D.P. Lyle's enjoyable thriller opens with a married couple packing up their house in preparation of a move. We learn a lot quickly - that the couple had a son who was murdered, that they're leaving town in fear of the murderer being released from prison, and that their move seems to not only involve changing addresses, but also leaving behind their identity. And the reason for that last step becomes clear quickly, as the murderer is shot by an unseen sniper as he leaves prison. Now forensics expert Dub Walker and his friends (one a homicide investigator, the other a TV reporter) are working to track down the couple, all while grappling with the fact that none of them particularly blame the couple for the choice to murder the man. That's really just the beginning of Run to Ground, which nicely paces out some twists along the way that keep the story moving in different directions often enough to keep you solidly gripped by the story as it unfolds. You could argue that Run to Ground is a little generic, and that's a fair complaint; while Dub and his friends are certainly entertaining characters, they're pretty standard archetypes, even if they're well-done ones. And while the plotting is nicely complex, it never does anything truly shocking or exciting, instead mostly just doing a pretty standard story in solid ways. But there's something to be said for a solid, successful thriller that does its job and does it well, and Run to Ground is assuredly that. No, there's nothing here you haven't seen before, but it's done well, done entertainingly, and kept me reading pretty compulsively to see how it all played out. And that's something in of itself, isn't it?
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe