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Barbara Copperthwaite

Review: SEE HOW THEY RUN, Tom Bale


See How They Run, by Tom Bale. Review by Barbara Copperthwaite

“Read. This. Book. That’s all I need to say.”

THEY SAY:

How far would you go to save your family?

In the dead of night, new parents Alice and Harry French are plunged into their worst nightmare when they wake to find masked men in their bedroom. Men ruthless enough to threaten their baby daughter, Evie.

This is no burglary gone wrong.

The intruders know who they’re looking for – a man called Edward Renshaw.

And they are prepared to kill to get to him.

When the men leave empty handed, little do Alice and Harry realise that their nightmare is just beginning. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Who is Renshaw? And what is he hiding?

One thing is clear – they already know too much.

As Alice and Harry are separated in the run for their lives, there is no time for breathe in their fight to be reunited. And with their attackers closing in, there is only a choice:

STAY ALIVE. OR DON’T.

Terrifying, unputdownable and full of twists and turns, this stunning thriller will have you on the edge of your seat right to the very last page.

I SAY:

Read. This. Book.

That’s all I need to say, really, because this is an absolute belter that has tension, drama, nail-biting high-speed chases, and is brilliantly written. But of course I’m not going to stop there…

The opening scene is just exactly the sort of thing you might imagine as you lie in bed, wondering what woke you. Was it a sound? Or your imagination? Is someone in your house? Or is it just the tendrils of a dream still clinging to you? It’s a powerful start that taps into fears we all have.

Then the nightmare becomes reality…

Within just a handful of paragraphs, See How They Run goes off like a rocket - and the fireworks never stop. But what is so clever about the story is that even as it runs out of control, it always feels as if it is something that really could happen. We understand the thinking of the main characters, even when they make stupid decisions.

There are a lot of books that try to pack in as much action as See How They Run, but they fail because the authors seem to be writing a film rather than a novel. They use visual tricks that would work on screen but fall a little flat in the written word. Tom Bale, however, never loses sight of the fact he is writing a brilliant book, and so takes the opportunity to get under the skin of his characters as well as give it so much pace the reader feels as if they are rattling along on a runaway train. This is edge-of-your-seat stuff!

There are pockets of space where readers and characters get to take a little breather, where Tom Bale takes the opportunity to tug the emotions. Then the action takes off again. Wow!

Need I say more? Check out this breathless, heart-pounding, action-packed must-read!

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