. I couldn't stop reading and that worked out good for me, because I'm not too fond of flying. Mr. Douglas had me on that sailboat, in that storm, so wrapped up in his book, that that flight just melted away.

Two woman are on the run, damsels in distress, only there is no knight in shining armor who will come forward and save the day for them. Eventually they are going to have to stop and face the bad guys. They are going to have to stand on their own, first separately, then together, with the odds against them, even though they have a very good reason not to like each other, like they're both married to the same blackmailing bigamist, who is after the biggest score of them all, the President of the United States.

I was up all night with this book and didn't finish till about four in the AM. Fortunately the next day was Saturday and I didn't have to go to work. I couldn't sleep in though, because friends were coming over to help me move. Let me tell you, I was a groggy girl, but the big guys didn't seem to mind as they moved my heavy stuff, books, bookcases and all. And now that I'm safely in my new place, I think I'll reread this super story.

I'm not much of a "thriller" book reader but ken Douglas had me on the edge of my chair with RUNNING SCARED. Joey Sapphire, the main character, brings courage and guts to a whole new level. A great book to read anytime of day or anywhere, as long as your not interrupted!

Kate Genovese Author of

TWO WEEKS SINCE MY LAST CONFESSION

I just can't join the others with a 5 star review, although I did read and finish Running Scared. The plot was enough to keep me going, but it was a little hard to believe.

I bought this book based on the reviews. When I received it I realized something was wrong. The writing was mediocre, the editing was poor (misspellings, poor punctuation, no copyright or publishing data) so I looked it up and found that this is a self-published book. It shows. There's a reason why every writer can't get published, and there's a reason for book agents and editors (though we all know they don't necessarily ensure a good book). I even checked on the five-star reviewers, incredulous that this book got so many rave reviews. Voila! Most of them have written many reviews and they give five stars to ALL of them! And most of the books they review are self-published. One reviewer submitted more than one five-star review for the same book.

I'll be a more careful consumer in the future. Self-publishing may have its place, but if you are looking for a well-written mystery like I was, Save Your $14.70.

This is a thriller that starts out in bed. Joey Sapphire wakes up next to a dead man on a boat in the Caribbean -- Trinidad to be precise. She has no memory of how she got there, but she knows she's in trouble. She lives on a boat herself and has been in Trinidad long enough to know the last thing she wants to do is involve the authorities, so she drags the body up on deck and dumps it overboard, then she dives into the water and swims to shore, thinking she just dodged a bullet. However, the killer has been watching, has seen what she's done and he's not finished with her.

Meanwhile Joey's husband Mick, who is supposed to be in the States visiting his parents, is actually in South America getting married to the new love of his life, an ex-hooker and who now owns an internet café. Her name is Nina and when her new husband flees after someone tries to kill him shortly after her wedding, she uproots herself and goes to Trinidad, where she believes he ran to, but instead of finding husband Mick, she finds wife number one Joey.

It doesn't take long for the two women to realize Mick isn't the upstanding guy they'd thought he was and to make matters worse, someone is trying to kill them or at the very least get them out of the way. Someone very bad is after them and in no time at all they are running scared.

I really enjoyed this book, though I admit at first I had a hard time with the two women becoming so close, being married to the same man and all, but after a bit, as the women got into more and more trouble, I could easily see how they would bond. I like books with strong female characters and this one really comes up aces in that regard. These women may be running scared, but not for long, they fight back. If you like thrillers with a strong female lead, you're going to love this book.