If I Run by Terri Blackstock

"Casey Cox has blood on the bottom of her shoes, in her car, on her clothes. But there's no point in trying to defend herself. She just has to run. Casey didn't kill her friend Brent. She discovered his body, but she'd never try to hurt him. He's the only person she's ever trusted enough to tell the truth about what happened to her father and there's no doubt in her mind that Brent was killed trying to help her prove it. She has to run before they get to her too. Dylan Roberts was hired to find Casey and bring her back so that justice can be served. As a former Criminal Investigator for the Army, he can't imagine that tracking down one girl will be that difficult. But the more elusive Casey turns out to be, the more Dylan digs into her past to try to determine what she might be thinking. What he finds there doesn't fit the profile of a killer at all. She's unlike any other fugitive he's ever seen. The police refuse to discuss any other possibilities. There's something more going on here. Something more to this fugitive who has captured his attention. Now he just has to figure out what it is and Casey just has to stay one step ahead of everyone who's after her"--

Slow at the beginning, but it started to get interesting as it progressed. It's not fast paced, but it was very enjoyable. Can't wait to continue with the next book!

An enjoyable suspense read. Casey and Dylan are both interesting characters. The clues and relationships are good, and Miss Lucy gives a nice Christian testimony in the course of the story.

However, I dropped a star for two reasons. When I ordered the book, I had no idea it was written in present tense. This POV is extremely off-putting for me, and it made it very hard to read. To be brought so close to the moment of the story obscures the action and the perspective, and leaves the reader focused only on the MC's action. It became particularly awkward when the scenes included flashbacks to earlier events, because we got the blow-by-blow of two different character watching the same video just in order to stay in present tense.

Also, the library scene with the guy viewing porn was too much. The same incident could have done without the level of description. Spending three pages on the horrid librarian not being concerned, and the guy refusing to use headphones to mask the sound of his dirty video, and the other patrons sitting around rolling their eyes...honestly, it felt like a hit against librarians. I might have believed the scene if it happened in Atlanta, or anywhere up north, but in the regular “Bible Belt” area, the librarians are really diligent or the patrons are quick to complain. Durant, OK is still a fairly “small” town and the scene wasn't believable there. (In addition to the too-much-description gripe.)

Anyway, despite the POV issue, I'll read the next book, simply because now I need to known if they ever catch the perp and how Casey survives.