Run Time

I am a huge fan of Catherine Ryan Howard's novels, and I've read every book she's published. I was thrilled when her latest book, Run Time, came out, and I couldn't wait to read it. But this novel left me rather disappointed. It is not her best work. (For a great read, try her book The Liar's Girl). This book seemed to just go in circles that were not terribly exciting. The lead character, Adele, was not a very likable person, and after spending so much time gathering very little suspense, I found myself not really caring what happened next. Partly because the same things kept happening. The plot never seemed to go anywhere, and the book was unnecessarily long. It hurts me to not give this novel five stars, because I love Catherine's work, but this one left me flat. But...do try her other books!!!

I thought it was a little slow in the beginning and had a hard time focusing because of that. But it picks up and the ending shocked me. I was definitely loving the majority of the book, and I loved how they had the movie scenes in the book.

If you, like me, are a fan of Catherine Ryan Howard, you might be slightly underwhelmed by Run Time. The premise was really interesting, and I thought it was well-paced. However, the twists did not seem believable enough for me in the end. In contrast, I had my jaw dropped from her books 56 Days and Liars Girl, so this was just okay.

Run Time
Catherine Ryan Howard
Blackstone Publishing
August 16, 2022

Adele Rafferty had a lengthy run on a soap opera called These are the Days. She thinks her biggest career mistake was leaving the show. She got fired from her last job for having a psychotic break on set. Unemployed for almost a year, she agrees to act in a horror film set in the deep woods. She has only 24 hours notice and she has to travel trans-Atlantic to the set. The last actress has bowed out and the director only has two weeks to shoot the movie. Adele thinks this could be her brilliant comeback as an actor.

Little did she know that she was walking into the nightmare of Final Draft: The Film set in the isolated, deep, dark woods. And then strange things start happening starting with an eerie text from an unknown caller.

This book is downright scary. Howard’s writing keeps the tension going and going and going! It kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. The book goes from the screenplay text to the book it’s based on, to reality. It works really well. There are clever reveals and a wonderful cast of characters.

I recommend this book to those of us who enjoy psychological thrillers. It’s a mystery that will keep you guessing until the end.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love this author. And everything she's written up until now. Other reviews will give more detail on the story, so I'll just say that this is a screenplay within a story within a story. Similar stories within each other. Confusing, and none of the stories and few of the characters are well developed enough to invest in. The screenplay format is disruptive, and minimally prosey. Maybe because i wasnt that involved in any of the myriad alike characters, i didn't find it thrilling or engrossing. Look forward to her next entry though.

3.5 stars

Run Time is an entertaining thriller set on a horror movie set. There’s a lot of meta elements in this book with the same things happening to the actress that happens in the script. One aspect of the book was definitely predictable but there were also a few twists thrown in. Honestly, the production was a mess from the beginning and if Adele was smarter she would have left the set right away. But she’s desperate for an acting role so this desperation is her motivation to stay. Overall, this is a fun read that incorporated a lot of horror movie elements.

Thanks to @currentlyreadingpodcast I like to think of myself as a Catherine Ryan Howard completist, meaning I’m going to read anything she writes. Run Time is her newest book and it tells the story of Adele, a down on her luck, once famous actress who gets what she thinks might be the opportunity to turn it all around—her second chance. That is until the unexplainable starts happening and Adele has to figure out if these thing are really happening or if her mind is playing tricks on her.

This is not 56 Days or The Nothing Man—it is a different pace than Howard’s previous books. I enjoyed it, but if you want to love Howard or you are recommending her for the first time, this is not the book I would suggest.

🎬 A R C • R E V I E W 🎬
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Title: Run Time
Author: Catherine Ryan Howard
Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Run Time is a popcorn thriller told from the point of view of Adele - an actress who just got an offer to play the lead role in a movie “Final Draft”. Throughout the book you also read the screen play for the movie “Final Draft” which is eerily similar to a book in the screen play titled “First Draft”. In the screenplay you see that the actor is noticing similarities between the book and her life, same with Adele and the screen play. Seems a bit confusing but it’s easy enough to follow.
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It’s a bit of a slow burn and there was some repetition between the screen play and Adele’s POV. That wasn’t anything that took away form my reading though. I liked how it was written and I felt like I read through it quite quickly. I found this one to give me the goosebumps multiple times throughout the story leaving me feeling a bit on edge. The pacing definitely picks up towards the end and left me with some definite anxiety.
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The twists or “big reveal” if you will were really good, I liked where Howard went with this one and thought it was the perfect ending to this book. I especially liked the ending to the screen play.
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Overall, this was a great read! This was my first by Catherine Ryan Howard, but I can definitely say I’ll be going back to read the rest of her work. Run time was just released yesterday and I definitely recommend this one to all popcorn thriller lovers who have a love of movies.
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This is the 4th book I have read by this author and they just keep getting better and better. I loved the characters and the unique way it was written. The premise of the story is what got me hooked! It is a must-read!!!

This author is very good at what she does, and while this attempt was enjoyable, it fell slightly short of the mark. The premise is original, it tackles feminism and sexism in the movie industry, and has great writing. There are, however, too many layers to the story and it would have benefitted from more aggressive editing.