Runaway

The thriller/mystery/crime/whatever you want to call it aspect could have been interesting, especially if the book had focused more on the parallels between the main character Jan and the “runaway” Maddy. But instead it focused on a (bad) romance between Jan and one of the most unlikable characters I had the displeasure of reading about, Catherine. First of all, I'm supposed to believe they're instantly in love with the only real reason given is the great sex. They barely talk in the book, when they do it's mostly Catherine trying to convince Jan she's not a terrible person (she is). Catherine not only cheats on her longtime girlfriend with Jan, she also abuses her power as her boss to be with her when Jan is avoiding her. Later Catherine says she was going to tell Jan, if she only had picked up her phone, after a whole day of not telling her despite having every opportunity to until directly asked about it. Later on when we meet her girlfriend (as Catherine calls her, her wife even) she's portrayed as a crazy jealous woman despite Catherine having cheated on her multiple times.

Meanwhile the thriller plotline is just an afterthought, just Jan's job shes thinking about when she can tear her thoughts away from Catherine. Which is a shame because that was much more interesting. Not to mention Jan's ties to it, and the fact her whole past is a lie, but those issues barely matter in the story to the point im wondering what the point of giving Jan that past was. Maddy doesn't even get a real conclusion despite the book intermittently changing perspectives between her an Jan, the last few chapters fellow Jan exclusively. We have very little idea of how she is doing after the events. This book is a mediocre thriller at best. I'm not a romance reader, but if the point of romance is to make the reader want to see the two leads together, this book definitely fails as a romance as well. The best thing I can say about it is that it was over quickly.