"Not my favorite, but not the worst. "

"3.5 stars

From early on, Ruth Run has a weird vibe to it. Everything feels disconnected. At the start of the book we’re dumped right into the middle of the action without any prior knowledge of any of the backstory that led up to that moment in time, and it took me more than half the book to play catch up and get an inkling of how all the pieces were fitting together.

It’s a very interesting story and unlike anything I’ve read before, but the main issue I had was that I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. I’m not saying they weren’t any good, they just weren’t very likeable and had zero redeeming qualities. Let’s take Ruth for instance. She keeps everyone at arm’s length, including the reader, for no reason I could discern. She comes across as cold and calculating. That was my perception of her. Also, she’s not a strong female lead. Her evading her pursuers was mostly luck, as throughout most of the story she’s a shaking, terrified wreck, with no clear plan of action.

Then there’s Mike. If you’ve ever watched the cult classic movie, American Psycho, Mike is a copy of Christian Bale’s narcissistic, creepy character in the aforementioned movie. That is a terrific movie, so by the way, and kudos to the author for writing a similar character �� intentional or not - as he definitely creeped me out.

The two other big issues I had was all the endless technical computer jargon, and the blunt ending that was very unsatisfying and left me with many unanswered questions. But overall I can say with certainty that this book will appeal to the right audience. It has a clever plot and is very well-written. The synopsis was appealing and had me curious, but sadly at the end of the day this book wasn’t exactly for me.

Many thanks to the author, Penguin Press, and NetGalley for an early copy of Ruth Run. My review is my own, unbiased opinion.
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"4.5 ⭐️

enjoyed this book so much and so in love with the gnoles 🥹"