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A review by jhutch1324
Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard
4.0
Ok, first apologies for the delay to write this review. I finished this one quickly and told myself I'd give it a few days to write the review then promptly forgot all about it! Chemo brain or just Thanksgiving plans, and then throw in some holiday depression and it's safe to say I'm struggling. Regardless, my brain has been occupied so, please forgive me and my lateness!
Run Time is one of those book within a movie within a book books. I know how confusing that sounds but it will eventually make sense.
Adele is trying to Make It Big™️ in LA and doesn't seem to be having very much success. She was a fairly well known soap star in Ireland and there seems to be something that happened in her career that triggered her sudden move to LA. Adele seems to think that whatever happened is on her and she is desperate to prove to herself that she can do better and be successful in LA.
As you can guess Adele is not doing very well in LA. She's struggling to book commercials and constantly worried that her past will catch up to her. When she receives a call to be a part of a movie back home in Ireland she is extremely intrigued but also very cautious. She wants this job very badly, it would not only be a payday but would also help to get her name back out there. She's unsure because she thought she ruined her name in the UK. She doesn't understand why this director, Steve Dade, would want to work with her after what happened on her last movie. She's not going to ask questions though, and after only confirming that an old friend worked with Steve and didn't have any problems, she packs herself up and on the requested very tight deadline heads to Ireland.
The setting of this movie shoot is very creepy. It's a very isolated cabin and is secluded even from other cabins on the same property. Adele will be staying in one of the guest cabins behind the main cabin, and those too are good treck away from the main cabin. Of course cell phone service here is very spotty, this doesn't seem to be anything sinister just the location as there are spots on the property with cell service but they can be very hard to find, go in and out and just generally be unreliable. Adele will be cut off and alone, did I mention that a good portion of the movie is just her character? This means she will be filming alone for a week. This is going to be a horror movie with a really appropriate setting.
Not sure if the author meant to do this but a lot of the crew members give off ra*ey vibes. It was weird enough that Adele is the only woman on this secluded shoot but to then make the men creepy.... we'll just say that this makes the whole thing 100000x more creepy and sinister feeling. Add in a ton of coincidences that seem to happen to Adele that follow the plot of this fictional movie and we know something is afoot.
I can't say much more without spoiling a lot of the plot so we'll leave it here. I really enjoyed the twists and turns, and I love that the author leaves a lot of backstory and information to be found as you read. I find that that increases the suspense greatly.
I also really enjoyed one of Howard's other novels, 56 Days which is how I was introduced to her work. I love her twists, I love her style, and the complexity that she somehow puts in the plot without it feeling like too much are genius. I will definitely be reading more of her work and would recommend this author to other thriller lovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Initial thoughts:
Ok, I need some time to digest and write this one. I can say that Howard is joining my favorites list.
Run Time is one of those book within a movie within a book books. I know how confusing that sounds but it will eventually make sense.
Adele is trying to Make It Big™️ in LA and doesn't seem to be having very much success. She was a fairly well known soap star in Ireland and there seems to be something that happened in her career that triggered her sudden move to LA. Adele seems to think that whatever happened is on her and she is desperate to prove to herself that she can do better and be successful in LA.
As you can guess Adele is not doing very well in LA. She's struggling to book commercials and constantly worried that her past will catch up to her. When she receives a call to be a part of a movie back home in Ireland she is extremely intrigued but also very cautious. She wants this job very badly, it would not only be a payday but would also help to get her name back out there. She's unsure because she thought she ruined her name in the UK. She doesn't understand why this director, Steve Dade, would want to work with her after what happened on her last movie. She's not going to ask questions though, and after only confirming that an old friend worked with Steve and didn't have any problems, she packs herself up and on the requested very tight deadline heads to Ireland.
The setting of this movie shoot is very creepy. It's a very isolated cabin and is secluded even from other cabins on the same property. Adele will be staying in one of the guest cabins behind the main cabin, and those too are good treck away from the main cabin. Of course cell phone service here is very spotty, this doesn't seem to be anything sinister just the location as there are spots on the property with cell service but they can be very hard to find, go in and out and just generally be unreliable. Adele will be cut off and alone, did I mention that a good portion of the movie is just her character? This means she will be filming alone for a week. This is going to be a horror movie with a really appropriate setting.
Not sure if the author meant to do this but a lot of the crew members give off ra*ey vibes. It was weird enough that Adele is the only woman on this secluded shoot but to then make the men creepy.... we'll just say that this makes the whole thing 100000x more creepy and sinister feeling. Add in a ton of coincidences that seem to happen to Adele that follow the plot of this fictional movie and we know something is afoot.
I can't say much more without spoiling a lot of the plot so we'll leave it here. I really enjoyed the twists and turns, and I love that the author leaves a lot of backstory and information to be found as you read. I find that that increases the suspense greatly.
I also really enjoyed one of Howard's other novels, 56 Days which is how I was introduced to her work. I love her twists, I love her style, and the complexity that she somehow puts in the plot without it feeling like too much are genius. I will definitely be reading more of her work and would recommend this author to other thriller lovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Initial thoughts:
Ok, I need some time to digest and write this one. I can say that Howard is joining my favorites list.