Review – If I Run

From the back cover:   Casey knows the truth.
But it won’t set her free.
Casey Cox’s DNA is all over the crime scene. There’s no use talking to police; they have failed her abysmally before. She has to flee before she’s arrested . . . or worse. The truth doesn’t matter anymore.

But what is the truth? That’s the question haunting Dylan Roberts, the war-weary veteran hired to find Casey. PTSD has marked him damaged goods, but bringing Casey back can redeem him. Though the crime scene seems to tell the whole story, details of the murder aren’t adding up. Casey Cox doesn’t fit the profile of a killer. But are Dylan’s skewed perceptions keeping him from being objective? If she isn’t guilty, why did she run?

Unraveling her past and the evidence that condemns her will take more time than he has, but as Dylan’s damaged soul intersects with hers, he is faced with two choices. The girl who occupies his every thought is a psychopathic killer . . . or a selfless hero. And the truth could be the most deadly weapon yet.

Maybe you remember the original  David Jansen television series: “The Fugitive? Or perhaps you have seen airings of the series on one of the repeat cable television channels? If not for four years Jansen ran while his police lieutenant friend chased him because the police thought he murdered his wife. That is almost the same as what is going on here. The police think Casey committed the murder as her DNA is all over the crime scene. She tracked her shoe prints all over the crime scene, pulled out the knife and took it with her. The police found it in her car. She did not want to be arrested so she is on the run with the police branding her a fugitive. All the police except for Dylan Roberts, a flawed hero. Now Dylan is going to try to prove Casey innocent so she can stop the run.

Once the action gets going Ms. Blackstock revs up the thriller quotient considerably which will have you reading and flipping pages as fast as you can. Ms. Blackstock has provided us a first-rate mystery. “If I Run” is a wonderful way to begin a series and don’t you just love the title? I think this is Ms. Blackstock’s best work yet and Casey and Dylan are the best defined characters ever. Don’t start this book late at night because it will be very difficult to put it down or stop thinking about it.  I recommend this book highly and am greatly looking forward to the next book in the series.