Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Run on Red

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Run on Red by Noelle W. Ihli

30 reviews

rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I saw someone on Instagram that said read this book if you need to get out of a reading slump and they were absolutely right. This book had me hooked from the first line. It was the perfect twist of dark but not overly explicit. The main girls were strong and weren’t overlooked simply because they were girls. The villains were villians through and through. I appreciated that there was no redemption arc for them. They were terrible humans and deserved what they got in the end. I liked that there was a lot more implied and talked around rather that outright described. The whole backstory as to why the girls were captured was terrible but logical. I could not put this book down and any free second I had was dedicated to this book. I’ve already recommended this book to my friends because I needed someone else to read it so I could talk about it with them. I’ll have to get more of her books in the future.

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spookshow's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What was supposed to be a chance to let loose for a bit, to show Olivia that things aren't always going to turn into another episode of the many true crime podcasts and shows that she listens to, becomes just that. By the time the girls notice the headlights following them too closely, they're already up in the mountains on a road with no traffic and no phone signal. Doing their best to stay one step ahead they can't help but ask themselves who the men in the truck are, and why are they terrorizing them. As the situation grows more dire, it's looking like the best course of action is to try and tackle the wilderness on foot, but if the men in the truck don't catch up to them first, the coyotes or the dropping temperature just might...

I love a good thriller, especially one that is set across the hours of one day or night, something about knowing that when the sun rises, it'll be the end, whatever that may look like for the characters, really adds to that sense of suspense for me. When I came across this one, it gave me vibes from the movie Joyride from 2001, so I had relatively high hopes for it, and it really didn't let me down, if anything, it pleasantly surprised me. I had been having a bit of trouble with my reading since the middle of last year, and this is the first book that I've come across that I could not put down. I finished it in roughly a day and a half or something ridiculous (at the moment for me it's ridiculous), so it really gave me some hope that all it takes is a super engaging story to get me back to my normal reading habits.

This story follows the events of one evening, friends Lauren and Olivia are in Lauren's sister's beat up old volvo and heading into the hills for a party. Olivia isn't too keen as she has devoured more than her fair share of true crime stories which really bolsters her anxiety around 'anything can happen' though in her mind, it'll never be good. They notice the headlights, but don't think anything of it because it would make sense that there are other's heading out to the same location. It isn't until the truck starts to behave aggressively that the girls get worried and realised that they are in huge trouble. So I guess you can look at it and say, yes, there are some cliche things here such as: two college girls driving alone at night in an unreliable car, up into the mountains where it's relatively secluded and there's likely to be no traffic, and of course, there's no cell phone signal either, because of course; the thing is though, none of these cliches made me roll my eyes, they were used brilliantly and really helped to create a hugely suspenseful, story that grabbed me by the throat and just would not let me go. Even though there were these cliches here, I still found myself having no idea what was going to happen next. That to me denotes a great story teller. Being able to use tried, tested and true tropes, yet having it not be boring and stale, is a master stroke.

The plot was engaging, and as said before, and absolute page turner that I couldn't put down. Has this type of story been done before, yes it has, but that does not stop this story from being absolutely amazing in it's own right. What started out as a stereotypical night of terror for two college girls in a car in the mountains, soon ballooned out into something so much more sinister and horrifying than I could have imagined. I think what also made this story so much more suspenseful and terror inducing is the fact that, this is something that could and probably does happen to more people than we are aware of. Taking something so simple and being able to make you realise how real this scenario could be, is the mark of a true writer to me. Being able to induce fear into the reader from something so mundane is genius and really shows Ihli's ability in her craft.

The atmosphere and suspense that Ihli is able to build in this story is some of the best that I have seen in recent times for me. My heart was in my throat for the majority of the book and as said above, I literally could not put it down. And when you've been stuck unable to finish a book in less than a week like I have, this was a godsend and an absolutely amazing experience for me. I devoured this book, the suspense never dropped and the pacing stayed quite high and fast for most of it. Even when the pacing did drop a teeny tiny bit, which honestly wasn't really noticeable, the suspense never dropped at all. I finished this book in two days, at the most, and I don't think I can describe how happy that made me. To know that I am just going through a tough patch at the moment and all it takes is a well written nail biter to pull me back to myself, is oddly comforting.

The characters were well written, and that says a lot considering that there's a cast of four characters, and two of them we don't really get to know or see much of as they are the assailants chasing down and terrorizing the two female leads. So being able to have such a tiny cast of characters for roughly 95% of the book, and being able to write these characters well really lends credit to Ihli's abilities as a writer. I really loved the characters of Olivia and Lauren, they're so real and four dimensional. Olivia's anxieties that are exacerbated by her love and need to devour anything true crime, really endeared her to me for some reason. And the friendship between the two was written beautifully, and I feel really illustrates the best kind of people in a crises as well as the bonds of true, loyal friendship. I was terrified for these two women and I was rooting for them at every turn.

This was an absolutely enthralling read, it's formula was so simple, but it was executed brilliantly. Ihli was able to take stereotypical tropes that we see in college age suspense and thriller stories, and create something fresh and riveting. The slow decent into the wider atrocities that were happening was fantastic and a stroke of brilliance. I am keen to see what Ihli does next and I'll definitely be keeping my eye on her releases! If you love a good nail biting, suspenseful ride where you genuinely don't know what is going to happen next, give this one a go. It was my favourite read for March.

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