Runner

A Sam Dryden Novel, Book 1

By: Patrick Lee

Narrated by: Raul Esparza

Sam Dryden, retired special forces, lives a quiet life in a small town on the coast of Southern California. While out on a run in the middle of the night, a young girl runs into him on the seaside boardwalk. Barefoot and terrified, she's running from a group of heavily armed men with one clear goal - to kill the fleeing child.

After Dryden helps her evade her pursuers, he learns that the 11-year-old, for as long as she can remember, has been kept in a secret prison by forces within the government. But she doesn't know much beyond her own name, Rachel. She only remembers the past two months of her life - and that she has a skill that makes her very dangerous to these men and the hidden men in charge.

Dryden, who lost his wife and young daughter in an accident five years ago, agrees to help her try to unravel her own past and make sense of it, to protect her from the people who are moving heaven and earth to find them both.

Although Dryden is only one man, he's a man with the extraordinary skills and experience - as a Ranger, a Delta, and five years doing off-the-book black ops with an elite team. But, as he slowly begins to discover, the highly trained paramilitary forces on their heels is the only part of the danger they must face. Will Rachel's own unremembered past be the most deadly of them all?

©2014 Patrick Lee (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

loved it!

I loved this story I just wish the ending was different but overall very enjoyable. Raul Esparza does a great job in his narrating the story.

Fantastic!

Loved it. Spellbinding. A unique story line that kept me listening every chance I could get.

Raúl Esparza's performance is excellent

Loved this book. Such a riveting story.. Listened to it all in one afternoon/evening/night. Raúl Esparza's narration/performance was fabulous.

Wow!!! Great Story and Performance

If you could sum up Runner in three words, what would they be?

Satisfying, surprising, and Fast.

What did you like best about this story?

The interplay between the main characters as well as the action.

What does Raul Esparza bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Esparza's voice work was easy to listen to, and made the main characters particularly appealing and interesting.

Any additional comments?

Lots of great twists and turns ... a very fun read.

Narrator

The narrator speaks too softly. Despite the all of the action, his soft spoken speech made me sleepy and hard to get through an otherwise fun ride.

what a delight!!! such an emotional rollercoaster.

loved it!! the narrator did an excellent job with all the characters. It connected with me, the special relationship between Sam and Rachel.. willing to sacrifice anything for the other. Someone must've been cutting some onions while I was listening to this... :)

wow, best of Patrick Lee

It’s missing the gut wrenching stress like the Breach did but I didn’t mind. It felt more real and replacing the sexual interest between the protagonist and his subject with parental connection was a brilliant move. It will be among my top 5 sci-fi for sure!!!

what an amazing story

From the first few minutes I was hooked, few books grab on to me like this one did! what an awesome book!

Really good!

The story was very intriguing, fast-paced, and was definitely not technically dated, considering it was written 8+ years ago. The narration was really good, too.

There was one disturbing scene involving a hammer and a guy handcuffed to a bumper... 😳
I fast forwarded through most of the scene, once I realized the direction it was going... if you are at all squeamish about that type of violence I recommend you fast forward, as well. The good news is that's the only scene like that so everything else was easy to listen to.

High Anxiety Suspense

The two main characters are a broken man and a broken child. The child has unique abilities including mind reading. Seemingly everyone either wants a piece of her or to prevent anyone else gaining access to her and the chase is on. The story is well written and fast moving, the characters rich and sympathetic I recommend this one!