Review: Run

Run by Blake Crouch
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So even as much of a mixed bag as it was, Wayward Pines was an interesting science fiction exercise.

This, however, was a mess.

Run is about a family on the run after an alien-style aurora hypnotizes those who did see it into killing off those who did not. It's a lot of brutality within the simple premise of pages and pages of running from this threat.

It's readable. I'll give it that. As a piece of candy science fictional suspense, I've seen worse. The issue is that the entire thing feels stilted and strange, and the narrative doesn't really work on a whole. It's such a simple premise (which is fine) that just feels hastily put together (which isn't). I'm not kidding that the idea is very simple here, there aren't a ton of layers to explore.

The ending isn't much better, either. I don't want to give it away, but I'll just say that, if you're looking for quality payoffs, this one isn't going to provide it.

If you're a huge fan of Wayward Pines, you might get something out of this. If you've spent a lot of time in the genre, though, there are a ton of other options that approach this concept better.

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