Unrelenting action and an unpredictable storyline.
Overbearing parents are enough to aggravate any kid, so it’s no surprise that Kyle avoids his mom’s repeated phone calls. Hot off the heels of a date that turned out better than expected, Kyle feels pretty good about himself as he walks home, despite how relentless his mother is. But Kendra doesn’t see it the same way. She’s a hard-working single mom and everything she does is out of love and concern for her son. So when Kyle steps through the front door, they fall into their usual pattern of bickering, though this night is anything but usual. Finding himself in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, Kyle was witness to a gang hit and innocently recorded the whole thing on his phone. Compounding matters, the gang has Kyle’s school identification, a contact within the LAPD, and no shortage of creative ways to dispatch a loose-lipped witness. Kendra’s protective nature kicks in and they narrowly evade gang members sent to kill them. A call to the police leaves this mother and son more desperate than before and the only thing they can do is run, and fast! The longer they survive, the more people want them dead. Law enforcement can’t be trusted, the gangs have eyes everywhere, and resources will run out quickly, so Kendra must think on her feet and work off of instinct if she wants to see her son make it to adulthood.
Kendra Thompson is the perfect everywoman, a character easy to relate to, likely to be underestimated, and impossible not to admire. You never want to find yourself in her shoes, but if you do, you’ll hope you can act with her same level of calm resourcefulness. Kendra’s reactions in harrowing situations feel authentic, as does her relationship with her son. A startling prologue opens with some high-intensity terror and the pressure only increases from there. Every scene, whether a close call with gunmen or a gentle conversation with a stranger, contributes to the paranoia and anxiety as Kendra struggles to find anyone who can help her family wake from their living nightmare. The premise may be familiar for this type of high-stakes thriller, but the spirited storytelling, nail-biting tension, and contemporary touches make this story stand out. Featuring unrelenting action and an unpredictable storyline, Christy Cooper-Burnett’s razor-sharp novel, Run, transforms sunny Southern California into a modern Wild West.
