3.5 stars

Even a reader as jaded as myself can on occasionally fall for advertising. The Dead Run looked like an exciting supernatural thriller but really it is just a mediocre potboiler only my stubbornness allowed me to finish. Lots of action but by the time the book is finished you won't care.

While Mansbach certainly has some clever ideas and some truly inspired turns of phrase, overall, this is a tired, sad, and uninspiring book, lacking memorable characters and nuanced, uncontrived plot points.

While I do harbor a deep and abiding love for zombies, I don’t typically go for horror novels. I read R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike and all that other fluffy crap when I was younger but somehow I never got around to graduating to actual horror as I got older. In the last couple of years I’ve stumbled across a couple of things here and there that strike my fancy(Joe Hill in particular) but I’ve never been motivated to search out new horror novels. So when I pulled The Dead Run out of my swag bag f...

I hate to give books any less than 3 stars but in this case it is warranted. The ideas presented were interesting and I did really like the story's overall plot. It was, however, wasted.Too much time was spent on the same thing happening over and over again. Without spoiling things: It seemed that the same people were caught, escaped, and were caught again. Over and over. I feel, as I have with some others, that the mythology, while developed, fell short or was simply presented poorly. Cut down

*This review is based on an Advance Reader copy from the publisher*This was highly entertaining! Great action that grabs you from the get-go and doesn't let up. Jess, our "hero", is a stand-up guy who kicks major ass. He is certainly flawed, but has a definite code of ethics that he follows religiously (for lack of a better term), whether he is in a shady bar south of the border, an even shadier Mexican prison, or when he's trekking across the desert with a band of convicts on a shadier yet miss...

This book was pretty entertaining and it perfectly fit my October Horror-Fest thing. There were multiple storylines going on and sometimes it did become a bit confusing. I also didn't like either of the two main female characters. Basically, it was flawed in many ways but it actually was an enjoyable book, and when you're rooting for the protagonist to "Eat the dead virgin's heart!" you pretty much know that the author has made your brain his slave :) It had some interesting noir and western ele...

This book is weird and really not my thing. When zombies and vampires show up in my book, I usually put it down and read something else. I didn't in this one because I was intrigued how all the characters would eventually together.

This has to be the most ridiculously macho book I have ever read and I read a LOT of Warhammer 40k.

That was really bad. This would have made an okay B-movie scenario at best, but as a novel it was just bad. Poorly written, flat characters, predicable story, insane amount of clichés and stereotypes. There was a lot of action, if that's worth something for some... I didn't like it at all!

The Dead Run: A Novel by Adam Mansbach is a decent, light read that at times goes for layered and literary and at other times finds pretty right-on social commentary. I wanted to love the primary characters, but they tend to be a little static and flat. Good as a genre piece.

I enjoyed that this plot of this book was something new not just a variation of the same old theme. I even enjoyed most of the writing. Why only a three? It is one of those books that could have ended a few chapters sooner. Every time it neared a climax what ever could go wrong for the heros would. The whole Murphy’s law scenario grows old after the 4th time.

After talking with Karen today I think my taste in books is becoming erratic and suspect. There are things like Fantasticland that I probably should have loved, but which I had gripes about that I can't remember the details of. I don't know if this book is the same.Maybe it's really better than I thought, and I just saw there is a sequel to it, and I'm actually curious to read it, just because I'm not exactly sure how he is going to handle the story from the point that it ended here. My big prob...

I thought this was going to he a sort of prison break novel of a guy on the run, but was pleasantly surprised by the supernatural element thrown in. I very much enjoyed the characters and the story even if changing characters and point of view every chapter was a bit jarring. However, once I got used to it I enjoyed that aspect seeing how they all came together. It was beautifully done in the end!Admittedly, it took just a bit for me to get into this book but then I was hooked. I read it in abou...

For some reason, probably to do with the title and the cover, I expected a zombie read. So it was a pleasant surprise, since zombies are quite ubiquitous these days and good original horror stories are pretty difficult to come by. And this was definitely good and original, the author utilized ancient Latin American mythology to infuse this thriller with a supernatural theme. The book is a mix of action and horror, mixed evenly and told in an uber testosterony tough guy narration. I mean, this bo...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. After reading the book's summary, I was interested, but reading the prologue sealed the deal. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped by page three. I needed to read this book! And thank goodness, the rest of the book did not disappoint. I was never bored and was repeatedly (and pleasantly) shocked. There was no lack of action or suspense, and my favorite aspect? The humor. While one might not pick up this book expecting to chuckle to themselves throughout, that is exactly...

Solid concept with the Virgin Army.

The Dead Run chiefly concerns felons from a Mexican prison, a twisted religious cult, an honest sheriff, a corrupt federale, an anti-immigrant Motorcycle gang, an army of sand-burrowing undead teenage girls, and a resurrected Aztec God- all duking it out in the southwestern desert. It should surprise no one that I loved this book. It was no Great Gatsby or A Separate Peace, but it was surely the Brothers Karamazov of Southwestern supernatural action/horror.

Picked up this book as a Corona Lockdown-read and was pleasantly surprised. The dust jacket preview doesn’t tell you everything and I’m glad it didn’t. Plenty of twists and turns in a highly entertaining novel. Second half does not quite keep up with first half and characters make some pretty stupid decisions at time, but it is still a lot of fun.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Tasked with carrying a package to an unknown location, Jess Galvan is about to get a lot more than he bargained for. For the chance to see his daughter again though, any risk is worth the price.Opening Sentence: It was almost dawn and Mulligan was nine-tenths dead, dragging one leg after the other out of sheer dumb will.The Review:I spent the first 30-40% of this book mentally writing my 2 star review, planning on citing the unlikeable character...