What's the book about?

Adele is a former TV star and she has stepped in at the last minute to replace the original actress in the film Final Draft. This could be her big break but there's something off about Final Draft. When the incidents from the script begin to happen in real life on set, Adele believes that the true horror lies beyond the page.

My thoughts:

Howard is a master at slow burners and building suspense. This felt different from her other books and the built up was fantastic. I feel it's probably why I expected more of a bang at the end. It just fizzled compared to how the story progressed.

I absolutely loved the idea of this book! A thriller that takes place on the remote set of a horror film - what a great idea. I'd read one of Catherine Ryan Howard's previous books ('56 Days') set during Covid lockdown so I knew that I was in safe hands...if anyone can pull off some bogglingly high concept ideas then she can!

The book focused on Adele Rafferty, an actress who is down on her luck in Los Angeles when she gets a call to join the set of 'Final Draft', a psychological thriller being filmed in a remote area of West Cork. Adele doesn't have the best track record on film sets, so her last-minute call on this one is a bit of a mystery - and, she hopes, her big break. When she gets to the remote location, she finds a small and decidedly odd film crew, a very low budget production, and some very strange happenings...as if the script is coming to life! It's up to Adele to figure out what is happening as - if fact continues to emulate fiction - her life is at risk.

It's worth saying now that Catherine Ryan Howard writes tension well. So well that my heart was in my mouth for a lot of the time as Adele faced a whole host of creepy and unexplainable events. I felt that I was there with her during several points in this terrifying book! Adele is very cleverly isolated - both physically due to the location and also from the crew because she is the lone woman with a past she wants to keep hidden. This makes for some tense reading as she crosses the ground between the house and her (frankly scary) trailer in the woods.

The character of Adele is developed gradually as the novel progresses - we learn a lot more about her along the way and really start to question her reliability given all the crazy things happening to her. She's a real strength in the novel - just as well given that we spend a lot of time intensely focused on her.

The book is well-plotted and engaging. raising so many questions along the way that my head was spinning and I absolutely did not want to put it down. Although I wasn't entirely sold on the ending, I can't dispute that it was well thought-out and made sense of all the events. I really couldn't see where the plot was heading until we got there so I guess that's a good thing!

If I have one niggle, it's that there's a lot of repeated elements - I'd have liked a bit less focus on the phone battery/reception as it became a constant cycle of hopes being raised and dashed, messages being missed, Adele being cut off. It all added to the isolation that Adele faced, but I found the events in the house, woods and cabin to be much more engaging.

If you love high-concept thrillers, this one is for you. It's claustrophobic, intense and very scary - probably much more so than the low-budget 'Final Draft' film can ever hope to be!

Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD's writing. She writes great characters who have solid streams-of-thought, so even now that she has written about a woman who second-guesses everything and as such creates her own mystery (one of my most hated thriller tropes), I don't mind it.

Adele is a has-been actor. She's faced something in her career in Ireland, which meant that she had to flee the country in order to try to still get a job in her profession. However, it's not as easy as it might seem to get a job in Hollywood. One day she gets a call from a director in Ireland who is looking for someone to star in his horror film. The condition is that filming starts tomorrow and that she can't talk to anyone about it.

Adele decides to jump on the opportunity, even though she hasn't even read the script. What she finds when she travels to remote cabin is a tiny crew with only men of sometimes questionable morals. When scenes that are occuring in the script are starting to happen in real life, Adele doesn't know what to believe anymore.

I didn't like the subject matter as much as I like NOTHING MAN. I don't necessarily like novels about actors and film productions. However, it did keep me on the edge of my seat, because what was happening seemed real to me even if things were explained away pretty easily I bought into Adele's fears.

The structure of the novel is a movie script inside the story which tells the story of the movie that is being filmed. Inside the movie script there's a book that does the same thing. Does that make sense? Unfortunately the ending was a bit too far-fetched for me. I would've liked it if there wouldn't have been quite so many surprises, I think the story was suspenseful enough with the first couple of reveals.

I will certainly keep reading Catherine Ryan Howard's novels though because I'm a fan of her writing style,

3.5 rounded up.
I've read quite a few "book in a book" two level stories in my time. In fact they are still quite popular and, when done well, very effective. I don't think I've read a three level one before starting this book though. This one being a book in a play in a book. Although, that said, the bottom layer book does not really feature too heavily.
So, we have Adele, former soap-star whose star is definitely in its descendancy after her last job and who has escaped to the states and is working in a motel, desperately searching for her next break. Which, funnily enough, is just around the corner (it'd be a short boring book if it wasn't!) and comes in the form of a call offering her a job as a last minute replacement for the original actress in a psychological horror back home in the wilds of West Cork. It is directed by a big name and could be just the break she needs so...
But there's a vow of silence. No one can know the film even exists let alone that she is starring in it. So we have a tainted actress, the comeback job of her life, with a bunch of people she doesn't know, with no one she does know knowing she is there, in a cabin, in the woods, in the middle of nowhere...
What Could Possibly Go Wrong.
Especially if you factor in (when you get to that part) the events that shaped her comedown...
Blooming heck. This is all a bit dark and foreboding. And interconnected, and all things secrets and lies. All served up with more than enough duplicitous behaviour to go round and back again.
In fact, it's occasionally a bit over the top and you do have to have your wits about you all the way through to keep juggling the three layers and what is happening in each. Especially as there is a fair amount of mirroring. It does become a tad disjointed at times but it's all good fun nevertheless.
There is also quite a bit of setting up to be found in the first third so pacing is a bit slow initially. But said setting up is important, vital even, to the overall plot so it is a necessary evil and the slow build up only serves to make the rest of the book more exciting, anticipation and tension-ramping-up wise.
The plot is a bit all over the place, until it isn't. And that does make sense, honest. But it does get a bit wayward at times along the way, you really do need to trust in the author to rein it all back in, which she does, so there's that.
And the final reveal isn't quite all that it could/should have been but I can't really go into the why's and wherefore's of all that. Which is why the 3.5 stars. But the fun did have whilst reading it was the, why I rounded up, as it was a relatively quick and easy, fun, read for me. Despite the eye-rolling, I was never contemplating giving up.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I always enjoy a book by Catherine Ryan Howard. Each is different and certainly Run Time (a nice play on words) is a departure from her previous stories, but none the worse for that. This one is more akin to a spooky horror story and is a deliciously wicked read as Howard embeds her protagonist inside a story within another story with many levels. This is meta fiction with a creepy edge.

Adele Raffery is an Irish actress best known for her role in a soap opera in her home country. Things went badly wrong though and she fled to Los Angeles to start again, but has ended up as so many aspiring actors do, working in a run-down Hollywood motel. There she spends her time going to auditions where she is faced with competition in the form of so many young Californian leggy blondes that success seems very far away.

She’s on her uppers and making no headway so she’s both thrilled and astonished to receive a call from a production company back home who are interested in using her on a low budget film they’re making in the west of Ireland. They’ve just lost their lead actor and they want Adele to step in.

The money is terrible, but they’ll pay for decent travel. Best of all, this production is being shot in secret and mostly at night so Adele won’t have to socialise with anyone or indulge in the actor gossip sessions that so plagued her life the last time she was acting in her home country – when things went to badly wrong.

Cross Cut Productions is run by Steve Dade and Daniel O’Leary and has an up and coming strong reputation for excellent, edgy work. A chance to work with a rising director of good reputation is the clincher for Adele who agrees to take the role. She’s sworn to secrecy which suits her down to the ground.

Final Draft is the story of Kate. Kate is a woman who is reading a book and slowly begins to realise that the characters and actions in the book bear a remarkable resemblance to her own life. And just as Kate begins to realise this, so Adele starts to realise that the action in her film script is remarkably similar to what is happening to her.

She’s in a cabin in the middle of dark woods in a remote location with no idea how to get out and no clear idea of exactly where she is and no means of transport, having been picked up by car from the airport. The woods are dark and foreboding, the paths are laden with obstacles. Thereafter things take a decidedly spooky and horror related turn. Adele tries to find out what’s happening to her but she doesn’t have the whole script and slowly she realises that she has no idea who, if anyone, she can trust. Is someone gaslighting her or is history repeating itself?

Verdict: Run Time is peppered with extracts from the script and it is this which makes it a longer than usual page turner. But a page turner it is. It’s one I read in one sitting. It is a fun read and the ‘B’ horror movie vibe comes across well. Ultimately though, it is not difficult to work out the gist of what is going on, but it is still a pleasant and enjoyable read with some lovely moments of tension and a deal of ‘B’ movie spookiness.

It’s the second thriller I read from this author and just like Nothing Man I didn’t enjoy it. Until the 50% mark nothing really happens and after that there are some reveals, which were quite obvious to begin with. The book was too long, the script and movie scenes were gimmicky and repetitive and the characters were flat and featureless. The ending was just mundane.

Unfortunately I think that this author and I are not compatible.

Thank you NetGalley / Atlantic Books for providing me with this novel in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

We meet Adele in this story. She is a struggling actress who ran off to L.A. from her home in Ireland after her last job didn’t quite work out. In L.A. her life is not what she expected. She is working a normal job while auditioning for roles she know she won’t get. One day she receives a call offering her the lead role in a film, starting immediately, and it’s secret so no one is to know she is back in Ireland filming. She jumps at the chance, knowing this role could be the role that gets her back into regular acting. But when she arrives, reading the script of the horror film, weird things start to happen. Mimicking the film she is the starring lead in.

We read this from Adele’s point of view, whilst simultaneously reading the film script as well. It was quite a unique way of writing that I’ve not come across before. And it also seemed there was a few storylines merged into one final storyline.
The characters were well written, Adele is a character that can be relatable in many ways. She was versatile, and knew to stand up for herself.
The story was set in a forest and was extremely creepy feeling, giving the perfect balance of suspense needed.

This was an interesting idea- a book (Run Time) about a film (Final Draft) about a book (First Draft).
Adele Rafferty, a former soap star, receives a phone call offering her the lead role in a low budget psychological thriller after the first actor drops out. The catch? Filming starts tomorrow in Ireland -Adele is in the USA.
She accepts the part and manages to get to Ireland in time for filming to start, hoping that this will be the role to kickstart her career, following her abrupt departure from the last film set she worked on.
When the strange events in Final Draft start to happen on set, Adele is left doubting what is real and what is fiction.
I’m a big fan of Catherine Ryan Howard, this is an unsettling and interesting story which was well paced and plotted. Definitely one to recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

This is thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining book. I really enjoyed the Russian doll effect of a story within a story within a story. There is a great deal of tongue in cheek humour on display throughout and there is much fun poked at the horror movie industry and its tropes. There may also be some advice in there for book reviewers and readers. Just when you think you have it sorted out in your mind something else happens to skew events again. Very cleverly constructed. The characters don't necessarily have much to recommend them as individuals but that is the point demonstrating the cut throat side to the industry. The 'news' story at the end was a great touch too.

Catherine Ryan Howard brings us something different on each outing and I look forward to the next book with anticipation.

A book about a film production of a novel.

Adele is a ex Irish Soap star living in a LA and working reception at a motel whilst looking for acting jobs. She lands the part in a film production back home in a secluded location that is being filmed in secrecy. For the part we have Adele's script, which is in essence Adele's character reading a book.

The format for the book includes snippets of the screenplay and the novel it is based on, bound together by the story of Adele. Then the events of the screenplay start to play out in real life, which is all based on the novel.

There is humour and tension as Cathryn Ryan Howard steadily reveals where she is taking you with this story. I couldn't put it down. I was up way after midnight as I had to know - What is going on here??

Already recommending and will be giving as gifts to friends and family.

Thank you #NetGalley and #Atlantic Books for the Digital ARC for review. #RunTime

3⭐️

I’m a fan of this authors work, so I was excited to get this book. CRH comes up with some original plots. I think this one could be a marmite book.

There’s a horror film called Final Draft being produced at a remote location in a forest in West Cork. The lead actress is a former soap star whose career is on the skids, she is bought in at the last minute to replace the original actress.
Only the strange goings on on the set start being mirrored in real life too.

It gives the reader a book (Runtime) about a film (final draft) about another book (first draft),and mentions another book inside is it complicated enough yet? If not it gets more complicated 😂

The reader gets to see the elements from the screenplay which are boring as ——

I liked the sections with out of work actress Adele. Her character is ok, but the characters are mostly unlikeable, but decently portrayed.
Adele soon starts to get concerned about things that she encounters on location.

You’ve got the books contents being duplicated in the screenplay and again in the filming. You can imagine the amount of repetition going on. It’s slow paced.

The film premise is cheesy at best which indirectly reflects on the quality of the book, even though it’s supposed to be a low budget film.

It’s got a great creepy spooky feel, created by the environment and nurtured by the plot. It isn’t at all overplayed, it feels real.
It’s got a very Blaire witch vibe, a film I couldn’t get to grips with. I’m sorry to say this book was disappointing for me in comparison to her others, but other people may love the whole book within a film that’s within a book configuration. Tricky to pull off, for it to have worked for me the author needed to find a way of presenting the similarities without the all duplication which lost interest and pace.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:

✨ Dark sinister remote settings
✨ Singular narrative
✨ Unique formats

𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:

Dark, creepy, sinister, atmospheric. I could go on. This was a tense and eerie thriller mixed with horror that had me reading strictly in daylight. I absolutely loved 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧 by Howard, so had super high expectation for this, but whilst it was an engaging and well written novel, it didn't compare for me.

We follow a first party perspective of Adele throughout the plot, which is interspersed with the script of the movie adaptation being filmed on set. This was a unique format, which Howard certainly excels at creating, but in this case, I personally found there to be too much going on to enjoyably follow - although it was cleverly done, it was essentially a horror story about a horror story (movie) about a horror story (book). I found it to be quite repetitive because of this, as the events from the movie started (albeit eerily) occurring to Adele, resulting in almost reading the events twice, which I found took away from the tension.

Having said that, the screenplay provided engaging foreshadowing of events to come and offered a fun and entertaining read. The isolated wooded setting gave me chills, the plot was cleverly constructed and if you can suspend belief on reality, this is an enjoyable and spooky thriller.  

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫:

Thank you to both the publisher and author for my eARC in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

This a good read.
Final Draft, a horror film is being filmed at a house deep in a forest, miles from anywhere.
Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute and hopes that this opportunity will be her big break.
When events from the script start to happen on set too, Adele begins to fear that the story is coming true.
The book alternates between the film script and the filming which adds an interesting dimension but is a bit disjointed at times.
Thanks to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Adele is a former actress who left her last job under a cloud after having a breakdown. Out of the blue she is offered an acting job on a low budget movie called Final Draft. Adele sees this as a chance to redeem herself. When she gets to the remote location in Ireland she finds that things aren’t quite right. Reality soon starts to echo the script.

I really enjoyed this book. The story pulled me in immediately. I liked the two mysteries of what was happening to Adele on the set of Final Draft and what had happened in order for her to lose her previous job. The story kept my attention although I did sometimes question Adele’s actions. I guessed the ending before the reveal.

I took a chance on this author after her last book got rave reviews. I had requested that one on NetGalley but was rejected, so when this latest one came up and I was approved, I was excited to give her a go. I’m so glad I did, as this was brilliant!
The first few chapters were hard to get to grips with as they felt like three separate stories. We first meet Donal and Steve on location for their new film. We then have what appears to be a screenplay with Kate and Joel, who meet at a bookstore. Finally, we have Adele, a struggling actress in LA with a past in Ireland, wanting to catch up with her.
I found the screenplay section quite challenging to read, but then I’ve never been very good with them and struggled with the Harry Potter and the cursed child one. However, as the book progressed and I got used to the writing style, it got a lot easier.
The book is terrifying, and I found my heart racing on more than one occasion. It was way too dark, and Adele was stumbling around in it way too much. I just wanted her to barricade herself into her cabin with a load of food and ride it out. Instead, she was here, there and everywhere with the obligatory no phone signal and low battery!
However, the tension was just right, and I was on the edge of my seat reading it.
I did think the ending was a little obvious; however, I found it hilarious that one of the characters agreed and said just that. So it was obviously intentional and, in that regard, felt just right.
I loved this and devoured it very quickly. I enjoyed it so much that I went straight to Amazon, purchased the last book that got all the rave reviews, and started reading it straight away! Without a doubt a five-star read!

The project: Final Draft, a psychoogical horror. Promising Young Thing Steve Dade will direct.

The tagline: 'Based on a terryifing true story. That hasn't happened - yet'

The location: A cottage deep in a forest, miles from anywhere in the wintry wilds of West Cork.

The lead: Former soap-star Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute. She can't help but hope that this will be ger big break.

The problem: Something isn't quite right on the set of the Final Draft. Adele is about to discover thet the real horror lies off the page....

Adele is a struggling actress whose willing to take on any role. I did find the plotline a little confusing at times. There's nothing much happens in the first half of the book. It's set in the middle of the woods which gives it an eerie feel. A good portion of this book is screenplay. This is like a story, within a story, within a story, and strange things were going on on set. The ending was disappointing.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #AtlanticBooks and the author #CatherineRyanHoward for my ARC of #RunTime in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great read. Adele is a an ex soap star who had a mental breakdown on her last project. She moved to LA for a fresh start and works in a motel. Still attending castings but no luck yet with her big break. Then she gets the call to star as the lead in a new horror movie back in Ireland. Ofcourse she jumps at the chance, this could be it.

She flies back to Ireland and arrives at the set - a secluded house in the woods. No phone reception as expected. Strange things start to happen. Is someone out to get her or is she having another breakdown.

I enjoyed it, I liked the twist and it should have been obvious in hindsight but was a surprise to me. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Rating: 4.2/5

I was surprised to see that a number of early reviewers have made quite negative comments about this latest thriller from Catherine Ryan Howard. Whilst it may not be perfect (What is?) and requires the reader to suspend disbelief at times, it is nonetheless great fun, cleverly constructed and a joy to read.

The story is narrated in the first person by Adele Rafferty, a former soap star, who left the long-running series with the dream of making it big in the movie industry. Things haven't quite worked out as well as Adele had hoped and she has been scratching an existence by working in a motel while she hopes for her big break. She has just about given up hope when the long-awaited call finally comes ...

The first person narrative works well in "Run Time" and there is plenty of pleasing use of wit and self-deprecating humour that encourages the reader to warm to the character of Adele. Author, Catherine Ryan Howard, also incorporates some appealingly inventive descriptive language, which helps to paint the scene and create the appropriate atmosphere.

The idea of using a story within a story is nothing new - Shakespeare was using the play within a play mechanism centuries ago - but Catherine Ryan Howard goes a step further and writes a horror story (of sorts) about a horror story (in the form of a movie) about a horror story (in the form of a book). If that sounds a little contrived, then it is probably because it is - but it is quite cleverly executed and in a manner that is often mischievously tongue-in-cheek.

You know you are enjoying a book when you suddenly find that you are already halfway through even though it feels like you have only just started reading it - and that was the experience I had with "Run Time". Easy to recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

I haven’t read anything by Catherine Ryan Howard before, although she has been on my reading radar for ages, with so many big titles that made a splash and so I was keen to read her latest novel.

Adele Rafferty is a former actress, who first found fame on an Irish soap opera. However, her career has gone into downfall, and she has relocated to the home of Hollywood. Working in a motel in L.A., she attends endless auditions and is still hopeful of success. As such, when she receives a call asking her to replace an actress for a low-budget horror movie, back home in Ireland, she jumps at the chance. The author makes us aware that the main character is not stupid in any way, she attempts to find out who, where and why, but she is also desperate for a chance and that makes her a little reckless.

This is a cleverly constructed mystery. It involves a film, a script, a book and the story itself, all wrapped up in this novel, which is a thriller which flirts with horror. I loved the setting, so remote and hemmed in with endless trees. I liked the character of Adele and the discomfort she feels as things begin to go wrong and as she doubts herself. An unusual structure, which works well. I am glad I finally got around to try Catherine Ryan Howard and enjoyed this book, which I received from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

I am a huge fan of Catherine Ryan Howard and her book The Nothing Man was one of my five best reads ever. So to say I was super excited to read this novel and have the chance to read it before published was such a privilege to me.

The blurb reads

Movie-making can be murder.

The project
Final Draft, a psychological horror. Promising Young Thing Steve Dade will direct.

The tagline
'Based on a terrifying true story. That hasn't happened - yet.'

The location
A cottage deep in a forest, miles from anywhere in the wintry wilds of West Cork.

The lead
Former soap-star Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute. She can't help but hope that this will be her big break.

The problem
Something isn't quite right on the set of Final Draft.
Adele is about to discover that the real horror lies off the page...

I completely need to be honest in my review here, it did not live up to The Nothing Man and I felt super confused to begin with when I started to read this novel. It is a film being recorded in some dark woods in West Cork and it is really spooky and the scenes are so descriptive that it feels like you are in a movie yourself. After sticking with this novel, as I love the author and did not want to give up, the novel did start to resonate with me and I was immersed.

We meet actress Adele who has got her final comeback whilst taking on this role. I enjoyed reading about Adele and how she got to be where she is on this filmset.

Strange things start to happen on the set and Adele needs to try and make some sense of it all. This novel had me up reading late into the night and scared me silly and I loved it. I can not wait to read Catherine's next novels as I feel she is such a good writer and her novels are interesting, dark and thrilling.

Thanks to Netgalley, Catherine Ryan Howard and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this AMAZING novel in exchange for my honest review.