Reviews

Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard

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tinac28's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced

3.5

rachelirvin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tabby2920's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A story, within a story, within another story?! Once again Catherine Ryan Howard has taken has taken her readers on a mind bending thriller! I absolutely loved "56 Days" and I awaited with anticipation for this one and it did not disappoint! This was a like a love letter to the slasher film genre, but still keeping the twists and surprises you love to see in any mystery. And the fact that Howard created one compelling story into another and another is so innovative and mind boggling. You as the reader try to figure out who was telling the truth and like the protagonist, what's real and what's not. If you haven't read anything by Howard, then this is a great book to start with!

P.S. The audiobook of this is amazing as well. The narrators did a great job!

bookworm4tea's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

In Run Time, we are introduced to Adele, who is a down on her luck actress who gets a call about a leading role in a new horror film that no one knows about. Once she travels from LA to Ireland where the filming is going to take place odd things start to happen. While she is staying at this remote and secluded set in the middle of the forest she starts to realize that the same creepy things that are happening to the character she's playing is also happening to her on set.

This story had such a unique and fresh take on the usual thrillers that read like a true horror film. I really liked the main character Adele who was what I think of when I think of a true final girl who is intelligent, quick thinking and not afraid to fight back. The author did a great job showing the problems women in the filming industry have to deal with while working with men and that sometimes women have to save themselves because no one else will. I think this would actually make a great film or tv adaption and I would be one of the first to watch it. This story was fast paced, extremely atmospheric and very intense. I think my favorite part besides the main character would have to be the ominously spooky vibes that the isolated setting gave off. Thank you to Netgalley for sending the digital audiobook copy of Run Time and I have to say I loved listening to the audiobook and would totally recommend it along with the physical if you can because the narrator's Irish accents were perfect and made the experience that was already amazing so much better. If you love slasher movies, extremely clever psychological thrillers, nail biting writing and a book within a movie storyline then I think you'll love this book.

danikreh's review against another edition

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2.0

"But I struggled to stay focused on it. After a certain point it had practically no dialogue, and the dense description felt like hard work to keep wading through page after page." -an actual quote from chapter 12. I'm not sure if this book is trying to be cheeky and self aware, but this quote pretty much sums up my reading experience. In a word- tedious. Note to authors, I do not need to know what your protagonist had for lunch. I do not need an entire paragraph describing in detail your MC's Irish breakfast, down to the smallest grilled tomato. Just don't need it.

Why did this not pick up until 43% in? By the time it started to get interesting, it was too little too late. Even the unpredictable twists weren't enough to reignite my interest. I really liked 56 Days, but this one was a letdown.

aimeebray's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

roxannesbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

A thriller that isn’t about a wife or a husband? Extra points for originality!

I knew I had to read this book when I heard the synopsis. A book within a book within a book? Sounds like so much fun. And even though I had fun reading it, I can’t ignore some of the plot holes or the poor decisions our main character kept making the entirety of the book.

In this book we’re following Adele, who’s a struggling actress in L.A. Originally from Ireland, she’s hiding from her past. We know that something horrible happened to her while working on a movie back in Ireland a couple of months ago, and she doesn’t want to be found.

Then she gets a phone call from a random guy who’s working on a horror movie called “Final Draft”, in Ireland. He says the actress who was supposed to play the main character had to leave, and he wonders if she would agree to replace her. She says yes, and has to fly to Ireland the next day. The movie set is deep in the forest, away from civilization. She’ also the only woman over there, working for a team of men who don’t seem to care about her.

While all of this is happening, we’re also following the story of Kate and Joel, the main characters in the script of “Final Draft”, in which Kate finds a book called “First Draft”, and starts reading it. Then what happens in “First Draft” starts happening to Kate in “Final Draft”, and what happens to Kate starts happening to Adele in real life. Things get creepy from there.

I absolutely loved some of the scenes in this book, and I thought it had so much potential. I found some of the chapters to be actually scary and I was so anxious for Adele. That being said, I thought this book had the potential to be darker than it turned out to be (it was snuff film material…). Also, at some point, Adele started making decisions that no one would make in real life, and acted like a dumb character from a horror movie (reminded me of Survive the Night a little bit). I wondered if it was intentional from the author, but I don’t think so. When she got the chance to call 999 after hours of thinking she was in danger, she didn’t even tell them the whole story, only that she was alone and that she had hurt her ankle. Of course, they laughed at her. Or when she decided to trust Donal, and then Julia, and started questioning her own sanity…they gaslight her but at the same time, she could’ve decided to trust her own gut a little bit more. She was way too naïve for my taste, especially considering everything that had just happened to her in the previous hours.

I didn’t care much for the many plot twists at the end, and found the final plot twist to be disappointing. The worst thing about the final twist being weak is that even the author recognized it, and made her own characters laugh about it. At this point if your plot twist is so weak that you have your own characters - in your own book- laugh about it… what do you expect actual readers to think?

I thought this book had a very original and fun promise, but it fell a little short for me.