The Dead Run audiobook

The Dead Run chiefly concerns felons from a Mexican prison, a twisted religious cult, an honest sheriff, a corrupt federale, an anti-immigrant Motorcycle gang, an army of sand-burrowing undead teenage girls, and a resurrected Aztec God- all duking it out in the southwestern desert. It should surprise no one that I loved this book. It was no Great Gatsby or A Separate Peace, but it was surely the Brothers Karamazov of Southwestern supernatural action/horror.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Tasked with carrying a package to an unknown location, Jess Galvan is about to get a lot more than he bargained for. For the chance to see his daughter again though, any risk is worth the price.Opening Sentence: It was almost dawn and Mulligan was nine-tenths dead, dragging one leg after the other out of sheer dumb will.The Review:I spent the first 30-40% of this book mentally writing my 2 star review, planning on citing the unlikeable characters and some distasteful content as reasons for my dislike of the novel. Then, a funny thing happened. I started having a harder time putting the book down. The ends of chapters would leave me anxious, desperately wanting to know what would happen next. I’m not sure exactly how that happened, but I’m definitely not complaining about it!The main plot revolves around a handful of characters. The true main character in my opinion is Jess Galvan. Galvan has spent the last year in a Mexican prison, serving time for ticking off the wrong guy. All Galvan wants is to see his daughter again and get custody of her from her mother. After a prison riot, a mysterious man makes Galvan an offer he can’t refuse: deliver a package for him, and he can have his freedom. Thus begins a journey that is going to be much more complicated and dangerous than Galvan could have imagined.Sherry is a teenage girl, new to the area. After spending a day at the pool to get away from her religious fanatic mother, Sherry is kidnapped by a terrifying man. Thus begins the longest day of her life.Nichols is a Texas sheriff, frustrated by the hand he’s been dealt in life. He’s contacted by Sherry’s mother, who is convinced something awful has happened. While investigating, Nichols meets Ruth Cantwell, a therapist who is close to Sherry. Together, they embark on a journey that will forever change them.As I stated before, none of the characters start off (and in some cases, never become) very likeable. This made it very hard for me to get through the first part of the book. We’re told Galvan wants to reunite with his daughter, but that comes off as an afterthought, making it seem like the fact is just there to make the reader think “this is a good guy.” The actions he makes didn’t endear Galvan to me. It wasn’t until he met up with the real bad guys that I started to root for him, almost a case of choosing the lesser of two evils.Sherry, on the other hand, started out unlikeable, but then became a character you could really root for. She starts out so weak that I rolled my eyes repeatedly at her actions. The moment she started to change, I found myself looking forward to every one of her chapters.After a slow start, the plot really picks up. By the time you reach the halfway point, the book is pretty much nothing but action. Every chapter leaves you wanting more. It should be said that this book isn’t for those with weak stomachs. While not gratuitously graphic, there are some scenes that are hard to read. If you can deal with the violence and the slow start though, then you should really give this book a chance. I will definitely be checking out more by this author!Notable Scene:“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, nodding at the shotgun.Nichols unfolded his sunglasses and slid them on, the metal frames still cool from the air-conditioned ride.“Heavy artillery tends to make folks less cooperative. I like to start with a nice friendly chat, build my way up to the armed standoff from there. That work for you, doc, or would you rather wait in the car? ‘Cause technically, you know, you really shouldn’t be here at all.”And neither should I, Nichols thought.Cantwell’s reply was low and even. “These are bad people, Sheriff.”“And yet, amazingly, they have rights. Some of them even take to a court of law to defend those rights when they get trampled.” Nichols squared his shoulders to her. “Look, whenever it’s humanly possible, I do things by the book, because that book was written by smarter sons of bitches than me, and it was written to keep sons of bitches like me alive. It’s bad enough I’m investigating outside my jurisdiction, on your tip. But until I find some evidence, that’s all it is – a tip. So forgive me if I don’t start blasting away at everything that moves like this was Grand Theft Auto. We understand each other?”Cantwell’s mouth was drawn tight. “Yes.”“Peachy. Come on, then.” Nichols hitched up his belt and headed for the building. Halfway there, he turned to her. “For the record, I got nothing against Grand Theft Auto. It’s a damn fun game.”FTC Advisory: Harper Voyager provided me with a copy of The Dead Run. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

*This review is based on an Advance Reader copy from the publisher*This was highly entertaining! Great action that grabs you from the get-go and doesn't let up. Jess, our "hero", is a stand-up guy who kicks major ass. He is certainly flawed, but has a definite code of ethics that he follows religiously (for lack of a better term), whether he is in a shady bar south of the border, an even shadier Mexican prison, or when he's trekking across the desert with a band of convicts on a shadier yet mission. Sent into the desert to carry a package over the border to the US by a mysterious figure from the bowels of the prison, Jess has to depend on his wits and his unique skill set to survive and try to figure what he's actually been sent to do. His story intertwines with that of his estranged daughter, Sherry, who is on the run from a strange cult leader, and that of an aging football-star sheriff who's just trying to make sense of the whole situation and not get killed in the process. Very well paced, action sequences were well written. Characters are well-developed. Jess is one of my favorite characters of recent memory. And I have to say, for someone who doesn't usually like movie adaptations of books, this book would make a fantastic movie (think Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez).

Picked up this book as a Corona Lockdown-read and was pleasantly surprised. The dust jacket preview doesn’t tell you everything and I’m glad it didn’t. Plenty of twists and turns in a highly entertaining novel. Second half does not quite keep up with first half and characters make some pretty stupid decisions at time, but it is still a lot of fun.

Solid concept with the Virgin Army.

I enjoyed the story although with some fictional nuances about gods and living dead it was interested anyways.

#springhorror #Readathon #thedeadrun @adammansbach https://mysternightowl.wordpress.com/...

Yeah it was very macho but it had a "From Dusk Till Dawn" vibe. It reads great as a horror novel. Ridiculous? Yes. A fun horror ride? Absolutely.

http://www.thehorrorhoneys.comTwitter: @jbrivardAdam Mansbach is the author of several earlier works, and may be best known for his parody kid's book "Go the Fuck to Sleep", but he's trying his hand at a new genre with his book "The Dead Run", and it's a solid effort. A catchy title and cover image drew me in quickly and I found it hard to put down. A great opening line in Chapter 1 ("Jess Galvan walked past at least five of the seven deadly sins before he even reached the bar") gets things off to a speedy start and Mansbach never takes his foot off the gas. The ostensible hero of the book, Jess Galvan, gets himself mixed up in some bad shit right off the bat and when he tries to do the moral thing, he's rewarded with a trip to hardcore Ojos Negros prison. Galvan's chapters are balanced by two other storylines - one focusing on Sherry Richards, a wallflower Texas teenager whose mom has gotten them involved in a local cult lead by the charismatic and seemingly ageless Aaron Seth, and the other focusing on Sheriff Bob Nichols, a burned-out former jock in an ill-equipped and underfunded department in the same town. When Sherry disappears and Sheriff Bob is called to investigate, he teams up local therapist Ruth Cantwell, who had been counseling Sherry and her mom since their departure from the cult compound. Sixty-seven miles of desolation lie between Nichols and his Mexican counterpart, Fuentes, and strange things seem to be happening in the desert.Meanwhile, when Galvan is told during a prison yard workout that he's been summoned by "El Cucuy", he laughs it off - El Cucuy, you see, is the boogeyman of Ojos Negros Prison, something the guards use to make prisoners fall in line, a fable, a story. When Galvan wakes up chained to a handful of other prisoners in the basement of Ojos Negros and is told to fight for his life, he learns that El Cucuy is all too real. Not only is El Cucuy real, he's been around a while. And I mean a while. And El Cucuy has a job for Galvan. Galvan is to be his Righteous Messenger, carrying a box across the miles of desert for a very special delivery. What's in the box, you ask? Oh, just the still-beating heart of a virginal young girl. Which can only be delivered by "a pure man". El Cucuy needs it delivered to his son, the aforementioned Aaron Seth. Then, and only then, will their new world order commence. Or so thinks the wretched Aaron Seth.Galvan sets off across the desert, and here's where the action really kicks in - there's some supernatural backstory about El Cucuy's wife who died at his hand, but the important takeaway here is that she now commands the long-rumored "Virgin Army" who lie beneath the sand and interfere with El Cucuy's repeated delivery attempts. Will Galvan succeed where other "pure men" have failed? Will Sheriff Bob be able to find missing teenager Sherry Richards before her V-card makes her yet another victim of the cruel men who populate the book? As the storylines hurtle towards one another, you'll appreciate some awesomely cinematic set pieces, including the appearance of the Virgin Army (think mini-skirted undead hotties who pull themselves up out from underneath the sand "like a swimmer boosting herself out of the water"), an amazing car chase sequence involving cars and motorcycles, some amputations, white-robed cult elders and people bathing in a literal hot tub full of the blood of virgins. It took me back to my middle-school years with the Stephen Kings and the Robert McCammons - sprawling stories of people good and evil converging on one another. Hardcover Honey says - You'll love it.

I liked this one more than I thought I would. I was expecting a bit of a throw away read, just something quick and interesting but not worth much. I actually felt like I got much more than that. The story was pretty engaging and there were a few turns I wasn't expecting.

When Jess Galvan walked into that seedy bar in Mexico, his goal was to carry a package across the border and use his earnings against his crazy ex-wife in a custody battle for their daughter. Instead, a poorly timed act of altruism lands Galvan in a Mexican prison inhabited by the legendary El Cucuy.Returning home from a lousy day at the community swimming pool, Sherry Richards is kidnapped and becomes another statistic in a growing succession of sixteen year-old females who have disappeared. Her mother, recently rehabilitated from a powerful cult, calls the police.Sheriff Bob Nichols, of the woefully understaffed Del Verde County office, believes Sherry is just another runaway until the mother’s psychiatrist, Ruth Cantwell, contacts him. She supports the mother’s fears and convinces Nichols to jump into her bright red Prius and pay a visit to the cult compound.The Dead Run, a story that involves a freakish cult, ancient legends, supernatural beings, patriotic bikers, a still beating heart in a box, and a dangerous trek through the desert inhabited by the Virgin Army of zombie girls, is unquestionably bizarre. The writing is hip, gritty, violent, and fast-paced with some laugh out loud moments. The fact that the writer is also the author of the hysterical “children’s” book, Go the (BEEP) to Sleep, makes the dark humor of this outlandish story even more wicked.Now, any horror story that includes the supernatural is going to be a stretch of the imagination. The Dead Run, however, requires an elastic contortion of the reader’s imagination; sometimes asking much patience and indulgence on the reader’s part. While I enjoyed the chapters the covered Galvan’s horrific desert trek or the sheriff’s misadventures with the psychiatrist, I felt the story was interrupted too often by mystical nonsense. When one of the characters bathes in a tub filled with virgin blood (kept at a constant body temperature) while telepathically communicating with his father, my face did a solid palm slap while my eyes rolled to the back of my head. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book and most of the characters, but when it came to the end and I realized there would be a sequel, I didn’t feel pressed to anxiously await the next one. It was a fun ride, but I’m okay if I’m left in the desert with the Virgin Army of zombies.

http://openbooksociety.com/article/th...Brought to you by OBS reviewer Sammy*Spoiler Alert*While I really enjoyed this book, it does start out very slowly and it is difficult to see where anything is going. It does all come together in the end. I hope there will be more stories in this world.The prologue doesn’t seem to connect to anything, I kept trying to figure out how it fit in the story and would periodically reread it to see if I had missed something. Ahhh but then at the end of the story the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Nicely, done!This book was full of fresh ideas with a fabulous writing style. When reading this book, keep in mind it is a puzzle, mystery with the pieces, while seemingly unconnected will fit together perfectly. The characters are frightening, despicable, compassionate, strong, uniquely different and complete.Parts of the story reminded me of Elizabeth Bathory, she did some of the same things as a couple of the characters. I loved the songs throughout the story. Favorite quote: “In the extremely fucking likely event of a water, landing, your seat cushion cannot be used as a flotation device.”Clearly I’m a Prince fan and the twist to that line is fabulous.There is an ending, (Thank YOU!) but with plenty of room for more stories. I highly recommend this book to fans of horror, mystery with really great writing, along with a slower moving story that will capture your interest while trying to figure it out. I will be looking forward to reading more from this author and this world.

I found this one inside the entrance to the library, on the recently-returned shelf. When I saw the cover, the author's name leaped out at me. Why did I recognize the name? Oh, because a few years back Mr. Mansbach wrote a little bedtime story called Go the Fuck to Sleep. Of course, he's written more than that, but that was the only title I knew offhand.This story has a little of everything. Jess Galvan is the right guy in the wrong place. He's running bearer bonds from Mexico to Texas to raise enough money that he can hire an expensive lawyer to help him get his daughter back from her religious nut of a mother. He's a rough man, but he tends to see every young woman in trouble as his daughter, and that doesn't go well for him. He ends up in the bowels of a Mexican prison, but is offered his freedom if he will smuggle a very important parcel across the border. There is a lot going on here, with multiple viewpoint characters, separate plot threads that eventually merge, etc.

The author does a nice job of throwing the reader right into the mix and keeping the pace going with this one. An American starts us off in Mexico, getting into a bit of a fix and getting tossed into prison. Soon he will be tasked with taking an item across the border that could be bad for everyone. Meanwhile a separate drama unfolds on the American side of the fence when the prisoners daughter runs into some trouble of her own. All roads will converge and lead to a climatic battle that is not necessarily your typical good versus evil type of battle. Lots of action, violence and some undead virgins tossed in for a fun supernatural/thriller read.

Had never heard of this author before and was looking for something in my vein of horror. As some reviews have stated, it is a quick read. Not sure if it's the style or that it simply doesn't care what you want and drags you across the barren, dry earth at a galloping speed, tearing skin and breaking bones.But I appreciated that.This book is written like it was made to be directed by Robert Rodriguez. Guns, guts, mayhem and horror. Kept this horror fiend happy! And I can't wait for that collaboration to happen!

I recieved this book from Harper Collins as an ARC. It is not one for the faint hearted. Violence is grapic and frequent. That being said I liked the book a lot. The paranormal elemnts were done in such a way that they did not seem unbelievable. The main character is one tough SOB....but I guess he needed to be. The only thing stopping me from going with a 5 star rating was the ending......why oh why is it so hard for authors to write stand alone stories???? I was disappointed that this seems to be the start of a series.

Found a blurb on this is Shelf Awareness and ordered from my local book store.As a reader, I fully immerse myself in a well-told tale. Reading The Dead Run, I kept having to put down the book to let my heart slow down - this story is really intense. Switching each chapter between the three viewpoints, the tapestry wove to the very satisfying climax. The mix of the "lost civilizations" of northern Mexico, the politics on either side of the Rio Grande border, and exploring South Texas - I highly recommend you read it.

This novel is a heck of a crazy ride. Told from several points of view, it all starts to come together in one very bizarre tale of horror & suffering that has lasted for centuries. The main character Galvan aka "The Righteous Messenger" must deliver a beating heart into the hands of evil. All sorts of odd things happen along the way, an army of zombie virgins, demons, bikers, good cops, bad cops, teenage kids in the crossfire, cults, & more. In the end, the fate of the world depends on the decisions Galvan makes while on his wild run across the desert to his final destination.