Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Show me the money.
The year is 1995. Hot tempered Gwen has just been fired from a job and is making her way through Texas where she comes across a terrified women hitchhiking in the middle of nowhere. Gwen feels compelled to help this woman because she has clearly been through something.
The blurb for this book spoils most of what was interesting to discover about it. So if you plan on reading this, I would recommend skipping the blurb.
Gwen finds herself on the run with and falling for the woman she picked up on that desolate highway.
The first part of this book was exciting as we get to know the hitchhiker and what her story is about. I felt nervous for them as they tried to evade law enforcement. The uncertainty of how much trouble Gwen was getting herself into made the story engaging.
But at a certain point in the book, things really slowed down to the point of having trouble getting through it. I have read two other of Greene’s books, “Legacy’ and ‘Gnarled Hollow.’ Her descriptive writing style works exceptionally well for those creepy stories that require a lot of specificity to set the scene and vibe just right. With ‘On the Run,’ that level of detail hurt the pace of what should have been a story that sped along to the finish with excitement.
The final 1/4 of the story picked up and became interesting again, but by then I had been kind of skim reading and not very attached to the outcome any longer.
Also, there was a part in this book where I literally went back to see if I skipped a chapter. Something happened so quickly and strange that it felt jarring and I think that is where the story kind of disconnected for me.
Overall, this was OK. Great beginning, a confusing union, a slow middle, and a good ending.
I would recommend to people who like to read about money laundering, evading the law, old technology, and women who stuff their faces in diners.