The prologue to Run, by Mandasue Heller, is definitely gave me plenty to learn from. A female victim is dragged down a dark alley by the male antagonist, who opens a door to a hideout, revealing a dead body. The scene is bleak and wonderfully horrific. And it poses so many questions.
Who is the victim? Who is the antagonist? Who is the dead body? And what the hell happened to get to this point? This opening draws you in, compelling you to find out the answers to these questions.
I found the rest of the book quite challenging. The storyline wasn’t original. The protagonist, Leanne, wasn’t a strong character. She was lured by the handsome, charming and loaded Jake, because he was – erm – handsome, charming and loaded. It quickly became apparent that Jake was a psychopath, but Leanne didn’t see this, or she chose to ignore it.
From the title, I thought it would be a game of cat and mouse, with Leanne fleeing from Jake, running for her life. But that never really materialised. There wasn’t really a major twist – apart from revealing just how sinister and psychopathic Jake really was. The implied motive for Jake’s actions – that he was picked on at school – wasn’t really a strong enough for me.
And so, the rest of Run was a disappointment (for me – you may love it!), but it was worth reading just for hat tantalising beginning.