Monday 22 September 2014

Run by Gregg Olsen

19548973
Cash: $17.00 Dinner: My turn, spaghetti?
Days at this school: 155
Texts from Caleb: 15 so far
Plan: Find a Way to Tell Him the Truth
MY NAME IS RYLEE AND I AM A LIAR, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I WAS RAISED TO BE
I hear the water running in the bathroom sink and I know my mother will bitch at me for leaving it on. Even thought I didn’t. I just got home from school. Mom has been critical of me, while praising my brother, Hayden – despite the fact he doesn’t do much to deserve it. If he remembers to flush the toilet after a late night pee, she practically does handstands the next morning. Mom has always been harder on me. She says that it’s because I have so much potential. Which really means that whatever I’ve done so far has disappointed her.
Published by Hot Key Books - May 2014
Pages – 245
Summary 
This is the story of 15 year-old Rylee’s’s desperate attempt to save her mum. She has come home from school to find her step-dad dead on the floor and the word ‘Run’ written in blood beside him. This is the moment Rylee has been trained for all her life, she instinctively knows that her mum is missing - abducted by the man who has been on their trail all her life.  But until now she’d had no idea he was an evil serial  killer. With no money and no idea whom she’s looking for, Rylee must try to outwit a murderer who always seems to be one step ahead of her – and who, she discovers, has a terrible link to herself.
*****
Reviewed by Elizabeth Dale
When I began to read this, I thought it was going to be another story about a family on the run from a criminal. But Run  is very different - for a start, Rylee is completely on her own, there is no-one she can turn to for help, especially not the police.  But she is tough and extremely resourceful and every step she takes is prompted by an unswerving  desire for deadly vengeance. 
This is a dark and sometimes unflinchingly brutal story - full of very clever twists and turns, and horrifying secrets from the past that shock Rylee to the core. As she discovers that her whole life has been one big lie, but not the lie she thought she had been living, as she learns more about the sadistic evilness of her mum’s captor, and the true, horrifying  motive for his attack, she becomes more determined than ever not only to find him before it’s too late but also to confront the mother who has deceived her at every stage of her life. 
This book is fast-paced and well-written, and Rylee is very much a heroine to admire, as she cleverly  manages to uncover more about the killer and all his previous possible  victims.  She is smart, feisty and spirited and It is easy for the reader to empathise with her. The other characters are well-drawn, as much as we see of them, but the book mainly focuses on Rylee. I had suspected as I read it that I knew how it would end, but I was wrong. It’s always great when a book surprises you to the final page, but I have to say I was slightly disappointed by the final twist. But that’s simply a matter of personal taste, and Run is certainly an edgy, riveting read that will shock and surprise you and keep you turning the page.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hiya, thanks for stopping by, it is always nice to hear what you have to say, so do leave a comment if you have time.