Review by chezler24 - Ruth Run

chezler24 's review for:

Ruth Run by Elizabeth Kaufman

2.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Yes

I feel a little bit mixed about this read because I wanted to really enjoy it. The premise of a cybercrime prompting a cross-country road chase with cat-and-mouse/spy vs. spy vibes seemed intriguing! In the beginning, I enjoyed how quirky the characters were. Ruth seemed like a sure of herself thief who was going to make a semi-clean escape and had some loyalty (i.e., she went back for Thom,) and Mike seemed like an unconventional man who was a little too involved in his job. Of course, being split between the two as the story goes on, Ruth doesn't get fleshed out enough (background, motives, family, etc.), and Mike turns out to be just a creepy guy who has developed a parasocial relationship with Ruth, whom he met as a teenager. This was a fairly quick read and I would be interested to see what Kaufman writes next since there are some promising aspects she played around with, such as bringing bank heists into the digital age.

ARC
2.75/5 stars

It would have been a solid three-star since I did appreciate the thrilling elements alongside the tech stuff, but I really didn't agree with the ending, and it kind of ruined Ruth's character for me. Who adopts a dog just to leave him at a park bench? Sure, the tag has the lady's name on it, but who knows how long he's going to sit out there or what will happen to him... I just need to know what purpose that had aside from cementing that Ruth purely cared about the money, and that any concern she had over Thom was a lie. I also don't know how all my books end up with some form of religious trauma in them (i.e., Big John and the penance suicide his family forced upon him).

Content Warnings