nadia_ligda 's review for:

You Can Run by Trevor Wood

3.0

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There mustn't be a corner of the British Isles that has not been used as a fictional crime scene. Trevor Wood has claimed Newcastle a few years back and now, with his fourth book, has moved into the surrounding Northumberland countryside. Having recently moved to the area myself, I was of course tempted to read the first three books featuring his ex-army / convict, homeless, turned amateur detective hero. I thought the first book in the series was rather original, with a good sense of time and place, the second a big stretch with overspilling ideas from the first, and the third OKish .... anyway, good enough to make me try his fourth novel with different characters and setting.
The story of "You can Run", seems to be inspired by these Hollywood blockbusters, where a character that lives the "quiet life" turns out to be something else, much to the surprise of their family and friends ... and somehow the past catches up with them. I thought the writing was much more confident and the characters more relatable than the previous books. The story itself a bit far fetched with quite a few violent scenes with torture and beatings, that seem to be a "thing" for Trevor Wood but I don't think they add up to anything much.
Overall I thought enjoyable, with an ending that perhaps hints to further installments.