Run Away, By Harlan Coben {Book Review}

I honestly feel like it’s been forever and a day since I read a book! Especially a page turner, one that I really really enjoyed and could not put down! Well thankfully, that day has arrived! I was sick last weekend, and I thought it was as good a time as any, for me to get some reading done. Little did I know that once I started reading ‘Run Away‘, it was literally going to run away with me….until I ended up on the very last page 😉

What is Run Away about?

You’ve lost your daughter. She’s addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want to be found.
Then, quite by chance, you see her busking in New York’s Central Park. But she’s not the girl you remember. This woman is wasted, frightened and
clearly in trouble. You don’t stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home. She runs.

And you follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed. Where criminal gangs rule, where drugs are the main currency, and murder is commonplace. Now it’s your life on the line. And nowhere and no one is safe.

Quote

“And bad stays. Bad doesn’t go away. You bury bad, it digs itself out. You throw bad in the middle of the ocean, it comes back at you like a tidal wave.” ― Harlan Coben, Run Away

My thoughts

I want to say, fasten your seat belts, because you’re in for a hell of a ride! Run Away, from the first page, I was all in, completely engrossed. The book begins with Simon having received a tip off on where his daughter may be. From there we go to a viral video, a drug den, assassins, a cult, a private investigator…we’re moving, from one scene to the next. Not in a fast, I-can’t-keep-up kind of way, but let’s move, lets keep going….we can’t stay here, or they may kill us sort of way. There are so many bits of information, and so many stories within the story, but up to the last page….they tie every single thing up. You’re not left wondering why they mentioned XYZ, which I really appreciated.

The ending, I did not see coming. I kept guessing and in some ways I was on the right track, but there’s just so many plot twists, my brain took a nap and I just enjoyed where the story was taking me.

The experience of the writing

I feel like I am right there, in that first chapter, on that bench….with Simon, looking for his daughter, Paige. This is the talent that Coben has, his writing is so descriptive and immersive, that you feel like you’re there….in the pages, experiencing the book with the characters. At one point he describes a stench and I literally pulled my face…as if I was there and I could smell it. The character development was also done in a way that didn’t feel like an overload of characters, because believe me, there are A LOT of characters!

Then there is his humour…. I found myself chuckling at so many spots in the book, and I enjoyed that. I found the humour to be nice break from a really fast paced and action packed story.

I’d recommend Run Away if you’re into action thrillers! This book has a Goodreads average of 4.14/5 stars….I would honestly rate it a solid 5 stars! Run Away retails for around R270 and is available at all leading book retailers.

Thank you Penguin Books for sending this over! As always, all reviews are voluntary and my own opinions.