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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Meta take on an indie horror film on a shoestring budget. I loved the bits of script that appeared throughout and how the author was able to make that writing distinctive in tone from her own. Breezy, creepy fun.
What a strange book to review….
On one hand, once I got into the thriller part of the book, this one kept me up reading until I fell asleep and had nightmares about being stalked in the woods.
On the other hand, this book took a LONG time to get into- about 30% of the opening of the book was entirely too long and slow….and the ending was predictable as hell.
On one hand, once I got into the thriller part of the book, this one kept me up reading until I fell asleep and had nightmares about being stalked in the woods.
On the other hand, this book took a LONG time to get into- about 30% of the opening of the book was entirely too long and slow….and the ending was predictable as hell.
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
"Based on a terrifying true story. That hasn't happened - yet."
Adele Rafferty, once a successful child actor in Ireland, moved to Los Angeles to try her luck there after a series of failed projects. Struggling to be cast in any movie or show, she has almost lost all hope when she received a call that could change her life: she could be the lead in a horror movie, called Final Draft, set in Ireland. She excitedly accept, but once on set she starts to notice weird things happening and Adele starts to worry about her safety... What's really going on?
This is the first book by Catherine Ryan Howard I had the pleasure to read and I have to say, my favorite thing about this book is indeed the writing! The story, the characters and especially the locations are so well described that I could picture them clearly in my head while reading Run Time. Because of this, I'll definitely check out her other books!
The plot is quite articulated: without giving away too much about it, you'll read about an actress who is reading the script of a movie where an actress is reading the script of a movie. It may sound complicated, but thanks to the structure of the chapters it's not too difficult to follow. Unfortunately most of the tension built during the first half of the book gets lost in the second half, to the point where almost nothing happens for several pages (chapters?), besides following the train of scared thoughts of a struggling woman. The ending was also not as satisfying as I hoped, but still not too bad.
Overall Run Time is a good fast-paced thriller and, despite the repetitions, it was quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed its atmosphere and the main character.
I'd recommend listening to the audiobook of Run Time: I loved the thick Irish accent of the narrators, and the alternating of chapters (and therefore voices) made it quite fun and overall improved the experience for me.
3 stars.
* I'd like to thank Catherine Ryan Howard, Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Adele Rafferty, once a successful child actor in Ireland, moved to Los Angeles to try her luck there after a series of failed projects. Struggling to be cast in any movie or show, she has almost lost all hope when she received a call that could change her life: she could be the lead in a horror movie, called Final Draft, set in Ireland. She excitedly accept, but once on set she starts to notice weird things happening and Adele starts to worry about her safety... What's really going on?
This is the first book by Catherine Ryan Howard I had the pleasure to read and I have to say, my favorite thing about this book is indeed the writing! The story, the characters and especially the locations are so well described that I could picture them clearly in my head while reading Run Time. Because of this, I'll definitely check out her other books!
The plot is quite articulated: without giving away too much about it, you'll read about an actress who is reading the script of a movie where an actress is reading the script of a movie. It may sound complicated, but thanks to the structure of the chapters it's not too difficult to follow. Unfortunately most of the tension built during the first half of the book gets lost in the second half, to the point where almost nothing happens for several pages (chapters?), besides following the train of scared thoughts of a struggling woman. The ending was also not as satisfying as I hoped, but still not too bad.
Overall Run Time is a good fast-paced thriller and, despite the repetitions, it was quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed its atmosphere and the main character.
I'd recommend listening to the audiobook of Run Time: I loved the thick Irish accent of the narrators, and the alternating of chapters (and therefore voices) made it quite fun and overall improved the experience for me.
3 stars.
* I'd like to thank Catherine Ryan Howard, Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
a beat passed
3 stars that may move down to 2 1/2 with the passing of time. This one started super strong for me. Loved the premise and the meta nature of the book within the book within the book (…within the book?) The beginnings of the WTF is going on moments we’re good but it started to lose me towards the end and the final pages were rough. I’ll definitely check out the author’s other book, however.
I’ve loved all of Catherine Ryan Howard’s books leading up to Run Time. I’m sure I’ll love more of her books in the future. But Run Time is frankly terrible. I thought it was terrible at the beginning, throughout the book, and after finishing. It just didn’t work at all. The meta book within a book fanciful takes didn’t work. It played out like every bad horror movie you’ve ever seen. I hate to be mean because I love this author, but this one wasn’t for me. Alana Kerr Collins did a lovely job with the narration, as always.
One minor point. Don’t chose character names that have a very recognizable counterpoint in the real world. Every single time I heard Adele’s name in the book I pictured Adele the singer. It took me right out of the book.
One minor point. Don’t chose character names that have a very recognizable counterpoint in the real world. Every single time I heard Adele’s name in the book I pictured Adele the singer. It took me right out of the book.