Runner

By Carl Deuker

Reviewed by Hugo

Living in a difficult situation, Chance Taylor currently works at a restaurant and lives with his alcoholic father on an old sailboat. With his father getting fired from his job, they don't have enough money to pay the mortgage. He is desperate and does not know what to do next. One day he stumbles on a fat guy that works at the marina office and offers Chance an easy job that pays well. He has no choice but to accept the job. The job is to go for a run to a tree and retrieve a package that is hidden underneath the roots. Then come back running with it and put it in his locker. The job pays $200 a week. "Chase knows how much he will earn—what he doesn't know is how much he will pay."

Runner by Carl Deuker is a fast-paced suspense story that is fun to read. It is full of mysteries and obstacles that Chance must go through. The novel is well written with lots of details and is full of characters with different personalities. It is easy to read and will make you want to keep on reading. The ending was a surprise, for I didn't expect any of those things to happen. What was most interesting about the story was what was in the package, which contains the answer to the entire mystery. I haven't met anybody that doesn't like this book, and I would recommend this book to anybody that loves mystery and suspense. I give this book five out of five stars.