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  • Run for Your Life (A Michael Bennett Thriller, 2)
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
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Run for Your Life (A Michael Bennett Thriller, 2)

Run for Your Life (A Michael Bennett Thriller, 2)

byJames Patterson
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Top positive review

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Sheila M
5.0 out of 5 starsRead it
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on May 8, 2023
My husband reads these books I order. He loves them and reads them so fast I end up purchasing a lot.
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Top critical review

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S. McGee
3.0 out of 5 starsA rollercoaster ride -- but it's a predictable one
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on February 8, 2009
The Teacher, the latest serial killer to stalk the streets of New York, ostensibly wants to persuade us all to be less frivolous, ill-mannered and materialistic. But is that the REAL reason he is killing everyone from a sales clerk in a designer boutique to an Air France stewardess?

That's the question NYPD detective Michael Bennett has to decipher if he is to capture the apparently obsessive killer. But Bennett has his own problems: half of his ten motherless children are down with the flu and he's just talked a crazed man into surrendering his hostages, only to have a random shooter take the life of the surrendering criminal. He could do without the hassles of trying to track down the Teacher as he claims all kinds of upscale victims.

Patterson's book, needless to say, is far from flawless, but it comes as a welcome relief after the truly dreadful Cross Country. The only reason to pick it up is for a quick infusion of rollercoaster suspense -- but this book, unlike many of Patterson's earliest efforts and like too many of his more recent books, becomes so predictable that the reader ends up feeling as though he or she has been back on one of those rollercoasters that you first rode as a young child and that now, while still exciting, has lost much of its ability to terrify and enthrall.

Part of the problem is that, for a thriller, the book spends too much time on Bennett's cutesy kids and the problems he confronts raising them and too little on the process of figuring out who is doing this and why. Indeed, Bennett, on the evidence of this book, is a rather prosaic investigator at best and his actions in the final confrontation with the Teacher are a little improbable (as is the confrontation itself). Clues about the real identity of the well-clad foodie who is the Teacher are scattered throughout, and it's the portions of the book that give the reader a look inside his brain and actions that -- oddly -- emerge as the most powerful and suspenseful.

It's painfully obvious that Patterson's involvement in these books is to craft the outlines while his co-authors devote themselves to the writing. For the sake of his readers, I wish that now that he has made his tens of millions of dollars, he'd decide to turn out two books a year instead of five or so, and end up with meatier and more carefully-thought-out books instead. (There are all kinds of dangling threads in this one, including just who shoots the murderer Bennett has persuaded to surrender in the introductory chapter.) That compromise would give us better written and more thoughtful plots and stronger characters, like the Alex Cross of yore. But since that isn't likely to happen, I'd recommend getting this from the library, buying it in paperback, and saving it for when you need a book that doesn't require too many braincells, like a cross-country plane trip.
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From the United States

JNP
1.0 out of 5 stars Puke by the gallon
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on April 1, 2009
Verified Purchase
What is the purpose of this book? Greed!

Why would a decent mystery writer like Patterson put his name on a book written by someone else? The only answer I can come up with is money. Which would be fine if the book was half-way decent. Instead, it is boring and shallow, with bad writing, unrealistic dialogue, and many loose ends.

Almost half the book is about the main character's many kids having he flu and vomitting. I am serious, part two of the book is titled "Puke by the gallon". An apt title for the book itself, I would say. No action, nothing happens, just high school writing with bad similes like "Sound slammed into her like a collapsed wall".

The characters are caricatures, and the dialogue between them amateurish. Several issues are raised but never developed or resolved. They're just there, like an unfinished basement with wires and pipes hanging down, not connected to anything. For example there is some mention of attraction and sexual tention between the main character and two different women, but nothing comes of it. One of the protagonist's many children has a pretty serious moral problem, but, again, nothing is done with it. The killer is contacted once by instant message, and then never again!

Save your money, and, more importantly, your time.

And by the way, to whoever wrote this book: If the killer sends and receives instant messages from his own cell phone, he can be traced in seconds. Do a little research before creating ridiculously unrealistic situations!
13 people found this helpful
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DDsea
1.0 out of 5 stars Bad
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on September 4, 2021
Verified Purchase
One thing is for sure, Patterson did not write this piece of crap. It is not even remotely similar to his style and the plot is beyond absurd. His name is on the cover but thatโ€™s all.
2 people found this helpful
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Marvel
1.0 out of 5 stars Another loser ala Ledwidge
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on March 20, 2009
Verified Purchase
This is another back to back product that allegedly is a collaborative effort, and if it was a joint effort, Mr. Patterson must have been sleepwalking when he put his two cents into it. A total waste of money - written for adolescent consumption or for people who have little understanding of the American art of authorship and american colloquial english. A total waste of time and money.
2 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Fair
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on October 14, 2019
Verified Purchase
Fair plot too many killings and poorly written. Characters are mimics and poorly drawn. This the result of too many books.
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fred
1.0 out of 5 stars Totally Imcompetent.
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on January 16, 2016
Verified Purchase
I tried to order this book for my wife and the order sits frozen. Amazon has not downloaded it and gives no explanation.
I tried to contact Amazon customer service, but that is an impossibility.
Hope you can correct this problem.
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Sheila
1.0 out of 5 stars Not Happy !
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on November 2, 2009
Verified Purchase
I have read every book James Patterson has written...loved them all.
HOWEVER HE MUST HAVE RUN OUT OF NEW IDEAS. THIS BOOK WAS TERRIBLE. I KEPT READING THINKING IT WOULD IMPROVE BUT IT WAS BORING , CONFUSING AND INANE RIGHT UP TO THE LAST PAGE.
THUMBS DOWN FOR THIS ONE ! IMO
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D. R. Leino
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on May 7, 2009
Verified Purchase
For all of the hype about this book, it was a BIG disappointment. Almost as if it was written by a high school kid. Very weak, predictable and choppy. Not worth the time or $'s.
7 people found this helpful
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Jamie Davis
1.0 out of 5 stars Did not care for it
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on March 30, 2009
Verified Purchase
I just did not care for this book and I usually love James Patterson books. This one had so much potential and could have been such a good story but it just fell way off the mark for me.
3 people found this helpful
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CLAIRE G.
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on February 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
Loved this book!
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Tiffany Price
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on October 22, 2014
Verified Purchase
Didn't order this.
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