Scan barcode
A review by twiinklex
Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard
3.0
✨ "If mistakes felt like mistakes in the moment, we wouldn't make them, would we?"
In a nutshell: Good, but also kinda disappointing and I totally get the lacklustre reviews.
I loved the premise and execution, which I thought was quite clever. The whole filmception/bookception messed with my mind and was super fun to read! Add an atmospheric and isolated setting into the mix, and you bet I was super into the story. I also liked some of the book's commentary on pop culture, the movie industry and horror films.
Unfortunately, the third act and reveal was a letdown after all that build-up.
✨ "That's the problem with mysteries... They only exist because you don't have the answers. When you get them... all the mystery gets vaporised... Whenever the explanation comes, whatever it is, it can't live up to those 'What the hell is going on here?' moments at the start."
This quote pretty much sums up Run Time, so props to it for being self-aware at least? I also feel like Adele remained largely unchanged throughout, especially as a character who spent most of the book being scared and manipulated. I so wanted to see her take some control and turn the tables on everyone, but alas.
The book's merits were also bogged down by clunky writing like:
and
Wtf? I mean, technically there's nothing wrong but it's so unnecessary. Sad to say, it took away some of my enjoyment of the book.
I've read two other Catherine Ryan Howard novels and this one would be around 3 to 3.5⭐. I think I like Run Time better more than 56 Days but The Nothing Man is still my favourite.
Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.
In a nutshell: Good, but also kinda disappointing and I totally get the lacklustre reviews.
I loved the premise and execution, which I thought was quite clever. The whole filmception/bookception messed with my mind and was super fun to read! Add an atmospheric and isolated setting into the mix, and you bet I was super into the story. I also liked some of the book's commentary on pop culture, the movie industry and horror films.
Unfortunately, the third act and reveal was a letdown after all that build-up.
✨ "That's the problem with mysteries... They only exist because you don't have the answers. When you get them... all the mystery gets vaporised... Whenever the explanation comes, whatever it is, it can't live up to those 'What the hell is going on here?' moments at the start."
This quote pretty much sums up Run Time, so props to it for being self-aware at least? I also feel like Adele remained largely unchanged throughout, especially as a character who spent most of the book being scared and manipulated. I so wanted to see her take some control and turn the tables on everyone, but alas.
The book's merits were also bogged down by clunky writing like:
✨ "The box wasn't a box, but a bright green cooler bag, the kind my weekly meal-prep supplies had been delivered to my apartment in when I was trying to lose weight for a role that I ended up doing at the exact same weight I'd been when I'd auditioned because I didn't have any weight to lose."
and
✨ "...on to the set of Final Draft, the film a man who wasn't really Steve Dade was directing but it wasn't really that film he was making at all."
Wtf? I mean, technically there's nothing wrong but it's so unnecessary. Sad to say, it took away some of my enjoyment of the book.
I've read two other Catherine Ryan Howard novels and this one would be around 3 to 3.5⭐. I think I like Run Time better more than 56 Days but The Nothing Man is still my favourite.
Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.