Review of You Can Run by Trevor Wood Written by Dan Stubbings

Book Blurb

It takes a village to save a child in this pulse-pounding standalone thriller from the acclaimed author of The Man on the Street.

It wasn’t her dad they were after.
It was her.

Ruby Winter is surprised when her reclusive father invites a stranger into their house. She eavesdrops on their conversation and is alarmed when she hears a fight break out. She dashes into the kitchen to save her dad but the stranger’s the one lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Her dad urges her to pack a bag. They must quit their Northumbrian cottage and run. There isn’t time to explain why. But as they try to flee her dad is captured.

The only people who can help her are the villagers she has shunned her whole life. But, desperate to find her father and to work out who took him and why, she must seek their help.

But what if learning the truth means discovering the life she once knew was a lie?

Review

You Can Run is a standalone thriller set in the fictional village of Coldburn in Northumbria. The story is told mostly through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Ruby Winter whose secluded innocence life is thrown into turmoil when a group of violent missionaries invade her village. They cut them off from the rest of world, and they are hellbent on catching her. She has no idea why, but as secrets long buried begin to creep out of the woodwork. She begins to question everything she holds dear even her own existence. This standalone is a departure for Trevor from his highly successful Jimmy Mullen series that began with Man on the Street. The departure is a resounding success. The pace is breath-taking. Trevor maintains what you loved from his first series of books such as memorable characters, a strong sense of place, and humourous dialogue.

Some of the lines had me in fits of laughter as I came to love or hate every character for multiple reasons. I couldn’t put the book down as I kept saying just one more chapter as my alarm for the next day of work loomed on the horizon. The reason why this occurred and what makes it so different from the Man on the Street trilogy is because Trevor has added a new dynamic to his writing that is enthralling. No word is wasted, as he hurdles you forward into a story with so many twists and turns that you need treatment for whiplash when you finish. It is set within such a tight timeframe that you can forget about taking a breath to compose yourself, and digest what you have learnt. The pages racing by as if they are bullets fired from a gun. The decision to use this timeframe to its full advantage allows Trevor to push the boundaries on his writing making for an unforgettable conclusion as clues unfold.

Trevor has written a cast of characters that you can’t help but love and find yourself rooting for. He captures effortlessly the rawness of village politics, and the close knit almost claustrophobic at times group of villagers that inhabit this forgotten place, as they are thrown into the unknown to protect their homes from invaders and help a young girl who has shunned them for her entire life. As the plot develops, we learn pieces of information about all of them from Lucas who is seen by Ruby as the class clown and somebody she wants nothing to do with, to the village gossip queen Margaret who truly does come into her own as the story unfolds. I guarantee you she will steal your heart. As Ruby begins to grow closer to the group of misfit villagers that she must depend on to save her life. She slowly begins to change her perception about every one of them and she begins to question not just her own story, but how wrong she has been about the people she lives near.

This is a story filled with heart, controversial topics, and enough northern humour to make your stomach hurt from laughing. I can truly say in parts I felt seen. This is a new venture for Trevor, and he has produced a blinder. You can’t help but fall in love with the cast of misfits, and the fictional village he has created. Coldburn is so vividly described that you feel as if you’re there. You breathe it in as you explore every fibre. I can’t wait to read what Trevor does next. It receives five stars.