Action packed, logically thin.

Runner

By Patrick Lee

 Rating: 2 and a 1/2 out of 5 stars

Runner is a high voltage thriller with a dash of science fiction. If you like your suspense thrillers exploding with action from the first page then you will really love this novel. Runner starts in a full-out gallop when ex-special forces Sam Dryden is interrupted on a night jog by a desperate girl who claims someone is trying to kill her. It is quickly confirmed that people are trying to kill her..and now Sam...and the action continues.

I on the other hand want more than chases, gun battles and far-fetched conspiracy plots. I like heroes who have some dimension and plot twists that do not hang on a thread of spider silk. I found Runner a little flimsy in those categories. I did find Patrick Lee to be a very good writer of this type of thriller even if the plot was a bit too familiar to anyone who have read Stephen King's Firestarter. I also liked how the author kept us guessing about the true nature of the girl's powers and about her own agenda. However, the plot seems a bit too formulaic and predictable in where the twists and turns were going.

So I enjoyed this book marginally as long as I could tolerate a little eye-rolling at some the more unbelievable turns. My best claim for this novel is that it would make a great action movie of the Die Hard variety. Let's get Renny Harlin or Michael Bay to direct it. They're pretty good with overblown scenes and under-whelming logic as long as you don't have to think too much.