See How They Run

Rating:

What’s it about?

How far would you go to save your family?

In the dead of night, new parents Alice and Harry French are plunged into their worst nightmare when they wake to find masked men in their bedroom. Men ruthless enough to threaten their baby daughter, Evie.

This is no burglary gone wrong.
The intruders know who they’re looking for – a man called Edward Renshaw.
And they are prepared to kill to get to him.

When the men leave empty handed, little do Alice and Harry realise that their nightmare is just beginning. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Who is Renshaw? And what is he hiding?

One thing is clear – they already know too much.

As Alice and Harry are separated in the run for their lives, there is no time for breathe in their fight to be reunited. And with their attackers closing in, there is only a choice:

STAY ALIVE. OR DON’T.

Terrifying, unputdownable and full of twists and turns, this stunning thriller will have you on the edge of your seat right to the very last page.

You can purchase a copy of this book on AmazonUS / AmazonUK.

Review

In the middle of the night, Alice and Harry French and their newborn Evie are confronted with their worst nightmare when a couple of intruders show up in their bedroom. The men are wearing plastic covers over their shoes, they are clearly no amateurs and the threat is very real and quite horrific. All they want however is a package addressed to a guy named Renshaw that was delivered to their house. This must be one important package, only they have never heard of Renshaw or have any knowledge about this package. Their terror and innocence seem real enough for the trespassers and they leave empty handed, with the threat they will be watched and there will be repercussions sooner or later if they go to the police. Since nobody was hurt and they don’t have any proof of any kind, they think it best to leave it be, but the next day Harry is contacted by a woman called Ruth and Alice takes a dangerous route herself when she’s trying to find Renshaw, with little Evie in tow. What follows is a nerve-wracking race for Harry to find Alice and Evie, while Alice is on the run for whoever is after Renshaw and the package. They can’t call the police because, as long as Alice can’t be reached, they might think Harry harmed his wife and child.

A captivating story that draws you right in and keeps up the suspense throughout the novel. Did you know that the author, Tom Bale, got the inspiration for the novel when he was putting the garbage outside one evening? He heard a sound and started thinking… would any of the neighbours take notice if there was a break-in? Well the situation in this novel is one of those moments we all have when we are laying in our bed and we think we might have heard something. The situation and what follows feels so life-like, you can almost imagine this being the real deal. It makes it all so relatable and I love it when stories start out with ordinary people in ordinary situations that spiral into outrageous ones. This is exactly such a story.

There is so much more to say about See How They Run that made me love this novel. I think it really is an added value that the author included a baby in the storyline. He didn’t make it easy on himself because this tiny personality – and Evie is a cool personality even if she’s only 8 weeks old – needs feeding and changing in between and makes travelling, running and all that fairly difficult but he did a beautiful job doing just so without it being ever annoying. Tom Bale also seems to have mastered the knack of developing two separate suspenseful storylines (the one following Harry and the one following his wife Alice) and making them both seem plausible and gripping. It’s not that I wanted to read one of these storylines more than the other, no they were equally engaging with the right amount of tension and cliffhanger each time. Ruth’s character in the book is quite mysterious, making you question if she’s trustworthy and what her deal is in the story for a long time. It takes a while until her story is finally revealed and what her connection to this Laird is. Another twist in the plotline I didn’t imagine and which made me hate Laird even more, although two-faced Nerys and her son came to a close second. If you are talking about bad guys and personalities, he’s done a hell of a job in putting them out there. On the opposite side, Harry and Alice make such a likable family that you would want to help them yourself if you could.

This novel was a page-turner and I can highly recommend See How They Run to crime lovers who think they possess nerves of steel. This was an entirely new author to me but I know I definitely want to read more of his work!

*I received a free copy of this book from the publicist through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion*

 

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