Run Time

The scene is set. The actors are in place. The setting is a remote cabin in the woods. Adele Rafferty is running scared.

 Final Draft is a psychological horror set in the remote woods of Ireland. Based on a “true story that hasn’t happened yet,” Adele thinks this movie is both her big break and recovery from the disaster that was her first foray into the silver screen. After the whirlwind 24 hours it takes her to drop everything in LA and arrive in remote Ireland, she receives a text that tells her to GET OUT OF THERE NOW and begins to suspect there is something more nefarious going on than just a horror movie.

This is the best book you will read in 2022 and you can quote me on that. The premise of a book within a screenplay within a movie within a book is not as confusing as it sounds, and turned out to be one of the most riveting books I’ve read in a long time. Adele is a wonderful main character, both dynamic and unreliable. The story is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Catherine Ryan Howard, and that is well-written, full of twists, and symbolic of the world around us.

I loved the greater message about women empowerment and how sometimes we have to save ourselves. It was both relatable and heartbreaking to read the male characters in show business, but even more interesting to hear about women and the results of men’s actions. This story is powerful, creepy, and extremely meta in the best way.

I haven’t read a book that truly creeped me out like this in a long time. The setting was dark and slimy and had all the right elements to make me keep the lights on while reading. I could never quite put my finger on what was really going on, and I think that’s what makes for an exceptional story. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone as one of the biggest successes of the year.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Catherine Ryan Howard for my ARC of this book. Opinions are my own. Run Time comes out on August 16, 2021